Academic Bankruptcy How will affect law school applications?

I have been a lurker here for years, but I may actually get started going back to school.


When I was at the University of Kentucky 15 years ago I caught mono right before finals. I received incompletes for that semester and started the new coursework and was supposed to finish. Alas life happened and I got married didn't withdraw properly and received an entire year of F's as the I's tutned into F's. I only had 12 hours of coursework before that at UK, but was 1/3 the way through a degree at Rollins College before transferring with a 3.46.

I am now almost 36 and haven't gone to school since then and would like to go back to school with a goal of going to law school or earning a Masters degree.

I am tempted to just pretend UK never happened, but I believe that omission would be easily found and not be something that I want to worry about at night. UK offers an academic bankruptcy option to wipe out the previous GPA:

Undergraduate students who have been readmitted through the usual channels after an interruption of two or more continuous years, and who have completed at least one semester or 12 hours with a GPA of 2.0 or
better, beginning with the semester of readmission, may choose to have none of their previous University course work counted toward graduation and in the computation of their GPAs. Enrollment for a semester, when terminated by a withdrawal before completion of the semester (grades all Ws), in the two years preceding readmission is not an interruption. Under this circumstance, a student cannot invoke the academic bankruptcy rule.

I see online courses that I can take now from UK at a distance that would allow me to use this opportunity. Would law schools still calculate these F's in the GPA? I am obviously not looking to go to top law school as really my only 2 choices are Ole Miss or Memphis.

Would you do 12 hours at UK online in this scenario or should I just proceed with a degree without using this option?

 

My option is to move on and explain in the Interview. Academic Bankruptcy is intended to give students a chance for a fresh start at that institution. You don't need it; you have a degree.

Furthermore, the Fs will still be on the transcript with a notation attached concerning the bankruptcy. Explain what happened, prep for the LSAT, and just be up front with it. You are not the first nor will you be the last with this type of issue. Good luck!

Shawn

 

When I was in my first semester of college, straight out of high school, my father suddenly died from a work-related accident. This happened in the last week of the semester during final exams. I was devastated and didn't go to any of my exams. The next semester I went right back to school since so many friends and relatives admonished me to "stay in school." Looking back now I probably should have taken some time off. Needless to say, my GPA took a major hit. I had a mix of B's and C's and yes, a couple of F's. I managed to finish Excelsior with a 3.2 GPA and went on to Regis to knock it out with a 3.9. Some of those bad grades were never recorded on my Excelsior transcript.

Fast-forward a couple of years. I now decide I want to go to law school. I spent a lot of time studying for the LSAT and learning the ins and outs of the application process.

Some may disagree with me but I think the law school application process is one of the most asinine things I've ever seen.

You must submit transcripts from all schools you've attended to an organization that re-computes a new GPA for you. They add in all of the bad grades. Grad school grades DON'T COUNT! It's undergraduate only. This organization then forwards the new "transcript" to all of the law schools you apply to. Your application to law school will not be considered complete without this new transcript.

Law schools base admissions primarily on two things: undergraduate GPA and the LSAT. Grad school may help somewhat as a qualitative factor in the decision but it's primarily undergrad GPA and LSAT. Law school rankings are largely derived by the caliber of students admitted based on these two factors, so the schools don't deviate much from this formula.

Realizing that my new GPA, as derived by this organization, would probably not even be a 3.0, I ended my pursuit of a law degree. A lot of high-quality potential law school candidates are undoubtedly knocked out of school due to this process.....most unfortunate.

 

Not having gone through one before I can't comment from personal experience, but based on your description, I have to agree. I guess I'm out of the running as well since I completely jacked up my GPA from my first few years at Penn State.

 

I wouldn't give up just yet. You may do very very well on the LSAT-- you may write an extremely compelling essay, you may request to have an interview at the law school prior to the decision making.

Heck even at Harvard if you look at the range of GPAs-- not everyone came in with a 3.9 or 4.0