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Please leave Ashley some encouragement and advice below in the comments!
Ashley's LSAT Diary:
Hey there. Ashley here. 24-year-old female. Nerdy, funny, nice. Likes long walks on the beach. Ok, seriously, I am a senior at Seattle Pacific University. All my life I wanted to be a doctor. More specifically, a pediatric neurologist specializing in epilepsy and translational research. Yea, seriously. Love to learn, and, in fact, I'm the kid everyone was jealous of: school comes easy to me. Very easy. Yet, even while school was easy, it was hard as well. I was diagnosed with epilepsy in my junior year of high school, which turned my focus to neurology (as opposed to medicine in general).
After getting through a whirlwind two years (three AP classes each year plus epilepsy and medicine issues!) I graduated high school with high honors and was accepted to and attended The George Washington University. While there, my health worsened, compounded by lack of sleep, and stress from a loan that took forever to go through. In all, the error of the bank led to a series of events that culminated in my losing my scholarships; all $50,000 a year of it. So, I returned home, unhealthy, dejected, in debt from emergency room visits, with poor grades, and owing thousands of dollars to GWU. I originally intended to try to resolve the issue with GW and the bank, and so I decided to enroll at my local community college in the meantime. But, I ended up with an AA degree during all of that "waiting." I then transferred to Seattle Pacific University, a much healthier me.
While at SPU, I decided to pick up a second major (I was already a psychology major). I liked the one philosophy course I took at my community college, and never got to take another, so I decided to take logic. I instantly fell in love with it, as I love math as well. It came easily, and so I decided to attend the weekly Philosophy meetings with professors and student majors. One professor, who later became my mentor, took a shine to me, and encouraged me to pursue the major. So I did. I love it!
So how did I decide on a career in law? I had always wanted to be a doctor, but I didn't see all of the signs that should have pointed me in the direction of law: my obsession with logical arguments, or the fact that I have the Constitution, Articles of Confederation, and Declaration of Independence on parchment on my bedroom walls (yes, seriously. I can even recite the preamble. I need to read a friggin magazine or something). Or that I absolutely, positively, love to argue. And win. Or that I have a distinct love of truth and its pursuit. And very competitive streak. So, in my second quarter at SPU, I began to entertain the idea of attending law school. My professors all wondered why I hadn't decided this earlier. One professor even said (and I quote) "I already knew that. I was waiting on you to figure it out".
And so, this brings me to my present preparations for the LSAT. Mine is a double whammy, as I want to get into a dual degree program (PhD in philosophy, and JD). But, I must be admitted to each school separately and then apply for the dual degree program. So I must take the GRE and the LSAT. Yay me (that was sarcastic, by the way). But, life is hard for me and my family, and I have encountered much difficulty (extreme insomnia for which there is no explanation, epilepsy exacerbated by that insomnia, bipolar disorder, home foreclosure, and the whole financial mess with GWU and ER bills from that time). Recent events have made it almost impossible to prep, especially since I have no money for a prep class, and I could barely afford the 40 bucks it took me to get two LSAT PrepTest books and a GRE prep book. Heck, just trying to earn and hold onto my book money for fall is extremely difficult because times are so bad.
But my mentor believes in me. He tells me every time he speaks with me that I will be just fine, and that I will be able to accomplish all of the things I want to do. Most times it is hard to believe him. But I'm beginning to believe him more and more. After all, he's lived longer than I have.
So here is my LSAT Diary. It will encounter the emotional turmoil surrounding my study, my study habits, the creative ways in which I study, obstacles I have encountered (some funny, some serious), and even what goes through my mind as I read some questions (because believe me, even as I love to learn, there have been questions where I said to myself "Who the frig cares what the answer is?!"). My doubtful moments, my confident moments, my cocky moments, and even my scared moments. So, next time, I'll fill you in on how the LSAT practice test goes. Tomorrow is especially important: it's D-day, Do-or-Die Day. How I do determines whether I take the Oct. LSAT. Cross my fingers!
Photo by kjd
