Apply 2016-17 circle or 5 years later with other benefits. very special situation. Forum

[yfang12]

I am an international student right now in my last year of study a U.S college, my GPA is 3.1 and my LSAT is 167 from Dec.

I was going to apply to law school for 2016-2017 circle as a splitter after retaking the LSAT in June, but there is an other opportunity for me now.

I signed up for a military program last September, I always wanted to join army because both my parents did it, however since there is a physical requirement for that I though I will never pass because I was overweight and I cant really run that fast, so I didnt really take it into consideration when comes to planning my future.

Somehow my workout in the past 4 month paid off, 2 days ago I passed my physical and my recruiter said I will be able to sign the contract for my enlistments before next week. I will be getting an American citizenship before I ship out, and I will receive education benefit for law school when I return to U.S after 4 year AD. I think my recruiter said the army will pay for my law school tuition if I decide to go.

The thing is this is a 8 year contract, 4 year active duty overseas (Military Occupational Specialty unknown) and 4 years reserve. if I go ahead with this program then will be shipping me out around December this year, I will be 23 years old, by the time I got back I will be 28 or 29. by the time I graduate law school I will be 31-32 years old.

Since now I probably can get into a decent law school with my numbers, I just don't know if this is a good idea push law school to that age, I am worried I will be less competitive than those who are much younger than me and probably had more work experience than me, mostly I am worried about being old.

[sephora_addict]

I am an international student right now in my last year of study a U.S college, my GPA is 3.1 and my LSAT is 167 from Dec.

I was going to apply to law school for 2016-2017 circle as a splitter after retaking the LSAT in June, but there is an other opportunity for me now.

I signed up for a military program last September, I always wanted to join army because both my parents did it, however since there is a physical requirement for that I though I will never pass because I was overweight and I cant really run that fast, so I didnt really take it into consideration when comes to planning my future.

Somehow my workout in the past 4 month paid off, 2 days ago I passed my physical and my recruiter said I will be able to sign the contract for my enlistments before next week. I will be getting an American citizenship before I ship out, and I will receive education benefit for law school when I return to U.S after 4 year AD. I think my recruiter said the army will pay for my law school tuition if I decide to go.

The thing is this is a 8 year contract, 4 year active duty overseas (Military Occupational Specialty unknown) and 4 years reserve. if I go ahead with this program then will be shipping me out around December this year, I will be 23 years old, by the time I got back I will be 28 or 29. by the time I graduate law school I will be 31-32 years old.

Since now I probably can get into a decent law school with my numbers, I just don't know if this is a good idea push law school to that age, I am worried I will be less competitive than those who are much younger than me and probably had more work experience than me, mostly I am worried about being old.

Anyone who has more life experience compared to students right out of college are more competitive. Or at least that is what I have read in almost every law school admissions story from admission committees themselves on here or on other blogs. Also, to make you feel a little better about your age, I am applying for the 2016-2017 application cycle. I'm about to turn 25 years old which means i'll be 26 when I start law school. This means that I will be 29 when I graduate (although I may end up doing a dual-degree which then would put me at 30-31 when I graduate). So age really doesn't matter. From what i've heard, there is a broad range of ages in law school. Most have had other jobs or careers prior to the law so you will fit right in. The choice is up to you. Do what your heart desires

[Lexaholik]

I am an international student right now in my last year of study a U.S college, my GPA is 3.1 and my LSAT is 167 from Dec.

I was going to apply to law school for 2016-2017 circle as a splitter after retaking the LSAT in June, but there is an other opportunity for me now.

I signed up for a military program last September, I always wanted to join army because both my parents did it, however since there is a physical requirement for that I though I will never pass because I was overweight and I cant really run that fast, so I didnt really take it into consideration when comes to planning my future.

Somehow my workout in the past 4 month paid off, 2 days ago I passed my physical and my recruiter said I will be able to sign the contract for my enlistments before next week. I will be getting an American citizenship before I ship out, and I will receive education benefit for law school when I return to U.S after 4 year AD. I think my recruiter said the army will pay for my law school tuition if I decide to go.

The thing is this is a 8 year contract, 4 year active duty overseas (Military Occupational Specialty unknown) and 4 years reserve. if I go ahead with this program then will be shipping me out around December this year, I will be 23 years old, by the time I got back I will be 28 or 29. by the time I graduate law school I will be 31-32 years old.

Since now I probably can get into a decent law school with my numbers, I just don't know if this is a good idea push law school to that age, I am worried I will be less competitive than those who are much younger than me and probably had more work experience than me, mostly I am worried about being old.

Graduating law school in your early 30s won't make you too old. Many of my law school classmates who were in their late 20s and early 30s and they got some of the best job opportunities after graduation. As an older law student with military experience, you'll be even more disciplined and more focused than you were before.

I'm going to assume that the military thing is a completely personal decision though. If your thought is that by joining the military you might get into a better school, don't do it.

[yfang12]

Yeah military is a personal decision, I wanted to go to a military school when I was picking college, and almost all of them turned me down because of my citizenship, and those who said they will take international students told me to get a recommendation from government officials above state level, which I know no one.

[Tls2016]

You are getting citizenship because of military or because of other reasons?

[yfang12]

You are getting citizenship because of military or because of other reasons?

Because of military, but this is not why I wanted to join at the first place. My stepfather is a U.S citizen too so I am on the wait list for a green card, the wait time is between 6-7 year from the day I applied and I am already 2 years in.

[Longsx3]

I would say a couple of things, first if part of the reason you are considering the military for educational benefits do some research and understand the Post 9-11 Gi Bill. It doesn't just pay for law school there are a lot of variables, Second, you mentioned being overseas? A recruiter can not tell you where your first duty station will be, no matter what he says. While you may be stationed overseas, you could easily spend 4yrs in Oklahoma. Finally you have a college degree, why are you enlisting? Did you apply for any of the commissioning programs?

[Tls2016]

You are getting citizenship because of military or because of other reasons?

Because of military, but this is not why I wanted to join at the first place. My stepfather is a U.S citizen too so I am on the wait list for a green card, the wait time is between 6-7 year from the day I applied and I am already 2 years in.

I think if you can get citizenship sooner you should do that. As a citizen, your job search will be infinitely easier.

[yfang12]

I would say a couple of things, first if part of the reason you are considering the military for educational benefits do some research and understand the Post 9-11 Gi Bill. It doesn't just pay for law school there are a lot of variables, Second, you mentioned being overseas? A recruiter can not tell you where your first duty station will be, no matter what he says. While you may be stationed overseas, you could easily spend 4yrs in Oklahoma. Finally you have a college degree, why are you enlisting? Did you apply for any of the commissioning programs?

The program I applied to is for non-U.S citizen, the category is "Language specialist", even though we probably will not be using our language, we will be stationed overseas in case there is need for it. I think the only place we might be placed in is Hawaii, but from what I heard no one was that lucky.

My recruiter told me that every one goes through this program is enlisting first, for those who have a college degree we can re-class and apply for officer after shipping out and naturalization,I just don't know exactly how yet.

[Hornet2011]

This is a very interesting scenario. As you rightly said joining the military is a very personal scenario (one that I pursued, had a full ROTC scholarship but after a year decided to not continue on, fortunately I didn't have to pay the year back per the contract rules), so please give it some thought. As others have said, top graduate schools be it law or business or anything else look favorably on military service and you will not be to old by joining. Also is it 4 years reserves or 4 years on the inactive reserves? That makes a big difference in terms of your options post active duty.

Being a US citizen will only help you and if your recruiter is being forthright (which I have no reason to believe he isn't), you can look into OCI to become an officer. I would ask how many years in it would take before you can apply for OCI and if there is typically any additional service requirement.

The biggest X factor is the immediate citizenship. How much that is worth to you I can't estimate, but it seems important and valuable to you, and if so, I would think carray significant weight in favor of the military option. Nobody knows with politics these days what will happen to people on a citizenship wait list.

I don think anybody here can tel you unequivocally what to do, but if it makes your decision easier, joining the military will not make you too old for law school, put you in a better position to be accepted, and give you a lot of time to do LSAT retakes to get the best score possible (remember scores are valid for 5 years and you get to retake 3 times within 2 years)