Doctor Juris

Welcome to Law School

2010-09-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

In a quick update, I have indeed begun law school at the University of South Carolina. After a summer of gratuitious fun, I'm ready to begin seriuos work again.
So far, I've been biding my time with daily reading and writing assignments. I don't have a job, although I desperately need money (financial aid office, here I come). I have, however, been doing volunteer work lately, which I'm always pleased about.
Hope to update more, but I'm filling this in between homework assignments. My life is very stressful at the moment, but I'm loving my new life.

Carolina Über Alles

2010-03-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

After being put on the waitlist at Duke and Virginia, and after attending "Accepted Students Day" at South Carolina, I've decided to commit to USC for the fall.
At ASD, I learned a good bit about the environmental law program and the dual degree program with Vermont. Apparently, I'll have to spend my first law school summer in Vermont for a seminar in order to earn the degree. This sounds exciting, but expensive. I'll have to converse with USC professor Josh Eagle about my options within environmental law. In addition to my JD and the master's from Vermont, I'll also have to earn something called a MERM (MURM?), which is intended to help me with getting scientific concepts under my belt for work within the environmental community. This will definitely extend my law school study to four years.
In a bit of good news, I was offered a partial scholarship to USC, which helps to mitigate my costs, but doesn't come close to finishing the job. Admittedly, I have not been fastidious with outside scholarship applications. Loans, here I come.
Just finished directing my last play as part of my school's drama department. Had a great time, and am ready to focus more on my future.

Acceptance

2010-02-14T18:57:00.000-08:00

I've been accepted to South Carolina, and Duke and Virginia have put me on the wait list. I may not hear a final decision from UVA or DU until May, which is also when South Carolina needs a final answer, so unless I hear a definite answer from one of those schools in the next month or so, it looks like South Carolina is my destination, which I'm pleased about. South Carolina will be a great school for getting into environmental law, and the possibility for a scholarship is still open. I completed my FAFSA and promissory notes today.

It's seeming more and more like I'm getting out of teaching at the right time. My school district is making more budget cuts, meaning teacher pay cuts, and the state of South Carolina is voting to cut education funding further, including five teacher furlough days for the 2010-2011 school year. Teachers, so far, are encouraging one another to write to their congressmen, but my gut feeling is that this will be ineffective. Non-union employees tend to think small in terms of sending a message to lawmakers.

Anyway, I'm looking forward more and more to starting law school in the fall. It seems like the right time, and I've finally got a place to go.

Update

2010-01-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

I've been waitlisted at Virginia, and I have yet to hear from Duke or South Carolina.

Lot of disappointments lately, even in the political spectrum. Copenhagen was a nice swath of neutral gray on the political landscape, and the failure of health care legislation with the election of a Republican into the Kennedy seat in a gay marriage state is a harbinger for the way of climate legislation, seemingly dead in the water. Ugh. The failure of the 2008-elected political leadership is beyond pathetic. Very disappointed.

On the bright side, I'm looking forward to law school giving me the background I need to throw my own hat into the ring and effect some changes in these areas myself.

I'm doing my best to make the most of 2010. Here's to it.

Brief update

2009-11-11T06:41:00.001-08:00

With school, I've been a bit busy to keep up with the environmental law front. It seems like the Boxer-Kerry bill is going the way of the health care bill (sigh).
Incidentally, I have applied to Duke, and I plan on applying to South Carolina next week, whenthe drama club I help sponsor has a break and I have some legit free time.

The application process

2009-09-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

I've created my law school resume, and I've made the framework of my personal statement. It's time to apply to law schools!
I've gotten a good amount of fee waiver offers, even from decent-to-good law schools like Illinois and Notre Dame.
I've already applied to Virginia, which was not a school I considered in my initial planning for law school application. But when a school as prestigious as Virginia Law offers a fee waiver, it's hard to say "no." Aside from the cheap application, Virginia is also pretty close to home and is a prestigious choice. I will seriously consider Virginia if I am accepted (I am a little concerned that maybe my personal statement was too verbose).
I plan on applying to Duke, as soon as I pony up the cash. I don't think Duke will offer me a fee waiver, and their website explicitly says not to ask for a merit-based waiver. Duke remains a dream at this point.
University of South Carolina still hasn't opened for applications, and, thus, they haven't offered me a fee waiver. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of going back to Columbia and working for a degree in environmental law from Vermont, the country's top environmental law school.

Teaching seniors and having a senior homeroom, many of the students I teach are also going through the application/scholarship process. I feel like my experience is helping them along with their college search, and they are also helping me adjust to the process.

LSAT score is in!

2009-06-25T22:50:00.001-07:00

I scored a 171 on my LSAT, which is higher than I'd scored on any practice tests. My score was in the 98th percentile. I'm very excited about the score. Hopefully, it's good enough to get a fee waiver at the University of South Carolina.

To go in depth a bit, it looks like my performance definitely slipped as the test went on. I did my best to stay focused, but I guess I still suffered some mental fatigue.

Very happy with my score, though.

LSAT is done!

2009-06-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

I took the LSAT today. I think that I performed about as well as I did on the pracitce tests, in that it "felt" the same. A few questions I wasn't sure about, a couple logic games it took me a minute to figure out, but overall pretty good.
A few guys went outside for a smoke and argued with the proctor when she wanted to file an irregularity with their test scores. Kind of funny at first, but frustrating when I wanted to get my test over with.
Oddly enough, I got a call for a job interview at a high school in Columbia today, but I'd already signed my contract with my regular high school. If they were a couple months earlier, maybe...

A sporadic, semi-nervous update as zero hour approaches

2009-06-07T18:05:00.000-07:00

My kit, prepared for tomorrow's test:

My LSAT admission ticket

A 20 oz. bottle of Aquafina

One sourdough pretzel and three fat-free fig newtons

Five sharpened pencils

My wallet (and ID)

I opted not to go with a pencil sharpener or highlighter. Risky, I know, but I'm sure I'll be fine.

The only other item I'm allowed to bring, my watch:

Fossil analog chronograph.

Anyway, at this point I'm not really nervous. I'm just kind of curious about how many people will be taking the test with me. Coastal Carolina University seems like kind of an odd location. Excited for a big day, really.

Because my iPod doesn't interface with my sister's car and because I've been on a Wu-Tang kick lately, I've decided that Liquid Swords will be my pre-game meal:

Custom album artwork done by this guy. Update tomorrow.

Final thought: "it's the wood that should fear your hand, not the other way around."

Final LSAT preparations

2009-06-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

I sat down yesterday to take my final practice LSAT before the exam Monday. I got my kit together:

A digital wristwatch, a pencil, a pad of paper, my LSAT PrepTests book, and my mitts.

I had a hard time getting myself to sit down and take the test, as I'd just finished my last day of work for the 2008-2009 school year and was tired and restless.

Notice the neck fat accumulating from a trying year of not enough sleep, a poor diet, and a laughable amount of exercise. That will change over the summer.

I was fine through the first two sections, but I grew really restless and irritable for the last two. I pushed my through and did my best to give each question the focus it deserved. I ended up with a 166, which is below my previous 169, but still respectable. I imagine with a decent night's sleep and a more comfortable mindset, I won't have a problem on Monday. However, Monday's test is five sections instead of the usual four, plus a writing section.

I'm planning on having a hectic Monday. In the morning I'm going to have to borrow my sister's car to make sure I have reliable transportation to Coastal (long, frustrating story about my car). In the afternoon I'll be taking my LSAT. I'll have to rush from the LSAT to Market Common for a meeting to volunteer with Global Awareness Project about volunteering for the summer art walks, then I have a rec league softball game that night.

I'm looking for an early, but restful rise Monday morning, a run for exercise, then going about the day as outlined above. I'm going to try to balance my level of liquids so I won't have to pee during the test.

Also, I'm going to get my bag together Sunday night for the next day. I may bring, per LSAC:

ONLY a clear plastic ziplock bag (maximum size one gallon/3.79 liter) containing
ONLY the following items: LSAT Admission Ticket stub, valid ID, wallet, keys,
hygiene/medical products, #2 or HB pencils(no mechanical pencils), erasers,
pencil sharpener, highlighter, tissues, and beverage in a plastic container or
juice box (2o oz./591 ml. maximum size) and snack for break only.

I find it odd that LSAC is so precise that they insist I bring a Ziploc brand storage bag (oddly misspelled and not capitalized. I may also only bring an analog wristwatch (not digital). I'm pretty sure one of my test prep books recommended digital, but I'll take that up with the publisher later.

Going into the test, I feel confident that I'll be able to score into the high 160's. I really hope that I can avoid further stress over the weekend (Saturday was not a good start) and can go in and test Monday morning with a clear head.

LSAT update

2009-05-31T19:07:00.001-07:00

The LSAT is a week away for me, and I'm feeling a tick underprepared.
I feel like I'm ready to perform well, but plans for another practice test this weekend fell through. Due to a busy schedule this week with extracurriculars, graduation of students at my high school, and a due date for a final project in a teaching-related class I'm taking, I'm worried I won't get another practice LSAT in before Sunday. I'd really like one, if, for nothing else, to confirm that my last test's 169 wasn't a fluke, and that I can still improve.

LSAT prep

2009-05-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

Upon purchasing an LSAT date, I read up on the exam and discovered that preparation paid off, so I started buying prep books, opting not to sign up for a prep class.

My first purchase in preparation for the LSAT was LSAT for Dummies, which was a good primer to the LSAT and the distinctions between its sections, although the writing within was wrought with the occasional misspelling/inaccuracy. The book contained two practice LSAT's. My first score was a 163, my second a 166. These are apparently scores that would put me in the top 10% of test-takers.

My biggest weakness proved to be Analytical Reasoning. I would tend to panic and run out of time on these sections, or end up having to go back and redo key elements of my assumptions and charts. Reading LSAT 180 proved to be helpful in this area, as I learned about different types of Analytical Reasoning questions and how to chart and approach them. LSAT 180 is kind of funny in that it has a series of statements about what "180 test takers" do, like "180 test takers move on once they've identified the correct answer." I find it funny that the book plays to my desire to be included in some fictitious band of elitists known as "180 test takers." But overall, the book was helpful. I then purchased Kaplan's Logic Games Workbook and improved even more.

I also had problems with not reading questions carefully enough, and then with losing focus towards the end of the test. Because my problems became less involved with content and more with extraneous factors like concentration, my performance in Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension started sliding as my Analytical Reasoning score grew.

My third practice LSAT was the free downloadable from LSAC. I scored a 160.

After this test, I took a break from preparation for the month of March while I dealt with work-related time strains and getting over the flu.

When I returned, I took a practice exam from a preptest book and scored a 162, noting that my Logical Reasoning scores were still low. I did more studying from LSAT 180 and determined myself to stay focused during the late stages of the pracitce exam. My next score was a 166. The score on my practice exam today was a 169. I'm hoping this is meaningful improvement, and not just fluctuations around the 160's.

There are some limitations I'm wary of concerning my pracitce exams. First, I realize my apartment is not the same test-taking environment as the college classroom I'll be in for my actual LSAT. There aren't bathroom breaks after every section or chances to say "hello" to my girlfriend when she's returning from work.
Second, the workbook practice exams are kind of old. The three I've taken have been from 1993 and 1994. If I understand correctly, the LSAT gets harder every year. Does this mean I'm taking softball questions compared to the real thing?
Third, the preptests only have four sections, while the five-section LSAT will be more of a grind on my concentration. I used to hope for one logic games section with an extra reading comprehension, but I'm reaching a point now where I'm consistently good at logic games and I lose focus on reading comprehension.

The decision

2009-05-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

It was during a weary wintry drive to another day of my second year of teaching high school students that I made the decision to look into a line of work that offers intellectual challenges that play more to my strengths than my role as a classroom teacher does.

I used my tax refund money to join LSAC and to register for the LSAT. My test date is in June.

Having just secured and signed a contract for my third and final year of teaching, I am starting this blog to document my successes and failures on the road to a career in law. It is my hope that this blog will follow my exploits into a successful career in law. Here's to hoping.