Poor grades in first and second year

[Megjackson]

At the beginning of my undergraduate degree, I did not plan on going to law school, i switched from an associates degree at one college to an undergraduate degree at a university once I decided to go. 

In my first 2 years I was just barely surviving my classes because my sister moved in with her 4 kids so I took on alot of that burden of helping her, then she injured her back so I basically raised the kids in my second year. Because of that my overall GPA is pretty low  (2.93) because my focus was on just passing early on. My more recent semesters my GPA sits at around 3.83 but my earlier semesters were around 2.67. 

 

Will this hurt my chances of being accepted into a law school? 

[Lawstudents20202020]

42 minutes ago, Megjackson said:

At the beginning of my undergraduate degree, I did not plan on going to law school, i switched from an associates degree at one college to an undergraduate degree at a university once I decided to go. 

In my first 2 years I was just barely surviving my classes because my sister moved in with her 4 kids so I took on alot of that burden of helping her, then she injured her back so I basically raised the kids in my second year. Because of that my overall GPA is pretty low  (2.93) because my focus was on just passing early on. My more recent semesters my GPA sits at around 3.83 but my earlier semesters were around 2.67. 

 

Will this hurt my chances of being accepted into a law school? 

Depends on the school. Some schools will knock off a couple bad classes, some will only look at your last 2 or 3 years. 

So yea, if you want U of T or UBC it's not great, places like UofA and UofC it shouldn't be an issue. 

[aurora borealis]

There are some schools (Queen's for example) who look at your best two years of your undergraduate degree and some (Western) who look at your last two years. Assuming your GPA numbers are accurate as per OLSAS (and if not go calculate it - it usually ends up being a lower number than most people expect) your L2/B2 of 3.83 should be competitive.

Your major role in helping your sister is also something you can choose to mention in your personal statement to address why your grades were low.

[Megjackson]

30 minutes ago, aurora borealis said:

 

Your major role in helping your sister is also something you can choose to mention in your personal statement to address why your grades were low.

Yes, I'm hoping to work that into my personal statement. 

 

Thank you for your input 

41 minutes ago, Lawstudents20202020 said:

Depends on the school. Some schools will knock off a couple bad classes, some will only look at your last 2 or 3 years. 

So yea, if you want U of T or UBC it's not great, places like UofA and UofC it shouldn't be an issue. 

Yeah I'm planning on applying to the places that do B2/L2. I believe TRU looks at last 20 courses? 

 

Also, yes, I've already accepted that UBC and U of T won't happen for me now. 

[Lawstudents20202020]

10 minutes ago, Megjackson said:

Yeah I'm planning on applying to the places that do B2/L2. I believe TRU looks at last 20 courses

I have heard both last 20 and last 30. I believe @canuckfanatic had a role in admissions and if they're still kicking around here might have a more informed answer. 

Edited August 24, 2022 by Lawstudents20202020