| Topic Name: |
It's Over...Yet it's the Beginning |
| Message Name: |
It's Over...Yet it's the Beginning |
| Date Posted: |
04/06/2002 |
| Message: |
The journey began over four years ago. While a senior in college I realized that I had terrible grades (2.7 GPA). In the back of my mind I had the dream of going to law school and being a lawyer (the first in my family), yet I knew that I had dug myself a hole. Instead of thinking that law school was a lost cause, I started my journey toward law school. In my last semester of college I pulled off a 3.46 GPA, which raised my average to a 2.98 Cum. GPA. Even though my GPA was almost a 3.0, I knew that it would still be an uphill battle. After working in a government position for two years I took the LSAT. My LSAT score was less than impressive (149) and figured that I would have to take it again to make it into a decent school. After much deliberation I decided to go by the seat of my pants and just say "WHAT THE FUCK". I didn't put myself through the headache of taking the test again and I felt that my current merits would decide my future. So I did something that most say not to do; I spent about 50 bucks on all of those 'How to get into Law School' books. I'm sad to say that they are filled with a lot of crap, but that crap is what has made my dream come true. I followed their suggestions about creating a theme, selling yourself and even applying to at least 14 schools. In December I had worked for over two months on my resume', personal statement (which I wrote in the third person; many of my mentors thought this was a risky move), and gathering recommenders. So in early January I let it all fly; all of my dreams and hopes for the future were in the mail. At that point in time I figured that I would have to settle for a fourth tier school, yet I would have been grateful for the opportunity of attending law school. I am happy to say that I have been accepted to 8 schools (4 of those with money), waitlisted at 2 schools and rejected from 4. In case you're interested, here is an itemized listing: REJECTED: DePaul, Denver, OU, and UMD. WAITLISTED: Drake and Loyola-Chicago ACCEPTED: MU, Marquette, Michigan State and John Marshall. MONEY: UMKC-$4,000 a year, Creighton-$8,000 a year, SLU-$10,000 a year, Chicago-Kent-$10,000 a year. I have decided to attend Chicago-Kent because they offered me a better financial aid package than SLU, plus I am in love with Chicago. Even though Chicago-Kent isn't a top 14 school or even in the first tier I feel optimistic about being able to succeed. I'm happy to say that for once in my life I put everything that I had into something and it paid off for me. I was always the class clown who screwed around. Hell, my senior year of high school I missed 20 days and I racked up a 1.7 GPA. I just feel grateful to the heavens above for giving me a second chance after being such a FUCK UP. I look forward to continuting this same vigor and ambition into my first year of law school. I feel sorry for all of those kids who will judge me by my prior GPA or my LSAT because they're in for a rude awakening. I wanted to share my story to the board just to encourage all of you and to remind you that your dreams are as close to you as you want them to be. Hard work does pay; I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors.
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