One Year

It was a year ago this week that I downloaded the free LSAT from the LSAC website. My journey to law school started when I realized that I could do well on the LSAT. A good LSAT score could get me into a good law school, which, coupled with my experience, should allow me to make the transition from the laboratory to a leadership position in a pharmaceutical company. I really had no desire to go to law school before I started looking into the LSAT, but as I've thought more about the opportunities that a JD could provide, law school has begun to feel like the right thing for me to do. I just can't do it full-time. The opportunity costs, in tuition, lost wages, and missing out on three years of significant leadership experience in a pharmaceutical company, are just too high.

With this decision made, I will not be submitting an essay to U of R for the Marshall scholarship. Even that scholarship is not enough to get me to leave my job. I thought about applying for it as a way to improve my shot at some kind of part-time arrangement with them, but I thought better of it. I'm going to get in touch with the law school and put everything out there. If they come back willing to work with me on some kind of part-time deal, that's great. If not, I start studying for the patent bar and keep my eyes open for jobs in cities near law schools with part-time programs. Maybe Mason would let me switch to part-time if I could find a job up there in the next few months.

Regardless of my plans for the fall, my experiment continues on. Rejections are starting to go out so we'll see how other applicants with numbers like mine fair over the next few weeks. I started this blog to help other PhD's apply to law school. That mission will continue.