Some help please Forum

Not sure where your numbers will get you? Dying to know where you stand? Come have your palms read by your fellow posters!
Post Reply
Gsec

New
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2018 6:16 pm

Some help please

Post by Gsec » Wed Jun 27, 2018 10:16 pm

Hello,

I have a few questions that I hope this board could help me with. I have been a lurker on this board for a little while just reading and searching, so I figured this would be a good time to register and ask my questions.

Little back story first, I am 39 years old, I graduated college back in 2007 when I was 28 with a BA in social Science with a history concentration, my gpa is 3.26 my freshman year was not great, but my 3rd semester through 8th was very good, my gpa ranged from 3.2-4.0. My plan at the time was to go to law school I was doing great on practice tests hitting in 160’s I was pretty sure I was capabale of getting the coveted 170.

The problem at the time was to make a long story short I had 2 major accidents in 2008 that left me in really bad shape I still to this day still have permanent damage from those accidents. I have spent the last 10 years on disability, doing-rehab and struggled with depression, but recently for the last year or so I have been feeling a bit better depression is gone for a while my body still hurts, but very manageable and I have been feeling motivated to maybe pick-up where I had left off. Now my questions.

How would law schools view me as someone that has or is still disabled? I have not worked, I don’t know if my professors are still around to write me any recommendation letters all I know is I believe with proper prep I can still hit high 160’s or even maybe the 170.

I am in the Cleveland area I am sure there’s a test masters or powerscore around to do some prep

Any feedback would be appreciated

Synapse2018

New
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:33 am

Re: Some help please

Post by Synapse2018 » Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:24 am

I'm a 0L in somewhat of a similar position. I came down with a severe disability during junior-ish year of college. I tried to work through it but had a rough couple of semesters. I did manage to graduate with a 3.66 though, so my GPA was a bit higher than yours.

From the people I've spoken to, it completely comes down to the admissions officer. If you use your personal statement to show how you've overcome your disability and why having that disability has actually prepared you to do legal work (think overcoming obstacles that others can't imagine), it might help your application. On the other hand, if you get a stereotypical admissions officer reading your application, they are going to question whether or not you can do the work at the same rate as able-bodied (hate to use that term) students and they may reject you. Keep in mind, a disabled student requires more resources from the university which means more $$ and that could be an issue for admissions.

There isn't much advice out there for people in situations like ours. It's a complete crapshoot apparently. My goal is to land high 160's/low 170's on the Nov LSAT. For the t14 I am applying to, it's really going to be hit or miss. Some may give a boost for overcoming the disability and some may still be extremely focused on the LSAT and GPA. My advice would be to apply to a wider range of schools than someone without disabilities would to keep the option opened.

I hope someone with more experience can chime in.

Post Reply

Return to “What are my chances?”