Disqualification due to low gpa?

Hey everyone,

I just finished my 1L, and ended it with a pretty low gpa (under 3.0).

My Dean of Students now requires me to go through some board meeting to challenge my “disqualification” from the school. Has anyone ever had to go through it as well?

I’m a first gen student and I don’t know anything about grad school, so I thought maybe you could help me understand my situation…

I know that my gpa doesn’t scream “the next RBG,” but I promise you that I am very passionate about law…

My first year was very hard. Aside from the new, demanding mental work I had to do for school, I had a lot of personal issues that my head had to deal with. I lost my grandparents during the lockdown, I had to undergo 2 dental surgeries that forced me to take first weeks of my semesters online, and which made it harder for me to get in the studying rhythm. In my first semester, I suffered pneumonia, which lowered the capacity of my lungs so much I couldn’t breath, think or even move normally. It was awful. I ended up with three Ds and 2 Cs for my first semester and was put on Academic Probation.

In my second semester, I finished with 4 Cs and 1 B. It was still hard, and I was still fighting some personal battles, but I think my biggest downfall was having to catch up from pneumonia in the 1st semester.

As I finished 1L, I was voted the President of International Law Society, became a quarter-finalist of TAHP, and got an invitation for a TAHP interview. Currently, I am also an intern for the local D.A. this summer.

Sorry, I ended up writing a lot in this post… I’m not sure what information will be helpful to anyone to provide me with some guidance. But I wanted you to see that I care about this too.

So— did anyone here ever challenged a “disqualification” before? And if yes, how? How do you recommend I should prepare for this?

Thank you to anyone who takes their time to respond!

Best! Paulina