The law school process is certainly one of the most rigorous processes I have ever been through. It truly does test your limits and mental toughness. In my opinion, it is split into three main parts: The LSAT, applications, and admissions decisions.

First off is the LSAT prep and taking the actual exam. This step started quite early for me. I weighed countless options between companies and private tutors around December of my junior year and finally decided to get a private tutor since it matched my 1-on-1 learning style the best. The first thing one must do is take a diagnostic test. This test is essentially your baseline prior to studying. This number certainly doesn’t define you, but it does show the extent on which one must raise their score by to reach their goal score. In my case it was not up to my standards, but I did not sweat it since I hadn’t even started studying. 

My studies started in January learning all the question types. This included weekly meetings with my tutor and homework assignments to do each week. This was done all the way until May without taking another full practice exam. I took my first full practice exam and was a bit discouraged, so I really had to raise the studying intensity. The 2 weeks leading up to my first real exam in June I would study at a minimum 6 hours a day. This consisted of practice questions and reviewing wrong answers. It truly was intense and looking back on it I do think I may have burnt myself out. Towards the end I was losing motivation and the days felt like a cycle. I constantly had to remind myself that the hard work will pay dividends later on. I was devastated when my first score came out and it was nowhere near my goal. I felt like this would be my best chance because I was a bit worried on how I would balance the LSAT and school when I returned to Miami since my next one I would be taking would be in September. I decided to take the rest of June, July and the first two weeks of August off to heal my brain. I then tore my ACL and MCL on August 1 which certainly affected my available time to study since I would have to go through intensive rehab.

School started back up and I took the first week to get back into the swing of things before resuming studying. This is definitely another regret as I put a ton of pressure on myself for the next 2 weeks given I still had to shake off the rust before my next exam in early September. This is where I had to dig deep and I constantly asked myself how bad I actually want it. I did not skip a single day of studying after that first week of the semester all the way up to the exam while balancing physical therapy for my knee too. This consisted of waking up early before class and even some very late nights making sure I did something productive in terms of studying. The intensity certainly caused a hit to my social life, but I felt confident this next score would be better. 

Leaving the September exam, I felt like I had knocked that exam out of the park. I had to stand up during breaks as my knee was pulsating but I grinded through it. One of my biggest pet peeves about this exam is that the score doesn’t release until later in the month. This means that if you are signed up to take the next exam you must continue studying even if you get the score you want and don’t end up having to take the next one. This was my case. At this point I was not a fan of this exam anymore. The days were getting quite repetitive as I waited for my score to be released.

Finally, the score came out in late September, and I was quite dumbfounded that I had not scored the score I wanted. My practice scores were much higher than my actual scores and I started to get really frustrated. It took a few days to cool back down but again I got right back into the swing of things. I knew this hard work had to pay off eventually. It gets to the point where you start just seeing questions as patterns and not individual content after so many hours put in. I truly did up the intensity of my studying before my October LSAT. Working double as hard as I did for the previous ones with sometimes studying twice a day. I would not rest until I got the score I wanted. 

Finally, it was test day. I knew this would likely be my last one given my goal was to have my applications done before Thanksgiving given I was having surgery to repair my torn ACL. The next November exam’s score won’t be released in time for that goal. I walked out very happy with my work and felt like this one was the best one yet. 
After that I took a break. I had been nonstop from the second week of the semester to this point and was on the brink of complete burnout. The score came out towards the end of October and at last I finally got the score I wanted. All the hard work had paid off.

The next step in the process is applications. This is something I wish I had given more thought to and prepped better before starting the whole process. There is a lot that goes into these applications. With my score I was finally able to condense down the schools I would be applying to. Almost every school required a personal statement and their own set of supplemental essays. This is also around the time when my workload in school was intensifying. I knew I had a long road ahead of me.

From then until right before Thanksgiving and my ACL surgery, any second of free time was dedicated towards these applications. The personal statement took an entire week to complete given it took many drafts to perfect. This included many late nights and hours sitting at my desk typing up supplemental essays. In the end I wrote 31 supplemental essays on top of my personal statement before the start of Thanksgiving. I submitted all of my applications and the expected time range for response was 6-8 weeks. 

The final part is admissions decisions. At the time I am writing this I am still on this stage. One day before my surgery during Thanksgiving break I got a bunch of emails from some of the schools requesting interviews. I was excited that I had made it to the interview stage but also a bit nervous at the same time given I didn’t know how well I’d be doing post-surgery. To my shock, these interviews had tight deadlines with the latest date possible being four days after surgery. I didn’t really have a choice, so I chose that day. The day rolled around and I was not doing great and still in a ton of pain. Yet, I knew I had to get these interviews done. I tend to think to myself that there are no excuses. If you can get it done, then get it done. I sat through four back-to-back interviews in quite a lot of pain for around 3 hours. That stage was finally done.

Hearing back from these schools was an up and down rollercoaster and this is still the case up to the day I’m writing this. I actually started out with three straight acceptances. I was quite ecstatic as one of those schools was a reach school. I finally started to see the light at the end of the tunnel and that my hard work was surely paying off. Then came the large wave of rejections. Since then, I have yet to get into another school. Countless denials and waitlists. It is frustrating to say the least. Obviously, I celebrate the wins, but I tend to take the losses even harder given I always strive for perfection. 

I still haven’t heard back from 2 schools with the April 15 seat deposit deadline looming. I am currently debating between the 3 schools I got accepted into and this decision will not be an easy one. The work doesn’t stop after you hear back in my opinion. You want to be able to acquire all the information needed to make a well-informed decision. This past month, on top of attending admitted students’ day, I have been on countless calls with current and former students gathering their experiences and opinions on schools in order to be as well informed as possible. At this moment I do not know where I will end up but I know my future self in two weeks will make the decision confidently.

All in all, my advice for people who are going to embark on this journey is mental toughness. There will be highs and there will be lows. It’s all about slow progress and celebrating the small advancements to get to where you want to be. My motto has been “making diamonds”. It comes from the saying “pressure makes diamonds”. I put myself under a ton of pressure throughout this process, but I know I will shine in the end at law school in the future.