Countdown to 30: Day 15

Anyone who has known me for the majority of my life knows that early on I decided I wanted to be a lawyer, and after that I decided I wanted to attend Baylor Law School. I knew that Baylor produced good lawyers. Once I was in Waco, I realized that Baylor Law led the pass results on the bar exam almost every sitting. It was clear that if I wanted pretty much a guaranteed pass on the first try, I should go to Baylor. I also learned while in undergrad that Baylor was a tough school. At some point during my undergrad years, Baylor was touted as the "Marine Corp of law schools" by the law school ranking people. I knew that it was going to be tough to get into and tough to get out. Baylor was in the process of building a new law school building, and I knew that I would be one of the first classes to attend in the new building.

I do not think that I understood how hard it would be to get into Baylor until I had already been accepted. I only applied to two law school - Baylor and the University of Texas. I did not realize that both schools are very difficult to be accepted. I knew that I had the GPA to be considered for Baylor (had no clue what the UT GPA was) and I only studied hard enough for the LSAT to obtain the average score at Baylor. I did not take review courses or hundreds of practice tests. The day of the LSAT, the room was changed at the last minute at the location I had selected, I had to drive accross that school's campus, the cafeteria where the test was administered did not have air conditioning (it was June in TX - not good!), and the air conditioning repair people were banging away at the unit trying to get it working throughout the entire test. Obviously, the testing conditions were not ideal, and I probably should have selected the retake option but you had to forfeit your score before you got it back, and I did not want to take that chance. By the grace of God, I scored high enough that the score would suffice.

I was accepted to UT first, and I received a scholarship. At the time I did not realize how big a deal that was. Apparently UT is stingy with scholarships, and I was lucky to be awarded one. I had my eyes set on Baylor though and waited to receive the notice from Baylor. One day before going to one of the Baylor basketball games, there it was - the packet instead of a single envelope. Without opening it I knew I was in. I had a scholarship for half of the tuition, and I did not have to move. It was a win-win for me. I signed three years of my life away as I informed Baylor I would be attending in Fall 2002.

My years in Baylor Law School were some of the hardest of my life. The competition was rigorous, made worse by the fact that I knew I had to maintain a decent GPA just to keep my scholarship. There was not much free time or down time. I went to class, went home to study, went to church, and, if I was lucky, ventured out to watch a football game on Saturdays. I did schedule some fun weekends and short spring break trips, but even holidays with my family were cut short so I could study. Then came practice court. There are no words to describe the six months of practice court where you are stressed out, your stomach is in knots, you realize you really could fail and not become a lawyer, and there are not enough hours in a day to ever get done what is assigned. Law school made the bar exam and bar review seem easy. Seriously. Come bar exam time, I had free time because I only studied eight hours a day instead of sixteen to twenty spent doing law school. No wonder Baylor has a high pass rate!

God placed me at Baylor Law School. Looking back I did not really think my decision through. I had no idea that there were over two thousand applicants, but only 100-150 accepted per quarter. Those are not very good odds! I was able to pass the bar exam on the first try. I was able to land a job after the bar. I was able to practice and represent clients in the courtroom early on because I was used to it. Most importantly, I was able to do my first jury trial solo on short notice (less than 24 hours) with a successful result for the client.