I haven’t been to college in a long time. I’m 30. I briefly attended college and dropped out. I work in a grocery store and have for the last 10 years. I was a very undisciplined person and failed a lot of classes. classes I didn’t even attend but enrolled in. I would guesstimate my lsdas gpa would currently be about 1.3 . I really really would like to go to a top law school. but i think my gpa makes it worse than if I was 18 and starting new. How can i get a degree and improve my gpa? I suspect I would score very well on the lsat- I was always a good test taker but never showed up for class.
First, 30 is young. Don’t let age stop you from pursuing educational goals. What about starting at a community college? Work with a counselor there and start a program that would have a direct transfer into a four year degree so you don’t waste any time on classes that won’t count toward a degree. You can consider law school after you get an undergraduate degree. To go to law school you need your four year degree first.
You can go to law school, certainly- there are over 100 law schools. You can also have a very successful career as a lawyer. Both are possible, with a lot of work (as in every career). Going to a top law school (if you mean top 10 or even top 25) is probably pretty unlikely. If I were you I’d go back to school, study as hard as you can, never miss class and have a goal of attending law school, period. Then apply, having done your very best this time, and see where you get admitted. You might well end up in a prominent school, but however it happens, work as hard as you can and just be happy that you did your best.
how many classes/years will it take to earn your bachelor’s? Assuming that you have a real job and life now, and can only attend college PT, how old would you be when you have a BA/BS?
What would your cum GPA end up if you obtained all A’s? (theoretical maximum)
small nit: there are over 300 law schools, but the point is correct-you can certainly get into one of them. Whether its a “top law school” will depend on your next years’ of course work grades and LSAT score. Professional schools love non-traditonal students, but you still need to be able to demonstrate that you can do the work.
blue bayou, I spent two years obliterating any chance I would have at a good GPA. I am about to call a top 50 uni and a community college to send me transcripts of my grades. A good guess would be my maximum cumulative gpa would be 3.0-3.2 if I got all A’s for two years. I also think it’s possible I can get a degree in about two years by adding old credits and AP high school credits. I have a working “plan” that I thought up last week about how I could get a humanities degree in about 18 months.
Thank you for the responses. I am very serious about going to law school but obviously do not currently have a serious resume.
A non-grad and a high LSAT should garner a few top law school acceptances. The problem is that merit money may not be that generous.
If you do get to that point, apply broadly.
Good luck.
If you can get your GPA to at least a 3.0 and score in the 170s on the LSAT, this may be worth considering. If you get to that stage, come back.