Law School

It's hard to believe that we left Los Angeles 6 months ago and have been living in Kansas City since we moved. Megan started working the second we arrived, I was unemployed for 3 months but finally got picked up by a local university. We've played one season of kickball together and I am wrapping up my second inline hockey season. We survived election season, saw the most historic presidential election ever, had both sets of parents up for Thanksgiving, and our first marriage anniversary is in two weeks. Sometimes my mind spins thinking about how much we've done in such a short period of time.

Something that has come on to my radar is the thought of going back to school. I am three years out of my undergraduate experience and honestly, I'm really disappointed with my degree choice. I haven't used my history degree nor do I have any intention to do so. I went to school to learn about something I like rather than learning about something that will get me a job. I don't think what I did was wrong or bad, but I do think I set myself up for failure later on down the road. I am proud that I have an education, but it's just not getting me to where I want to be in life.

I have an interesting choice to make, now that I work for a university. My school offers tuition assistance to full-time employees to the tune of 75% off 6 credit hours after 6 months of continuous employment. I am halfway to the 6 month mark, but by the time school starts next fall, I will have passed that point and then some. Everyone close to me has said that not taking advantage of that program would be (in no other words) stupid, so I have been mulling over what kind of program I want to join for the last few months.

After talking it over with Megan and my family, I have decided that I am going to try to get in to the law school at my university. The law school offers a part-time, 9 credit hour semester program for working students. The flip side of this is that it extends the program from the traditional 3 years to a 5 year ordeal. While I am not incredibly thrilled about that part, I have to remind myself that even if I pay out of state tuition, I will get 75% off of the first 6 hours, meaning I pay a fraction of what everyone else does to go to school. The major determining factor in all of this is that the school does not offer night classes, so I would have to miss 9 hours of work every week to go to class. If my supervisors can't adjust my schedule to be flexible, this whole plan is going to go down the toilet. Hopefully the fact that I have been a great employee will sway them to be supportive let me do this.

Even leaving out that last bit, I have a lot of work to do in the next few months. The application deadline for the school is March 1, so by that time I have to:

- Apply to the law school
- Write a personal statement
- Register with LSAC & LSDAS
- Register for and take the LSAT
- Request two letters of recommendation to go to LSDAS
- Request transcripts from OU and OCCC to go to LSDAS

It's very daunting but I know I can do all of it. I bought an LSAT study guide and a tip book for writing a personal statement this weekend. I've signed up for an account with LSAC and I have already started on my personal statement. The biggest hurdle right now is taking the LSAT. I only have one chance to impress before the application deadline, so I have to rock it on the first try. I am shooting for a 158-161, but I will obviously take anything higher than that.

I'm nervous about all of this, but I know I can do it. I haven't been challenged since I graduated and I need something to pull me out of this slump. I'm happy with my marriage, my family, and my friends, but my career is seriously lacking. This is a huge decision for me, but I believe it is the right one to make at the right time. I don't think I would have this kind of opportunity placed in front of me if I wasn't supposed to take it.