Law School Admissions Blog

My name is Greg Fields. I'm an entertainment reporter in Decatur, IL., Central Illinois. Or downstate for all you Chicagoans. I was born in Andrews, Texas, grew up in Bakersfield, Ca., went to school in Tallahassee, Fla. Pretty much, I've been to damn near all corners of the map.

I'm 27 and I've been a reporter for five years. I've been in the area for about two months. I came here from Macon, Ga., where I worked for about two years as a columnist, entertainment writer and sometimes, TV personality (if you can call 30 sec spots for the local affiliate being a TV personality).

I left Macon, Ga., because I wrote a story that used unattributed material from the Internet. This was an extremely embarrassing and painful experience that caused my career to take a serious downturn, especially in light of the recent plagiarism cases of Jayson Blair and Khalil Abdullah.

How does this relate to my law school applications? Well, right about the time of this incident, I was seriously considering applying to law school anyway. This incident just initiated the process. But I was left in a quandary: how in the hell do I explain this incident to potential law schools? How do you explain the dumbest thing you've ever done? Particularly, in light of my lightweight qualifications (B.S. in journalism, 3.1 GPA, 152 LSAT score).

So basically, I researched the process and tried to make my weaknesses, my strengths. I wrote my personal statement about the incident. I went to as many law school forums as I could (even flying to L.A. with no money). I emailed, called and visited as many admission officers, admission deans, LSAT prepmasters, as possible. I read as many "how-to" books as possible.

We'll see if I was successful.

I applied to 30 schools. I applied for fee waivers and got about 10-15 of them.

I'm looking to return to California and practice in the entertainment industry. But I'm definitely not picky and the only qualifications I have are: a good faculty, reputable alumni system, good reputation and close to some metro area. Right now, I'm in the process of waiting on acceptance letters, as well as filling out financial aid info.

I would hope my blog would help professionals who are looking to re-enter grad school after years in their profession, broke students facing the daunting task of paying for law school, above average students who try to compensate in other areas of their application, black males and other underrepresented groups who are looking for similar stories and anybody who did something really, really stupid and is looking for a way to redeem themselves.

Read Greg's second blog!

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