Deciding Not to Decide

Going to law school was something that I have wanted to do ever since I was a junior in high school.  So, when I was accepted to my number one choice law school this year, it seemed like everything was going according to plan.  However, after getting over the initial excitement and relief from finishing my prelaw path and scoring high enough on the LSAT to get in to my number one school, reality set in.  I had to really decide if law school was the right choice for me right now.

I firmly believed that I had been adequately prepared for law school by the outstanding faculty at California State University Bakersfield and that I possessed the skills necessary to be successful in law school, but the financial commitment along with job prospects forced me to do some real soul searching.  I had the tools necessary to be successful but was I sure I wanted to be an attorney?  I had always had a passion for the law, politics, and government, but does the career I want to have in the future require me to have a law degree?

 After mulling it over for several months and investing even more money in law school through deposits and other expenses, I reluctantly decided to pass on enrollment in law school Fall 2014.  It was not easy to put my ambition to go to law school on hold and to let go of all of the money I had already spent to go to law school, but I had to make the decision that was going to be the most beneficial to my future.  I decided that the career I wanted to have in the future did not necessarily require me to have a law degree, so I took a job to get some real work experience without being a student or an athlete.

Taking this job did not mean I was abandoning law school all together.   In fact, the job I took is in the industry in which I am most interested in pursuing a legal career.  It just means that I am taking the time to develop as a person and as a student to make sure that law school is the right choice for me to be able to accomplish my goals in the future.

Dalton Kelley,
B.A. in Political Science 2012, MPA Graduate of the Year 2014, Student-Athlete of the Year 2013