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I did something similar and not once has anyone pushed back or even mentioned it. Most know it’s a financial decision and I’ve never felt judged for it.
I spent 4 years at a community college. I make over $500k now. No one has ever asked about the community college. It’s a long road and you may end up being interested in something else. Stay focused and don’t give up.
No, it shows your drive and dedication to improvement and achieving goals. It won’t look bad to the good schools and employers, it will be seen as a good thing.
Undergrad reputation / status doesn’t really matter in my opinion.
I’ve never worked in admissions, but I know law schools look at GPA and LSAT score. It’s nearly impossible to compare GPAs from school to school. Compound that with your choice of major, it becomes nearly impossible to compare GPAs (e.g., how do you quantify the difference between a math major with a 4.0 at a state school vs. a liberal arts major with a 3.0 from an Ivy?).
I played baseball at an SEC school in undergrad and had a 4.0 in Econ. I did very well on the LSAT and was admitted to multiple t14 schools. Ultimately, I took a full ride from a top 20 law school.
All that said, if you focus on keeping your GPA high and work your ass off to kill the LSAT, you’ll be fine.
From a hiring perspective, I’ve worked at 3 v20 firms and have never been questioned negatively in an interview about my undergrad school, nor have I ever cared about a prospective attorney’s undergrad.
A few caveats from my time in big law: (1) there are some elitist attorneys out there (shockingly) that may view it negatively, but this is very rare in my experience and (2) attending the same school that your interviewer went to may make interviews easier bc it provides an easy talking point. In general though, neither should be a hurdle if you do well in law school.
One other thing I’ve noticed personally and heard anecdotally from colleagues / classmates — small law firms tend to care much more about geography and local ties than big law does. For example, I applied for jobs in Boston because my law school girlfriend had a job secured there. I’m not from Boston and didn’t attend undergrad or law school in Boston. I interviewed at a mid-sized firm (where every attorney seemed to have attended Boston college or BU) and the question “why do you want to work in boston?” repeatedly came up in almost every interview at that firm. The same week, I interviewed at Ropes & Gray in Boston and the geography question never came up. Ropes offered me a job; the mid-sized firm didn’t. Ultimately, I ended up in NY.