First Day Down.

I am extremely sleep deprived and I think that all of the new information being thrown at me is eating the braincells which are responsible for my social skills, so forgive me if this post is random and nonsensical.

My current level of social skills.

Now that we have the formalities out of the way, all I can say is...holy shit.  I have only been through the first two days of school and I can say without any exaggeration that I have already studied more than I would in an entire semester of undergraduate studies.  I will try as best as I can to talk about my schedule, but seriously, I'm frazzled.

On day one, I had two new classes. I had not met either one of the professors.  Before classes began, we were given the syllabi and we already had assignements due.  Before class, I arrived early to look over my notes on the first chapter and I was met by virtually all of my classmates who wanted to review as well.  My first class was Criminal Law.  The students number around 100, and I thought I was so slick by getting there 20 minutes early to pick out a prime seat.  After being backhanded by reality, I took my seat in the second to last row next to my old beer pong buddy.  My seating strategy is such a big deal because if I am going to show up to class, I want to be active and participate.  In addition, law school grades value class discussion and participation highly, so being visible and likely to get called on is terrifying, but a necessary evil to excel.

Gawww...it's Caturday even on the first Monday of law school classes.

The class wasn't nearly as bad as I made it out to be.  The professor has a very kind demeanor, but she tends to get a little off topic.  Several students wanted to be a part of the discussion...but some shouldn't have.  If you don't have something original to say, or if you're just going to repeat what the person right before you just said using different terminology because you're a narcissist, please shut up.  I would say this applies to all students regardless of grade level or area of study.  Ugh.  Thankfully, I found another friend in this class.  We met at orientation and she is just as awesome as me.  It's nice to find like minded people you can study with and who you can tolerate when you're not focused on a discussion regarding battery and baby killers.

Baby killers, you say?  Yes indeed.  The first day's reading assignments were about the all-too-frequent case of people who leave their children in the backseat of their cars on accident, resulting in the hyperthermia and death of the child. This may seem appaling, but after studying the cases of these poor parents, you tend to pity them rather than desire to hang them out to dry. Most of their situations involve having a change in their daily routine, a high stress situation, coupled  with a sleeping, silent baby whom they did not hear in the back seat.  Our research delves even further when medical experts claim that fact will prove that the brain virtually shuts down different areas when lack of sleep, stress, and other factors are present.  The article that we were assigned can be read here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549.html

If you have some time and some tissues handy, I would check it out.  It really gives you a perspective into what was going through the minds of these parents and how their lives were virtually ruined when this occured.  Besides the incident, most of them were very doting parents, and some held very successful careers and looked like an outstanding citizen in every aspect.  This article and the class discussion really helped to open my mind to the law...things that seem like they would make you hate a person can actually make you pity them when the facts are divulged.

I spoke in this class. YES! Mission accomplished.  After Criminal Law, it was lunch time.  I grabbed some food with my buddy after picking up my ID (yes, it looks like a trannie with bright red lipstick on posing for a mugshot, thanks for asking).  I brought my lunch because there isn't a cafe in the law school and parking downtown and in the law school is a nightmare.  After I ate, I went to the library to study for my next class - Legislation and Regulation (baiscally, how to read and interpret statutes).  Our first assignment was an interesting one.  We were assigned to read the lyrics of Hotel California and answer a series of questions about what the song meant, what the authors intended it to mean, which one is correct, ambiguous terms in the song, etc.  Go check out the lyrics and make your own assessment.  It was an eye-opener as well.

My new ID photo.

The second class was much smaller because it didn't mix with the part time students.  Our professor is cool and funny, and she openly admitted that this class was dull.  I appreciated the honesty.  I spoke in this class as well - great success!!

Ahh...classes were over.  Back to the library. I thought I was doing well and that I was caught up.  Also wrong.  I was in the library at 3, and and 420 I checked one of my syllabi and realized I had overlooked a 60 page reading assignment due the next day.  Sweet!!  I also didn't have the books, which luckily were available for checkout at the circulation desk.  I read my little heart out until 7, then I decided refreshments and social life were in order, so I packed up and headed to the student reception being held at the nearby Omni Hotel Rooftop Bar.  It was awesome.  Drink tickets, food, everything I needed to revitalize.  What I neglected to mention here is that I still had about 15 pages to read and I needed to brief a case for the next morning ("briefing" a case is when you analyze the important facts and the legal question presented in a particular case to understand how the jurors decided their verdict).  Three vodka tonics later, I called it a night.  Even though I was tired, buzzed, and dreading the work that I still had to do, I was so happy I went.  You see, us 1L's generally limit our conversations to how stressed we are, questions about work, and comments about professors.  At the reception, I sat with a mix of 2 and 3L's, who were funny and able to speak candidly about their opinions of different classes and professors, as well as how pompous some of the other students were.  I got the gossip, the booze, and the cool points.  Now time to head home.


I studied for about 2 1/2 more hours.  I felt prepared and exhausted.  I believe I studied for about 9-10 hours in one day, not including the 4 hours that I spent in class.  Holy Moly.  Law school is no joke. 

Can't wait to tell you all about Day 2 and my first diss from a professor!!  Also, shout out to my regular reader from Germany.  That's right...I'm an international STAR!

Rules and Regulations

The second (and final) day of orientation was yesterday.  We had class, followed by lunch, then a long period of lectures from various individuals who worked for or graduated from the law school.  Here are a couple of things that distinguish law school from an undergraduate college or university:

• If you show up over (5) minutes late for class, you will be counted absent.
• If you leave class before dismissal, you will be counted absent.
• If you miss more than 20% of any core classes (which, this year at least, are all of them), you are dismissed from the law school.
• Most of us at Wesleyan have scholarships, but in order to maintain those scholarships, you have to remain in the top quarter of the class...so 3/4 of the students will lose their scholarships after the first year.
• Good jobs and internships are first offered (and, in some firm's cases, only offered) to students who participate in Law Review. Law Review is only offered to the top 10% of the class on their 2nd and 3rd year.  90% of us will struggle with finding jobs and internships.
• Most of my classes have a midterm and a final exam that make up your entire grade.  A couple of them have assignments inbetween, perhaps a legal memo.  If you bomb one assignment, you fail the course.
• There are some courses, called lock-step courses, that you must pass.  If you don't, you are dismissed from the university (this includes having too many absences for that class).
• You must stand up when answering questions.
• If you turn in certain assignments more than two hours late, you receive a zero.  You still have to turn them in though, because not attempting the assignment at all will cause you to automatically fail the course.
• Before you show up for orientation, there are assignments due.  Assignments are emailed to you.  Assignments are listed within the syllabi.  Assignments are posted on Blackboard (online class interface).  Assignments are everywhere, and if you're not constantly checking, you will look like an idiot in class.

Those are the main take-aways from class and orientation. Though I am still super excited about this experience, I am a little nervous to say the least.

My LSAT Experience

Alright already...I will talk about the damn test.

Though the LSAT is intended to test your ability to succeed in law school, and therefore doesn't have specific subjects to memorize or particular facts to know, you still have to study your hams off (as previously mentioned).  I decided to take my LSAT in October of 2011.  The test is also offered in December and sometime in the summer, let's say June; but I wanted to finish all of my applications before December.  After three months of studying, I believed I was ready.

Test day is no joke.  The rules are set in stone and no one can get around them.  You must register within a specific time frame to get a spot for the test, and testing centers are limited with regard to seats.  I registered  couple months ahead, took that day, and the day before, off from work.  The testing center rules are as follows:

1. Show up a 45 minutes before your test time to check in
2. Bring your LSAT form (printed offline) with a passport photo stapled to it
3. Bring a government issued ID to the center with you
4. Bring old school, #2 pencils along, no fancy mechanical pencils allowed
5. No cell phones allowed in the building
6. No digital watches (but you need an old school one to time yourself during the tests)
7. You can bring a bottle of water and a snack for your break if desired
8. Everything you bring must fit in a quart sized bag (airport security style)
9. No gum or happiness allowed

There could be a few I am forgetting, but you get the gist.  These rules are not able to be bent.  If you forget something or if you bring something you are not supposed to, you're out. They don't care about the $160 you paid to take the test or how many nervous breakdowns a dismissal will cause, the rules are unbreakable.

Thankfully, I prepared in advance.  There were only (3) law school hopefuls that I saw kicked out of my testing center.  I actually wasn't all that nervous.  I studied, I was confident, and I woke up in enough time to even straighten my hair. As recommended, I had driven to the test site the day before to ensure that I wouldn't get lost on test day (showing up late, you guessed it = dismissal).  I also bought an old school watch with hands just for the occasion so that I would be able to monitor my time.  At the beginning of each section, I wound the minutes hand to 12, and closely kept track as it inched toward the 35 minute mark.  As I walked into the test center (which was held at a local public university), I couldn't help but amuse myself by guessing who would make a 136 on the test.  Some kids showed up in pajamas.  Some tried to sport that awful Kanye style and wear stupid glasses they don't need and high tops with some social message about their badassness printed on their shirt (Che Guevara, anyone?).  I shouldn't judge, but I'm a superficial American girl.  Take it or leave it. 

Ohhh I bet he's so deep and intriguing.
I really didn't understand why we had to show up so early.  Every 5 minutes or so, a homely old proctor would come out into the lobby and give the same speech about not having cell phones, needing pictures, no gum, etc., all the things we had been emailed about for several weeks already.  Our testing rooms were determined alphabetically by last name.  When it was finally time to go in, everyone rushed the doors and waited their turn to get their plastic baggies checked.  The proctors were awkward and badly dressed, and they stared at your ID and passport photo like you were McLovin at the liquor store.  Seating was assigned, naturally.  We sat a few seats apart from each other, which didn't really matter since the tests were not identical (sections were ordered differently for each tester). I felt a little nostalgic when filling in the little bubbles with my name, test center code, date of birth, and social security number.  It all reminded me of the same process I had completed for high school.  The LSAT is not a computerized test, like many modern testing is.  I like it better that way, looking from my scratch paper to the computer screen and back again is so maddening; plus I like to mark the hell out of my reading sections. 

Onto the test.  My test was ordered by the following: arguments, games, critical reading, arguments, writing section.  The arguments were a breeze.  I wish I could remember at least one to place here, but there were so many that I can't recall anything.  I did follow the advice I read in my Princeton Review book of skipping the ones that I had to re-read more than once, and the ones that just frazzled my tender little brain in general.  There were perhaps one or two that I just picked "d" on (which I knighted my letter of the day). The next section, naturally, I was initially excited about. If you're not familiar with the games section, please see my previous post, "All the Things You (N)ever Wanted to Know about the LSAT."   I tore open the section, scanned each one of the games, and decided my order.  As I started to work the first game, I realized, I was in deep shit.  The game was a lot harder than it initially looked.  The trick to the games section is, however, not to give up on a game that you have started.  The time invested categorizing the clues and drawing your inferences is too precious to be lost.  As I trudged through it, answering maybe 4 out of 7 questions, I looked down at my watch. Oh Sweet Infant Baby Jesus, it had been 12 minutes.  I had 3 other games that I hadn't even started, and I only had 23 minutes in which to do so.  I lightly shaded in "d" on the questions I had still not figured out.  The next games were a bit of a blur.  You see, testing under pressure is good, but testing under panic is no bueno (see Figure B).  The entire time I was working on the other games, my head was still churning over the first game that I had botched, and I was freaking out about the fact that I possibly wouldn't finish the games section at all.  The study guides give you mixed messages on this.  Some will say that if you are in a bind, it's better to excel on three games and fill in random answers on the one you did not complete.  Others will say that this behavior is too risky, and you should have practiced more, then this built in boot comes out through the pages and roundhouse kicks you in the gut.

I decided to avoid the surprise kick and attempt to finish them all.  This left me with about the same result as skipping a game altogether, because with each game there was one or two questions that I guessed on, plus the three from the initial one.  Overall, I skipped about 7 questions = one full game.  This left me feeling pretty defeated, especially since the most I had ever missed in one of my practice games sections was 4, and I had never run out of time or been completely stumped as I had this time.  There was still hope...since the game seemed very complicated, I kept my fingers crossed that this was the experimental section and that another games section would come up later in the test and save the game.  As you already know from above, I was wrong. LSAT, you are the devil. 

Figure B

The critical reading section was as expected.  There was one tricky side-by-side entry about some environmentalist river testing or something of the like. They didn't seem remotely similar but I drew inferences out of thin air and scored decently.

After the critical reading section, there was a little break.  We had 15 minutes to do whatever we pleased.  Some chose to make out with their significant others (or perhaps they were perfect strangers looking for a little stress release), some gobbled power bars, some told stupid frat stories or spoke to an uninterested audience about the banality of standardized tests.  I hit the restroom then sulked a little about my poor performance in the games section.  Another ID check on the way back in and we were set for round 2.

When I opened up the arguments section, I could literally see the hope of the University of Denver school of law fleeing from my future.  The games section would stand.  I felt defeated by the LSAC gods, whom I was sure were watching from some double sided mirror laughing their asses off.  They let me believe in a dream that I would have another chance, then changed their minds quicker than Romney's stance on abortion.  That was ok though.  It was time to suit up, and that I did.  I excelled in the last section, then breathed easy through the writing portion.

After 5 greuling hours, testing was over.  And good news! I was called into work that day.  This almost came as a relief. I could get random phone calls from needy clients needing 6 pens and a bottle of water ASAP, and that would take my mind off my churning stomach and aching head for the rest of the afternoon.

After the test, several emotions washed over me.  I felt relieved that it was all over.  I also wanted my scores like, right now.  I knew that the next couple of weeks, no matter how much I drank or how many awesome things I encountered, my desire to know my score would be constantly lingering at the back of my mind right beside cats and Latin men.

Two weeks later, results were emailed.  156.  Not bad, but also not great. I had a choice to make.  Test again, or rest easy with a decent score. 



Orienting Myself

This is it!! Today was my first day of Orientation!!  I am writing a little out of order here since I still haven't completed my super interesting, page scrolling saga of what has gone into the law school process leading up to this point, but I want to express every last awesome detail of what went into my first day while I have it fresh on my mind.

So far this week, I have taken care of all the bland things that go into getting ready for a new semester.  I paid about $800 to get the books I needed (for a few months, good lord), got my parking pass, meningitis shot, student ID photo, etc.  I read the book that was required previous to orientation (that's right, assignments are due before you officially begin classes) and did all the necessary exercises.  I also went shopping with the intention buy grown-up clothes (I have had to wear black at my job for the last two years and I don't think pajama bottoms and AC/DC shirts are in style at law school), but I walked away with about $200 worth of body products and some Nike Plus shoes...pretty productive, I'd say.  I even cut my hair, which is a HUGE deal to this lady since I haven't done so in over a year (don't judge).

For the entire summer as well as this last week, I have been cool as a cucumber.  I was confident in my abilities and I was ready for whatever school had to throw at me.  This morning was a completely different story.  I got my full 8 hours of sleep and woke up to do the normal routine, but there was a rock in my stomach.  I had this terrible feeling that the LARW (Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing) class that I would be attending at orientation would be facilitated by the devil himself.  I didn't like the first three outfits I put on, they made me seem to casual, too pretentious, too Elle Woods.  I just couldn't get it together.  The morning routine which usually takes me about 30 minutes took me over an hour, putting me behind schedule.  Finally, I found something that would do and my face looked less like the beast and more like Beauty.  I was as ready as I would ever be.  Since I dabbled in Sephora products instead of over the stove, I grabbed some junk out of the fridge, poured lukewarm coffee into my travel mug, and headed out.

I arrived almost 30 minutes early and thought I would beat all the other chumps, but I headed to the back of the line behind 50 other people.  I signed in and headed into the lecture hall, where I was met with a pool full of people who apparently knew at least one other person in the crowd. I sat by myself near the front.  I opened up the folder that was given at sign in, and on a flourescent sheet of paper in the inside pocket was a notice that there was a serial rapist on the loose whose victims were literally on the corner next to the law school.  He targets caucasian females.  Excellent start. I managed some small talk with the people around me, then sat in anticipation of the first speaker. Though I conisder myself an extremely social person, I am not the type to introduce myself to total strangers in such a large crowd.  It's awkward and I probably won't remember their names anyhow.

First speaker was up, exactly on time down to the second.  I learned later that day that the ABA (American Bar Association) has requirements set out by minutes of courses, not hours, so most people in the profession are extremely time conscious, not beginning or concluding a minute early or late.  Our speaker was the Dean of Student Affairs, who welcomed us and explained the importance of checking emails and alerts sent out by the school.  After a little small talk, we broke out into our sections to attend the first class.

I found room 107 and sat in the front row (yep, I'm one of those).  As people started filing in, I spotted him -  a guy I completed undergrad with who was also part of Greek Life.  Ok, so maybe we weren't super close but I'm sure we had played each other in beer pong at least once in the past.  After several awkward minutes of small talk amongst ourselves and with our professor (awkward because of the long pauses and blank smiling faces we all had), we broke up into groups of 4.  Our professor had us write an anonymous note about who inspired us to enter the legal field and then had a little ice breaker game between the groups of 4.  Though these are generally lame, these are the students who I will be taking most of my classes with and also the ones whom I will have my advising hour with. I need to learn as much about them as I can, make friends, and decide who is worth studying with and who isn't.  The other students are varied, from different places in the world, different ages, and different backgrounds. Some of them were married, some had been in their careers for 10 or more years, and some, like me, had always set out to be lawyers. I suppose this is also a good time to mention that wearing bright yellow pants, torn up jeans, or multiple gold chains is not the best idea when you're going into your first day of anything.  I'm all about expressing yourself, but save it for the '80's dive bar.  Sigh.  We watched a film clip that introduced the Socratic method, then our professor began to employ it.  We dove into the exercises as a group, and the class concluded.  It was not worth the fuss I had made over it.  Everyone was nervous, just like me.  Everyone gave a wrong answer, just like me. Our professor anticipated that and didn't strike us down nor call us idiots.  She was kind and patient, but made it clear that studying and being prepared was not an option.

Ready for school bitches!

For anyone considering law school, I can tell you just from this hour and a half experience, it is not a place where you can swallow a chapter and regurgitate the facts for an A.  You will be challenged.  You will be asked questions that are not in the book.  You will be called on by surprise and you had better know your shit. If you don't, the professor will not simply move on to the next student, he will continue to ask you until you are embarassed and flustered, and probably make you find the right answer right there in front of everyone.  If this terrifies you, change or consider other paths.  That being said, I am so ready.

After the class, we filed back into the lecture hall.  We were given a lesson on case briefing and then we were introduced to our TA's for the semester.  There are 2L or 3L students (this is the lingo for the year of law school you are in, 1L being first year, etc.).  We meet with them once a week for tutoring and general guidance.  After a few closing comments, we were free for the day.

I left feeling accomplished.  I was finally where I wanted to be for my entire life.  My classmates are cool and just as scared as I am.  During one of the speeches, the professor mentioned that we are now part of the club; over 20 presidents, most judges, political activists, Supreme Court judges, and several other notable people had been in the exact position we were in at least once in their lives.  It could have been the excessive caffeine or my body trying to speed up menopause, but I got a little glossy-eyed.  This is it.  My life is changed from this moment forward.

Living Up To My Promises...

Last time, I talked a lot about the LSAT.  My experience is coming soon, but first, I want to talk a little about all the things that go into becoming a law school student as well as how I selected my future school based on those things.

There are two major factors that law schools examine with heavy emphasis when selecting their incoming student body.  The first, as previously mentioned, is your score on the LSAT.  A "good" score something between 155-164.  A "great" score is about 166-170.  A score that is Harvard worthy is the final range between 170-180.  The areas become more narrow as you reach the top, and crossing the threshold from good to great, even though it's a few points, can really determine your placement in the schools you have your hopes on.

The other primary factor is, of course, the undergraduate GPA.  This can be a wonderful thing for those who are not that great at standardized testing, and perhaps not so great for students like me who got along in school by cramming for exams, borrowing notes from the smart kids, and hitting happy hours with my professors. I did well enough, but my GPA wasn't the shining star that lots of students achieve (though I do have some excellent, EXCELLENT stories from college...maybe those will come out as I slowly lose my sanity during the law school process). If your sights are set on law school, the GPA is key.  Study like hell and skip the occasional 3PM flip cup game.  You will thank yourself later; besides, there's always Spring Break and the summer to soak up those embarassing moments. When I was faced with selecting a law school, I knew I had to fall within at least the "good" range on the LSAT to even get accepted, sadly enough.

That's the motto

This fact, believe it or not, surprised me. Why, you might ask?  Well, as a student in a small university, I was able to participate in multiple events outside of the classroom and I even landed a few leadership positions within them.  The resume dots are listed below:

• Student Government Delegate, 2005-2007
• Student Government Cheif Justice, 2007-2008
• Student Government President (SHAZAM!) 2008-2009
• Model Arab League Delegate, 2005-2007
• Model Arab League Secretary General (SHAZAM!) 2007-2008
• Model Arab League Head Delegate, 2008-2009
• Phi Alpha Delta Member, 2005-2007
• Phi Alpha Delta President (SHAZAM!) 2007-2008
• Alpha Xi Delta Sorority Member, 2005-2006
• Alpha Xi Delta Membership Vice President, 2006-2008

Needless to say, organizations ruled my life.  Also, I held either full time jobs or multiple part time jobs during my entire college career.  Looking back, I definitely should have limited my workload, course load, or activities load, because I was giving only about 33% to each cause (the extra 1% was reserved for sleeping). Hindisight is always 20/20 I suppose.  Anyway, I always thought that doing all of these things would carry me through.  I also knew that I could write one hell of an essay, so my personal statement should help me get into a great school, right?

Wrong.  Dead wrong.

You see, when doing the groundwork to get into these elite graduate programs or exclusive internships, the examiners will look about 20% at quantity, and the remaining 80% will go to quality.  Sure, I lived on my own and paid my own bills (except for help from my parents for tuition), and sure I managed a hard-knocks story for my personal essay, but all of these things that I had been working on for the past four years lacked excellence.  I was there and I went through the motions, but I didn't contribite 100% to my activities, courses, or really anything.  I was just there.  Maybe I did it because I was popular, or because I could find loopholes, or perhaps because I can live off no sleep and juggle my time like a wizard, but who cares? None of that can be reflected on paper.  When an admissions counselor sees your application for the first time, they look at that GPA and LSAT score and put you into the "Maybe" pile or straight into the "No" pile.  Only after this step do they even begin to think of you as an actual person with a past and hidden strengths.  Does it suck? Maybe.  Does the way you acted and performed in college determine how you act and perform now? Not likely.  But none of that matters.  What does matter is how you did and what shows up in those two score boxes.  So, advice from a hard working slacker here, if it's not too late, make your GPA awesome.  If it is too late, make your LSAT score awesome.  If neither of these is an option, go to a crappy law school and do awesome then go for the transfer.

For anyone who is not going to law school, this is worthless.  I know.  It's hard to write to a mixed audience without trying to give advice on your experiences, so bear with me here.

Alright! You don't have to be a jerk about it...

Those who know me will say that I am intelligent. I don't want to sound my own horn, but I may agree on this one.  It has gotten me to where I am in life, and I believe that intelligence, mixed with some determination, will get me through most things. Thankfully, I am 25 now and I am beginning to see the error of my ways. It took a while, but if I can be happy about any part of the law school application process, it would be that it really opened my eyes to how important it is to be responsible for every aspect of your life that will be scored in some way.

Now, onto selecting law schools.  This part was really greuling. What gets me going is the international community.  For several different and not worth mentioning reasons, I am infatuated with international culture and specifically with immigrants' experiences here in America.  On a side note, this is one of the reasons why I am leaning toward immigration or international law. I always had dreams of living somewhere else, anywhere else really, but as fate would have it, I have lived in the Dallas area all of my life. I have traveled all over the world and I hope to continue to do so, but here I am, writing my blog in the same room I lived in when I went to high school.  That being said, it is not surprising that I wanted to go out of state or at least out of city to attend school. I didn't do that during my undergrad years because I was afraid (and utterly irresponsible) at the time. I stayed close to the family and friends I had always known.  When it came to law school, I looked at rankings a lot less than I looked at location. I applied to schools in Houston (a city I'm not a fan of, but it's not Dallas and it's the center for immigrants in Texas), Colorado, California, Florida, Chicago, and all over the Northeast (New York, Jersey, and the like).  I wasn't after somewhere specific, no beach or skyscraper scene, just something different.  I filled out tons of applications and paid a boat load of money (applications are usually about $80 for each school).  As I was waiting though, reality hit (damnit!).  Here's what I realized:

1. I have no money saved and I am not willing to deal with illicit activity or rich men to get it;
2. Moving away means not only paying 50K a year for tuition and books, but also paying rent, groceries, utilities, buying furniture, post traumatic stress therapy for my cats, etc.;
3. I have never really been away from my family and I would miss those years we could have together at such an important part of my life (plus my mom made me feel like I was abandoning them at the mere mention of moving away);
4. If I do well enough in school and land a solid job when I graduate, the school I select will begin to matter less and less as the years go by;
5. I am a socialite and I cannot be disconnected from friends for more than about 18 seconds;
6. My alma mater is 15 minutes away and they have a wonderful law school that would most likely gladly take me in as a student; and finally,
7. I am going to be a law school student.  This would not be a permanent vacation unless I built a sand box in the law library, so location was actually not that important.

Maybe I should reconsider #1...

All these things considered, I waited for the acceptance letters to come in, but I had tacitly decided that Texas Wesleyan Law was what worked for me. Other people who have better scores and bigger courage than I do can base their decisions on far different goals (mostly, which school will make them a higher salary when they graduate or which comes with more prestige), but this is the reasoning that worked for me.  The closer law school gets, the more confident I am in my decision. I just recently left my place of employment where I met some of my closest friends, and they will still be within a 30 minute drive from me. The people who I have grown up with are starting to get married, have children, or (better yet), just get more awesome, and I will be here to witness all of that.  Best of all, if I fail out, I am totally opening a restaurant on an obscure beach in Mexico and pretending none of this ever happened.

That's enough explaining for now.  I need to go cry over a Michelada and dream about falling in love and moving to Buenos Aires on a whim...

Everything You (N)ever Wanted to Know about the LSAT

The law application process is two-fold.  To me, it seems like 378,000 fold, but we will get to that later.  The 2 main foci of the process are making a good score on your LSAT and choosing which school you will go to (which we will discuss next time!). 

The LSAT is pretty cut and dry.  It's your typical standardized test that is specialized for the specific field you would like to enter.  To prepare for the LSAT, there are a myriad of options available.  There are specialized classes that are offered through Princeton Review or Kaplan (generally a grand per class or more - out of my league).  There are also numerous study aides (I purchased about 7 of them at Half Price Books).  Lastly, there is a practice test published every year by the LSAC (Law School Admissions Council, the organization that administers the test as well as manages students' application process - we will discuss them more in a later post) and actual practice tests given at universities across the country as well.  These are the most popular tools; I am sure there are many more available.  Since I'm broke and I prefer studying in my pajamas, I elected the self-study route. I timed my own tests (this is an EXTREMELY important thing to do while studying for the test) and I went though basic, advanced, and every level inbetween when it came to study aides and tests examples.  I studied for a minimum of 2 hours every day for about three months, but I skipped to hang out with my friends and drink beer more times than I should have. It all worked out in the end though. ;)

The test itself is made up of 5 different sections.  The themes of the sections are: games, analytical reasoning (aka arguments), and critical reading (yes, the same annoying thing you did for the SAT's and every other standard test, ever).  There is also a writing section.  Now, the LSAC is sneaky.  Each year, they put in an "unscored variable section" which repeats one of the subject matters (excluding the writing section).  So, you will end up expending precious brain cells on one of the aforementioned subjects twice.  Each section is 35 minutes long, hence the need to time the hell out of yourself during your practice rounds.  The test is worth 180 points.

The games section is super cool, it was my favorite to study for and the section I consistently did well on during practice, so naturally (spoiler alert!) it was the one I bombed during the actual exam.  Surely you have completed a game at some point in your exhilerating educational career. Basically, they place all the testers into a poorly lit room, and declare the girls shirts and the guys skins.  There's this long table, with cups on either end, and a collection of little white ping pong balls and...

                                  
Team Beer Pong shooting for a 168 on the test.

I wish.  The games section is the area where the tester is presented in a scenario such as this: 9 students, Tommy, Angela, Michael, Ricardo, Kenisha, Juan, Leroy, Billy, and Jay-Z all ride the bus to school.  One bus can only carry 4 students, the other 3, and the final bus carries 2 students.  Tommy and Angela are a couple so they always ride together.  Juan doesn't like black people so he cannot ride in the same bus as one. Leroy has a history of statutory rape so he cannot be on the same bus as a female, and so on.  The idea is that you are presented with a series of facts (usually slightly more politically correct, though the names I used could definitely appear on an actual test) and you are to come up with the correct answers to a set of complicated multiple choice answers.  You usually have (4) games to crack in the time period allotted.  The trick is to make cool pictures as much as possible and be able to make logical connections that are not presented but may be implied by the clues - both very handy tools in a lawyer's repotire.

Tommy, Michael and Billy all ended up on the same bus.  Angela was busy uploading this to Facebook.

The next section is analytical reasoning, or arguments.  These are fun as well. The following is an actual question taken from the LSAC website (www.lsac.org):

Laird: Pure research provides us with new technologies that contribute to saving lives. Even more worthwhile than this, however, is its role in expanding our knowledge and providing new, unexplored ideas.
Kim: Your priorities are mistaken. Saving lives is what counts most of all. Without pure research, medicine would not be as advanced as it is.
Laird and Kim disagree on whether pure research

1. derives its significance in part from its providing new technologies
2. expands the boundaries of our knowledge of medicine
3. should have the saving of human lives as an important goal
4. has its most valuable achievements in medical applications
5. has any value apart from its role in providing new technologies to save lives

Pretty spicy stuff, eh? Each one of the answers has it's appeal, but after considering all the options, the correct answer, 4, is deduced.  Numbers 1-3 are all things that Laird (if someone out there is named Laird and can prove it to me, I swear I will send you 5 bucks) agree upon. Number 5 is appealing, but Kim says that "saving lives is what counts most of all," implying that she thinks there are other things that matter, just not as much as saving lives. Number 4 is the only one without any drama.  So, you go through about 15 of these suckers within 30 minutes as well. Ugh!

In your face Kim!!

I would expand a little on critical reading, but you know the drill.  Read a passage, select the correct answer to multiple choice questions, etc. The only note here is that the most recent version of the LSAT has introduced side by side passages, which require a little more practice to master.

The writing section is the least important of all. It is ungraded.  The LSAC will supply this section to schools you apply to, but the meat of your score is determined by the multiple choice sections.  If you have successfully passed COMP 101, you do not need to worry about this section. Review the format and just do it.  "But it's part of the test and I want to do good and and and..." YOLO brother. Believe me they don't care.

Now that you know a little bit about the test, I'm sure you can't wait to hear about my awesome experience taking it...until next time kids!

Why Law School?

A little over a year ago, I decided that I should finally bring my dream of becoming a lawyer into fruition.  I was 24, single (for the most part), and in a rut after being out of college for only 2 years.  Honestly! Work, home, couch, friends, alcohol, cats...I mean, life was as it should have been.  I was interesting, hadn't gotten really fat in my 20's, had a decent amount of friends and a decent amount of money, but that just couldn't be it!

(Summer before law school applications started)

In many ways, law school was always my plan.  Anyone who is close to me, however, knows that my plans for my life have involved getting married and moving to Pakistan, working as an English teacher in Jordan, assisting in an orphanage in Mexico, and going to medical school. Needless to say, I am a bit of a dreamer.  I thought in the back of my mind that I wanted to be a lawyer (this was decided when I marched into the living room at age 4 and announced that I would be a successful lawyer and buy my parents a home in Hawaii), but law school seemed so...serious.  Young fun people didn't go to law school; it was reserved for boring, stuffy individuals who liked wearing badly altered suits and wearing their hair in buns (see Figure A).  I wanted to do much more exciting things than sit in a classroom listening to century old debates about imminent domain. Much more exciting things like...work, home, couch, friends, alcohol, and cats?

Figure A: Law School Student

You see, what I began to realize is that (in my experience at least) when I am not working toward something concrete, my life tends to be like a drop of water in the river.  It's fun and random, and I keep telling myself I will step away from the stream and land on a rock somewhere, and everything will make sense.  But the reality is, the river keeps on rushing and eventually, you get evaporate into thin air after living a life among smelly fish and people wearing rubber shoes. No, not this gal. Life was something more to me than that. I am smart, I have a political science degree, lots of people supporting me, and just enough hunger for life to pull it off.  Besides, becoming a famous improv comedian can be accomplished during my summer breaks, right?

Before I started to work on my law school acceptance, I started with a backup plan. I studied for my GRE and gained acceptance to the International Political Economy Master's Program at UTD.  This not only got my feet wet in the area of studying (it had been a few years, after all), but it also kicked my confidence into shape. I have worth! Someone wants me (or perhaps just my money, but to hell with it)! I also started taking a few online courses (mostly technology, literature, and Spanish; things I was already good at but could use a little touching up on) to get back in the swing of turning in assignments on time, balancing work, school, and social life, and also to help stifle that little voice in the back of my mind telling me I wasn't capable of doing 3 years of law school! 

Now, it was time to actually get into the game....