<p>Hello, I am a senior at my state college in GA, and I am graduating this semester. However, I have 1 withdraw on my transcript from the fall of 2009, the same semester I was in a car accident. It was a Geology course that I dropped. Now, I am a senior and I am taking 20 credit hours this semester and i realized that I don't need a course, which is online and somewhat intensive, Human Development Psychology. I really don't want to take the course and the way my credits are set up, it wouldn't help me if I got an A, but would hurt me if I got a B. So would it matter if I get my second W in my last semester (spring 2012)? Would that affect my odds of getting into a t14 law school? </p>
<p>Mind you, after this semester, I will be in the range of the gpa I need to get into my dream law school, Columbia Law School and I am an African American.</p>
<p>My gpa is 3.58, but i plan on bumping that up to a 3.64. So i am in their range and a little bit below the median, but i am also a urm and i will be studying for 9 months for my Oct LSAT so i should do do well on that. also, i will be volunteering for a political campaign this summer, so my resume should be decent… i’m involved in a few clubs and a secretary for a club and gonna register with the Sup Court of Ga as a mediator.</p>
<p>Edit: i have been on an upward gpa trend, made above a 3.5 (and Dean’s list)for the past five semesters.</p>
<p>I got into Columbia Law despite having 5 W’s on my transcript. W’s don’t matter. </p>
<p>I am so glad I got W’s… I took one very hard math class in college and I was about to get a D in that course, unless I dropped it late and got a W. My adviser told me to suck it up, study my butt off for exam, since even if I got a D or C, it won’t really destroy my GPA. Boy, was that a horrible advice and I’m so glad I dropped that course and got my W.</p>
<p>Much better to get W’s than a bad grade, and grad schools or employers don’t even care about W’s.</p>
<p>No, dude. As long as you don’t get like 20 W’s, you’re fine. Law schools don’t even care about what courses you took, what you majored in, and they’re not gonna care if you had few W’s here and there. You could have majored in basket weaving in college, have a bunch of W’s, and have a pretty crappy teacher recommendation and still make it to a top 10 law school. It’s all about your LSAT score, followed distantly by your cumulative GPA. </p>
<p>My friend majored in fashion in college, only took 100 and 200-level courses in order to avoid hard classes, had 7 W’s, had a GPA of 3.2, had a couple of DUI and arrest record, and still made it to a top 10 law school because she had 172 on LSAT. As long as you have rock-solid LSAT score, you’re good to go for most of top law schools. (Maybe not Yale and Stanford)</p>
<p>That’s amazing. I’ve noted on the admissions websites of many of these colleges they’ve said things like “we’ll admit anyone, regardless of arrest history, but you should consult the bar in your state to see if you’re eligible.” I know that when I saw that I went to the WA State Bar and they said something about drug and alcohol abuse that made me think that maybe the person with the DUIs might not be eligible for the bar out here.</p>
<p>@LazyKid: How much of a market is there for JDs who don’t pass the bar in business? My Dad was considering doing a vanity law degree part time evenings at Seattle U just to help his own knowledge base and work in aerospace. I know the old man is in a different situation than most people interested in law but I just wonder how much out there is available.</p>
<p>Having DUI or arrest record won’t prevent you from getting into a top law school. However, it may prevent you from getting a corporate law firm job. Employers do background checks, and many of employers rescind your offer of employment if they find out that you are an ex-rapist, ex-drug dealer, or ex-gangster, etc.</p>
<p>I had a friend from college who got a job in finance. Unfortunately, he had an arrest record having to do with some theft charge. That led his employer to withdraw offer of employment. Not sure how employers would view DUI’s, though.</p>
<p>I don’t know what your dad is planning on doing. Is he an engineer? If so, going to part time law school just to pass the patent bar may help him if he wishes to practice patent law. If you already have work experience in the industry, have clients, etc, and just get a JD and license on top of it, it can’t really hurt you. </p>
<p>There isn’t much value to a law degree outside T14 and few strong regional schools if you aren’t a patent lawyer, but there are some lawyers who succeed without elite credentials. However, stack of odds are against you to do so.</p>
<p>My Dad got a BS in Physics from Northwestern and went to work in aerospace before going back for an MBA from Cal Haas but he was in Hastings College straight out of NU when he got drafted to Vietnam at age 20. I think the JD thing is just a vanity issue, but he was justifying it as saying that he wouldn’t have to ask lawyers as much. But he’s worked for Boeing, EADS and various other places and I don’t think he has any intention of practicing law. </p>
<p>His point was that there are many people he says he knows who have never and will never practice law in the traditional sense, but use their legal expertise in business to advise executives and conduct business.</p>
<p>That’s your dad’s call to make. Law schools don’t teach you lawyering skills. You learn lawyering skills when you work at a law firm, not at law school. All law schools teach you is teaching you how ‘think like a lawyer’. </p>
<p>If your dad doesn’t have intention of practicing law, I would recommend against him getting a law degree. Even if he goes to law school, I suspect he won’t get what he wants out of law school education. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>An arrest record/DUI may prevent you from getting a government job as a lawyer; almost every government employer runs background checks before hiring. Age at time of offense and other factors are considered, but having a criminal conviction is an issue. In addition, if you want to get any government insured loans to pay for law school, there are a raft of questions on the loan app about criminal history, including misdemeanor drug and DUI convictions. Again, not automatic disqualifiers, but they are an issue.</p>
<p>Most law firms do background checks, after they hand out offers. They don’t do background checks before handing out offers, though. I am not sure how law firms would view DUI’s, but I am pretty sure they won’t be too impressed to find out that someone has arrest record for drug, violence, or theft. My buddy got some stupid arrest for silly theft mistake when he was 19, and it haunted him and cost him his 140k job as an I-banking analyst at a Bulge Bracket bank. </p>
<p>Welcome to America where one minor mistake can screw you for life.</p>