Greeting folks. Love this site: it's such a great resource, and weirdly enough, a great boost for morale. U see someone's numbers and think, "How did that dude pull that one off."
I was academically dismissed from law school about 2 years ago. People told me to give up and try a new field, but law is my first love. Can't see myself doing anything else. LORD willing, things should go differently this time.
I plan on going to school Part-time. I don't need to rush through school like I did the first-time; beside, I've since gotten married and have a stable career. Debt is something I will avoid with my entire being. Going PT will ensure that I can pay my way through school while ensuring that I pay off my earlier debt. Scholarships are out for me anyway--RESTART students are rarely considered.
My research has revealed that few schools look at prev dismissed students; this means that my odds for admittance, which are already low due to my 150 LSAT score and 3.23 LSDAS GPA, are very bad. Aaaargh. Here's where the LORD comes in.
Sept 29 2012: Went to an LSAC Conference in Houston. Talked extensively with admissions officers on what they look for in RESTART students. University of Houston hardly gave me the time of day. Kinda disappointing. Was super impressed with Barry University though; the representative lady was freakishly tall, but I'm thinking her height matched her intellect cause she did a great job propping up the school. In the end, I grabbed a bunch of fee waivers from schools that said they'd consider my application.
Note: My LSAT score and GPA are such that I'd have a fair number of "reach" schools in the top 100. Sadly, as a result of my dismissal, I was limited to reaching out to only schools that would consider RESTART students.
November 2: Applied to 8 schools.
November 5: I believe my file was rendered complete by all schools except 3. Apparently, my file is missing an official transcript from my prev law school. Doesn't make any sense to me because I had a copy of my law school transcript sent to LSAC. It's in the LSDAS report, guys. U know, LSDAS: the service that's suppose to verify if my law school transcript is authentic. Come on, people!!! In addition, the schools want a letter of good standing. Dismissal = I don't have good standing. Goodness!!!
November 6: Clarified with a couple of schools: what they want is a letter showing my standing at time of dismissal. Something that'll verify that I didn't cheat or burn down the building.
November 15: In at BARRY U. Whooo hooo!!! I can't believe I got accepted by a law school. Praise the LORD!!! Man, I seriously can't believe I got accepted somewhere. All my research has shown that it's ridiculously hard to get accepted to restart a law program, and somehow I got in. Blessed is the LORD GOD of heaven, the Earth is your foot stool. WOW!!! I'm so happy.
November 16: All settled down from my jubilation at getting accepted into a law school. I have another chance at becoming a lawyer. Thank you LORD JESUS. Wow, Barry that was super quick. Let see...applied on the 5th--er--carry the 3 = 10 DAYS. Now that's what I call efficiency. I know BARRY is a fairly young law school and its bar passage rate is fairly low, but I don't care, all I want to be is a lawyer. Beside, law school employment is mostly about class rank and networking, and I know that I'll do better this time round. Yeah BARRY!!!! All right, let's see the other schools start replying.
November 26: Received admissions packet from Barry. I received a scholarship for $36,000 for 4 years. What??? Don't they know I'm a RESTART student? This is insane. God's blessings just pouring down.
November 27: Status checker says that St. Mary's has rendered a decision, and mailed a letter. Oh boy. It's been 3 or 4 weeks since I sent the application. I have a feeling its a rejection. Bites too coz it was my number 1 school. Well, one can still pray.
December 1: In at St. Mary's. Wow. The LORD is on the throne. Majorly surprised but hey, I'm in at my number 1 school.
December 13: Got a personal call from the assistant dean of OKCU to offer me admission. AMEN!!! God's too good. I will have to turn them down though as I'll be attending St Mary's. It's humbling to feel wanted though.
January 7: FAMU sent me an email informing me that I'll be placed on the waiting list. Strangely disappointing. Glad it wasn't my first reply, or I would have been immensely disappointed. Thanks FAMU for the waitlist, but I think I'll pass.
January 31: Received strange email from UALR Bowen about the quality of their education. It's untimely arrival sparked my suspicion that a decision on my application had been made. Checked my status checker, and long behold, I'm in.
February 2013: Accepted by Thomas Cooley. These dude's took quite a while to offer me acceptance at their school. Back in 2009, during my first lawstudent stint, they accepted me within 2 weeks. I guess they're not as desperate to accept people now. Nice Cooley.
Big congrats on the acceptance, $$$, and gettin' up when you got knocked down.