Wow, so HR blocked my previous boss from writing me a letter. I'm at the end of my rope for a fellowship and/or admission to a higher ranking school because of this. Gotta love professional life...

Thanks for the responses! I was literally email-accepted on Friday. No paper packet in hand, yet. It's coming "within the month."

It's a huge decision to make at the ripe age of going-on 32 (add that as a woman I haven't procreated yet), and so the decision-making process now feels a little more urgent. (Would it have been better to get rejected? I dunno.)

I'm planning to apply to a higher ranking school, but not T14. I'm just waiting to hear back on clearance from HR that my second recommender can actually write a letter (eyeroll). Even though I scored 5 points higher on my second LSAT after a two years' break from the first, I don't envision earning a 170, let alone 160 (close, but no cigar). Did I settle? Maybe. With each LSAT registration, I get older.

Paying sticker is an absolute no-go for me, even if it were T14. I've been gainfully employed since the crash, thanks in part to my career choice, but paying back my MA at NU has been soul-crushing.

Thanks for listening. :)

Plus, I thought that the FAFSA just determines how much Stafford or PLUS I get. That's what I want to avoid, where possible. I've been out of grad school since 2008, though, so I may be remembering incorrectly.

I do need to complete the FAFSA. One of my several employers hasn't released my W2, so I guess that I'll have to estimate my AGI without it. The schools to which I've applied have a deadline of March 15th.

Thanks. My GPA is 3.8 (median 3.34, 2015 entering). LSAT was 25th percentile, 2015 entering.

So, I guess that I'm a low-high splitter since LSAT is "more important"...myLSN says that I'd be 100% in the "top 10%," though.

I didn't pay sticker for my BS or MA, so I'd do just the same for a JD. I don't really think that I'd feel any differently if we were talking T14, either. But all the TLS posts and comments from elsewhere seem to make it sound like I'm completely wasting my time and money by not shooting for T14. Doesn't make me feel any more confident in the matter, that's for sure.

Hey guys,

So some good-ish news. My grad school prof/clinical director is open to the idea of the LOR. However, said prof wants me to provide a draft LOR.

Any recs on that?

I've started drafting a letter after jumping around the interwebs to see how to handle the situation. It feels really weird having to toot my own horn in third person, trying to not go overboard and respect my recommender's perspective and/or voice. I'm fortunate that this prof in particular is open to supporting me, as I'd have to start scraping the bottom of the barrel, being that I've been in industry for almost seven years.

Thanks, guys! I'm working on requesting the LOR from a previous grad prof --- who unfortunately also moved on from the uni to another less prestigious uni. But hopefully there will be a bit more excitement in response to my humble request, this time around...

Thanks, @torahisland910! Best of luck to you, as well. :)

@christinadavidesko205 yeah my goal is to be a lawyer in family law and to start my own firm. So I get a double the negativity regarding wanting to start a law firm out of law school.

This sounds incredible! It also sounds similar to my "vision" in that I too want to have my own firm and/or be as independent as possible. I'm so over being part of the traditional workforce (lifestyle and structure works for many/most, but not so much for me).

Wowzers, I really struck gold with getting your attention, eh? ;)

Besides any potential debt, where my concern lies is ending up in the same/similar situation that I'm already in. I paid(am paying) nearly $100k for my master's in allied health from NU, and one of the reasons why I went into my field is to make an impact in society/the lives of others in rough shape. Yes, I do that, but under the pressure that I treat humans like widgets and bill anywhere from 90-92% per minute worked (yes, minute, not hour). I don't want to be stuck making more widgets, but in a different way, as a lawyer.

When people tell me to steer clear of law school, my brain goes to ^^^^^^^.

@dkhaliq8639 I've done my research, know the pros and cons and know that I do want to go to law school and that I will shoot for the stars.

I'd like to hear more about your analysis, if you so please.

@bethflanders40.flanders They have obtained other good paying, challenging careers. Each one of them indicated that their JD degree separated them from the rest.

Can you tell me more? What did they end up doing?

@2543.hopkins I'm not in favor of denigrating an entire class of legal professionals. This, too, is a fully legitimate career path and one that plenty of folks would find fulfilling.

I have to agree with this, especially since I'm not a brah and don't necessarily feel that I have to be "elite" in the brah sense in order to find fulfillment in my career path.

@2543.hopkins Folks who understand that there are many ways to do all sorts of great things in life. If you want to be an attorney, go to law school.

Where the problem lies is that the naysayers are saying that in order to do great things in life, a JD is unnecessary. This is also coming from JDs who have been in the field for a while.

@974 I definitely think it is smart to do your homework and understand the realities you will face after graduation, but even if the market weren't saturated, there would still be no guarantees.

I think that this is also a trigger of one of my fears. A number of people in my current field feel as though what we learned in our grad program didn't really prepare us for the reality of what we would face later on in the healthcare system. It just "happened" to us, and we had to learn the really, really hard way. So, then I worry that the same thing will happen to me again in the legal system.

@christinadavidesko205 Just do what makes you happy and at the end of the day I would rather me telling myself I wish I never went to law school than I wish that I had.

I really REALLY appreciate you sharing your story! I take it that you must be working on the path to law school if you're over here on 7Sage?

@grantnicar6 I work at a small "boutique" law firm that specializes in complex product liability/personal injury litigation and every single lawyer that works there (8 total) have encouraged my decision and told me that going to law school was probably the best decision they've ever made.

This is encouraging! :) Boutique all the way.

@grantnicar6 At the end of the day if you are pursuing a law degree primarily as a way to "make 100k per year", or to feel "powerful/important", then you're probably going to be disappointed. However if you truly have an interest in the nature of the work itself, or you just want to provide an important service to your community, then I think you'll end up not regretting your decision to attend law school.

This definitely hits home. I already know what it feels like to make $100k, and although it's quite a privilege to hit that range, it can turn into a case of feeling like it's "never enough" when you have so much student debt. You hit the nail on the head in that my interest in the work is key here, but then I get tripped up in the idea that whenever you make a career change, you "should always be making a higher salary than your previous career."

@grantnicar6 Apologies. I didn't intend for this comment to turn into a full fledged rant, but oh well.

Not a rant. Wealth of thought, thank you!

Since this was my second round today since 2013, I have to say that it was helpful that I had a baseline and knew what to expect. Speaking to a handful of first-timers in line was interesting, and I found myself trying to chill them out (mama bear, I dunno).

Another thing I learned, which may be more due to the fact that this was my second time, is that it was so much nicer taking the LSAT at a community college versus NU (one of my alma maters).

I thought that I would feel more "at home" at NU (don't they always so "test where you're familiar?"), but in retrospect it felt like a pressure cooker with too many competitive molecules flying through the air. The CC where I sat for the LSAT today gave me an entire table to myself and was carpeted (meaning less chair noises and screeching). The CC setting seemed to have a bit more diversity in age, too, which helped me realize that it's okay to try this as a second career.

However, in the end, I've dropped a good chunk of cash on taking the test twice, in addition to testing materials and courses, so I kind of feel like with whatever happens this time around, this is it. Unless I end up applying and shoot for February for some scholarship money (or does it not work out that way)?

All I know is that "real LG" completely fried me today and made me question all things good in this world.

@974 -- Well, it appears that perhaps at least the majority effed up the section. Ugh. May Lady Luck bless those cursed bubbles for us.

At least now I can justify having drinner tonight.

If the real LG section is the one identified above, I had it right after the break, and I totally bombed because I lost my flow, despite getting my blood flowing, eating, and drinking. I really lost my cool, sadly, and ended up filling in bubbles just to get some answers down. I was hoping for upper 150s, but I think that real LG may have killed that hope, unless I'm really lucky.

Female INTJ. Redhead. Can't get rarer than that.

I resell mine on Amazon. Works like a charm

This is helpful. Thank you!

Thanks for clarifying, @974 , reverse splitting.

Can you please expand more on your idea of "waste?" Is it the time/effort in applying? The risk of being waitlisted/rejected? The prospect of crappy scholarship cash?

I'm curious on your perspective on the wastefulness, as I feel that time is of the essence for me since I'm quickly zooming towards mid-30s.