It's a Monday all right

Wow. Work is kicking my butt today. My back is killing me, my right knee keeps giving out and my feet hurt.

I love being a caregiver. I really do. However, I do not understand how some people do this for their whole working life.  My body feels shot just for doing it as long as I have. I come home and plug in my heating pad before I even kiss fiancé hello. 

I'm in my twenties! 

One of my coworkers has worked as a CNA for decades. Good lord. 

It doesn't help that one of our favorite residents, the one we called Princess, passed away last night. Our routine is shot and we keep looking for her. 

I'm ready to call it a day. Can I go home yet?

Fiancé and I playing leap frog

Well that is an interesting title. What I am trying to say is that fiance and I have basically played a weird game of leap frog with our education. We met at the local community college but I graduated a year before he did. Both the universities that we wanted to attend were out of town so I went back to the workforce and waited for him to catch up. Then we went on to the University together. However, he decided he wanted three degrees and a minor is Russian. Yes, there is something wrong with that boy. So yet again, I graduated before him. By this point, we had already bought a house together and my moving to attend a law school without him did not make sense on either a financial or logistic standpoint.

Here I am waiting on him again. Out in the big bad world trying to earn a living. How is this a game of leap frog? I mean so far is seems more like a game of the tortoise and the hare. Where the hare keeps stopping for the tortoise to catch up. The leap frogging comes in play in that fiance really, really wants to go to law school. However, when we stopped to think about it, the idea of both of us going through 1L at the same time made us realize that one of us would end up dead. If you have ever seen our house during undergrad finals, you would understand what I mean. We basically stop talking to each other and neither of us study at home. Sometimes it gets bad enough that one of us sleeps on the couch. Oh, and our house looks like it should be condemned. Or possibly fumigated. Garbage can? Oh hell, that is too far away. Yet another McDonald's bag on the coffee table. Yep, it just fell to the floor. Oops.

Since I have already spent two years waiting on him in order to continue my education, I get to start law school first. Lucky me?

We haven't decided yet whether he will wait until I graduate to start or if he will start a year or two after I do. A large part of that decision will be based on whether he gets a decent job in the city we move to. If he does, it makes more financial sense for him to work and help keep my loans down. I will do the same for him once he starts law school. Another consideration is whether he wants to go to the same law school I do. Unfortunately, I am the only one who has seen the school and the area. It is on the east coast and the farthest east he's ever been was Wyoming. Yes, we are most definitely west coast kids. He may hate it there. He may hate the school. As he hasn't taken the Lsat yet, the law school may be below or above him.

So we'll decide on when he starts law school later. Either way, we are planning on leap frogging our way through this.

Ribbet. Ribbet.   

Last Prospective Law School Shindig

So fiancé and I drove up to our hometown this weekend for an admitted students weekend.

It's been really fun for a couple reasons. First of all, I could bring a guest so fiancé finally got to experience the law school madness with me. Even though I am the one starting law school this fall, I can't see how I'm not going to be bringing it home with me. Why not ease him into it now? As it turned out, he was more excited about talking about the law than I was. At the reception, we ended up talking to the Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court. Super exciting all on its own. However, as I'm standing there telling myself not to say anything stupid, super fiancé boy jumps right in and starts talking to her about a case we read in one of our classes. Come to find out, SHE wrote that opinion. Whoa. Thanks to my plus one, I got to hear about the behind the scenes decision making that occurred on that case. It was amazing! 

Free food and wine never hurts either. 

The next morning they fed us again and then we got to watch the finals of the moot court competition. I actually found it fascinating and fun. However, I can not picture myself ever doing it. My heart was beating fast just by watching people I did not know walk up to the podium. 

Will law school finally break my fear of public speaking? 

After the competition, they fed us yet again and gave us a bunch of free stuff! Coffee mugs, coffee, chocolate and salad shakers all plastered with their law school's name. Hey, I'll take it. 

Then fiancé and I went back to our hotel and turned into sloths. Relying on Netflix is great on the wallet but there is something to be said about laying in bed all afternoon channel surfing. 

All in all, a much better weekend than last weekend! It pretty much had to be but I'm glad we got away for a break from real life. Whooo

What am I thinking?

I thought that once I made a law school decision, I could relax for a few more months.

But then I google mapped my route to my soon to be new home. 

And now I'm shaking on the couch. 

Am I really ready to move 3,304 miles away? Could I move any farther? What am I thinking? This is a crazy idea. 

Guys, I am terrified. I got accepted into the law school seven miles away. I even got a decent scholarship. I COULD go there. I wouldn't have to sell my house, I wouldn't drag my fiancé, dog and two cats across the country. I could still become an attorney and undoubtedly, still work in elder law. But no, that would be too easy. 

Or maybe I am too stubborn. I want to give myself the best possible chance to work in elder law. The schools on this coast aren't going to give me that. I'll get hands on experience, a concentration, a journal on aging, and dozens of elder law classes. Including one in my first year. 

In order to get all that, I need to move. 

Anyone happen to have any advice on moving across country? Should I sell everything and buy new? Uhaul my stuff? How do I get my pets there safely and comfortably? 

You don't always get what you want

I was waiting to make my decision until I heard back about the second scholarship from the Tier 1. Today I received the email telling me I had not made the cut. %*#&$&@!!!

I know it was a long shot but I was still hoping. My essay was amazing! It was probably the best I've ever written. I REALLY wanted to get that scholarship and I really liked the idea of going to that school.

However, I just can not justify the price tag associated with that Tier 1. Even with the half tuition scholarship I did received, it would still be over 120,000. That's insane. Even if the job market was healthy (it's not) and the field I want to go into high paying (it's not), it would still be insane. I do not think I can pay that debt back.

So Tier 2/3, ready or not, here I come.

Piglets!

The piglets are eating!! Yay! 

Too much!

Wow. It has been one hell of a weekend. It should have been easy.  Get off work on Thursday, drive to the airport and then fly down to Cali for a quick vacation from real life. 

Instead, I had a God Awful day at work and had to stay late. All because my (former) coworker decided to pull a no call no show. Which left me to do all the work. Classy. 

When I finally made it home, my fiancé received a phone call from his mother asking us to drive to her house IMMEDIATELY. She was at the hospital with a dying family member and had just been told that their barn and shop had burned down. No one knew if the horses, pigs or other animals were okay and we lived the closest to go check it out. 

I frantically threw some clothes into my suitcase and we made the hour long drive in half that. 

This what we found. 

This truck is parked three feet from their house. Amazingly, it is fine but it was a seriously close call!

The horses survived but they lost a couple pigs, including  the momma pig. However, while we were there, we heard the baby piglets squealing from under the trough!! We found five of them and then we spent an hour trying to herd them into the sheep pen. The poor confused things were convinced we were trying to turn them into bacon. They'd had a rough day. 

The larger pig is the babies big sister. She's a little scorched but seems amazingly tolerant that her siblings keep trying to nurse on her. 

It could have been so much worse but it was still pretty bad. A years worth of hay and animal feed is gone, most of my father in law's machinery (with which he earns his living) is destroyed, all saddles, halters, and other horse accessories are gone. Not to mention, Christmas decorations, photo albums and other family mementos were stored in the shop.  However, their house is fine and only two animals were killed. Not to mention, nobody was home so they didn't get harmed. 

It could have been MUCH worse. 

Eventually I realized I had to leave for the scholars weekend in California. 

Once I was safe on the plane, I realized my throat hurt. It was probably the smoke, or the airplane, or the stress. Right? Right???

No. 

I managed to catch a cold. By the time I landed, I was miserable. 

All I wanted to do was get to my hotel and take a nap. Instead I had to get dressed up and go eat fancy food. Not the worst thing in the world, but not very fun either. 

I am having a hard time focusing on the law school right now. There are all these events on what this school has to offer but all I want to do is go home and be with my family. 

Stuck!

I don't really have much to say about the law school decision right now. I have only 13 short days to decide but I am STUCK! I can not get any closer to a decision and I have run out of ideas to help. I have talked to lawyers, professors, students and alumni from both schools. You would think I could make up my mind right?

NOPE!

So for right now, I give up. I give up on picking a law school. April 1st will be here before I know it and I will have no choice but to pick one. Sometime before the 1st, I will learn whether I have won an additional scholarship to the tier 1 school and I am hoping that will help me decide. If I get it, then the tier 1 might be a better choice. If I don't, I will probably pick the tier 2.

Either way, there isn't a whole lot to say about it at the moment.

This weekend I am flying to California and next weekend I am going to an admitted students weekend at a school within driving distance. During the week I am working my normal two jobs. To say I am busy is an understatement. And I am tired of feeling anxious for not knowing where I am going yet.

At least I still have 13 days.

Cooking

This is a very non law school post about ... food and cooking.

I HATE COOKING. I find it stressful and annoying and it takes much too much of my precious time. Unfortunately, I happen to be pretty good at it. And my fiance is very, very, very bad at it. Try running out of milk so substituting tequila BAD. ( Yes, he was drunk when he made this decision but there have been many times when he has proven over and over again that he should never be allowed to create subsistence for himself or others.) He is an awful, can not make tuna helper without help cook.

This creates a problem because I like to eat. I really like to eat. And I seriously dislike eating boring cold foods such as sandwiches or cereal or really, anything that is convenient. I crave some sort of meat, potato, veggie and bread for every meal. Now this obviously creates a problem when you can't afford to eat out every meal and you also hate to cook. Not to mention not wanting to weight five hundred pounds.

My solution? Batch/Freezer cooking! I have two plans of attack for this. I either set aside an entire weekend and make three months of food to hide in the freezer or I make a huge amount of one meal and stick the rest in the freezer. (Both meant I had to buy a chest freezer but trust me, it more than made up for it's cost in only a few months. I love my chest freezer and even named him Nelson. I have problems but that is neither here nor now.)

While I was still in college, I would do the three month plan. I would get my financial aid check and spend about three or four hundred at the local Walmart, three or so days cooking six or seven hours a day and BAM, we had food through finals. It was awesome!! All I would have to do is come home from class, grab something, throw it in the oven and an hour later we would be eating. No prep, no standing over the stove and no mess.  Genius!!!!!! I will say it again, GENIUS!!

This method started to fail me once I entered the real world of full time, Monday through Friday employment. And then I added a second job. Once I began working 6am to 8pm Monday through Friday, the absolute LAST thing I wanted to do was spend my entire weekend cooking! (Remember, I completely hate the process of cooking!) So what happened? My second job ended up paying for us to eat out everyday. My entire paycheck was spent on restaurants and fast food. So NOT why I got a second job in the first place.

This was not going to work long term.

So I started my second batch cooking method. Each weekend, my goal was to make one meal that I could triple and put in the freezer. For example, I would prepare one dish on Sunday, put two quarters of it in the freezer, in two separate containers. We would eat it Sunday and probably Monday evening as we both love leftovers. But then a month later, I could throw another container of it in the oven and we would have a ready made meal. Then a month later, I could do it again.

The next week, I would make a different meal and rinse and repeat.

Even somebody who hates to cook can fulfill a goal of cooking only once a week!

It is not as convenient as the three month plan because it takes a while to stock up on enough meals to not be bored with the food choices. It also is a little more expensive as you can not buy in bulk quite as well nor get all the chopping of say ten onions done all at once. But it is indefinitely better than cooking a new meal each night.


This week, I am making spaghetti.

My favorite part of the application cycle

I think it is fabulous that some schools are willing to fly me down for a scholars weekend. And by some, I mean two. But seriously, almost free flight, free lodging and lots of free food. Hello, count me IN!!

The first time I heard of this, my town was covered in snow and it was -1 degrees outside. And then I got an invitation to head to Florida. Most of my flight costs were covered, they put me into a suite and most the meals were covered. With an open bar. The entire weekend was amazing and more than worth the 7 hour flight. The school was nice too. ;)

I kid. I kid. The opportunity to see the school in person was invaluable. I sat in on a torts class, met a dozen professors, spoke with all the elder law professors and quite a few students. It was great!

Then while I was there, I received an invite to another retreat in California. Sure, why not? At no other time in my life have I had people willing to pay for me to travel to them. Okay, so they are wine and dining me with the hope that they will get my tuition dollars. I am still getting wine and dined and what is basically a free vacation. 

Oh. And swag too! Coffee mugs, flip flops, thumb drives and more. Whoo Hoo!

Lawyers are experts on Law School. Right?

I know only three lawyers. And by know, I mean one was my crim j professor, one is my fiance's step-grandmother's son in law, and one is a friend of my stepmother, who I have met about three times. Close relationship? Not even close. But since people who have survived the law school experience should have some sort of opinion on choosing a school, I contacted all three of them and asked them which school they would chose if they were me.

The first one to get back to me was my stepmother's friend. As she is actually an elder law attorney, I was definitely looking forward to her opinion. Her email was exactly one line long.

"I would choose the tier 1. That will open more doors for you down the road."

Okaaay. Good to know. But then came my second response.

I would totally disregard rank and go to the place that has a program tailored to what you want to do. Plus, (Location of Tier 3/2) is beautiful. Rank only matters if you plan in trying to get a miserable big firm job after graduation.

And ...

A JD is a JD and nobody who matters will care where you got it.

Well crap. It's a tie. Now what?

Luckily, I only knew an odd number of attorneys because the third lawyer finally got back to me and said,

"The school's credential is most important for the entry into the career.  Once you are in, your abilities, contacts and a bit of luck matter far more than the ranking of the law school.  Elder law in (Location of Tier 3/2) sounds far better than (Location of Tier 1) - you have ready made clients with money - the finest kind."

So it is mostly two for Tier 3/2 but not entirely. Interesting. 

Now one of the advocators of the Tier 3/2 works in a small college town and went to a Tier 3 law school. The other one went to the same law school but works in an even smaller town that somehow happens to have the county's courthouse and not much else. 

The Tier 1 advocator lives in the biggest city in our state and went to a Tier 2. 

Does this color their opinion? Oh probably. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't listen to them. 

But which one do I listen to???? 

Rankings Baby!

So I guess US News just updated their law school rankings because my Tier 3 is now a Tier 2 and my Tier 1 is now a better Tier 1. Cool! A few of my other maybes turned into Tier 4s which pushed them even further into my I'm not sure about this pile. So I am still stuck on the same two law schools. For now, I am okay with that. Give me a couple more weeks and I might just start freaking out about it though. April 1st is approaching so faaaaaast. ACK!

In other law school news,
I spoke with the lady in charge of the elder law clinic at the Tier 1 today and it was very informative. Not only on her program but what she said about other programs and schools. I asked her a question about their non clinic elder law options and she straight up mentioned my Tier 3/2 school. And then she talked up the elder law professors at the Tier 3/2 that I met only two weeks ago! She basically told me that if I am committed to elder law, I can't go wrong with either of these two schools. Which made me feel much better about both of them.

Now of course, she made a point to talk about all the amazing things her school does and where alumni go after graduation but she was very fair about it. It almost makes up for the bad impression I was left with after speaking to the admissions dean. Whooooo

Naivety

I worry sometimes about sounding naive about the practice of law. Especially in this economy, you should not go into law unless you have done all the research you can. For years now I have followed blogs, looked at statistics and talked to practicing attorneys.

• Job prospects for new attorneys are . . . bad. Very very bad. 
• Job prospects for experienced attorneys are almost as bad. 
• The starting salary of new attorneys are dropping and were never really as good as people thought they were. 
• Tuition rates for law school has risen completely out of control and the debt you gain by going will never, never go away. Bankruptcy? Psssh, not for student loans. 
• Law schools are graduating too many JD students for the jobs available.  
• Biglaw jobs are considered the holy grail of law but they are far and few between. Even if you do get one, your life will suck and you will hate yourself. 

So why are so many people going to law school????? I think a lot of it is that people have a natural tendency to think that bad things won't happen to them, only to other people. Which is ridiculous. I have always gotten good grades but that doesn't mean I automatically assume I will continue to get good grades in law school. I will be competing with my fellow students and they ALL had good grades in college. Sure, I will strive for the top ten percent but I have a ninety percent chance of not making that goal. If I do not get above median grades, then I will have a much harder time finding a job. If I can not find a job, I will not be able to pay back my loans and I will not be able to assist the elderly in improving their quality of life at the end of their life. 

Tangent time:

I think that the last few years of a person's life should be the time of their life when they get to stop worrying about the rat race of America. Isn't that why most people look forward to retiring? Far too often, the elderly are dealing with all the normal worries of food, shelter and clothing, along with declining health, declining mobility AND an increased chance of abuse or neglect. It is not easy to have to rely on someone else for your basic needs but many elderly people need to. And when that person they are relying on fails, they often do not have the ability to turn to others for help. Dementia, physical disabilities and lack of knowledge of resources, trap them into a downward spiral they can not get out of. This is not okay. 

End rant. Back to law and law school. I am trying to minimize the risks of law school by keeping my loans and my expectations low. I am aware that I could make more money in another career but money is not my end goal. If my debt is lower, I will not have to chase the jobs that make the most money and will hopefully have the luxury of finding a job I love, even if the pay is low. I also exclusively looked at schools that offer some form of hands on training in elder law. I am hoping that this will give me an opportunity to graduate with at least a few of the skills I will need to use in practice. 

Am I making law school a good risk? Well no, I don't think law school can be a good bet with this legal market. However, I am hoping that I am able to at least make it less of a risk. 

Give me three years and I'll let you know how it worked out for me. 

Greedy? No. Just poor.

I realize this post has the potential to make me look like a jerk or stuck up, but I promise you that I am not!

I just received my second to last scholarship offer and it was looow. Tens of thousands of dollars lower than my next lowest offer. Considering the fact that it took this school months longer to make an admissions decision than my other schools plus such a low scholarship, I would expect it to be a reach school. As in a Tier 1, top of the ranking law school. Or at least have an impressive reputation or incredible programs not offered elsewhere. But no, it is a low ranked school without any special programs and it's tuition rate is one of the highest I have seen.

I don't get it.

I do not consider myself to be greedy and I do not think I am any more impressive than anyone else. (For Pete's sake, I wipe bottoms for a living!) but my stats are above their 75 percentile. So yes, I do find their scholarship offer slightly insulting.

Some people have wondered why I place scholarships as one of my main criteria in choosing a school but those are people who don't know me very well. I have always been poor. Food bank, free school lunch poor. I have family members who rely on me for financial support, and others who will soon. In addition, I am hoping to practice in an area that is not particularly well paid. It would be irresponsible of me to NOT consider scholarships and price of tuition as I make my law school decision.

I would love to go to the best law school I could get into and I truly did consider going that route. But I know I would regret it come graduation. So here I am. Considering total price and elder law programs over ranking. 

I just hope it's the right decision. 

Suddenly I'm not just another caregiver

I think it's strange how some people treat me differently once they learn I am going to law school this fall. It's almost like they think I am suddenly smarter or more impressive than I was before.

For example, I work at an assisted living facility as a caregiver and I only told people I was going to law school last month. Since then, I have been assigned to all the training of new caregivers and I won employee of the month. But more than that, the way people talk to me and treat me is different. Instead of "Hey, you need to do this task now," I get asked, "I know you're super busy but would it be possible for you to do this task? When you have time of course." It's weird and it doesn't exactly make my coworkers overjoyed either. I am no longer treated the same as them by our bosses but even my coworkers interact with me differently. 

I can't exactly go around telling people to stop treating me better (and I wouldn't want them to anyway) but it definitely makes work a little awkward at times.


Even worse, coworkers, friends and family suddenly think that I know the answers to all of their legal questions. As if the law school application process magically filled my brain with divorce procedures or DUI requirements. Um Whaaaaat? I had heard that this was a thing but I thought I would have to at least attend my first day before people started asking for free advice! I wouldn't want advice from a 0L! Come on! I mean, if the term 1L is used to say, this is going to be 1L of a year, then 0L should stand for 0L NO! Terrible idea bro. Terrible.

Narrowing it down

I suppose I've narrowed my choice to two top schools and a few others that are still circling around in my head. The two have been in my top few since before I even got accepted but I really did believe I would be going to a closer law school. Maybe a few states away, not 45. >_<

School A

Argument For:

• Tier 1 (mid tier 1, not T-14 or anything)
• Half tuition scholarship - no requirements to keep it except for not flunking out of the school. 
• Elder law clinic
• Decent (or at least, better) job prospects
• Good reputation throughout the country
• Have family nearby. This is important when you're moving across the entire country. 

Argument Against:

• My contact with admissions, after I was already admitted, was less than ideal. Rudeness and apathy that left me with the feeling that they didn't care whether I went to their school or not. 
• Reputation of being pretentious. I wouldn't fit in well with that nonsense. 
• The students have a reputation of being competitive and slightly cutthroat. 

School B

Argument For:

• Elder Law Clinic
• Elder Law Concentration
• Elder Law Center & Journal
• Elder Law 1L research & writing class
• Almost full tuition scholarship - Top 50% requirement in order to keep it. 
• Students say it's surprisingly non competitive for a law school. Students share notes and they haven't experienced book hiding or sabotage. 
• The law school paid to fly me down there, put me in a suite and paid all my meals. Just so I could experience the school first hand and meet everyone. 
• Tropical location. Sure, that shouldn't really matter but if I'm going to spend 90% of my time with my head in a book, the beach only being a 15 minute walk from campus is a definite plus. 

Argument Against:

• Tier 3
• Regional school. It would restrict job opportunities after graduation. 
• Restricts to smaller firms after graduation
• Hot and Humid summers. With a fiancé who doesn't like the heat. Who doesn't love heat induced crankiness???

Equal considerations:

• Similar cost of living expenses
• Both are located on the east coast. I've been on the west coast my entire life. Crap. Moving is expensive. 

I think what it is coming down to is deciding on how certain I am that I want to work in elder law after graduation and whether I want to trade slightly better job prospects for the chance I might change my mind. Oh and the whole problem of being completely miserable for the next three years compared to only mostly miserable. Oh boy. What fun.

I don't suppose anyone can look at this from the outside and give me any advice?? Which school would you chose?

Why can't someone else make this decision for me?

I would really love to just magically have an answer to where I am moving to in just a few short months. But I don't. Which means I have been collecting opinions like a teenybopper collects Tiger Beat posters. 

The first person I asked was my fiancé. After all, this decision affects him as much as it does me. We just celebrated out fifth anniversary and our original wedding date was supposed to be July 14, 2014. But then I came home one day and said "Honey, what do you think about selling our house and moving away for law school instead of going to the local one down the road?" He said, "Sure, sounds like fun!" So we postponed the wedding and I started applying to law schools across the nation. And this is why he is my guy. He has always got my back except for when it comes to cleaning out the litter box.

However, I somehow expected him to not be quite so supportive and actually voice an opinion as to where we will be living for the next three years. 

Nope. Not so much. His answer to the question, "Where do YOU want to live?" Was a very unhelpful.  "Wherever you are."  Yes, it's adorable. Yes, it's supportive and yes, it is sweet. But it is NOT helpful! 

Next

So then I asked my best friend who happens to be a 2L at the local law school. She should know where I should go right? And at first, she did. When I got my first biiiiig scholarship, she very decisively told me to go there. Then when my top tier 1 school accepted me and offered me a half tuition scholarship, she told me that I WAS going there. No if's, ands, or buts. But then when a tier 3 that has a ton of elder law options, flew me across the country to check them out Fo Free! What did that girl do? She changed her mind again and told me to go there. Whaaaaat? That girl is as confused as I am. 

All the rest on my friends and family are just as unhelpful. My sister doesn't want me to move. My cousin does want me to move, but only to the law school near her. My dad thinks I should follow the dough, only so I can say I got 'thiiiiis' big of a scholarship. And my mom thinks I should go to the school that her parents met at. 

Thanks a lot you guys. Thanks. A. Bunch. 

Help?

Decisions Decisions

When I first started applying to law schools, I had two goals. Go to a school that had some form of elder law program and receive scholarships. So I didn't really focus my time on the traditional best schools. Once I received the LSAC waiver I just applied to almost every school that had at least an elder law clinic.

And that's how I ended up applying to seventeen law schools!

I was terrified of not getting in anywhere and having to wait another year. Luckily, I have only received one rejection letter and only one school is still deciding but that means I have fifteen schools to decide between! Good Lord. I can cut a few off for being really crappy schools and I can cut a few others for being stingy with the scholarship aid and I can cut one for deciding to close their elder law clinic this fall. (A decision they made public only after I had already applied. Gah) But that is still a lot of schools to decide between. Yikes!! I mean, it is a REALLY great problem to have but it is still a problem. How the hell am I supposed to know which school is right for me? Especially since most of them are all the way across the country and I have no way to visit them.

Is it too much to ask for a glowing neon light to appear over the school I should go to? Just BAM, a Vegas type sign saying GO HERE DUMMY!! With an arrow. It definitely needs an arrow.

So basically, I have some decisions to make and only twenty-seven days to make them.

Good God, Why Would You Go To LAW SCHOOL????

Short story time,
(This is the boring part)

I have worked with the elderly since high school, (nursing homes, assisted living and in home care) and I always assumed I would continue working with them either as a social worker or possibly as a nurse. However, the longer I worked with the elderly, the longer I realized that the difference in their standards of living had less to do with the money they had or didn't have, or their specific medical conditions, but more to do with the planning they did or did not do. And who they had to help them with that planning. The longer I worked with them, the more I wished to be a part of that process.

Add a few cases of elder abuse, neglect and one of my clients blowing herself up and I chose to apply to law school this fall.

Do I know which law school I am going to yet? Er..... Nope.

Will I be going into debt to go to law school? Oh yeah. Which is why I don't know which law school I am going to. Tier three with a large scholarship or a tier one with a small one. I don't have a clue yet.

Will I do well in law school? Hell if I know. I guess it will depend on how stupid my classmates are.

Will I find a job after law school? See question above. Though thank god for the baby boomers.

Am I scared spit-less? Yes, Yes, and Yes.

So we'll just have to see how this goes. One thing I do know, scared or not, come this August, I will be a 1L somewhere.