24y/o "underrepresented minority" in need of advice. Forum

[ZuluRosa]

Hello everyone. :]

Nearly all of my dream law schools (SLS, Harvard, and Penn) only have a handful of African Americans and I want to know if I am being foolish for setting my sights so high. I have the drive and determination to not only succeed, but to thrive. I look forward to those long and lonely nights in the library. I believe that I can do it but I'm 24 years old now and I feel as though time is running out. It'll be another 3-4 years before I apply anywhere because I've just enlisted in the USAF. I have an incredible life story that would make for a great personal statement but I don't really have a mentor or anyone to go to for advice. I am not worried about the LSAT at all. I look forward to it. I'll destroy it, lol! I've read soooo many books and I have completed at least a half dozen practice LSATs out of sheer enthusiasm. I want this so much it hurts. It would honestly be a dream come true to go to SLS. I just haven't been afforded some of the opportunities you all have and I don't want to end up at a shitty school.

Here is a brief overview of things that have helped shape me:

-In1990 I was born in Blue Island (Chicago), IL.
-In 1994 my mother moved my siblings and I to Iowa to make a new start because my father was a crackhead
-In 1995 our first house caught fire and half of it was completely destroyed. we had to move back into a shelter.
-In 2000 my siblings and I were placed in a group foster home.
-In 2001 my mom married some guy she met online and we moved to NE where she had my little sister, Victoria.
++In between: my mother put my little sister's crib in my room and I've helped raise her and my other siblings ever since.
+++Stepdad was abusive. My mom tried to commit suicide by taking 38 heart pills -- she was saved -- she was also diagnosed with depression.
-In 2002 my mom left Victorias abusive father and we moved back to Chicago to stay with my aunt, Miriam.
-In 2003 my family lived in a tent in an abandoned church attic with no heat and minimal access to water. i'm pretty sure i had nervous breakdown. I just remember coming home from school and crying and sleeping.
-In 2004 my family moved to 4 different homeless shelters
-In 2005 I started high school
++I tried to see the school counselor but he kept blowing me off. I went to his office one day and he asked me what I wanted so I said I wanted to apply to the University of Chicago. I won't tell you everything he said but I will recall one very specific line in which he said "they are looking for number 5 in the class not 50(of400)--aim your sights a little lower."
-In 2009 I graduated. I had no idea how to go about getting in to college my aunt tried and I even got enrolled but nobody would take me and I didn't have a car or a license.
-In 2010 I told my mom I wanted to join the military and she scared the living shit out of me. My mother moved to GA and I followed.
-2012 I was accepted to Georgia Gwinnett College (yay!) I went there for 2 years and excelled! Only a 3.5 GPA but I loved every moment.
++joined the political science club / the law society / and the philosophy club
-2014 I was accepted as a transfer to Indiana University of PA but was unable to finish the year because I owed them 2k which I did not (and still do not) have.
-2015 I enlisted in the United States Air Force and scored a 94 on the ASVAB (i still got it--lol) I leave for BMT next month! I'm in Cyber Security!

My plan:
-Serve my 4 years
-Gain stability / discipline / Career + Life Skills
-Exit with my school benefits (I plan on saving my GI Bill for Law School)
-Perform spectacularly on the LSAT
-Write a phenomenal personal statement
-Cross my fingers

Do you guys think it's too late? Do you think I've got a good plan? I have the makings of a great personal statement but how do I weave all of that together? I didn't feel like a champion overcoming those "obstacles," it just felt like life. I want to know if you all think I am a formidable law school applicant.

Any feedback or advice would be welcomed.

Thank you for your time.

P.S. please forgive me for any blatant grammatical errors. I went to sleep at midnight, woke up at two, and have been up fretting about this all night/morning. :[

[jlk411]

i don't know about the requirements for those who serve but I would say go for your dreams and don't let anyone deter you if law is what you want to do Best of luck!

[PoopNpants]

It's a numbers game, you got half the equation good, a 3.5 won't keep you out of anywhere. Just put forth the most effort possible on the LSAT, aim for a 180 and apply broadly

[180kickflip]

If you're 24 now with 4 years of military ahead of you, you'll be late 20's applicant...Thats not too late at all, and with URM status and military behind you, you'll come out with a big advantage over most applicants.

If I were you, I would first get a solid idea of what my LSAC calculated gpa is (all of the college level courses you've taken at any college at any time). Then, I would try to take some more classes to raise that GPA as high as it can possibly get. Once you finish a degree, the GPA is set in stone, but until then, you should do whatever you can to improve it.

If you've got enough free time to be taking lsat prep tests now, maybe kicking that into high gear and studying to take the real thing would be a good idea. I think scores are good for 5 years, so whatever you got now would still be good when you finished your military commitment, but since it would be more than 2 years from now, it wouldn't limit your after-military attempts (can only take the test times in a 2 yr. period).

Lastly, I would encourage you to stay really open-minded about the whole process. Your post seemed to suggest that TLS was all applicants with opportunity, and I assure you that isn't the case. You seem to have a great story, but you'd be surprised how many people overcome extreme adversity. Good luck!

[shump92]

good success on the LSAT and you will probably get HYS. Hopefully you have enough UG credits for an LSDAS GPA, but if not just address that in an addendum. As far as your essays go, share enough but not too much and frame things very carefully. Personally, I am amazed by your determination but I could also see how certain framings of the relevant parts from your post could be a turnoff for adcomms. Good luck!

[ZuluRosa]

If you're 24 now with 4 years of military ahead of you, you'll be late 20's applicant...Thats not too late at all, and with URM status and military behind you, you'll come out with a big advantage over most applicants.

If I were you, I would first get a solid idea of what my LSAC calculated gpa is (all of the college level courses you've taken at any college at any time). Then, I would try to take some more classes to raise that GPA as high as it can possibly get. Once you finish a degree, the GPA is set in stone, but until then, you should do whatever you can to improve it.

If you've got enough free time to be taking lsat prep tests now, maybe kicking that into high gear and studying to take the real thing would be a good idea. I think scores are good for 5 years, so whatever you got now would still be good when you finished your military commitment, but since it would be more than 2 years from now, it wouldn't limit your after-military attempts (can only take the test times in a 2 yr. period).

Lastly, I would encourage you to stay really open-minded about the whole process. Your post seemed to suggest that TLS was all applicants with opportunity, and I assure you that isn't the case. You seem to have a great story, but you'd be surprised how many people overcome extreme adversity. Good luck!

Thank you! I appreciate your advice and I suppose I'll take the LSAT after I've study a bit more and have taken a few more practice tests. Also, you're right about keeping an "opened mind." I suppose it's the lack but I don't ever mean to marginalize anyone's success.

[ZuluRosa]

good success on the LSAT and you will probably get HYS. Hopefully you have enough UG credits for an LSDAS GPA, but if not just address that in an addendum. As far as your essays go, share enough but not too much and frame things very carefully. Personally, I am amazed by your determination but I could also see how certain framings of the relevant parts from your post could be a turnoff for adcomms. Good luck!

Thank you, I plan on fishing my degree in Philosophy. Also, what parts do you think I should leave out? I've been through so much that I honestly don't know what to put in my statement and what to leave off. Everything I've gone through has helped make me the person I am today, ya know? Lol, but obviously I won't go on and on about minute details.


@jlk411 thank you. :}

[shump92]

good success on the LSAT and you will probably get HYS. Hopefully you have enough UG credits for an LSDAS GPA, but if not just address that in an addendum. As far as your essays go, share enough but not too much and frame things very carefully. Personally, I am amazed by your determination but I could also see how certain framings of the relevant parts from your post could be a turnoff for adcomms. Good luck!

Thank you, I plan on fishing my degree in Philosophy. Also, what parts do you think I should leave out? I've been through so much that I honestly don't know what to put in my statement and what to leave off. Everything I've gone through has helped make me the person I am today, ya know? Lol, but obviously I won't go on and on about minute details.

I don't want to say which things should or should not be included specifically because I am not you so I don't know what was more or less important. What I will say is that your PS needs to have a very direct narrative that in some fashion relates to why you want to be a lawyer and why you will succeed in that pursuit. It also should not be more than 2 double spaced pages with normal margins and everything else using a traditional font. Pretty much no law school is really going to think that more than a 2 page story is worth their time.

When you actually get to going through your cycle, start thinking about what narrative you want to go with and get a lot of feedback on it. You should probably expect that at least once, you will change that narrative completely (and this is probably true for each sub essay besides the why x addendums). I'm sure plenty of TLSers would be happy to give you help then and even though I will hopefully have just passed the bar in 4 years, I would be among the people who would give you constructive feedback. For now, look into taking the LSAT to have a score that you might be able to use so you can focus much more on the essays when you are applying.

[ZuluRosa]

@shump92 thank you. I've been working hard on improving my LSAT practice scores. If you are still on TLS in 3-4 years I would definitely appreciate any advice you may have.

[DJ JD]

Did I just not follow time timeline, or do you still have to finish college AFTER you serve in the AF?

[ZuluRosa]

Did I just not follow time timeline, or do you still have to finish college AFTER you serve in the AF?

Lol, you followed correctly. I have a year and a half to go. I am not concerned about finishing. I planned on slowly chipping away at my degree by taking a weekend class or two a semester while I finish my commitment, or I will just complete it in its entirety after I finish serving.

[DrSpaceman]

Military vet here; my experience was that acceptances are in line with expectation (check out MyLSN for URM acceptance info) and scholarship performance is where the boost comes in. You have a year and a half left, so get A's for the rest of your college classes. Save your GI Bill if you can. Investigate other payment programs that the VA offers to people in service, but don't shit the bed in any classes because you have some fuckwad SSgt who screws your study time or forces you to miss class. If your MOS is such that you have an unpredictable schedule, just finish when you get out of service.

Don't waste time and materials studying for the LSAT now, just enjoy the Air Force and reassess in 3 years.

GL

[lavarman84]

Did I just not follow time timeline, or do you still have to finish college AFTER you serve in the AF?

Lol, you followed correctly. I have a year and a half to go. I am not concerned about finishing. I planned on slowly chipping away at my degree by taking a weekend class or two a semester while I finish my commitment, or I will just complete it in its entirety after I finish serving.

Just keep in mind that GPA is very important for law school so make sure you're doing well as you finish up. Good luck!

[ZuluRosa]

Military vet here; my experience was that acceptances are in line with expectation (check out MyLSN for URM acceptance info) and scholarship performance is where the boost comes in. You have a year and a half left, so get A's for the rest of your college classes. Save your GI Bill if you can. Investigate other payment programs that the VA offers to people in service, but don't shit the bed in any classes because you have some fuckwad SSgt who screws your study time or forces you to miss class. If your MOS is such that you have an unpredictable schedule, just finish when you get out of service.

Don't waste time and materials studying for the LSAT now, just enjoy the Air Force and reassess in 3 years.

GL

Thanks! I plan on staying on base and using my pay for my undergrad education, and saving my GI Bill for Law School.

[twenty]

If there's a way you can serve your four years and finish college at the same time, I'd try and do that. Definitely don't use your GI bill now, though.

edit> On the other hand, you get 4 years of GI bill benefit to cover 3 years of law school. Arguably you could either attach an extra degree (JD/MBA), or maybe it'd make sense to pay for a year's worth of UG tuition with the GI bill if you have no interest in any other degrees after your JD.

[ZuluRosa]

If there's a way you can serve your four years and finish college at the same time, I'd try and do that. Definitely don't use your GI bill now, though.

edit> On the other hand, you get 4 years of GI bill benefit to cover 3 years of law school. Arguably you could either attach an extra degree (JD/MBA), or maybe it'd make sense to pay for a year's worth of UG tuition with the GI bill if you have no interest in any other degrees after your JD.

Thanks! I suppose I'll look into using my GI bill to cover a years worth of UG tuition. I never thought about doing it that way. That would definitely help.

[aoutis]

I would say don't rule out Yale. Worst case scenario: you don't get the GPA or LSAT score that you want. Yale is more likely to be interested in other parts of your application than other schools you mentioned. Also, be sure to seek out and find mentors in the military and then when you go to get your BA degree. You will need solid letters of recommendation from people, who know your story, know your ambitions and can speak to your abilities.