r/LawSchoolOver30

Mid 30s here, corporate job, always did well in school and consider myself quite capable. Also have a chronic health condition that causes brain fog and fatigue as well as adhd. Have accommodations approved for test.

My highest pt is a 168 but recently I’ve been getting low 60s. I’ve read the loophole, the power score books, lsat trainer. I’ve used lsat demon and lsat lab. Didn’t really like 7sage.

I have been stuck in the 160s for like a year. I started studying last August, took two tests last fall and got a 158 and 159 which were below my 165 average pt.

I’m scheduled for sept and October tests and I don’t know what to do. My plan is to review my wrong answers and try to make sense of where I’m going wrong. Something just isn’t clicking. But I have an understanding of the concepts. Usually I’m down to two answers and pick the wrong one because I don’t understand why the other one is right.

I had a tutor and it was a waste of money. If anyone has any suggestions of things that worked for them I’m all ears. I need a high score because my gpa from 2011 is low and I want to get into t50 school. I was waitlisted last cycle from a t30 so I know it’s possible if I can get my score up. 🙏

Bonjour à toustes,

Je cherche des témoignages de personnes qui seraient devenues juristes ou avocat.es en reprenant des etudes de droit dans la trentaine.

Comment ça s’est passé ?

Pourquoi l’avez vous fait ?

Quel a été votre parcours ?

I graduated 10 years ago from a T20 school as a math major with a 3.3 gpa (yes math was hard but I also fucked around.)

I’ve worked in corporate the last decade and hate not impactful or client facing work.

I realized about 5 years ago my dream job is a psychologist (and fits very well with my personality) but the income for therapists is insanely low (I’m first gen want to take care of my family husband not rich). I keep reading about family lawyers having to act as therapists and I feel like I would really enjoy the critical thinking aspect.

1. Would I have any chance at a decent NYC law school (Fordham/ cordozo) if I applied in a few years with a killer LSAT?
2. Would quitting my job as a PM to work as a paralegal for a year be helpful (relevancy + rec)?
3. Would getting an MSW (CUNY so it would be inexpensive but lost wages) first to boost my gpa get some relevant research experience and recs be helpful?

TYSMIA!

Hello! the past month i’ve had multiple doubts about my career path.

I enjoy law a lot, but i cannot stand the idea of reading contracts and cases all day, i used to love reading but now it’s like i lost the craving of it because of all the thing that i have to read for college.

I don’t want to study something else if im completely honest, but i would want to work in a different space that it’s not related to it (i know, maybe not the best idea) i enjoy numbers a lot and finance it’s something that i’ve started considering.

Especially because i enjoy traveling a lot and i would love to live in other countries, something that law would not allow me to unless i pass the bar (or specific exam to litigate law, depending on the country).

So i’m here to ask for some advice that i would appreciate very much.

1- Is it possible to work in finance without a degree?
2- Any recommendations of a specific route?

I can’t lie i do care about the money aspect of it and it is something that does play a big part in my decision, so that’s why i’m doing my research before investing and learning about it.

Long story short, I was a great student in high school but my GPA suffered in college as a result of getting sick for a couple semesters (it took a year and a half to get a diagnosis and treatment).

My LSAC gpa with my college courses that I took while I was in high school is a 3.0. Without them, my LSAC GPA is 2.67.

I just recently decided I wanted to go to law school, and just started studying for the LSAT. I think I can break into the 170s with some further studying, but probably won’t be able to do so until January based on my study plan.

I work full time, and have around ten years of experience as a paralegal since graduating. Because I am currently working full time, my study time is more limited than I would like it to be.

So, what is everyone’s opinion? Apply in the Spring with a higher LSAC gpa, or wait for the next cycle and apply with a lower GPA?

No, this isn’t satire like some of the other posts I’ve see recently. I wish it was.

Allegedly…

I have great work experience within the niche legal industry, for multiple years, and decide I want a JD for whatever reason.

I obtained a high LSAT score (170)

I got two great recommendations from respected government lawyers who know me and my work well.

The kicker, I have a CS degree with bad sub 3 GPA from a mid-tier state school university school

How much is this going to affect me in law school admissions and is putting too much emphasis on proven experience naive?

(If you aren’t in law school or beyond, please do not respond).

Thanks in advance for anything useful.

I'm feeling really insecure about this. I've worked at public libraries since 2011, but mostly as a shelver, with five years working in customer service. The actual work is a lot of sorting/shelving carts, emptying bins, taking fine payments, helping people print and fax stuff, filling displays/cleaning up, and setting up accounts.

Does this even count as the type of work experience that's useful for law school applications? It feels stagnant being in my 30s without any leadership/committee roles, office experience, or anything. Will it be a point against me?

Aiming for my local school as my top choice and online hybrid programs like JDInteractive.

Hi, has anyone gotten off the waitlist from Scalia? Or has anyone called to know the status of incoming class?

I have been a teacher for 3 years and a texas resident for all 25 years of my life. I’d prefer to stay in Texas for law school, or the south as a whole. I did poorly in undergrad due to undiagnosed bipolar which was caught and handled by junior year. Overall GPA is 3.34 but got Dean’s List for the last 5 semesters. I have a Master’s degree, to which I graduated with a 4.0.

GPA: 3.34
LSAT: 174 (i only did a week of prep, will probs retake)
INVOLVEMENTS: multiple sorority offices, academically published paper, teacher for 3 going on 4 years, district related educator award

What are my targets/reaches/etc. ? New to this all

Edited for typos!!

I’m 30 years old applying to law school for the first time and honestly feeling a little discouraged right now. I had some struggles in undergrad and graduated with a 2.76 cumulative. A huge part of this was a traumatic experience in my first week (SA). I already had very little sense of direction at that point, so I just kind of shut down and did not care about my course work at all my first year.

I started to turn things around during my sophomore year. If you look at all the classes for my 2 majors, I received all As and a few Bs. When it came to classes I took to fulfill requirements or placate parents (before I declared), it’s clear that’s where I struggled. It’s not an excuse, but I now know a lot of that was my undiagnosed ADHD. I could lock in on the stuff I was interested in but just could not get it together for something like Calc II.

I’m now diagnosed (but unmedicated) and have MUCH better skills for working with my ADHD. I’ve had a successful career that includes upward progression and leadership roles, albeit not law related. So I can show that this particular issue won’t come up again in law school.

I’m working on getting my application materials together. I’m definitely going to include a GPA addendum for obvious reasons. But I’m trying to figure out which side(s?) of the story to tell. Do I mention the first year trauma? Or skim over that and talk about ADHD and how I’ve overcome it?

My main goal is to avoid coming across as a whiner. That’s not me. I only want to explain briefly what happened and that it’s absolutely not representative of who I am and what kind of student I can be today. Thoughts?

Hello! I have a degree in a healthcare science of which I achieved a 2:1. I am now wanting to change my career to law and have been looking at training contracts. I’m unsure how likely this would be to secure one with a non law degree. I am also 30- so wondering if there is any advice from anyone please?

Should I pay for my SQE myself? Law conversion course? (Although I’ve read this is not necessary). Thanks!

34 M, I am working professional with 11 years corporate experience in finance. I am going through divorce and as a result have moved back to Delhi with my parents from Mumbai. My dad is a tax lawyer, and has his own practice. He is 61 years old, and is doing well for himself.

Working from Delhi in my current job is not possible and I don’t want to move back to Mumbai because of all the trauma. I will need to leave my job. I am using this opportunity to pivot my career, and have decided to do law and join my dad, learn in his practice and eventually take over and grow it.

I have not given any entrances, and as 2026 academic year has begin, I might get a chance to join Amity Noida 3 year LLB program based on my profile and master’s degree.

I want to know guys please:

Should I drop year and try for more prestigious law colleges next year. I can’t leave Delhi NCR. It needs to be around. As I will work with dad within these 3 years as well.

Or should I join Amity law. Fees is not a concern. Placements is not a concern.

I only want to learn, make good contacts and get good practical experience.

Not joining Jindal because I can’t travel to Sonipat daily and can’t take a hostel as I need to stay with family.

Please guide. It’s very serious.

I work at a civil defense firm currently that mostly does insurance defense with a few other types of law. I really want to practice water law but there’s only one attorney there that does water law and he’s probably going to retire within the next few years. Additionally he only has one or two water law cases at a time so any experience I would get would be fairly limited. This firm is offering me a pretty good package and are very mentorship focused which I appreciate. I just worry that if I don’t do water law out of Law School I won’t be as employable in the field if I am doing limited work. They have told me that all they need is two or three years from me to make employing me make sense with training which I think is fair I just don’t know if this is the right path for me if I want to specialize in water law. Any advice would be very helpful!

starting class in two weeks and my insurance from my full time job lapsed last week. I've been trying to apply for the state insurance all week, except I'm coming from out of state which is making it a bit extra complicated.... when it's already extremely complicated.....:) anyone have any positive experiences accessing health insurance as a law student over 30 when the school doesn't offer it?

I am $120k in debt, and I’m not even 30 yet. The biggest heartbreak of my life happened last year, when I was academically dismissed from law school. I wish I had not been dismissed, but I can’t do anything about that now. I am rethinking my entire career path. Not sure if this is giving up or being realistic, but my only option is to attend TJSL (non-accredited) and get into more debt. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer, but I think I mainly want to advocate for and help communities in need. If anyone knows of well-paying legal, nonprofit, or political places in LA that may be hiring, let me know.

Hey everyone! I’m a part-time student who’s approaching her 4th year in law school and expecting to graduate in 2027. Throughout my entire journey in law school I’ve worked in the same non-legal position I’ve held since 2018 as they allowed me to work from home even when I moved out of state for school.

During my second and third year I struggled with some health issues including recurrent bartholin cysts to the point I couldn’t even wear pants or sit for too long (sitting down for a two hour class was hell), so unfortunately I had to focus on my health and schoolwork.

Looking back, I wish I could’ve participated in more extracurriculars, went out for more mixers and even taken a summer associate position, but at the same time, it was just too much at the same time (I even had to start therapy)

Now I’ve applied for what feels like a million clerkships and paralegal positions and I haven’t gotten a single offer. I can’t help but feel like not being more active in my first three years is catching up to me. I also can’t help but feel like it’s only going downhill from here.

Any advice on how to maximize networking opportunities and extracurriculars in my last law school year? I’d also appreciate any advice for someone who wants to find mainly transactional work in health law.

I don't think I'll make my target score, but aside from that I'm feeling pretty good. I only had a month and a bit to prepare, and working full time it was a bit of a challenge to find time especially for the full tests, but once I understood the test format honestly it became kind of fun (famous last words lol). I'm also in a way glad that I don't think I'll hit my target score because I just paid for my CAS and emailed my recommenders ANYWAY.

Anyone else in the August session here?

Hi all, I’m (37) at the very start of my journey in formal education on law (I’m a lawnerd but that doesn’t count towards credits lol) and I’m looking at all the different requirements and advice on applying and admissions. I have a few questions for others here who maybe navigated these themselves.

I keep reading that I should apply broadly to multiple law schools but there are only 2 law schools local to me. I have a family and roots here in the state that I am in so moving to go to a law school out of state would have a very very slim possibility of reality. Is this recommendation mostly out of seeing where admissions might happen and give leverage for scholarships and such? Are hybrid or online programs more common than what I’m seeing? I really don’t want to do online but would be much more open to hybrid which is what one of the schools near me offers.

I’m also wondering what others have done for work leading up to starting law school. I have a professional license in mental health counseling and between jobs right now so I don’t necessarily want to commit to a therapy job knowing that there would hopefully be an end date with the start of school. Were you able to find a law-adjacent job leading up to the start of school? I’m looking at legal assistant type jobs to get my toes wet but there isn’t much in my area.

Thanks in advance for sharing any of your own experiences and advice!