Why I dropped out of Law School and Don't Regret it

Ever since I was a young girl I knew I wanted to go to law school. I had this picture in my mind of what a lawyer looked like, how much money they made and how perfect my life would be once I reached my goal of becoming a lawyer. Even my mom would tell me "One day you're going to be a lawyer because you just love to argue!" I was the one person all my friends and family would call if they had legal questions, needed resources or got arrested for a DUI. *Welp* Needless to say, I was on a path to achieve my destiny of becoming a lawyer.

This started getting real for me my senior year of undergrad. At the time, I was working full-time, raising a child, attending full time classes and studying for the LSAT. I was already exhausted before I had even been accepted into law school. If I wasn't attending lectures or doing homework for my regular classes I was working or attending to mommy duties. *Disclaimer: I do want to emphasize that being a parent really made things much harder than someone who does not have kids. This did play a role in my decision to quit law school* And back to the story.... I found it very hard to study let alone focus on the LSAT.

I enrolled into a Kaplan LSAT in-person prep course which was about $700-$900. I attended a couple days a week for about 2 hours a day. The instructor was nice but the pace she was moving at was just way too fast for me to keep up. I found myself not wanting to ask questions to keep from slowing down the class. Overall, I did not personally feel it was beneficial for my learning style or worth the money.

Fast forward to the LSAT exam. Long story short.....I did terrible...and I got the same score TWICE! Most people like to keep their LSAT scores a secret like it's some forbidden tale never to be shared with anyone. I personally think if sharing my score helps someone out then I don't mind sharing it. I got a 139 both times I took the LSAT test. Yes, I cried, overanalyzed everything, questioned my existence, all of the above! I was devastated. Something I had worked so hard to achieve felt impossible at this point.

I eventually decided to apply to all the law schools I thought would accept me and prayed my heart out that at least one school would give me a chance. I tried to capitalize on my resume, letters of recommendation, essay, grades and hoped that law schools would overlook my LSAT score. I applied to 7 different law schools and guess what....all 7 schools rejected me!

At this point I thought to myself, "Am I even law school material?" But I didn't give up and tried a different approach. I applied to a Non-ABA law school. *GASP!* Yep! That's right I did the unknown and went the Non-ABA approach. I will not name the school because I do not want this to come across as any kind of shade towards them. But I will say the program is completely online. This school was the only school that accepted me. I was ecstatic that I could finally begin my journey of attending law school even if it was a bit unconventional.

The first course I took was Torts A. This school separates their schedule into 8 week courses. So, essentially you take one class at a time for 8 weeks. At first I found the work load to be doable and it helped a lot that I only had to focus on one course at a time but after 3 weeks into law school, I felt miserable. I was exhausted from all the reading. My scores were not what I was used to getting in undergrad (mostly A's and B's) and I was barely passing the class. I felt as if no matter how hard I tried, my work was never good enough. I tried flashcards, power points, intensive reading sessions and even one on one tutoring with a coach.

Towards the end of the course I fell into a deep depression and questioned why I even wanted to be an attorney. I loved helping people in my community with their legal situations but I did not want to do the overwhelming work of slaving away at the office for hours on end writing hundred page briefs. Over the years, I have worked for many attorneys and the one thing they all had in common was the amount of stress they were under on a daily basis. They worked from the early morning to the late night, writing briefs, doing research, answering client's questions, meeting with new clients and filing cases. They hardly had time for family, friends or themselves. I value my time with my son and my family immensely and I would never want something to keep me from them. This was the turning point when I realized that maybe law school was not for me.

I took one week to decide if I wanted to drop out of law school. I got advice from close family and friends and even drew a pros and cons chart to help me figure out what to do. I came to the conclusion that I can STILL help my community, be my own boss and make good money without a law degree. I decided to open up my own Legal Document Preparer business where I help clients with immigration and family cases. That's when Diaz Legal Services was born. My life experiences, job history and education turned out to be all I ever needed. I just needed to figure out how to channel it.

The following week I officially withdrew from law school for good. I wondered if I would ever feel a sense of regret or shame for dropping out but I actually felt the happiest I had ever been! I felt like a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I realized that the reason why I was so fearful of dropping out of law school was because I was scared of what people would think of me. I was scared that I no longer would fit in to this mold that had been created for my life. All my life I had held this title of being smart, educated, strong and unstoppable. I didn't want to be viewed as a quitter or a looser for the first time in my life.

What I learned was that you have to do what makes YOU happy. Not your mom, dad, friends or society, but YOU. You are the one that has to live this life, pay off those student loans, and write those briefs. So you have to make sure that what you are doing is going to make you happy. I am thankful that I realized what I wanted after just one class of law school versus 10 years into a career that makes me miserable and six figure debt.

Today, I own and operate Diaz Legal Services out of Phoenix, AZ. I still get to do what I love without having to go to court or writing never ending briefs. I finally have time to cook for my family, play with my son more and relax with some wine and Netflix after a successful work day. The biggest lesson I learned during this experience was, "Don't work harder, work smarter."