Bad first semester grades, mediocre school ... what now?

[mzing12]

I want to do public interest, but I got a B- (5 credits), a B (4 credits), a B+ (2 credits, though), and one class TBD (3 credits). I go to a Tier 2 in NYC. Should I just drop out now or what? I'm below 50% here. THis is terrible.

[lyre]

Well, if you are below 50% you probably can't count on anything from OCI.  Just send out some resumes to places you think you'd be interested in working at and see if you hear anything back.  The students with the highest grades will probably be wanting firm work, so if you want public interest then your GPA might not be so bad.  I would also go talk to the Career Services office at your school and see what they recommend.

As far as dropping out, that's for you to decide.  If you don't enjoy the law and don't think you'd like working as a lawyer, then yeah, I'd leave law school.  But if you like this and think you could improve your grades, then stick with it.

[M_Cool]

What's with the random credit numbers per class?  Do they weight classes like K, Torts, etc. differently?

[Phineas]

I'd probably go jump off of the Brooklyn Bridge.

[Miss P]

I want to do public interest, but I got a B- (5 credits), a B (4 credits), a B+ (2 credits, though), and one class TBD (3 credits). I go to a Tier 2 in NYC. Should I just drop out now or what? I'm below 50% here. THis is terrible.

If you want to do direct services, most of your employers won't care much (if at all) about your grades.  Just get involved in a pro bono project or something and make sure to get a lot out of your summer.  If you're at BLS and want some school-specific advice about how to pick up your grades, feel free to PM.  

ETA: I got a B- in my five-credit class first semester (I frankly expected worse after completely freezing up on the exam and answering only two of four questions) and have pulled myself out of it with a pretty respectable GPA and top grades in several classes.  You can too.  I am not at all special.

[RobWreck]

What's changed about why you went to law school? Do you still want to be an attorney? If the answer is still yes, then buckle down, figure out what you did wrong, and fix it for the spring semester. If you no longer want to practice law, then even if you had straight A's, I'd say drop out.
In short, your grades aren't anything special... slightly below average, but nothing 'bad'. You're talking about making a life-altering decision over 1 semester of grades (of which you don't even have them all)...
Good luck,
Rob

PS: Probably the best way to figure out what you did wrong is to sit down with each teacher and go over the final exam with them...

[Kevin.]

Try to get a job with a public interest-y type place over the summer, and redouble your efforts for this semester.  You can bounce back from your first semester grades!