"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."

-- The Dalai Lama

Monday, October 04, 2004

Application Questions

It seems that many of us are currently starting the process of actually filling in the actual applications and preparing to send them off. I thought that this would be the simplest part of the whole extravaganza. I was wrong.

I have decided to go with the LSACD On the Web, mainly because going the other way seemed too complicated and there were too many places to get things from, and send things to, and, well, I just wanted it to be easier. So I start filling in the Common Info Form - and everything is going fine at first. My major wasn't listed, but you can fill in your own. Great. Then I get to the High School(!) area and I need to call customer service and ask them what to put there. As an aside, I'm glad that I'm trusting my application to someone who probably makes $5.50 an hour. Anyway, I have a GED, not a HS diploma so I needed some advice. Ultimately, I figured out that part.

But now: Employment history. What to do? I have had a lot of part time jobs, especially before I went back to school. The service representative said to just list what I want and leave the rest off. Is this true? Does anyone have any advice? I in no way want to be less than 100% honest, but I also don't think that they want to know that I worked at Pizza Hut in 1993.

2 comments:

DeniseUMLaw said...

I dropped out of high school (in the 11th grade) and ultimately got a GED also. Since I only filled out one application (for Michigan) I can't say how other forms are. But on my application it only asked for dates of attendance of high school and not diploma granted. So, I filled in the dates that I went to high school and moved on. Had it asked for diploma, I probably would have put in GED, if allowed. Or, checked the diploma box, if that was the option. High school is mostly irrelevant to this application, considering the need to have an undergrad degree to even apply to law school, I should think. As for experience, I think Stag's comment is right on. When I talked about my application with our admissions director after I had been accepted, she said "we thought you could do the work." They weren't as concerned by my dropping out of high school, or even going to a no-name city college for undergrad. They were concerned with my ability to do the work. Anything you can demonstrate to that effect is worth doing.

Shannon said...

stag: Thanks for the advice, that makes sense.

Janine: The rep said to just list the GED Info (date received) and leave off any HS info. That's what I plan on doing.

I've never really met other GED holders, so it is nice to find out that you two also went this route. I agree with you, Janine: GED + JD will make a great conversation piece. :)