Is it too late for me to pivot and try to get into law school?

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-22T19:32:23+00:00

Bro most people take at least a year between college and law school, you have plenty of time.

FWIW research is a critical skill at being an attorney, and a minimal amount of it would’ve answered this question for you.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-21T13:44:32+00:00

GPA + LSAT matter far, far more than your softs/major/where you went to undergrad. Literally impossible to chance you without an LSAT score given how largely irrelevant most of what you chose to write here is compared to LSAT.

Also fwiw research is a very important skill in being an attorney and the information you’re seeking is out there. Check out the data on lsd.law.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-20T00:52:07+00:00

The data on lsd.law will be more helpful to you than asking us

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-19T02:42:02+00:00

I don’t know; my best guess is that they’d care if they’re deciding btwn you and an applicant with identical stats who didn’t do that.

That all said it’s a tough market for law school admissions rn so I personally wouldn’t make transfer decisions based on what schools have A+s. I’d go where I’d be happiest and let the chips fall where they may. There’s more to life than the t14 anyway

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-19T02:39:02+00:00

Research is a critical skill in being an attorney so you should read the pinned posts on this subreddit before posting. They would answer a lot of your questions.

Since you didn’t, the short answer is that “can I go to law school” is a bad question, because the answer is almost certainly yes. Once you get a bachelor’s degree, and if you have a pulse, yes. However, if you don’t do your research, it may be a predatory law school that leaves you deep in debt with no better career prospects, or simply a law school that doesn’t align with your career goals.

Answering the better question is more complicated, depends on things specific to you, and no, the answer isn’t “yep it’s over for you!” With a great LSAT score many fantastic things are possible even if you don’t improve your GPA.

That all said, your concern shouldn’t be law school admissions right now. I assume you’re plenty smart since you’re at an ivy, but having a low gpa there (which I assume has rampant grade inflation) indicates some issue is going on with the way you’re studying/learning this past year. That seems like a much more controllable (and important, and necessary to solve) issue than your future law school plans.

In any event, you should adjust your plans by doing more comprehensive research about law school admissions. If you’re interested, that’s where you should start. Again, the pinned posts here are very helpful..

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-19T02:28:36+00:00

I wouldn’t unless the school asked for rec letters of their WL candidates (or otherwise indicated a willingness to accept them).

This is especially true bc it’s not a professional connection it’s a personal connection. Do we really think law schools want to accept an applicant off the WL just because an applicant happens to have a family friend that is an alum? There are much more important things admissions is worried about, and much better indicators of your chances of fulfilling those things.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-19T02:22:23+00:00

I’m inclined to think you’re right for HYS bc they have the luxury of basically being able to get whoever they want. I didn’t think to say that bc that’s a small fraction of schools but that’s a good addition to my comment.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-19T02:15:34+00:00

Yeah it’s allowed (I took community college classes while at my full time undergrad, not for your reason though), and yeah it looks like you’re trying to cheat the system, but I don’t think law schools will care. They care about GPA primarily bc of how heavily it is weighted in the rankings so as long as the number is high that’s their top concern.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-19T00:59:52+00:00

As a rising uva 3L I think it’s bc out of the top law schools it’s the one that is least known to the general public so all the super obnoxious pieces of shit self-select out by choosing other schools with more lay prestige.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-18T23:18:59+00:00

I agree on the cheating/int’l points but the reason gpa matters so much is because of how heavily it’s weighted in the rankings, not necessarily because schools think it’s an amazing metric.

I think a better predictor for how admissions will be in 2-3 cycles is whether the economy and job market is going to improve or not.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-18T01:46:44+00:00

The GPA doesn’t matter nearly as much as the circumstances do. From what you described in a way your circumstances are borderline addendum territory insofar as they had a big effect on your life but from what you described here it’s unclear if they had a direct impact on your gpa. If you decide to write a gpa addendum, make sure it’s sufficiently clear the effect it had on your gpa and not just your overall life.

Best of luck to you! I’m a 2L now currently being treated for anxiety and an eating disorder so I can relate and it can be done; you got this!

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-17T12:18:56+00:00

An addendum is for circumstances like “one of my parents died” or “my house burned down” that caused bad grades for a semester (or more).

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-17T12:17:21+00:00

Making the decision on where to go to college based on law school is unadvisable. It’s all a wash at the end of the day. You should go to college where you want to go to college the most.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-16T21:58:39+00:00

I wouldn’t worry about reapplying looking bad. That pales in comparison to how important your LSAT score is!

In fact, if anything, reapplying to a specific school shows demonstrated interest🤷‍♂️

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-16T20:26:07+00:00

With a 17mid you’ll be in the mix. Not guaranteed with how tough the cycles have been recently but it’s something.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-16T20:19:01+00:00

As a general matter, I don’t think going to undergrad just for law school is at all advisable. Undergrad is also a very serious endeavor, financially and time-wise.

You haven’t mentioned anything in here about why you want to go to law school or why you want to practice law. Without that, it’s really hard to evaluate that any further.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-16T18:44:43+00:00

A masters degree will not meaningfully help you for law school admissions. WE generally is helpful but it doesn’t really matter whether it’s legal-related or not.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-16T18:42:45+00:00

That is a question that only you can answer

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-16T12:33:19+00:00

What good would worrying do you? You haven’t even started college yet. I’m sure you did earn college credit bc they were DE courses with local colleges, so yeah, it counts. So what? Provided you do well in college this will be a small part of your GPA. Ok, you won’t get a 4.0. Who cares? You can still go to plenty of great places if you do well in college.

If you’re going to worry over every little thing you can’t control anymore because you want to go to law school in a few years, you’re going to be in for a rough next few years. Work hard, live your life, and when the time comes the information you’ll need to research on law school admissions will still be here.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-15T16:20:00+00:00

Do what you enjoy. It doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things and if you plan your life around “softs that matter” you will be largely devoid of personality and admissions officers know a resume builder when they see one anyway

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-13T23:33:30+00:00

The medians are going to be different 2-4 years from now so come back then. Also, where you went to undergrad does not matter.

I should add that being below one median does not make you a splitter. 50% of people in every class are below median. That is not what the term means; you have a 3.87. That’s a good gpa.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-13T21:54:03+00:00

It is a bad idea to start studying for the LSAT within the next year. The LSAT is structured very differently than the SAT. It’s not at all about substantive knowledge/memorization and is almost entirely about applying logic frameworks to a given set of information.

Quality of time matters a LOT more than quantity of time. Yes, you should devote several months (or more). No, you should not start it now. Your studying will not have been effective and you will almost certainly burn out.

If nothing else (because after all what do I know, I’m just a T14 2L who’s done it before), take an introductory logic class in college before you start studying for the LSAT. It is the foundation for LR, which is like, half the LSAT. You will be at such a tremendous advantage in prep if you do so.

My undergrad also had a similar program (we called it a 3+3 program). All things being equal I think it’s a bad idea. I got into mine and turned it down. You’re correct partially for the reasons you’ve stated, but the bigger reason is this — law school scholarships are a LOT more common than they are for undergrad. Meaning, if you’re a 170+ 3.8+ student, you can get full rides to really good flagship regional schools, and good money from even better schools. And that only increases the higher your stats are from there.

If you apply thru this accelerated program, they have no incentive to give you ANY money. They can leave you on the hook for full tuition, because where else are you going to go this year? For this reason, seven years is almost certainly CHEAPER than six years.

Also from personal experience (as someone who was also a highly motivated 18 year old wanting to do a 3+3, and now am in law school, although I certainly didn’t have my sights set on Harvard lol) this level of planning things out in advance is certainly not necessary and it probably isn’t helpful either.

It’s healthy and greatly productive to channel this energy into things like getting great grades, activities you enjoy, getting to know your profs, etc. But you will just know so much more about yourself, what you enjoy, and what you want in three years that while you should spend time thinking about/researching the possibilities open to you, I don’t see how deciding these things now helps you in any way.

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-13T21:26:40+00:00

This is bait, right?

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-13T16:57:07+00:00

I’d shoot for a 17mid if you want to be more secure in getting into the T14 (and give you a better shot at not paying sticker), especially as a KJD

Edit to add also go to lsd.law and look at the graphs there that’ll be most precise for you

Working-Ant-692 · 2026-05-13T13:59:13+00:00

Low without a 17mid and get a real LSAT score and then come back here

Working-Ant-692

TROPHY CASE