Reapplying as a 1L after failing fist semester

[dclawyertobe]

I know I will perform poorly this semester. I hate my lawschool and can't continue studying here any longer. My plan is to reapply to the schools that accepted me last year as a 1L. What are my chances. Is this even possible. Can I start over somewhere else? I only came here b/c it was higher ranked. Big mistake.

Is it possible to reapply as a 1L after having taken 1 (failing)semester of law school?

[tacojohn]

First off, you have to really perform poorly to actually fail.  If you're talking about C's then alright, but I highly doubt you're doing that bad.  If you really want to leave, I would wait a year or two before reapplying.  Should you leave now, work the rest of this school year, and then next, and apply for the 2007-2008 cycle.

If the school is really so highly ranked, consider transferring down.  Maybe they'll look a little more favorably on a less-than-stellar performance.

Have you alrady taken finals, are they coming up or do you take them in January?

[zemog]

I would look into the ABA rules.  I believe that if you get kicked out (failed out) after at least one year, the ABA will not let you apply into another ABA law school until after two years.  This happened to a friend of mine.  But he was kicked out after his 1st year, not in the middle of a year nor was it because he just quit.

I think the transferring down bit would make more sense.  If you quit now, you lose a semester's worth of $ and time...if you just hang on until the end of the year, you will get those credits, not waste any $, and I can't see why tranferring down would be a problem.

[jdohno]

I just read a similar post on Vault. The ABA has rules about dropping out of school after your first semester. Before you reapplied to any law school, you have to provide a letter of good standing from the dean at your former school. If you get kicked out or failed out, then you're not getting that letter and many law schools won't consider you. Good luck.

I would look into the ABA rules.  I believe that if you get kicked out (failed out) after at least one year, the ABA will not let you apply into another ABA law school until after two years.  This happened to a friend of mine.  But he was kicked out after his 1st year, not in the middle of a year nor was it because he just quit.

I think the transferring down bit would make more sense.  If you quit now, you lose a semester's worth of $ and time...if you just hang on until the end of the year, you will get those credits, not waste any $, and I can't see why tranferring down would be a problem.