Is it realistic to pursue law with a low cGPA?

[slint]

I am currently an undergraduate student taking 5 years to finish. My first three years are honestly a mess - poor grades while also taking courses part-time due to a lack of motivation. I realize that is no excuse, but supposing I take a full-time course load for the next two years and get straight As, is it reasonable to pursue law? I realize that it's hard to say and that admissions are exceptionally tough nowadays, but I'd really appreciate any perspective. 

For context, I also have no extracurricular involvement in the past three years. Again, no excuse for it, just was an unmotivated student trying to get through with minimal effort. 

 

[Diplock]

Is it reasonable to believe if you turn into a totally different person than you have been, to this point in time, that you might aspire to a totally different outcome than you are currently heading towards? Sure it is. But that's essentially only saying the same thing as "if I spend the next two years eating properly, exercising regularly, and treating my body like a temple is it reasonable to imagine I'll then be in great shape, which I'm currently not?" Of course it is. The issue here is how much you are loading into the "if."

It's a ridiculous exercise to try to draw a line to describe exactly how far away you are from law school and how much you'd need to recover by to be a realistic applicant. Can you do that in the next two years? Maybe, at some schools. But that isn't the point. You could fail out of your undergrad and be working at a coffee shop and still be a realistic candidate to eventually apply to law school, after doing enough things in between now and then to turn things around. You could be in jail. People have done it. Whether you'll ever be one of them is the operative question.

Don't seek assurances that if you stop fucking around, right now, you'll realize your dreams in exactly X amount of time, after doing all these hypothetical things you've never even demonstrated the ability to do. Stop fucking around now, because you should stop fucking around, and start doing the work to turn your life around. Then in a couple of years, see where you stand. Whether you're in a position to attend law school or not, at that point in time, you'll at least be a lot better off than you are right now.

Good luck.

[Dnian]

How poor is "poor"? This is very important. Applying with a 3.2 GPA versus with a 2.8 GPA can make a huge, huge difference.

The average GPA of a Windsor admit is 3.1 - so if you are slightly below or around that and can pull a 155 on the LSAT (~64th percentile, which is their average score), you would stand a decent chance of getting in if you can buff up your resume in the next year with some good final year grades and ECs.  

At Lincoln Alexander [TMU's law school], they take your best 20 classes to calculate your GPA. That works in your favour if you are serious about getting your shit together. They do not publish an official minimum or average GPA, but I have seen online sources that they previously published a 3.0 as their minimum cutoff. 

These two law schools are probably your best chance, but with a 155 and your GPA, your odds are still very much a tossup. But now imagine you ace your final year classes and score a 165 (about the ~90th percentile). You would have a much better chance at both these schools, and perhaps even a reaching chance at schools like TRU or Lakehead.

Good luck.

[doggoford]

I got into multiple law schools with a 3.2 GPA so it is possible. My strategy was to get as high of an LSAT score as I can and it worked. Wish you the best of luck.

[slint]

31 minutes ago, Diplock said:

Is it reasonable to believe if you turn into a totally different person than you have been, to this point in time, that you might aspire to a totally different outcome than you are currently heading towards? Sure it is. But that's essentially only saying the same thing as "if I spend the next two years eating properly, exercising regularly, and treating my body like a temple is it reasonable to imagine I'll then be in great shape, which I'm currently not?" Of course it is. The issue here is how much you are loading into the "if."

It's a ridiculous exercise to try to draw a line to describe exactly how far away you are from law school and how much you'd need to recover by to be a realistic applicant. Can you do that in the next two years? Maybe, at some schools. But that isn't the point. You could fail out of your undergrad and be working at a coffee shop and still be a realistic candidate to eventually apply to law school, after doing enough things in between now and then to turn things around. You could be in jail. People have done it. Whether you'll ever be one of them is the operative question.

Don't seek assurances that if you stop fucking around, right now, you'll realize your dreams in exactly X amount of time, after doing all these hypothetical things you've never even demonstrated the ability to do. Stop fucking around now, because you should stop fucking around, and start doing the work to turn your life around. Then in a couple of years, see where you stand. Whether you're in a position to attend law school or not, at that point in time, you'll at least be a lot better off than you are right now.

Good luck.

I appreciate your help, thank you. 

13 minutes ago, Dnian said:

How poor is "poor"? This is very important. Applying with a 3.2 GPA versus with a 2.8 GPA can make a huge, huge difference.

The average GPA of a Windsor admit is 3.1 - so if you are slightly below or around that and can pull a 155 on the LSAT (~64th percentile, which is their average score), you would stand a decent chance of getting in if you can buff up your resume in the next year with some good final year grades and ECs.  

At Lincoln Alexander [TMU's law school], they take your best 20 classes to calculate your GPA. That works in your favour if you are serious about getting your shit together. They do not publish an official minimum or average GPA, but I have seen online sources that they previously published a 3.0 as their minimum cutoff. 

These two law schools are probably your best chance, but with a 155 and your GPA, your odds are still very much a tossup. But now imagine you ace your final year classes and score a 165 (about the ~90th percentile). You would have a much better chance at both these schools, and perhaps even a reaching chance at schools like TRU or Lakehead.

Good luck.

Assuming the next two years go well for me, according to my OLSAS calculation, my cGPA should be around a 3.25. Thank you for your help!

6 minutes ago, doggoford said:

I got into multiple law schools with a 3.2 GPA so it is possible. My strategy was to get as high of an LSAT score as I can and it worked. Wish you the best of luck.

Thanks so much!

[Law nerd 221]

I did get into law school, graduated and practicing now with a 2.8 gpa and a masters degree (3.9 gpa in my masters)... anything is possible. Don't be discouraged! 

[Teejah]

I got into every school I applied to (all the schools in Western Canada) with a 2.7 GPA.

It's possible, but you should probably do a lot of work to turn it around. I think I had a 1.something GPA before being kicked out of uni. I went out into the workforce for some years and succeeded, picked up lots of volunteer work, went back to uni and got a 4.0 in my last 2 years. Then got a high LSAT score.

Your dreams of law school definitely aren't dashed, but you're going to have to start moving in a positive direction. Get amazing grades, start doing ECs, get a great LSAT score and apply broadly. You'll get there!