poor community college grades

[iLostMyWatch]

I have attented a community college for two years and finished with a 2.0, this fall I will transfer to a university for two to three more years. My goal is to attend law school however I am curious just how much my community college record will hurt me. Will two or three strong years make up for this or is there little chance for me? Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Thank you

[Cicero]

The primary way that law schools determine whether or not to accept a candidate is the GPA & LSAT. Each school has a formula for how much weight it gives to the LSAT or GPA. LSAC will take your take your college credits and convert them into its system. Some people's GPAs go up a little bit and some go down based on the school, whether they were given some sort of grade forgiveness, averaging all of the grades, etc, basically making everything standardized. My GPA, for example, went up .01, so not much, and I have seen examples of GPAs going down two tenths or more. Anyway, yes, your 2.0 in community college will hurt your chances for law school. You need to do as well as you possibly can your last 2 years, and try to bring it up to at least a 3.0, which basically means all As for the last 2 years. Even with the 3.0 you are most likely looking at going to a T-3/4 school unless you do really, really well on the LSAT. However, you can still get into a T-4 with a little bit below a 3.0, maybe even a 2.5 or something. You should check out Law School Numbers and LSAC for more info on where you could get admitted with a low GPA. It'll show you which schools seem to care more about about LSAT scores than about GPAs. Good luck! 

[sonofapickle]

Don't listen to the guy above. Ultimately, you need to pull down a few semesters (3 1/2) to up your GPA to a 3.5, but you will need to have a 3.7-4.0 GPA, so make mostly A's and one B. It will be hard but you can still pull it up towards a 3.5, and if you don't like your GPA still, take another semester of college and go for a minor in areas you studied more in to increase the GPA. That is what I would do if I wanted to go to a good law school. However, if you are a minority, all you need is a 3.5, a good personal statement, some reccomendations, and an LSAT of 165 or better to get into an actual good school. My friend, who is African American, was accepted into one of the top 10 law schools with a 3.5 UGPA + 170 LSAT. If you aren't a minority, well, good luck.

You have two years left and 4 semesters + summer school to get your GPA up. That is why I told you not to listen to the guy above, he talks as if you are done and can't do anything about it. You can and you should at least try to better your record. Work a bit harder than those around you and you will do fine.

[REALITY]

The GPA at the university will be based on its classes only, the Community college will transfer without GPA.

BUT........lawschool looks at "cumulative GPA"(ALL schools you atteneded)

Just foucs on doing good in undergrad, if nothing else you will be much better of with a BA than an AA.