Law School

Hello Loves!!

I have some exciting news: I'm going to law school! It feels so good to be writing these words. I start orientation next week and classes start on the 19th of August. I received a really great scholarship that pays for almost all of my tuition. I have worked so hard to get here. I plan to continue to blog throughout my law school experience. I actually have a few life updates as well:

1) My husband and I celebrated one year of wedded bliss in July. I can't believe it has been a whole year already! I absolutely love being married. I officially changed my name too!

2) My husband and I rescued a Shih Tzu puppy, named Addy (Adeline). Having a puppy is such a change. I absolutely love Addy and it is so fun to watch her grow and explore the world.

^^This is when we first brought her home! She was soooo tiny!

<This is a picture of her now! I absolutely adore and am obsessed with Addy. She is my best friend and my faithful companion. I feel like everyone should rescue a dog! I don't even remember what my life was like without her. I am so glad that she will be by my side during law school. *Don't worry- my husband works from home, so he is home with her every single day. I get this question a lot: What will happen to Addy now that you will be in law school? She is very well taken care of and gets a lot of attention :).

3) I quit my job! As of today, I am officially unemployed. Obviously, during law school, I will not have time to have a job since school will be my job. I worked at a small law firm for almost six years, while I was in undergrad and studying for the LSAT. I was an administrative assistant. It was a great job because I had a lot of time to do homework. I also made a life long friendship with our paralegal, who is an amazing person. It was really sad saying goodbye to her, but we promised each other that we would stay in touch. It was weird waking up today and not going to work. I actually got a lot done today: cleaned out my closet, organized my bookshelf, gave Addy a bath, and did laundry.


I still can't believe that I am going to law school! I have worked so hard for this and all of the sacrifices that I had to make were worth it (in my opinion).

Yesterday, I was talking to my boss and I asked her what her favorite part about law school was? She literally said, "nothing". What the f***?! She told me that she absolutely hated law school and she didn't like anything about it. I was shocked to hear this because other attorneys that I have talked to all seemed to really like law school. Even the law school bloggers that I follow do seem to like law school to some extent. I feel like she was trying to scare me, and she said that one of her law school professors threw a book at a student. Wow. So maybe law school wasn't a good fit for her? I have a feeling I am going to like it. I have always loved school and have always excelled in academics. Obviously, this will be different than my undergrad. Don't worry, I will keep you updated on it.

I just bought all of my textbooks for law school. I probably had to order about ten textbooks- the grand total was about $1045.00. Wow, good lord!! I already have homework to do also. I was told to dress business professional for the orientation next week. I signed up for rent the runway for my clothes. I did the math and it was actually cheaper to get clothes from rent the runway then it was to buy a bunch of clothes that I only needed for a week and not even wear again. I'll make a separate post and write what I wore for orientation.

Last time I wrote on this blog, I wrote how challenging the LSAT was for me. I sucked it up and finally got my dream score!! Because I got such a great score I was able to get a very generous scholarship, which was my goal this whole time. I haven't had really any experience with standardized testing, so the LSAT was a new experience for me. I didn't take the SAT, because I went to a community college to save money before I transferred to a four-year school. Overall, the LSAT was hard and practice really does make perfect. I think the best advice I could give to someone who is thinking about taking the LSAT would be: don't sit for the LSAT until you are getting your target score on your practice tests and take actual timed tests with the five sections. Man, after I finished taking the LSAT I threw out all my LSAT material in the garbage.

< This was all of the LSAT material that I had in my office!! This pile included practice tests and Powerscore test books. UGH!! I don't even know how many LSAT practice tests I took. I signed up for 7Sage and printed out their practice tests. In my opinion, 7Sage was the best value for money. I probably took about two practice tests a week and spent the rest of the week reviewing them. I made sure that I took at least one day off a week from anything LSAT related.










That is it for now! Be kind to everyone <3

What to do After Taking the LSAT

Today's post is going to be about what to do after taking the LSAT.

Five hours later you exit the testing room. You think to yourself, "I'm free, I'm done with the LSAT!" then the horrible realization comes crashing down on you. "HOLY  &*#@?!## #$$$%^ how did I do? Did I mess up that logic game section? What section was the experimental section? Why the eff was there a circular logic game question? You frantically go to your car and grab your phone and check all the discussion posts from other test takers like yourself who frantically post how they think the test went. You constantly think about this on the drive home and late at night before you go to sleep only to wake up and think about your performance on the LSAT all over again. Taking the LSAT is the best, right??!!! After a couple days you finally feel like yourself. The anxiety and nausea have temporarily subsided. Now, what do you do?

I don't think that there is anything worse than waiting for your LSAT score. I hope that LSAC will have something in the future where you can get your score instantly. It's really a bunch of bull*&$# that we have to wait for three weeks for that stupid icon to go grey. UGH. Grey day, am I right? If you are anything like me you are constantly refreshing your LSAC LSAT page hoping that the icon changes to grey. I have noticed that LSAC has been emailing scores either at 11 PM or even midnight or later on the day that the scores are supposed to come out. So what should you be doing while you are waiting for your scores to come out?

1) TAKE A BREAK!! You are probably super burnt out from studying for the LSAT. That extra week off is not going to make a difference in your score and your score probably won't even increase if you study for that extra week. I have heard from different people that a significant amount of time off actually will do wonders for your score. That was the case for me as well. Sometimes, your brain needs a rest. Make sure you take a break and do something fun. Binge watch The Bachelor/Bachelorette, go hiking, go to the beach, read a good book or take a cooking class. Do something that is unrelated to the LSAT. Ladies, get your nails done. I don't know about you but I feel so pampered and so wonderful after getting my nails done. For myself, it is the perfect post LSAT treat. Start studying for the LSAT again only when you feel well rested and you are motivated to start studying again.

2) Keep taking practice tests- After you are well rested from your break, make sure you continuously keep doing practice tests. It would be a shame if you end up having to retake the LSAT again and then come to find out that your logic game skills have atrophied. Make sure you do at least one practice test a week to keep your skills sharp until you get your LSAT score back.

3) Touch up your application/ write your personal statement- For me, this is the perfect time to polish my application and perfect my personal statement. For starters, you are not worried about taking the LSAT and can dedicate your full attention to your application. Besides your GPA and your LSAT score, your personal statement is the most important aspect in your application.

4) Narrow Down Which Schools to Apply to- Since you have been taking practice tests you should have a general range/idea on what your LSAT score will probably be. If you haven't already you should be thinking about what schools you will be accepted to and what ones to apply to. On the LSAC website, there is a link where you can input your LSAT score and your GPA and it will give you your chances of being accepted to that particular school. You should have already done this, but if not now is the perfect chance to go ahead and do so. Once you narrow done your choices you should start an application for that school and fill out your biographical information and choose what letters of recommendation you would like to use. Do this now, so that you don't have to do this later.

5) Last Minute Annoyances- What I mean by this is to tie up any loose ends you might have. Make sure that you submit all transcripts from every college you have ever attended. You know that one summer where you took a community college class and goofed off the whole time and ended up getting a D. Yeah, your school is going to want that transcript- even if it was one class or even if you didn't graduate from the institution.

Take a look at your credit score, do you have anything in collections? Have you been making your credit card payments on time or late? What about any arrests, traffic tickets, honor code violations you might have made? Depending on the law school, you might have to disclose everything. Now is the perfect time to work on your character. When you apply for the bar, you need to pass the Character and Fitness part of the application or you can't sit for the bar. If you can't sit for the bar that means, three years of law school down the drain. What a waste that would be. If you have been making late credit card payments, now is the time to pay it on time. If you have something in collections, contact them and start a repayment plan as soon as possible. Even if it is a couple dollars a week, you are still repaying that debt and showing that you can be trusted financially.

This actually happened to me, I signed up with Credit Karma to check my credit score and saw that I had something in collections. I was really weirded out by that and started to investigate it. Turns out this was from 2013 when I lived with a roommate. She didn't return our cable equipment and my name was the primary one on the account. I got charged $673 and it is sitting pretty in collections. Oops. As soon as I saw that I started a repayment plan. I do have to pay this back because it was under my name. Even if it was not my fault. If you do this, make sure you keep copies of your bank statements that details what you repaid each month.

Something that I have learned the hard way is to be very careful about who you share a lease with. Or any financial responsibility that you share with someone. Something to remember is: if you live with a roommate, make sure their name is on the lease. I had the worst experience with a roommate and my credit was affected. I moved out of an apartment that I shared with my friend and moved back in with my parents. My name was still on the lease at this time. I was weirded out by my living situation because of my roommate. She wasn't able to pay rent on time and unfortunately, we got an eviction notice. I was not able to cover her half of the rent, because it was a significant amount of money. Eventually, my landlord did get the full amount and the eviction went away. I thought it would be best to move out of the apartment and back into my parent's house. My roommate found another roommate to live with, but the new roommate refused to put her name on the lease, so my name was still on the lease even though I wasn't living there at the time. So you guys guessed it, my old roommate couldn't afford to pay her half of the rent and the new roommate completely moved out. She technically didn't have any financial responsibility because her name wasn't on the lease. So my old roommate got an eviction notice and moved out of the apartment. This is the same roommate who did not return our cable equipment. So imagine my surprise when I got a court summons in the mail at my parent's house for our apartment complex. Seriously, you guys biggest mistake I have ever made!!! I contacted my old roommate and she said that she was working on a payment plan, but I have not heard anything from her since then. Our apartment complex totally shut down and the collection agency is nonexistent. I need to find out if any payment has been paid and what I need to do..... Learn from my mistakes and make sure that who you are living with is legit.****

Because I was not responsible or careful with who I lived with I have an eviction on my record and something in collections. Beware you guys!

 If you have something worse on your record *cough criminal then make sure you do volunteer work, have a stable job, anything that you can do to show that you are a morally fit person. There are other resources for problems like this online. Also, make sure that what you put on your law school application is 100% truthful. Remember that shoplifting incident you had when you were 15? Yes, you need to disclose that even if you were a minor and your case was sealed and destroyed. If the law school application says to only disclose incidents that happened once you turned 18, I don't think you need to disclose that unless they specify. (Make sure you double check this)

 Lastly, if you are accepted to a school make sure that you give your employer at least a thirty-day notice or longer. You are going to be needing them for a reference. You can not afford to burn any bridges right now. Who knows they may come in handy when you need a summer internship or maybe a part-time job when you have a break from law school.

Well, that's it for now. Hope it is grey day soon! ✊

June Must Haves

Hello Beautiful,

I wanted to post another entry but thought I would post something that is not law-related to get my mind off of the LSAT. Today's entry is on my June must haves.

1) Perfect Bar

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I found these bars first at Trader Joe's and was instantly intrigued. I really like that these bars do not contain protein powder or anything unnatural in them. The ingredients in these bars are recognizable and are easily found in the grocery store. Also, all the ingredients are organic which is another positive. I absolutely love love these bars. They definitely keep you full until your next meal. I usually eat them in the morning for breakfast. Their flavors range from plain almond butter to blueberry cashew. Their walnut chocolate bar is unreal- it seriously tastes like a real brownie straight from the oven. I hate when people say, "Oh this protein bar tastes just like a dessert, etc" and you try it and it is awful. What the heck? Have these people ever had a real dessert in their life? These bars taste like a decadent dessert and are so filling and wonderful. The only downside with these bars is that they are kind of high in calories. Each bar varies between 300-350. I feel that the calories are OK and I feel fine eating them, especially if I go to the gym or if I try to eat healthy for the rest of the day. These bars are nut butter based and vary between almond or peanut butter. These bars are really awesome and are made by a family based company who are based here in San Diego. I was surprised while looking at the ingredients that there is a superfood blend in the bar- which contains kale, tomato, celery, kelp, and even more veggies. It's shocking because you definitely can't taste it. You need these bars in your life 👏 You can find these bars in the refrigerated aisle at Sprouts, Trader Joe's, Costco, and even Target.

2) Reese Witherspoon's Book Club

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Who doesn't love Reese Witherspoon? I had no idea that she has a book club! I actually found this book club through her Instagram! Every month she debuts a new book. The books range from drama, psychological thrillers, and memoirs. The books vary in topics and everyone will be able to find something that they like. The book that was picked for June- Something in the Water was written by an actress from Downton Abbey (cool, right?). I started reading Something in the Water and I am hooked! There is nothing better than finding a great book, especially during Summer. Looking for a book to read? Don't worry Reese has you covered. I just wish I had more time to read all these great books ;). 

3) Jane the Virgin


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Holy crap! This show is so good. I remember when it came out a few years ago and never really gave it a shot. I kinda thought it looked lame and it didn't seem like something I would be into. The show is kind of like a telenovela. The show is a little dramatic but so good and entertaining. I've binged 7 episodes so far and can not get enough. When I get off of work tonight the first thing I am going to do is to pour a glass of wine and find out who Jane picks- Raphael or Michael?? I am so hooked on this show. If you have a Netflix account Jane the Virgin is a show you DEFINITELY want to binge. The characters on this show are all so cute. This is a perfect show to watch especially if you have a break from studying for the LSAT. 💃


4) Tory Burch Miller Flip Flop


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I absolutely love Tory Burch. Yes, her items are a little pricey, but #treatyoself. right? My best friend started carrying a Tory Burch bag and I was so jealous. I had to get one for myself and then some other things too...I don't know what it is about this brand, but I feel as if everyone has a little Tory Burch fever right? Maybe it's because the items that she sells are super high quality or maybe it's because everyone knows that you dropped a couple hundred dollars for a pair of flip-flops, or maybe it's the aesthetically pleasing logo that she puts on all her products. I don't know, but I am hooked!! I broke down and bought these Tory Burch Miller Flip Flops in Vintage Vanchetta Leather at Nordstrom. It did pain me to buy these because they were so expensive. I do wear flip-flops every day so I thought it was a great investment. I do wear these flip flops every day so I am thoroughly enjoying them and wearing them. So far, these flip flops are amazing. They look about a step up from regular flip flops and they look fancy enough that I can get away with wearing these to work. These sandals still look brand new and are super comfortable. For myself, I do feel like they were worth the investment.  I want them all in every color *hint *hint 😏


5) Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder

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....This stuff is amazing. I never ever buy expensive makeup or anything from Sephora. I have always bought my makeup at Target ever since I first started wearing makeup. I could not rationalize why I need a fifty dollar foundation or thirty dollar eyeshadow. I would rather spend all my money on shoes or bags. Enter Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder. Damn, this stuff is awesome. I first read about this powder on the blog, Southern Curls and Pearls. I absolutely love this blog. You want to hate her because she's so beautiful but her blog posts sound like your best friend giving you beauty and fashion tips. I love reading her blogs especially when she writes about new beauty product finds. Anyway, she said that this powder was awesome so (again) I broke down and bought some. I was always tired of coming home from work and looking like my makeup was completely melted off. I put this powder on over my makeup when I'm done in the morning and I swear my makeup does not budge. Even when I come home from work my makeup still looks perfect. It comes in handy especially on these hot and humid days that we have been having. This powder is so awesome and prevents you from having to retouch your make up halfway way through the day. I am definitely wearing this powder on my wedding day💓.



I hope everyone did well on the LSAT on Monday!!! We got through it. Now on to the July LSAT. Good luck everyone- 8 weeks out☝. We got this. Now get back to studying 👏😅.



"If you are going through hell- keep going"- Winston Churchill (I thought this quote is appropriate for us studying for the LSAT).

Retaking the LSAT.

Hello💕

Sorry for the super long hiatus! I got my LSAT score back from the September LSAT and my score was significantly lower than what my practice tests were. I could not believe it. I was obviously very upset and wondered if I should even go to law school? I thought maybe I'm not as smart or dedicated as I thought that I was.

During this time I was going through a lot. Last year I still lived with my parents and juggled school full-time, my volunteer job, and my full-time job. I got engaged last January and it was very draining trying to maintain friendships, school, a fiancé, work, and studying for the LSAT. In my opinion, it was more stressful trying to pick a time to hang out with my fiancé to just SEE him, since we did not live together. He was very busy too and juggling almost as many things as I was trying to juggle. If you have too many balls in the air, pretty soon they are all going to come down. 

When I received my LSAT score it was two points lower than my previous score. I honestly couldn't believe it. To say that I was devastated would be an understatement. I started questioning everything in my life and asking myself if this is what I really want to do? I did some soul searching and stopped looking at law school blogs, law school ideas on Pinterest, and law school forums. This was a change because I looked at something law school related pretty much every day. Some days I would burst out crying for no reason. I thought my life was over and that no law school would ever want me, because of my terrible LSAT score. My whole life I wanted to be an attorney and could not imagine having another career. I was devastated to think that maybe my life-long dream could not be possible. 

After some time away from the LSAT and law school related things, I started to really miss it. I really thought about it and knew that being an attorney is what I want to do with my life. I know that just because I received a horrible score on a test, isn't predictive of what a fabulous attorney I can be one day. Also, technically you can take the LSAT as many times as you want right now. I sucked it up and made peace with my score. I enrolled in a different test prep, Powerscore. I was originally signed up for the in-person class, but I got a call the day before the class started and was informed that there were not enough students enrolled in the in-person class, but the online class would be available. I was a little apprehensive about taking another online prep class because I took 7sage and that was totally online. I did a lot of research and it seemed that Powerscore was a really awesome class and if I took the online class it would pretty much be the same thing as the in-person class. Besides, I'm glad I took the online class because that means that I wouldn't have been stuck the downtown San Diego traffic👍👍

I took the online Powerscore class and it was awesome! It was a couple times a week for three hours. Powerscore sends their students textbooks that go along with the class and the lectures. The instructors in the class, Jeremy and Adam were awesome. They answered all my questions and it was pretty fun (I mean it's still the LSAT). I learned a lot of different techniques and rules and could not be happier with my experience. I still have access to the class until June and now I am going back over the material to really absorb what I learned. It also helped to have homework assigned after every lecture. I really enjoyed the practice test analysis that they used to help identify your weaknesses and what lesson you should spend more time going over. *Powerscore did not pay me to make these statements, these statements are 100% my own. I am not affiliated with Powerscore in any way.*

 I would definitely not recommend 7sage test prep. I, personally did have a great experience with it. I didn't really like how the instructor was a little condescending to the students and he seemed to have a holier than thou complex. If you got a question wrong, he would say things like, "this question was so simple, no one should have gotten this wrong". Obviously, I don't understand this concept or else I wouldn't be taking this course...duh. For myself, I prefer a lighter approach, especially when dealing with the LSAT. Powerscore has a lot more resources to help students reach their maximum score.  Obviously, this is just my opinion so if you disagree with what I said then that's ok!

I am signed up to take the LSAT in June. I can't believe that the LSAC added another test date this year- July. I think it is still too early to sign up for the July test. It seems like the new president is making a lot of changes. I'm so glad that the president is making all these changes. It didn't seem fair that before you could only take the LSAT twice in one year. I think I might sign up for the July LSAT as well. At this point I'm not sure what semester I am going to start law school, it just depends on my LSAT score. 👌 If there is a chance I can get a scholarship then I want to try and take advantage of that. 

I did graduate from college in December with my Bachelor's in psychology! I moved in with my fiancé and we are trying to plan our wedding. He's a full-time accounting student, so it's really hard to try and make time to plan our wedding. We plan to get married in June *yikes. It's coming up fast. 👰💋💑

The moral of the story: don't give up on your dreams- no matter what. 

LSAT

Hello!

This is my first blog post!

I was so inspired by other law school blogs that I've decided to start my own! I hope that this blog brings encouragement to other law school applicants out there :).

I am currently studying to take the LSAT in September. The LSAT is the most brutal thing that I have ever studied for. It is extremely frustrating studying for something that feels like you are making extremely small improvements over a long time span. ugh. I am currently one point away from my goal score, so I guess that is an improvement :).

A lot of people in my life don't really seem to understand how hard the LSAT is. It's frustrating when people say, "oh, just study a lot and you will do fine". Hahaha yeah right!!! People don't understand the LSAT unless they have studied for it.

I still have almost a month away from taking the LSAT. This will be my second time taking it. I took it in June and did NOT do well. I feel like I have a much better grasp on the material this time around then in June. I feel like I didn't do as well in June because I didn't have the fundamentals down. Also, I was banking on taking the LSAT in September so maybe I didn't do my best because I knew I had a second chance.

I am using 7Sage prep course and I really like how you can watch videos and have someone walk through the problems with you. I have learned different techniques from this prep course. I am very happy I purchased it. This especially works with my work schedule since I work almost full time. I have a lot of downtime during my job so it's convenient to just pop headphones in and watch a video.

I am leaving for San Francisco this week to go to a wedding. My fiancé's best friend is getting married. I'm pretty excited about going because all this LSAT prep and work is making me go crazy! It will be nice having a break and I am hoping that I can sneak some studying in.