You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'pre-law' category.
Orientation was the normal boring talks. The only real exciting part was finally meeting my future classmates. They broke us down into 3 sections, A B C. I am a member of section B. Everyone in section B has the same class schedule. For orientation they broke us down even further. I was in section B6 and we were able to interact with an even smaller group. I’ve already been assigned readings and we had to do a two part written diagnostic to determine if we are capable of writing. They are trying to find people who can’t write and assign them free tutoring services. The first part was an hour long prompt during orientation. The second part is a take home version due next week. The prompt asks a question, gives you pages of supporting documentation, and you write your opinion backed up by the supporting documentation. I hope I actually write decently and don’t need any more extra work. I read some of the assignments and it took me a long time. My contracts professor assigned about 40 pages of reading for day 1. He seems to be the more into jumping right into it. Another professor assigned some work and stated that the first day discussion was to simply gauge how fast the class would move this semester which put me more at ease. Good luck to me! 90% of the people aren’t in the top ten percent. That’s a pretty tiny chance I’ll be there at the top, but I guess it all depends on how hard I can work. I’ve never been a great worker so odds are against me. I’ll at least give it a try.
During my first visit to UH, there was a Q&A session with a couple of professors. Students would of course ask, “What can we do over the summer to prepare for law school?” One of the professors said to just start reading, not anything serious, but enjoyable stuff, just to get you back in the mode of reading. The other professor said to go on vacation. He suggested a summer in Europe. I couldn’t do the whole summer but I’m leaving for London (with an overnight visit to Paris) today. My trip will only be 10 days, but I’m following it up with a road trip to Dallas for Quakecon and then moving to Houston. I’m done working. Law school is the only thing in my future.
The professor just said Europe to encourage people to relax before going to school. He said vacation helped people get ready to sit and get down to business. They insisted they were teachers and even with all the nightmare stories, they would actually teach us what we needed to know, so preparing in the summer wasn’t needed.
1. send undergrad transcript
2. mail change of address form with my Houston address
3. remember to pay fee bill (get it on Aug 7th) due August 14th
4. get cougar one card (UH ID)
5. buy books
When:
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
9:00 am – 3:30 pm (Check-in: 8:00 – 8:55 am)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
8:00 – 8:55 am Welcome Breakfast in the Commons
(Sponsored by the UH Law Alumni Association)
9:00 am – 12:00 noon (Orientation Activities)
Thursday, August 16, 2007
9:00 – 1:00 pm (Writing Diagnostic and Computer Orientation)
Where: Krost Hall Auditorium
Attire: Casual (Photographs for the student directory will be taken on the first day.)
I don’t know if I ever posted the final results. Basically, only Baylor rejected me. However, the rejection letter stated that since they do have cycles starting in the spring, I would be accepted if I applied for the spring semester. Oh well, I got my top choice anyways!
University of Houston – Accepted
South Texas College of Law – Accepted
Baylor University – Rejected
Texas Tech University – Accepted
St. Mary’s University – Accepted
Texas Southern University – Accepted
Texas Wesleyan University – Accepted – w/ $7,500 per year scholarship
Santa Clara University – Accepted
Southwestern University – Waitlisted
DePaul University – Accepted – w/ $54,000 scholarship
Hofstra University – Accepted – w/ full tuition scholarship
I recently got an e-mail from UH. It was an update about what was going to happen. It listed the first day of class and the orientation that would occur sometime in the week before. It also came with a commitment form to return, as if my deposit money wasn’t enough. It also stated that since 1L’s all take the same class, my registration would be performed automatically. I’m sort of writing this from memory, so forgive me.
In other news, my living arrangements have been set. I’ll be living with two working folk in a 3 bedroom apartment just west of downtown on I10. Ken Ueng and Jason Jan will be my roommates at the Alexan Heights on IH10 and Studemont. It’s relatively close to school, and allows me to take either the highway or the local roads to get to school. I actually start my lease in June, but I am hoping to rent out my room for June/July since I don’t need to be in school until the middle of August.
My summer plans include a trip to London July 22-31 and our yearly trek to Quakecon in the greater Dallas area. My brother is in London now studying abroad. I’m looking forward to living in Houston. Port Lavaca can be a little dull at times. I’m excited about law school, but I’ve been looking forward to it for over a year now, so the excitement level has been toned down a bit.
I actually wrote this a long time ago. I just decided I should post this:
Now that I’ve gotten into the school of my choice (The University of Houston Law Center), I’m basically in a wait and see mode. School should start sometime in August.
I’m fairly acquainted with the geography of Houston now. I’m still a little hazy about the area directly around UH, but I know most of the major thoroughfares quite well now. I should be able to pick up my new living location and the UH area without any issues. I’m a quick study when it comes to directions and geogrpahy.
I’m still working part-time in the legal department at Formosa. I finished my Business Law class at Victoria College, and I’m currently enrolled in basketball, technical writing, and an online legal terminology course. Baksetball keeps me somewhat active, and the technical writing course has been somewhat interesting, though not completely satisfying. I’m not getting as much writing practice as I thought I would. The Business Law course I took during Fall has still been the best so far. I have been reading more. I couldn’t list off the books I’ve read, but I just wanted to note that I’ve been reading some. It hasn’t been hardcore, read every night reading, but I have read some books, which is better than my reading habits of the past. Other than that, I haven’t done much. I did attend an admitted students event at UHLC, which was a nice introduction to law school. The part I enjoyed the most was being able to actually attend a 1L class.
Section 2: Applications
The law school application process is pretty simple. There is the LSAC. The LSAC accepts all your transcripts, LSAT results, letters of recommendation, fees, personal statements, etc. They package it all together and send a single package to the law schools for review. This system simplifies the process.
All schools want your grades, your LSAT score, 2-3 letters of recommendation, a personal statement, and some money for the application fees. It differs slightly from school to school, but this is basically the whole package.
Law schools don’t offer interviews, so the personal statement is the only real way to talk to the admissions committee. I decided to spend 2 months writing my personal statement. I think it was good time invested. My sister read my first and final draft and she was pleasantly surprised by the improvement from beginning to end.
I have a GPA from UT of 2.66, even with my community college grades, my GPA wasn’t getting any prettier too quickly. So having such a handicap, I really needed to do my best to improve all the other aspects of my application.
I took the LSAT and got a decent 163 on it, so I checked that off my list. I got 3 quality letters of recommendation during the fall, so I checked that off my list. Then I spent time to write a quality personal statement and checked that off my list.
My application seemed ready to go.
My Business Law professor was nice enough to write me a letter of recommendation before I even finished the class. So I was ready to apply to schools at the end of November 2006. Since I really had no idea what school I would get into, I applied to a lot of schools. My GPA was such an x-factor, that I had no idea what my chances of getting into UH were. It was good that I worked for three years. Any separation from my grade was good. I also had a strong LSAT score and quality letters of recommendation. With a good personal statement, I really had a chance, but the chance wasn’t good enough. I had to apply to a lot of schools to be safe.
Here are the results of my application process so far:
Santa Clara University-Pending
Baylor University-Pending
South Texas College of Law-Pending
DePaul University-Accepted-$54,000
Hofstra University-Accepted-$100,000
St. Mary’s University-Accepted
Texas Wesleyan University-Accepted-$7,500
Texas Southern University-Accepted
Texas Tech University-Accepted
University of Houston-Accepted
Southwestern University School-Waitlisted
As you can see, I got into the University of Houston Law Center. It was my number one choice so all the schools that have still not replied to me, no longer matter. I did have to wait a while for UH to accept me, but it was a glorious and happy day when I was finally accepted.
Section 1: Letters of Recommendation
Starting out, my basic strategy was to quit my job in Austin as a Quality Assurance Engineer and start working in the legal department at Formosa. I thought having a little work experience in the legal department would help my resume and application. The plan grew when I enrolled in a Business Law class at the community college in Victoria.
I’m very lucky to have taken the Business Law class. While I did take a Legal Environment of Business foundation class at UT, I felt I got a better overview of the legal world from my community college class. To top it off, my instructor happened to be a lawyer. She was a CPA/Attorney. I think her letter of recommendation helped immensely. She was also another source of information for me about law school. It wasn’t coincidence that she was an alumni of St. Mary’s Law and my first acceptance letter came from St. Mary’s.
I’d been out of school for three years, so getting a letter of recommendation from an old professor would have been harder. I easily impressed my Business Law instructor and got what I really needed. I got another ‘A’ grade to add to my transcript, and I now had a letter of recommendation from a professor who happened to also be a lawyer.
I think I had a good mix of letter of recommendations. One was from my former boss. I worked hard at my QA job, and he could see how intelligent I was. His letter would give me a solid review from a superior, able to judge me as an employee and comment on my hard work. My second one was from a former co-worker. She would be able to give insight on daily interactions with me. Her point of view was from a team view. She could shed light on my daily habits, ability to tackle specific issues, and it didn’t hurt that her roommate, a UT law student, helped her write my letter of recommendation.
My final letter was of course from my Business Law professor. She would judge my abilities as a student, while also offering the opinion of a lawyer. As someone who has gone through law school, her opinion about my ability to get through law school would seem very important.
All three letters were from people who were able to interact with me on a daily basis. I think they had more weight than just getting the CEO of my company to write me a letter. While big names turn heads, I firmly believe the people who were in the trenches together offer better letters of recommendations. They can offer specific examples of qualities you hold. They can highlight your strengths, and show how you have grown over time. I really want to thank the people who helped me get into school.
Luckily for me, schools seem to rely heavily on standardized tests. For some reason, I’ve had a pretty good track record with these types of tests. As an average student, studying something specific was always harder than just being able to think and answer vague questions. I tend to have the advantage on tests you can’t really study for. I scored 680s on both parts of the old SAT, and I was confident that I could do about the same on the LSAT.
It was spring time in Austin when I decided to take the LSAT. Having already missed being a student for the Fall of 06, I had a variety of options for the LSAT. June, October, December were all options. As somebody who likes things complete, I decided on the June LSAT, so I would:
1. know if I even had a chance of getting into a school
2. apply relatively early
The LSAT scores on a curve. Getting a 170 places you in the top tier of students, and getting into schools is much easier. So even with a poor GPA, students with 170 or better have an easier time getting into school. While I am a good test taker, a 170 was a little out of my reach.
I’ve never been a good pace setter. I can’t run a mile without somebody or something keeping pace for me. I’d just run too fast at the start to have anything left in the tank for the end. The toughest class for me as an undergraduate was the self-paced electrical engineering class. Knowing this, I decided a structured study format was best for me.
I first started out taking the practice LSAT offered by the official web site. I scored a decent 158 on the practice test. It wasn’t bad considering I didn’t know anything about the test at this point. I felt I had a chance.
I decided to enroll in a study course for the LSAT. I had a little under two months until the June LSAT, and I thought of the money spent as an investment that would pay off. I decided on the Princeton Review course. In retrospect, it was a wise decision. Of course, luck played a part in how good the class was to me. I really enjoyed and respected my instructor. He missed one class and his replacement for the day was horrible. I felt so glad to have my instructor and not the sub from the other class.
The course went over strategy, assigned homework, and gave practice exams. On top of that, I got access to all the old LSAT tests, basically the only things available to study for the exam with. I know the class really helped out. The thing about the LSAT is that the sections are long and the time is short. You don’t get penalties for wrong answers so finishing is a must. You have to be able to get through the test to have a chance, and I know the class gave me some good strategies and the confidence to breeze through it. It was also good to have the structure and regular classes where I could discuss issues and ask questions. Another bonus was being around other people who were applying to law school. I was still working full time, so being around people who wanted to go to law school was an important part of the application process. I needed to stay focused while still working full time.
The LSAT arrived on June 12, a Monday in the year 2006. It didn’t rain that day. I didn’t get a flat tire on the way to the test. I was prepared. I took plenty of practice exams. I took exams on my own and, I took exams in the structured environment offered by the Princeton Review. I was taught strategy by someone who scored 178 on the exam and I spoke with a variety of people who were also taking the LSAT. The exam was on the UT campus in the UTC. I’d had plenty of undergraduate classes in that building so even the environment was familiar to me. I felt calm. Then the test was passed out. It was really tough. In order to get a 170 you can basically only miss two questions per section. I knew I was going to miss more than that. The only calming factor was that the LSAT is scaled. If everybody does bad, then your score doesn’t suffer too much. Everybody gets ranked against everybody else who took the exact same LSAT, and the score just shows where on the curve you sit.
It was tough, but I waited anxiously and had high hopes for a few weeks. I was transitioning out of my job and moving back to live with my parents. I got the score and felt…good. It was a simple feeling. I knew my score could have been much better, but at the same time, I knew my score could have been much worse. I basically scored exactly what I should have scored.
My LSAT score was a 163 (89th percentile).
I felt good that I had done better than 89% of the people who took the LSAT that day. I knew I would get into some law school. It was still in question what law school I would actually get into.
