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[markstudieslaw-blog]

My First Post

Tomorrow I start my second semester of law school.  I have created this blog as a space for me to write out my experiences.  I don’t think I have anything profound to say, but I hope this could help people who are unsure whether to study law.  So to start, a bit about myself:

I am Hispanic and grew up in a predominately Hispanic community.  My city was not big and not rich.  My family was a comfortable middle class.  

As an undergrad I studied civil engineering and math.  Math was my favorite subject growing up, and people told me to study engineering.  I got into proof-writing in my math classes and fell in love with the logic.  

I decided to study law for various reasons.  

In college, I was exposed to how much discrepancy there was in college-readiness based on where people went to high school.  I felt I was not as ready as much as other kids.  But that was not what bothered me.  I had a great upbringing, and I know that was not the usual case where I was from.  If I felt inadequate, I knew others probably felt more inadequate.

I loved proof-writing, but wanted to have a more impactful career than just studying math.  I thought logic would flow from math to law.

With engineering, I both did industry internships and research experiences.  I did not like industry.  I wanted to be challenged more.  As for research, I loved it.  However, I was unhappy with what the end game would be.  Was I going to just go into industry after my hypothetical grad school experience?  Or would I try to be a professor?  I did not like my options because I felt I can have a better impact helping others more directly.

So, I studied law because I thought (and still think) I will be able to use my degree to help people in an impactful way.

I am the first in my family to study law.

Also first to study engineering, but that is off topic.

I hope to update this blog as my studies continue.  I want to write my experiences talking to lawyers, interviewing for internships, and studying for class.  Let’s hope I am able to continue this.

-Mark