Bad First Sem Grades and Grade Challenges Forum

[inneedofadvice2011]

What on earth can you do with a GPA of 1.8 in your first semester of law school? Other than dropping out that is...should I just drop out now and save the money? I really want to be a lawyer and did all the work last semester and then some. I even went to office hours and wrote extra exams that were graded for mistakes by the profs.

Has anyone ever challenged a grade and if so, any advice?

More info: Went to a Tier 2 on half tuition scholarship.

[MrAnon]

Drop out. Even assuming you get a perfect 4.0 in the spring then your GPA will still be horrid. Also schools that hand out 1.8 GPAs will tend to drop the bottom of their class so I would investigate that possibility before you plunk down another $25k for spring tuition.

[Cavalier]

Drop out.

[3ThrowAway99]

No offense but WTF happened? What tier school do you go to?

[DoubleChecks]

many "challanges" lie ahead of you indeed...

[ran12]

Curves aren't intended to allow people to end up with that GPA are they? You must've really screwed up somehow. Idk what the min you need to actually graduate is but things don't look too good. Even if you make it up the last 5 semesters, you're in deep trouble b/c your 1L and 2L internships are what get you a job and you prob can't get much with that gpa.

[random5483]

A 1.8 hurts, especially in a school that is not at the very top. However, you are not doomed to misfortune. If your dream is to pursue a legal career go ahead and try to get your grades up next semester. Just make sure you get your GPA over the cutoff (usually in the low 2.0 range) to avoid being academically dismissed. If your dream is not to be a lawyer, consider dropping out now.

[Black-Blue]

many "challanges" lie ahead of you indeed...

[megaTTTron]

No offense but WTF happened? What tier school do you go to?

Yea, are there extenuating circumstances? This is HIGHLY irregular.

[uwb09]

normally I'm all for sticking it out for at least the first year, but I think you need to do a little soul searching and figure out if this is the right career for you, and how badly you want to be an attorney.

[Sup Kid]

Just ran the numbers and even if you get straight B+'s the rest of your time at law school (so slightly above the curve at most schools), you'll still barely get over a 3.0 gpa (~3.03). You really should consider your options, including dropping out, getting a paralegal job for a few years, and then, if you think you still want to be a lawyer, try again at a new school.

[ran12]

Not to be a jerk but is this person even real? You have to essentially go out of your way to get a 1.8 and have schools already released all grades. I've been hearing it's taking a while.

[inneedofadvice2011]

Yes I'm real and grades have been released at my school. So has anybody ever challenged a grade? any advice?

[beach_terror]

edited out, thought this was a flame (sorry)

[plum]

jesus

[bgdddymtty]

Yes I'm real and grades have been released at my school. So has anybody ever challenged a grade? any advice?

Is it only one grade that dragged you down? Assuming that you have 12 graded credits (that is how they do first semester at most schools, no? At UVA, we have 15 graded + 1 (LRW) ungraded, but I'm told that's an anomaly), and one of your 4-credit grades was an F, that means that your average grade in the other 8 credits was a B- (2.7). So in your best-case mathematical scenario, you're either below median in your other classes, or severely below median in one of them.

Where I'm going with all of this is that a) I'm not sure what challenging one of your grades is supposed to accomplish since, even if successful, it still leaves you in a pretty bad position; and, b) a grade challenge in one class seems like a long shot if your other grades are crappy too.

[inneedofadvice2011]

Well I guess I knew what I had to do. Can't drop another 25K for the luxury of a dream...and I can't keep hoping its a mistake. Time to move on. Thanks for those of you who gave me advice. I appreciate it.

[Drake014]

Well I guess I knew what I had to do. Can't drop another 25K for the luxury of a dream...and I can't keep hoping its a mistake. Time to move on. Thanks for those of you who gave me advice. I appreciate it.

Why did you want to be a lawyer? I'm just curious

[dark]

Well I guess I knew what I had to do. Can't drop another 25K for the luxury of a dream...and I can't keep hoping its a mistake. Time to move on. Thanks for those of you who gave me advice. I appreciate it.

I'll just leave you with this.

It is absolutely possible to get a job as an attorney (and summer legal internships) that don't involve showing the potential employer your transcript (and therefore, grades). We're not talking on campus interviews and starting out in a large law firm or doing a high profile judicial clerkship or something, we're talking about relying on networking, making friends with attorneys, and leaning on those relationships, and also contacting small outfits, law firms that are starting up. Heck, some people, even from my T1 school, start their own law practices right out of law school! It is daunting, time consuming and difficult, but it is possible.

If you can make it through law school with a passing GPA, you get the same degree as everyone else. If you successfully pass the state bar exam, you are just as qualified to practice in that state as anyone else. Once you get your first job, no one cares about your GPA anymore. If you don't have grades that will get you onto a high rung on the ladder towards your dream job, just know that it's possible to work yourself to where you want to be from wherever you start after graduation.

In short: If you actually want to be a lawyer, things aren't impossible for you from here on out. If you want to start out with a plumb job making 6 figures, that's clearly more difficult at this point.