concordgator (2022-2023)

Masters in Business Admin, 3.6 GPA
Member of the Local College President's Associates
Member of Tampa's Equal Business Opportunity Advisory Committee
Florida Governor's Hispanic Business Owners Roundtable
Member of the Society of American Military Engineers
Member of a national Chief Executive Network
Recognized by Ernst & Young and INC, Entrepreneur, Hispanic Business, Tampa Bay CEO, and Smart Business magazines during the past five years

Law school is a bucket list thing for me. I'm retiring in my mid-50's and selling my business, and would like to know the law. No hurry to finish, but would like to get my LLM as well in International Business before I'm 60. Then, practice on my own and travel.

(2009)

Dec 22nd - Accepted to an non-ABA law school called California School of Law, also applied to another non-ABA school called Concord Law School (part of Kaplan University). Will consider these online law schools if I can't get into a reasonable ABA law school.

Did not do well on LSAT, 141, but not planning on taking it again or taking a class for it. It is what it is! Lets see if years of business and engineering experience, military service, starting and selling your own company, a high GPA from a top Tier engineering school, and having a Masters in business can do.

(2010)

Jan 13th - Accepted to Thomas Cooley Law School, Michigan.

Jan 16th - Accepted to Fl Coastal, Phoenix, and Charlotte's AAMPLE Program.

Jan 19th - Rejected by Stetson for Fall 2010 Full-Time Semester. Will call admissions and see if Fall 2010 Part-Time is an option or totally out of the question based on my low LSAT score. It is worth a try.

Jan 20th - Rejected by Barry also today. I'm afraid this may start a bad trend of rejections. Although, I'm not surprised based on my LSAT score.

Jan 21st - Got rejected by a few other schools (Miami, Texas Southern, Loyola, John Marshall, and Drexel), but also made the wait-list for Ave Maria (Naples, FL) and Thomas Jefferson, Ca. I think I'll hold on to both of those, Naples, FL and San Diego, CA are not bad places to study law.

February 13th - Decided to let Florida Coastal and Thomas Cooley go, and signed up for the CLEO program to see if that will help.

February 17th - Found out on their website, that St. Tomas rejected my application yesterday. Running out of options. Hope to hear from FAMU soon. Their website states that a decision has been made and that a letter is being sent out. Let's see if Orlando is my future.

March 1st -5th - Got rejected by Florida and Washington & Lee, although Florida sent me a very nice rejection letter. Maybe they sent it because I'm a Gator and a booster.

Anyway, also got accepted by Nova, another South Florida school. I heard back from CLEO, they are looking into schools that may give me another chance. If either FAMU, Florida International, Barry or Stetson approve me for the CLEO program at their school I'm in, if not I'll wait to see if Ave Maria comes through.

March 9th - Got accepted to Concord Law School and I'm going to accept unless I hear something from Ave Maria or Barry/FAMU/Stetson change their minds based on the CLEO Program. These schools are the closest to my Tampa home, and I could attend them part-time.

So, if nothing changes, I plan to start this Summer with Concord Law School (CLS).

Fact is this program fits me the best since I'm not looking to be a law firm attorney. I'm 52 years old, retiring, selling my business, and plan on traveling so this program is the best for me. Concord's law program is also cheap compared to the other schools and I'm convinced it will be the first ABA approved on-line law school in the not so distant future. So, wish me luck.

March through April - Got accepted into ABA's CLEO Program and FIU Law School. Will attend CLEO Program in July. Great opportunity, but still keeping CLS open.

But, I'm in either way. FIU is a good law school.

July 21st - Ave Maria accepted me as well. Naples is a nice place to go to law school, as well. Decisions Decisions!

July 30th - Attending CLS, and traveling.

(2011)

Sept 21 - Learned that Thomas M. Cooley Law School is opening a campus in Tampa in May 2012 and have decided to apply and try to transfer. I'm going to CLS at the moment, 2L with a 3.0 GPA. Have enjoyed CLS, but would love to practice in Florida vs. California if I could. I'll wait to see. Got accepted into Cooley in 2009, hope that will work out again.

Oct 14 - I saw that a decision was made, but haven't received letter yet.

Oct 17 - Accepted to Cooley's Tampa campus, surprise surprise, not really. Planning to transfer and attend their new 132 K sf campus in Tampa in May 2011. Going to open house Oct 28th. Will finish 2L classes with CLS before attending Cooley in May. Better deal for me since I live in Tampa, right next to the schools new location, and I already have 1L behind me.

10-25-11 - I accepted and confirmed a seat to the new Thomas M. Cooley Tampa Campus and will start there in May 2012. I know all about Cooley and its reputation, but right now it's the best fit for me and what I'm trying to accomplish. Also according to the attorney's that work for me and my company, with my background, an ABA degree is the most important thing.

May 2013 - Second year underway. B student, which is good considering I'm still working full-time. Good school, hard but manageable.