The Amazing Blogosphere

It's amazing how many different blogs there are from folks sharing their experience in law school. Most of them are interesting and unique and have provided me with a great deal of information regarding what I need to plan for and what to expect once I become a 1L. I have decided to follow a few because their stories were especially interesting to me, some because of their candidness with their experience thus far and others because I identified with certain personality traits or thought processes and am interested to know how they navigate the maze that is law school.

Meanwhile, I continue to "mailbox watch" and two days in a row I've opened an empty mailbox...the good news- no bills (YAY!) and no letters of rejection, the bad news- no letters of acceptance. The thing is, even if I did get any letters of acceptance, I'm about 80% sure that I'll be attending a school that has already accepted me. Why am I so worried about the others??? Maybe I should shift my "mailbox watch" to the scholarship information that should be coming from my future professional institution.

In the meantime, if anyone has any advice as to what I can do to distract myself from the "mailbox watch" I will be forever grateful.

I Decided....part two

CLEO

Last summer I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a weekend in Atlanta courtesy of CLEO. CLEO is a program that mentors minority, rural, urban, and low-income students who aspire to become attorneys. The program was centered around the application process and provided assistance with personal statements, how to choose schools based on your UPGA/LSAT scores, and discussed the financial aspects of applying and attending law school. The information I received from the program was the BEST part of the weekend. The second best part was my hotel stay (a NICE hotel) and my meals were free. While I was responsible for my airfare to Atlanta, upon completion of the program I received a $200 stipend. It was all worth it and I'm sure its addition to my law school application showed I am truly serious about attending law school and becoming an attorney.

LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION

Letters of Recommendation (LOR's) are an important part of an application. It is really the only part of the application where admissions committee will get a different opinion regarding one's success in law school. Usually the LOR will come from a former professor. It is wise to select professors who can speak specifically and positively about your work ethic and quality of work. If it's a situation where you've been out of school for a while, then an LOR may come from an employer.

I selected three professors and an attorney that worked with me at the law firm to write on my behalf. After choosing my LOR writers, I put together a packet of information to send to each of them. The packet included a personalized letter outlining why I selected them to write the LOR and what I wanted their letter to highlight for the admissions committee. I also included a REALLY rough draft of my personal statement, my resume, my transcript with the classes they instructed highlighted, the LSAC LOR form and a pre-addressed, stamped envelope for them to send their letter to LSDAS. I wanted to make the process of writing the letter as convenient as possible by providing them with a good amount of material to refer to when writing their letter and I also eliminated the need for them to have to look for or purchase envelopes and stamps to send the letter.

THE APPLICATIONS

I'm really glad the application process had been streamlined through the Law School Admission Council. Here you are able to pull up the applications, input your information, save it for later-if needed, and send it electronically. Some schools received the application instantly. The most important thing is make sure you fill-out everything truthfully and proofread the application before sending it.

LAW SCHOOL FAIRS/VISITS

I absolutely recommend visiting any law school that you may think you want to attend. It gives you the opportunity to sit in on a class, speak to students, and tour the campus. I have done this several times and in cases where I really thought a particular school was one I wanted to attend, after the visit, I felt the exact opposite and vice versa.

Law school fairs provide an opportunity to meet admissions personnel face to face, ask any questions you may have about the school, and hopefully make a positive impression. I attended several law school fairs and usually targeted the same schools. I was happy to see when some admission personnel remembered my face or remembered me specifically. It definitely helped to bolster my opinion of the school and helped me to determine whether I would be treated as a person rather than a number when/if I became a student.

AS A PARENT

When going through this process, I thought about my daughter every step of the way. I explained as much as I could, as best as I could being that she's only seven years old. She's even visited a law school with me, which I have to commend her for because listening to various professors and deans speak for about two hours is NOT what a seven year old yearns to do at ANY time. I made sure she knew I was proud of her for sticking it out with me.

One of the questions I asked all the schools I have applied to is "how well does the campus tolerate children?" While I don't plan on having my daughter on my hip, I know there may be a moment or two when I will have to choose between not coming to class or coming to class and bringing my daughter with me. The answer to this questions had varied from one extreme to the other, but the vast majority have answered that the campus is mostly tolerant of children being on campus and understands that at times it may be unavoidable. Knowing that was extremely comforting.

And so, now we wait! Of the eight school I have applied to, I have been accepted to two. I await a reply from the remaining six. While I am happy that I haven't been rejected yet, I'm much more anxious to have all eight letters in my hand so I can make a choice and send a seat deposit. FYI- I am a little impatient. At any rate, as promised, I will keep you posted!

I Decided.....part one

It was my junior year in undergrad and at this point I was balancing a full-time job, a full-time class schedule, and was still able to make it to parent-teacher conference for my daughter, who was receiving nothing but praise from her teacher for being so well-behaved and studious. Why couldn't I handle law school? That was the question I'd been grappling with for more than a year. After seeing all that I had accomplished thus far, I could not come up with any reason why I couldn't handle law school. So, I decided to pursue a J.D. degree. Making the decision was by far the easy part. The things that came next, not so much.

LSAT

This test, in my opinion, is ABSOLUTELY horrible! I'm sure taking 17 credit hours that semester, ON TOP of trying to study for the test, didn't bode well in my favor. Studying for the LSAT was usually relegated to my lunch hour at work and on the weekends I didn't have my daughter. Needless to say, the day of the test was the second most horrible day of my life. I literally fought back tears as I marked in the little bubbles. That should have been the sign I needed to cancel my scores and move on. I didn't....and so the worst day of my life arrived along with my LSAT scores via email. The tears I fought back the day of the test now flowed down like a river.

I was not going to let a standardized test defeat me. I took a bit of time to heal mentally and emotionally, went back to the drawing board, and revamped my plan. I shelled out the cash for the Kaplan Prep Course. For four months, I spent every Sunday and one Saturday a month "learning" how to take the LSAT. I also had lots of practice tests and study guides, so most Saturdays I could be found in the library practicing away. I suffered from LSAT burnout approximately two weeks before the actual test, but in the end, it was all worth it. The second time around I was cool and confident. My test scores showed tremendous improvement and I was glad to say my dreams had not yet been crushed.

PERSONAL STATEMENT

I can honestly say that it took over one year to complete my personal statement. I brainstormed for many months, keeping a notepad close to my bed because it seemed the most profound thoughts would appear while I was trying to sleep. I compiled about three file folders of different drafts I created and shelved- but refused to throw away. Once I arrived at something that was intelligently written, concise, and reflected what I felt I would bring to a law school class, I handed the draft over to three individuals- two attorneys, who in my opinion have impeccable legal writing skills, and a friend of the family who is an Assistant Dean for Admissions at a law school to which I had NO intention of applying. One of the first things you are told when writing a personal statement is "know your audience." I picked these individuals because they were as close as I could get to my actual audience.

CHOICE OF SCHOOL

This was tricky, mostly because you don't want to sell yourself short, but you also don't want to reach too high outside of what you can realistically achieve. So, again, I devised a plan. First, I went to the Law School Admission Council website where they provide a UPGA/LSAT school search option. I entered my undergrad GPA and my LSAT and voila! It provides somewhat of a gage, based on last years admissions profile of where you could possibly stand at any law school based simply on your numbers. This doesn't take into account any "soft" factors, (i.e work history, socioeconomic background) but it provides a decent starting point. I had a list of my desired schools already, but was able to add more and remove some after researching each school's program. I was able to narrow my list down to about 10 schools.

I honestly didn't pay much attention to the U.S. News and World Report rankings when choosing my desired schools, for a couple reasons. First, by this time I had the pleasure of working with attorneys who graduated from T1 thru T3 schools. All of them are highly respected and capable attorneys who made the most of the education at the institutions they chose. I plan to do the same. Second, my ultimate goal isn't to be a six-figure partner at any law firm, and the rankings, in my opinion, would be more useful to a person who may have that goal. I chose schools in the region I plan to practice (Midwest), schools that had specialization programs I might be interested in, and some schools were chosen at the recommendation of the attorneys who were alumni. In the end, I applied to eight schools.