What if scenario.....

[southbeachlegal]

Hi, I am an undergraduate student looking to attend law school down the road.  I have a CGPA of about 2.0.  The bulk of those marks were 12 years ago and the degree was never completed.  In fact, I only completed first year and two courses in 2nd year.

Fast forward to 2002 where I returned to university switched my major to engineering from social science and did moderately better, about a 2.6 for first year engineering.  The following year, I ran into some real issues with depression, that was unbeknownst to myself.  I was sleeping all the time and I was become very concerned with my behaviour, so I seeked out professional help.  I was put on the waiting list for professional help and in the meantime my sister went through a similar issue.

It turned out we had a family secret, our mother's side of the family has a long history of depression and Mom had been on medication for a number of years.  Her mother had it, her brother had it etc.

So I was very relieved because it made sense since I didn't have any reasons to feel so down and out.

Since that time, my studies have been on hold, I have seen a medical doctor for meds and a psychologists for therapy and fully intend to return to school.

My second year in eng i completed 1 term and it was during this term I went through all of this but I didn't know at that time what it was my GPA for the term was about 2.7.

What if I were to do well over the next three years of undergrad, say 3.2 - 3.7 and perform well on the LSAT would I have a chance?

I appreciate all your replies.

Regards

southbeachlegal

[southbeachlegal]

How do LSAC look at retaking couses to upgrade your GPA, I would be willing to take a couple courses I failed....

[pass36]

SBL, congrats on getting your life under control! 

I think that even if you re-take the classes, the original grades are still part of your permanent, and hence, LSDAS record.  I could be wrong about this and if so I am sure somebody will point it out.

But regardless I second the idea of moving forward, finishing your degree, and kicking ass and taking names on your LSAT.  Score 165+ and have an upward trend in grades and write an addendum with your apps to explain your medical history and you will have many good choices for law school. 

Best of luck

[upNdown]

You ask if you'll have a chance.  A chance at what?  Law school?  Most definately.  If you can score over 160, you won't only have a chance, you'll probably be able to choose between a bunch of 3rd and 4th Tier schools.  Will you have a chance at a top 25 school?  Probably not.  But it never hurts to try. 

[SplitFinger]

Oh, I don't know - it completely depends on how the OP does on the LSAT.  There are several people (including me) with sub-3.0 GPAs who were accepted into Tier 1 schools after smoking the LSAT - including a couple who got into T14 schools.

But that probably involves an LSAT at least in the high 160's.  Easy to say, hard to do (despite how it appears here - this group is hardly representative).

[southbeachlegal]

Thanks splitfinger, I met a women in november through a mutual friend.  She is a lawyer and I asked her some questions about the profession etc. The conversation turned to admission to LS and she was a poor student in undergrade some many years ago, wrote the LSAT got a whopping 180, and got accepted into a very good Law school.

It can be done, and thanks for the encourgement, LSAT is key.

BTW what did you get on the LSAT?

Thanks splits

[SplitFinger]

171 - I took a full-length Powerscore class and raised it from a 163 on my first practice test.  But I've also always been an excellent standardized test taker, too.

[mobo]

you can def get into law school. i am sub-3 (from a long time ago although that wasnt the point of my gpa addendum) and have a 170, my in-out record is in my profile.

in your shoes i would work backwards, and figure out what you want to use your education for, then decide what law school route makes the most sense for your situation (national vs. strong regional, high debt vs. low debt). that will give you a much better idea of what kind of school to need to shoot for, and what your chances are.

you have a chance to rock your grades for the next three years, which with an addendum would show a great upwards trend. that with a strong lsat will open a lot of doors to you that might otherwise stay closed.

one downside is that you have recent grades that are sub-3, which weakens the potential "it was a long time ago" argument many use in their gpa addenda. turning things around post-treatment really strengthens the "i had a problem i figured out how to manage and my grades followed suit" argument that makes sense in your case.

[Lawschoolforsure]

In a word, yes. LSAC will take all the grades you have ever gotten in college, now and 12 years ago and average them to come up with your LSAC GPA. I had several F’s from 10 years ago, with a 1.9 GPA, then I went back to school and earned 100 credits of straight A’s. Even with those my LSAC GPA was 2.9. So work as hard as you can over the next 3 years, get your GPA up, and you can pull the whole thing up.

The real kicker is the LSAT, do good on that, and your GPA will not matter as much. If you can get a 165 plus, you can get into many schools with a sub 3.0 GPA.

Good luck!

Does grad school also count towards your CGPA?  I did significantly better there than in undergrad.  Is there more weight put on grad school grades?