Law and Disorder

So I am applying to law school right now. To those of you unfamiliar with the process, I encourage you to thank your lucky stars that you never have to endure such humiliation and abject suffering. Applying to law school is just about the most miserable academic undertaking, with the notable exception of applying to medical school. I fully confess that medical school trumps anything difficulty law school application may profess, and that everyone who ever tries to get into medical school must either have a burning passion to pursue that profession or be stark raving mad. But I’m not talking about medical school; I’m talking about law school because that’s where I’m applying. The process really started a year ago when I started studying for the LSAT. I took a class, I did about 30 practice tests, and after six months of preparation I took the real McCoy and got one point better than I did on my very first test. Great, there was six months of my life and a couple hundred dollars practically wasted. But it wasn’t too bad a score, so I’m keeping it and going forward with the application process. Except I got my score back in June and I have done almost ZERO work towards applying since then. I was burned out from the LSAT and I decided to take a week or two off, and then start working on my personal statement and my application so I could have it all done by November. Well, I did take some time off, but I never took some time on again until a week or two ago when I realized that November is in a couple of weeks. It basically all boils down to the simple fact that I am the King of the Procrastinators.

Now I know lots of people can make that claim, but I feel I have good and legitimate reasons as to why I am the best. I’m so good at procrastinating that I can even convince myself I’m not procrastinating at all. I should have been working on my personal statement for months now, but every time I sat down to do it I found something infinitely more pressing that needed to get done. It’s called “active procrastination,” and it’s even sneakier than the lazy kind. It’s like during finals, when you know you should be studying, but suddenly everything else is so much more interesting. I have watched soap operas during finals instead of studying because it seemed more interesting than reading Machiavelli. Despite the fact that I hardly ever play basketball, I played a three-on-three game a few hours before my last exam my sophomore year just to do something other than studying. My active procrastination isn’t even limited to schoolwork. Last year when I had to move out of my apartment I was watching a show about bounty hunters at one in the morning because I didn’t want to finish packing. So during the last few months I have been extremely productive in almost everything BUT applying to law school. I have successfully rationalized away three months of my life.

As with all procrastinators, even the King must face the music. It is now crunch time, so I am frantically sending forms across the country and trying to get things done on time. I think I’ll make it, I usually do, but not without a few ulcers along the way. But hey, that’s what law school is all about.