I first began seriously considering going to law school early on in my undergraduate studies. It was an idea I had thought about before in high school and earlier, when friends and relatives would tell me what a great lawyer I’d be (presumably as a means of chastising me for being argumentative), but I didn’t seriously consider it until I was in college. It wasn’t until I attended an informational meeting with the Dean of Admissions from UC Berkley during my junior year, however, that I began to believe that law school was definitely something for me.
However, I already had plans to study abroad Fall of senior year, and with a jam-packed schedule for Winter, taking the LSATs and applying to schools senior year was not appealing. I therefore decided to take a year off in between graduation from UW and this next big step in my life.
After graduation this spring, I will have the whole summer to prepare for the October LSAT and all of autumn to apply to my top choice schools. Having the summer to prepare means that my application will probably be much stronger and I’ll have a better chance of getting into the schools I really want to go to.
My hope is to use my year off to gain real-world experience. I have already begun applying for jobs at law firms, so that I can familiarize myself with what it’s like working in the legal field and so that I can make connections with local lawyers. I have already lined up interviews for legal assistant positions at a few firms downtown, a few of which I found out about on Husky Jobs or from heads-up I received from my pre-law advisor. I’m also applying for internships in Washington DC, so that I might have to chance to work at the federal level in the legal field. There are quite a few professional-oriented programs in DC which include positions in the Federal Courts and Attorney General’s Office. These experiences will give me great background and help me decide what type of law I want to specialize in.
I’m also looking forward to the freedom that will come after graduation. After being in school for the past sixteen years, I look forward to taking a year to explore “the real world” before plunging back into the grind that will necessarily come with three more years of school. I’d like to take some opportunities to travel, work in different parts of the United States, and spend time thinking about my future and planning what I really want to do with my life. A year between schools is perfect amount of time to do this. I predict that, by next fall, I’ll be eager to get back to the books and take on a new academic challenge.
In the end, my choice to take a year off was due to both practical and personal factors. I intend to make the most of this time. My hope is that it really won’t be a year “off” at all, but twelve months of time for me to gain valuable experience, prepare for my career, and make the decisions that will shape my future.
—Siv Prince: Senior, International Studies and Scandinavian Studies