Having read Will's post, I wanted to change how I answered so I don't sound so polar opposite. I agree with Will, and with your own judgment, that your GPA could be much higher. However, since you already know that and have stated as much that you're actively working on it, I don't think there's much advice to give about that. Before completely dumping (or trying to) your extracurricular load, I'd make a list of what's useful towards your graduate school application and what's not. There's no point in dropping everything, raising your GPA, then taking a break to start on all the stuff you dropped, then going to graduate school-- that's just wasting time.
Even if I'm going to be spending four year at law school (JD + LLM), I'm personally looking to do that as fast as I can, like Will is with his double major. That's why I skipped my senior year of HS and just went straight to college. Ultimately, I think the best thing would be for you to go straight to grad school (based on my law school and psychology graduate school experience), but the best way to know for sure would just be to email somebody in the admissions office of a school you're interested in. I've found that most of the time they're really nice about answering things like that.
As far as applying though, I really don't think you'd be wasting your time/money. I think it'd be important to have a back-up school, but if you've ever looked at a graduate school application, grades are far from the only qualifying factor. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it'll hurt you in the long run to completely drop your extracurricular activities. Right now you have low grades, and a lot of extra work. Even if you dump your extra stuff now, you've made it sound like that's just going to end up with you having medium grades and no work.
So what I'd do, for what it's worth, is I would sit down and make a list. Figure out where you have demographics going for you. For instance, I'm white, but I'm also gay. That's a point for me there. Factor in whatever your work resume is right now. I have three years under my belt personally. And then your extracurricular activities. I'm not in many clubs because I have to commute to school, but I basically share responsibility with my mom for my two younger siblings thanks to an absentee dad. I think you'll feel a lot better once you have that all out on paper. c:
Even if I'm going to be spending four year at law school (JD + LLM), I'm personally looking to do that as fast as I can, like Will is with his double major. That's why I skipped my senior year of HS and just went straight to college. Ultimately, I think the best thing would be for you to go straight to grad school (based on my law school and psychology graduate school experience), but the best way to know for sure would just be to email somebody in the admissions office of a school you're interested in. I've found that most of the time they're really nice about answering things like that.
As far as applying though, I really don't think you'd be wasting your time/money. I think it'd be important to have a back-up school, but if you've ever looked at a graduate school application, grades are far from the only qualifying factor. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it'll hurt you in the long run to completely drop your extracurricular activities. Right now you have low grades, and a lot of extra work. Even if you dump your extra stuff now, you've made it sound like that's just going to end up with you having medium grades and no work.
So what I'd do, for what it's worth, is I would sit down and make a list. Figure out where you have demographics going for you. For instance, I'm white, but I'm also gay. That's a point for me there. Factor in whatever your work resume is right now. I have three years under my belt personally. And then your extracurricular activities. I'm not in many clubs because I have to commute to school, but I basically share responsibility with my mom for my two younger siblings thanks to an absentee dad. I think you'll feel a lot better once you have that all out on paper. c: