Just Decided To Go To Law School Last Week

[Captain Graybeard]

How has your course been? Are you relapsing/remitting or progressive?

I have relapsing/remitting MS.

(sure one or two programs might feel you're a risk, but do you really want to go to a school which is so unaccommodating?).

You are absolutely right, and that has been something I have thought a lot about.

You can really highlight the ways in which managing a frustrating and chronic disorder has influenced you positively, while (semi-subtly) showing that it has not, in the whole, slowed you down. Heck, you can probably link this to your relatively recent life changes (no more misdemeanors)/career direction changes, if you want.

They are directly related, so that is pretty much what I plan to do.

(As long as you are able to reassure them that you can handle the load, I really don't think it will hurt you. It is probably very useful that you are finishing school right now- clearly you are managing an academic workload without major exacerbations of your disease. That may be better than had you finished college at 22. If you have had an interest in health policy/ADA/etc sparked by your experience, I'm guessing they would love to hear it also.
Cynically speaking, look on the websites- they ALL love to point out their classes' diversity. Whether or not you will end up as a poster child, I would think your age, unusual career path, and medical difficulties will, in combination, be pretty attractive to a lot of schools.
Wow- that could really be a fantastic statement....
Best of luck to you, and keep us updated

Thanks, and I will.  I am at least a year and a half away from applying, assuming I try for ED, but have started working on the personal statement already.  Right now it is in the brainstorming phase, but I have some pretty good ideas that follow your line of reasoning, and I think I can write a pretty powerful statement.

[insomniac]

Don't do ED. If your course follows mine, your numbers will largely dictate your acceptances; however, the fact that you have an interesting background will make you much more likely to be offered scholarship money. And, in your late 30's, I'm sure you appreciate how much difference 60,000 or more can make! Particularly when looking towards retirement saving, etc. ED REALLY limits your options. Again- my attitude has been that I want to go to a school that wants me, particularly, and appreciates my unique non-trad-ness (facetious, but true). ED is only useful if you think they may be on the fence about you, and knowing you will come can tip the scales. Coming straight from undergraduate, without a lot to distinguish you from others, this can make sense. Not so much later on...It'll be weird enough being old- I'm willing to defer to a certain extent to the ad-coms' determination if I would be a good fit there.
If you get your stuff in early enough, you will quite possibly hear from schools before most of the ED decisions go out- look at LSN for your schools of interest to get an idea.

[trudawg]

Can someone tell me exactly what kind of convictions excluding felonies would prevent someone from taking the BAR exam?
While I have no felonies myself, I do have a few misdemeanors from my youth such as disorderly conduct and possession of MJ. The last one being about 7 years ago. Who should I talk to before investing in this academic path?

[brianwithani]

Trudawg,
The first place to ask is the admissions dept at a school in the state where you want to practice.  Or you can contact the bar association in that state.  It would be unethical for a school to admit you if you can't be admitted to the bar because of something they know about but I've heard that some of the lower ranked, degree mills can be misleading.  The most important thing is to be over-zealous in revealing every single thing that could be a problem in the past.  Don't even omit that silly parking ticket.  If you are honest, they seem to be more forgiving (if the offense is forgivable).
Good luck.