Top Law Schools

skitlets wrote:

My parents still call me “baby,” and I turn twenty four in a few months. I am the youngest of three siblings, child of Vietnamese parents who left a war-torn country with nothing for a new start atop the “Golden Mountain,” San Francisco.

I never got to make big mistakes growing up. My older brother and sister made them for me. My parents caught them sneaking out and skipping class. The anger and disappointment, I never wanted to incense them in that way. I internalized the values my parents encouraged- honesty, hard work, and prioritizing my education above all else. I never questioned the approach. I knew education was important, I never truly understood why. My parents worked physically demanding jobs. They wanted their children to work with brains, not hands, to live comfortably and never have to worry about putting food on the table.

I diligently kept my grades up and my head down, applied and got accepted into the city’s magnet high school, _____. I grandly declared that I would someday hire my mother a personal chef if I were accepted into _______. Eating out was a luxury we rarely indulged in. My naïve twelve year old brain thought such a task would be easy, what with getting into a decent high school and all. My mother reminds me to this day. ____ drilled into our heads that we should go to college. I never thought to ask why and the counselors never bothered to explain it.

From elementary to middle to high school to college, a natural and predetermined progression. Finally in college, I had to decide how to move forward with my school career. I chose political science after a stint with engineering. I am just not passionate about programming or circuitry, as much as I love tinkering with computers. I am engrossed with the social sciences, learning about history and its lessons, society and its ills, the underlying political system and its laws and flaws. I thought about the practical uses for a political science degree and law school seemed a natural and attractive answer, another progression. The legal profession is one of three my parents approve of, up there with medicine and engineering. I forged the path without thinking about the motivations, just a checklist I inherited from my parents. Lawyers make money, right?

I wisened up my 4th year. The reality of being in debt punched me in the gut. I worked through college to pay for all of my living expenses but tuition was covered by loans, a thought I conveniently swept under the rug. The cost of law school isn’t something I wanted to take as casually, with students regularly graduating in excess of $100,000 in debt. I delayed applying to law school to work. I wanted more perspective. I knew I wanted to make my living directly impacting people. I took up more IT work while getting certified as an EMT. I learned from class and ambulance ride-alongs that emergency medical service is not for me. I learned from three years of IT work that I wanted something more fulfilling. My desires led me back to social policies and laws. I’m certain I read more now than I was in school.

With great clarity, I now want to continue education for my own reasons. I specifically want to continue my education in the legal field so that I may blend my academic passions with a longing to really impact the lives of others.