Came Back After Dismissal and Now Will be Graduating
This is for informational purposes.
I am currently a 3L and can't wait to be done. I was dismissed my first year after my grades sucked. I truly had no idea what I was doing and it was right after Covid so everything with my first 1L sucked and was strange. Mentally and physically I was just not prepared for law school and had no one to ask how to prepare. Getting dismissed felt like the worst thing ever. Embarrassment, unworthiness and depression were the most prevelant feelings at the time. But I was able to get through it and how I will be graduating after redoing my 1L all over again (yes it was terrible).
The reason I am posting this is because most people who deal with this have no clue what to do or how to feel. I felt scared and all alone. But now I apparently made it my goal to help people to figure out what to do or how to handle this situation without being alone. I have so far advised multiple people and they are doing pretty good. I got good reviews so far lol.
General advice I can give:
- You will be okay no matter what just keep moving no matter how hard it gets. This works whether you are dismissed or not.
- Do not keep important shit in your school email because you can end up losing all the docs, contacts, and work.
- If you are dismissed no matter how much it sucks, make sure you contact your school's administration about next steps. Most schools have appeals processes but it's hard to find what exactly they want you to do. Mine had a process where a tenured prof had to bring your case to the committee and none of my professors were willing to do it. But the only reason I found out about the appeals process was because I contacted a student I knew who got dismissed. None of the professors I contacted prior to that actually told me about the process. People in administration usually are very responsive and helpful so they can help you when you have no one else. Also if they are not responsive continue contacting the school until you get someone who can get you answers. Being relentless is important here.
I would like to mention that just because appeal exists does not mean it will be granted. I had a friend who got an appeal but the committee did not let them continue.
- After dismissal you will have to figure out what to do next. You can pursue another path but you can always go back to school. It is a hard decision but just because this happens does not mean your life is over even if it feels like that.
- GET A LEGAL JOB! This will be the most helpful thing if you want to go back to school. There are two ways you can come back. Either you apply to a new school or reapply from the one you got kicked from. I went back to the same school because I did not want to wait the 2 years to reapply fresh to another school and LSAC wasn’t that great and I REALLY did not want to retake the LSAC. (also that was the requirements I had to deal with. Does not mean that the standard).
The purpose of the legal job is that it will help you mostly for reapplication no matter where you go because it shows dedication to the legal profession. It's hard to find work but you can always apply to internships in court if money is not too much of an issue but small law firms work too.
- One thing these schools want to see with readmission is that the things that caused you to be dismissed will not affect you when you go back to school. So identify issues that caused you problems. Mine was legal writing cause my english sucked and also I had no clue what I was doing so when I got dismissed I took a course specifically for legal writing. So when I had to tell them (in my personal statement and interview) what issues caused my dismissal and what I do to fix them I had something to show. Even if the issues included factors outside of your control you have to show that you won't have the same problems.
- Also most of the time they want to hear about things that can actually be fixed or that those issues won't be something you will have to deal with again. Also blaming the school won’t be helpful no matter how much they suck. I had to be a kiss ass when I had my interview and worked out for me lol.
Honestly, the best thing you can do in your first semester is to completely focus on your studying. Orgs and extracurriculars are nice but they won’t help you if you can’t continue being in the school. Classes are your first priority.
Last advice I can give anyone: Don’t listen to other people’s opinion about your situation. There will be bad actors or people with bad opinions but they dont live your life so don’t let them be the judge of your life. You will be okay