Young Parent With Dreams of UChicago Forum

[cak1206]

New here & seeking for advice probably much sooner than necessary, but I'll ask anyway.

I am a young parent. I had my son at 21 and had only one semester of college completed. I am now in my junior year of undergrad pursuing a BSBA in Finance and want to know what kind of timeline is realistic. If all goes as planned, I will graduate undergrad in spring 2021, but may need to go into fall of 2020. I am anticipating a 3.8+ GPA (giving myself room for 2-3 Bs in the future). I have a very supportive family and partner. It wasn't until I had my son that I had the motivation to pursue my childhood dream.

What timeline is realistic? My plate is full. I work 1-2 days a week, raise my son full time while my partner works full time, and go to school full time. Here are the 2 options I am considering. The first is making my life incredibly stressful in trying to finish my degree by spring 2021, have taken the LSAT and scored what I am comfortable with, and applied and been accepted. I am not too familiar with the application cycles so I am not sure if that is even realistic. The other option is to give myself a more relaxing schedule, allowing for more one on one time with my son (he's not yet 2 so I feel this is really important). Graduate in fall of 2021, and use the extra time I have to study and do well on the LSAT. What type of timeline would this give me for applications? What is more realistic while maintaining a stable home life with my son and partner?

I will say, I have biglaw dreams and have wanted to go to UChicago since I was a little girl, and I want to live & practice in Chicago post-graduation. That is the ultimate goal that is not something I want to compromise on. I am also interested in Penn or Duke, and other T14s, but still want to end up back in the city. I know biglaw isn't easy for women with dreams of a family, but I don't want more children. So let's hear it! I am all ears.

[albanach]

New here & seeking for advice probably much sooner than necessary, but I'll ask anyway.

Firstly a disclaimer. I know nothing of Chicago, other than having visited a couple of times for conferences.

That said, I had a 5yo when I started law school. With a supportive partner, that was entirely doable. They were at school when I was at school. Their bus left before I did in the morning and after-school activities kept them busy until after 5.00pm. It should be possible, other than during exam time, to manage 1L like an 8-5 job.

That said, I knew several others with younger children. For that, childcare options become more important. Some schools like UVA have offerings really near the school (I believe there was a thread on this). Typically these are really competitive, but with planning may be accessible to you.

I do think I benefited a lot from living near school, meaning my commute was only ten minutes. If you face an hour-long commute, everything else becomes more challenging. Particularly if your partner doesn't have a lot of flexibility to handle mornings and evenings.

If you have specific questions about law school with kids, I'm happy to answer as best I'm able.

[QContinuum]

First, welcome to TLS! And kudos on your family and your work ethic.

Generally, it never makes sense to rush to go to law school, and doubly so in your case, as you'd have to sacrifice crucial bonding time with your son - and likely also shortchange yourself in terms of GPA and, even more critically, LSAT performance - if you were to rush to graduate in spring 2021. Go with the fall '21 graduation. Plan to apply to law school in the 2021-22 cycle - so, ideally you should plan on having your applications submitted (including recommendation letters and a suitable LSAT score) by Halloween 2021 (this is a "soft" deadline in the sense that submitting the first/second week of November won't hurt your prospects at all, but Halloween's a good date to target). You will then have spring/summer 2022 "off" (not totally off, as you'll want to visit the schools you're considering attending, and once you've decided, you'll also want to make childcare, backup childcare*, and (if not Chicago) housing arrangements), and will begin 1L in fall '22.

For your goals, you'll definitely want to attend a T13 - preferably Chicago, but if not, any T13 will do - and so it will be critical to ace the LSAT. (Do well enough and you could get substantial merit aid, up to full tuition.) You have plenty of time between now and Halloween 2021, so I have confidence in you! Anyone capable of earning a 3.8+ GPA is, IMO, capable of rocking the LSAT given proper prep.

*Having 100% dependable backup childcare arrangements in place, in advance, is absolutely critical.