That's what trying to convince my parents that I'm serious about law school is. They are still convinced that since I set out for college with the goal of becoming a high school English teacher, that is the only thing I ever should be. Every once in a while, Dad says "Well, we have two of them heading into education," (refering to me and my younger brother who is majoring in Secondary Education and History), but I fight to tell him that while I am still majoring in Secondary Education and English, it is only with the goal of having something to fall back on if law school doesn't work out.
Anyway, I have been frantically swallowing up legal novels. I only just picked up my nearly-finished copy of Linda Fairstein's The Bone Vault and have been swept up in her entire Alexandra Cooper series. In fact, I'm nearly finished with Bad Blood and was heartbroken to find that I am nearing the end of what she has written. To quell the months of waiting after I get to Hell Gate, I have picked up the first book by Alafair Burke and the one book that shows up on every "Do You Want To Be A Lawyer" list - Scott Turow's One L. A co-worker has also pointed me in the direction of John Grisham, a novelist I had avoided since he tends to focus on large firms rather than my area of interest, criminal law, but since I have all summer, I might try a few of his.
I am working at a golf course for the summer, answering the phones to make tee-times. An incredibly unexciting job, but a job nonetheless (hey, I'll take $10 an hour!). Basically, I sit in my own office with a phone, computer, sheets of info on rates and directions to the course, and two or three books. I've gone through a book a week since I started work. I addition to reading, I have had plenty of time to research law schools. New York Law School is still my top choice, followed by NYU and Columbia. My reasonings are as follows:
- NYLS is smaller. While that may seem conterproductive in a society that recognizes the Name Schools (i.e., Harvard, Yale, etc.), I don't want to attend a school where I am a number. NYLS seems to be just the right size. Plus, looking at my GPA (which is sure to change over three years), NYLS looks to be my best bet. Only time will tell with the LSATs.
- Along the same line, while NYU is a top school on all the lists, I've read a few articles about exactly what those lists use for consideration for ranking. While most people will totally recognize the name NYU or Columbia (and probably not the one of New York Law School), do these lists take into consideration something other than the average incoming GPA or LSAT score or whether incoming 1Ls were valedictorians? Somehow, I doubt the answer is yes.
- This point is really moot when I think about it, and yes, it is petty. NYLS is simply closer to where I want to work when I graduate. I plan on spending my days either in a cramped public servant office or in the courtrooms of 60 and 100 Centre Street. Why not take the opportunity to walk to the courtrooms and sit in on a few trials during law school? And yes, I realize that NYU is not that far from the Financial District surrounding Foley Square, but still...
In other news, my younger brother (the one spoken of earlier) graduated from high school on Friday! He is headed off to Westfield State to double major in Secondary Education and History after a long love affair with military history. His girlfriend is going to UMass Lowell for a degree in Psychology. Now, the parents get a break from graduations for two years until my younger brother graduates from his vocational school, then two more years until my sister graduates from high school. By that time, hopefully I'll be in law school!!
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