Leave of Absence after 1L Forum

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Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by Anonymous User » Mon May 21, 2018 2:16 am

I'm a 1L at a T14 with median-ish grades. My dad was diagnosed with terminal illness recently, and his doctor says he has about 1 year of life left. My law school is very far from my home, and there is no way that I could possibly take care of my dad and go to school at the same time.

So I plan on taking a year off and spending the time with my family. However, assuming that the economy will not collapse next year, what will be the impact be on my career? Would this completely bomb my chances for BigLaw, if I come back for OCI a year later in 2019? I'm not biglaw-or-bust, but I would just like to know the impact beforehand and weigh my options.

If it matters -- I plan on working at a reputable law firm in exactly the practice area that I intend to go into after graduation, and I will do research for a well-respected professor at my school in this practice area.

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by Anonymous User » Mon May 21, 2018 2:34 am

You’ll be fine. Was in a similar situation, same grades/school range and got multiple offers, currently am at a V10. just be vague during OCI if they ask (which they likely won’t) and say you were helping out with family matters etc. Be productive as planned during your time off, but most importantly, appreciate and enjoy the time with your father. Best of luck.

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by Anonymous User » Tue May 22, 2018 1:06 pm

Anonymous User wrote:You’ll be fine. Was in a similar situation, same grades/school range and got multiple offers, currently am at a V10. just be vague during OCI if they ask (which they likely won’t) and say you were helping out with family matters etc. Be productive as planned during your time off, but most importantly, appreciate and enjoy the time with your father. Best of luck.
Thanks for your encouragement. I will work with my career services to see what is the best way to portray this. It means a lot.

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by Anonymous User » Tue May 22, 2018 6:28 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:You’ll be fine. Was in a similar situation, same grades/school range and got multiple offers, currently am at a V10. just be vague during OCI if they ask (which they likely won’t) and say you were helping out with family matters etc. Be productive as planned during your time off, but most importantly, appreciate and enjoy the time with your father. Best of luck.
Thanks for your encouragement. I will work with my career services to see what is the best way to portray this. It means a lot.
I did something like this then fedclerked. You’ll be fine. Have you considered doing another semester and then doing oci again with another sem of grades?

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by Anonymous User » Tue May 22, 2018 10:48 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:You’ll be fine. Was in a similar situation, same grades/school range and got multiple offers, currently am at a V10. just be vague during OCI if they ask (which they likely won’t) and say you were helping out with family matters etc. Be productive as planned during your time off, but most importantly, appreciate and enjoy the time with your father. Best of luck.
Thanks for your encouragement. I will work with my career services to see what is the best way to portray this. It means a lot.
I did something like this then fedclerked. You’ll be fine. Have you considered doing another semester and then doing oci again with another sem of grades?
I'm a little confused about what you mean. I'm coming back next year to do OCI with a full year of grades. When can I get that additional semester?

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by RedGiant » Tue May 22, 2018 10:55 pm

I'm so sorry you are dealing with this--it's very difficult. Please talk to your Dean of Students and Head of Career Services to get the help you need. Terminal illness is very hard--you know that death is coming, but it is still very devastating when it happens. I wish you strength. School will still be there, and your school should be understanding re letting you participate in OCI one year late. A brief mention of terminal illness in the family will be all you need for cover letters by way of explanation. Please be with your family in this hard time.

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by Anonymous User » Wed May 23, 2018 12:05 am

RedGiant wrote:I'm so sorry you are dealing with this--it's very difficult. Please talk to your Dean of Students and Head of Career Services to get the help you need. Terminal illness is very hard--you know that death is coming, but it is still very devastating when it happens. I wish you strength. School will still be there, and your school should be understanding re letting you participate in OCI one year late. A brief mention of terminal illness in the family will be all you need for cover letters by way of explanation. Please be with your family in this hard time.
Thanks for your kind words. I think the diagnosis leaves me with no choice but to take one year off, or I'm certain that I will regret it down the road. Like you mentioned, school will still be there.

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by Maverickk » Wed May 23, 2018 12:37 am

You can just go through OCI and take multiple long weekends off next year because after you get your offer 2L and 3L is a joke. Frankly, it might be smart to see what you get. If you strike out, take the leave and try again.

nixy

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by nixy » Wed May 23, 2018 7:41 am

Maverickk wrote:You can just go through OCI and take multiple long weekends off next year because after you get your offer 2L and 3L is a joke. Frankly, it might be smart to see what you get. If you strike out, take the leave and try again.
This makes much less sense than taking the year off.

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Anonymous User
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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by Anonymous User » Wed May 23, 2018 7:46 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:You’ll be fine. Was in a similar situation, same grades/school range and got multiple offers, currently am at a V10. just be vague during OCI if they ask (which they likely won’t) and say you were helping out with family matters etc. Be productive as planned during your time off, but most importantly, appreciate and enjoy the time with your father. Best of luck.
Thanks for your encouragement. I will work with my career services to see what is the best way to portray this. It means a lot.
I did something like this then fedclerked. You’ll be fine. Have you considered doing another semester and then doing oci again with another sem of grades?
I'm a little confused about what you mean. I'm coming back next year to do OCI with a full year of grades. When can I get that additional semester?
I’m saying what if you took a calendar year off instead of an academic year off—so you went to school in the fall then took off spring and the following fall, and did oci that summer with 2Ls with 3 sems of grades? It’s an idea that seems to me like it might work

nixy

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by nixy » Wed May 23, 2018 7:50 am

Do schools even let you do that? Also I'm not sure that an additional semester of grades will automatically help, especially depending on the OP's father's health throughout the fall. Like I don't see how firms who are out there hiring rising 2Ls will be more excited to hire someone just because they have an additional semester of grades.

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by Anonymous User » Wed May 23, 2018 9:55 am

nixy wrote:Do schools even let you do that? Also I'm not sure that an additional semester of grades will automatically help, especially depending on the OP's father's health throughout the fall. Like I don't see how firms who are out there hiring rising 2Ls will be more excited to hire someone just because they have an additional semester of grades.
Well the assumption is that your gpa would be better because many 2L classes aren’t graded on the intense 1L curve and because many people don’t try as hard

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by Anonymous User » Wed May 23, 2018 11:41 am

Maverickk wrote:You can just go through OCI and take multiple long weekends off next year because after you get your offer 2L and 3L is a joke. Frankly, it might be smart to see what you get. If you strike out, take the leave and try again.
Thanks for the advice. I don't think this is really an option for me, because I don't live in the same area as my dad. So the multiple long weekends strategy does not work. Getting a BigLaw job, while important, is not as important as spending his last days with him.

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Anonymous User
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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by Anonymous User » Wed May 23, 2018 11:42 am

Anonymous User wrote:
nixy wrote:Do schools even let you do that? Also I'm not sure that an additional semester of grades will automatically help, especially depending on the OP's father's health throughout the fall. Like I don't see how firms who are out there hiring rising 2Ls will be more excited to hire someone just because they have an additional semester of grades.
Well the assumption is that your gpa would be better because many 2L classes aren’t graded on the intense 1L curve and because many people don’t try as hard
I see what you are saying, and thanks for the advice. I don't think the priority right now is for me to raise my GPA or get a BigLaw job through OCI. I think the priority is for me to spend his last days with him. So I don't think the fall semester strategy works.

nixy

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Re: Leave of Absence after 1L

Post by nixy » Thu May 24, 2018 7:33 am

Anonymous User wrote:
nixy wrote:Do schools even let you do that? Also I'm not sure that an additional semester of grades will automatically help, especially depending on the OP's father's health throughout the fall. Like I don't see how firms who are out there hiring rising 2Ls will be more excited to hire someone just because they have an additional semester of grades.
Well the assumption is that your gpa would be better because many 2L classes aren’t graded on the intense 1L curve and because many people don’t try as hard
But the OP might have a perfectly great GPA now. And (sorry OP) the OP will be dealing with their father's impending death, which might impact their concentration just a little! This just seems like gamesmanship for the sake of gamesmanship, and not practical.

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