Professional Ambitions Revised

What I want to do...

To put it quite simply: I want to go to law school and become a law professor. Of course, nothing in life is quite that simple. You can't just randomly apply to law schools and hope to get into one that will meet your needs (or even hope to get in to any without serious preparation.) Getting to law school is my first big challenge, especially since I want to become a professor down the road. If I don't get into a top law school it will be much harder to find a job as a professor (every college wants the "big name" colleges represented in their faculty.) After I get to law school I need to do well and then I need to land that perfect job.


Image:
(2005). How to Become a Lawyer. Legal Careers Online. Retrieved January 24, 2006 from http://www.legalcareersonline.org/legal-articles/how-to-become-a-lawyer.html

Why I want to do it...

I'm not going to lie and say I've wanted to be a lawyer ever since I was little. Actually, I never thought about it until I came to Ohio State and discovered there was no way I could become a doctor (taking Honors Chemistry first quarter freshman year was one of the worst choices I ever made. I also can't forget that I have an irrational fear of needles. I can't even watch other people get shots!) So I did some soul searching freshman year, realizing that I was back to the drawing board. Winter quarter I took Econ 200 because I was thinking about Actuarial Science (ok, so maybe I didn't think hard enough about that one) and it required the class. I fell in love with economics (trust me, I already know I'm crazy). I immediately decided I wanted to major in economics. I wanted to major in it through Fisher, the business college, not Arts and Sciences. However, there is not much to do with an economics degree. I also realized that two years is a very short time and I'm not ready to enter the "real world." So I thought about getting an MBA, but you have to have work experience to get into an MBA program (not going to happen with a degree in econ). So I somehow stumbled upon the idea of going to law school. I did the research and decided that I think I have what it takes to make it into law school and succeed while I'm there. I haven't changed my major or my future career path in almost two years (which is a huge deal for me since I actually changed my major before freshman orientation!)


Image:
(2006). Frequently Asked Questions About Hepatitis A. CDC. Retrieved January 24, 2006 from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/a/images/needle.jpg

What I need to do...

To succeed in law school I need to be able to read and process a lot of long documents that won't be of much interest. I also need to be able to write well. Many students are done with writing courses once they take their sophomore English class. One of the first classes L1's take in law school is a writing course. So, I need to be able to write and read well. I have taken on a professional writing minor to help me write better. Through the four required courses and writing internship I'm hoping I can "perfect" my writing skills so that I can succeed in the classroom a few years down the road. Law students need to know how to think analytically and process what they read to apply it to other cases. Economics is the best course work you can do for that. (That's why so many pre-law students are econ majors.) I am certainly taking enough econ courses to help me with that.


Image:
(2003). Royalty-Free Clip Art Collection for Foreign/Second Language Instruction. Retrieved January 24, 2006 from http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/JapanProj/FLClipart/Verbs/read.gif

What I'll do for you...

This blog will contain information on different law schools for both students and faculty. I will include links to websites that contain comparative information and links to the law schools websites. I hope to provide a comparative look at the different law schools and to get information that would be helpful for law school professors and those considering that career. I also hope to provide information on current law events to help keep updated on the field.

This summer I visited law schools in California as a prospective student. I think these experiences will provide an interesting insight. I am also planning several other visits during this quarter as a prospective student to law schools in the Midwest. Hopefully I can use these experiences to add to the information I will be providing here. While I will be looking at these school as a prospective student, I may be able to obtain information about teaching law once at their university.

While right now I don't know any one specific to interview, the Ohio State's law college is just a quick walk away from where I live. I'm sure I'll be able to find law students, prospective law students, faculty, and many advisors to interview.

So this is what to expect...

I'll provide you with links to websites (plus a summary and critique of them) like:

• Law News Sites


• Law School Websites


• Different Law School Comparison Websites


• Lawyer Job Search Sites

I'll also provide reviews of different books I've read:

• Books on How to Get into Law School


• Books Comparing Different Law Schools


• Booklets Published by Law Schools for Prospective Students


• Books on Teaching Law


• Law Books in General