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Take a year. Seriously.

Take care of your kid, man.

If you and your girlfriend are in it for the long haul, living apart will just not work honestly. There will be too much resentment on her part dealing with a newborn/young toddler without your support. Taking a year is the best idea if you want to stay with her and be a part of your child's life.

Take a year, man. It doesn't look bad to law schools. Be involved in your kid's life.

Thanks for your thoughtful input.

Law school will be there in a year. Your kid's firsts won't.

Besides, it might be beneficial to apply after the application frenzy dies down.

Excuse me for paraphrasing, but lolwut?

A few sketches leaning the other way:

1. Woman in my class, pregnant 1L year, actually mocked by visiting professor for going to law school while pregnant (visiting professor did not receive offer to come here again... smart guy, but man does HLS pump out some horrible people from time to time). Regardless, woman booked torts, ended high up in class, accepted job with Skadden. On second child now, marriage as far as I know is stable.
2. Man in my class, first baby was born 1L year, family guy who doesn't drink/socialize, basically splits up his time between school and family. Did very well for grades and job prospects out west; now on second kid.
3. Man who did all three years of law school with his wife living out of state. Skyped with his wife for what seemed like every day in the corner of the law school atrium, in between studying. Went out occasionally with friends, spent a lot of time in the library. Did well for himself, finally back with wife after graduating last year. (Would not wish this one on anyone... three years is a long time.)

Anecdotal conclusions? Law school is stressful but you have to learn how to balance different responsibilities sooner or later if you're going to be a successful and happy lawyer. If you think you're ready to start balancing now, then there's no need to put off getting your degree. Most of your classmates will come straight from college with no responsibilities other than to themselves, so just remember you will need to keep your study habits at least on par with theirs to perform well. The gf will obviously need to know that as well and be ok with it. However, your future classmates will go out often (depending on law school), while you can spend your free time with your gf and new kid. If law school is this important for you, think about getting everyone in the same city. Balancing can be done (and sometimes is), but it needs to feel right otherwise you run the risk of viewing a new child as a burden to your career development rather than an awesome addition to your life.

Note: The job market and financial considerations might give you pause even if a new family doesn't, and both of those depend on what your actual LSAT ends up being. A lot of people report practicing in the 170s and then land in the 160s, so my advice would be focus on that for now and address the bigger lifealtering questions later. Sorry for soapboxing... G'luck.

This is a good point. High 170s could easily get OP into HYS, but he could just as easily end up getting a 165 on the actual test day and end up begging his way into the T14 based on his GPA. It's hard to say what he should do until we really know his LSAT.

If you could get into HYS that might affect my opinion, but otherwise I'd say wait a year for sure.

Check your PM OP.

First of all, congratulations. Being a parent is an amazing experience along with a tremendous responsibility. Whatever you do, I hope you take into account what is best for your child and I hope you will be involved in your child's life. You will not regret anything you do for them.

People with kids go to law school. Lots of people with jobs that are more demanding have kids. So just having a kid should not deter you from going to law school or living with your child.

I've gone to school w/a kid and know a bunch of people who have. It's different than going w/o a kid. You are not going to have the same flexibility as others who can decide to go out on 15mim notice or take off for a weekend trip. You will need to plan your extracurriculars taking into account child care arraingements. Your finances will be tighter.

Your financial situation is going to be a lot more complicated than that of a student w/o a kid. You are going to have to figure that out with your gf. Is she going to work? If so, who is watching your kid and how are you paying for that? Who is paying for your child's medical insurance? If you are not living together how/how much are you paying child support? If you are not living together how will visitation work? Holidays? Answering these will likely point you towards an answer to the "should we live together" question.

The financial considerations and location will also be a factor in where you choose to go to school since the type and amt of support provided to students with families, cost of living, proximity to your child if you are not living together, and job opportunities for your gf if you are. The good news is if you can get into HYS they tend to be fairly flexible and generous for people with family obligations. So keep working on that LSAT, scoring well is one of the best things you can do for your kid.

Go to school. I'm guessing your plan is biglaw? You will have the opportunity to see your kid A LOT more during law school than you will when you graduate to work the sweatshops.

I'm not sure I see the logic of waiting a year. It's not like it will be any easier when
the child is a year older. And waiting assumes OP has a job lined up that will pay their bills and support their child.

My wife and I, no kids are in a somewhat similar boat. She'll be going to school in a city 8 - 10 hours away by drive. I don't know how solid you and the girlfriend are. If you are in it for the long haul, get married. I don't say that for any sort of moral reason, but just because your finaid is general more generous when you have dependants. If you have a solid relationship with your girl then what you do doesn't really matter. It may be good to be able to focus on school with your girl and child somewhere else. It could be bad as well. No one really knows but you. You Law school experience will be different. I went to Business School and had a serious girlfriend (now my wife) the whole time. I didn't socialize quite as much with the other students. The ones I did socialize with were older, and had spouses and children as well, so I didn't really go out to the bars and what not with the single students. I also got distracted on some occasions dealing with normal spousal issues, because as supportive as she was, she really didn't understand. Overall the experience brought us closer and I graduated. As far as delaying, there will be things you are going to miss about your child because thats life. We make those sacrifices to make a better life in the long run. If you choose to hold off for now, then it will be something else later, maybe another child, or a family illness, or whatever. If you do get the opportunity and this is something you want then do it, and make the rest fall into place.

Lastly, If you are planning on applying in this cycle, you are already late even with your projected numbers. 80% - 90% of the seats are filled by 48hrs left to the deadline. 90% of the students apply then. 90% of the applications for 10% - 20% of the slots. I hope you haven't missed the LSAT for this cycle either because the Feb one generally doesn't count. Good Luck....