My Journey from BA to MBA to JD
In high school I really didn't know much about colleges but I knew I wanted to go a HBCU and I wanted to be close to home. I didn't have a preference on whether the college was big or small. I really didn't think about how much it would cost to go. When it came down to my junior in high school I decided to apply to four schools: Georgia State University, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta School, and Paine College. I got into all four and scholarship offer to all except Spelman so I was sold on Clark Atlanta. My father, however, had other plans it was Spelman.
Now, I had mentioned Spelman to my parents when I was about 7 or 8 years old I believe but at the time I didn't know what it meant to go to Spelman. I actually didn't realize that until I set up my freshman dorm for orientation. Outside of education, Spelman taught me a lot about myself as a young Black Woman. My time at Spelman tested my work ethic, my resilience, my mental, how I handled relationships, taught me how to vulnerable, and introduced me to people and moments I could never forget. I was president of an organization that I chartered and held down 3 jobs. I graduated from Spelman in May of 2013 (shout out to my class 💁🏽) with a 2.9 GPA, thanks to me trying to be a daredevil my senior year and take Accounting, Psychometrics, and Precalculus (Accounting and Precalculus I didn't need, I just wanted a "challenge"🙄) I passed Psychometrics (the class I needed to graduate-I was a psychology major) after my Bestie and I pulled an all-nighter. I failed the other two finals and got a C in Accounting and D in Precalculus.
Shortly before graduated I took the LSAT to get into law school. I took it twice and got the same score, which was not very high, not even average. I still applied though. I only got into 2 and 1 on the contingency that I retake the LSAT which would cause me to sit out of school a year. It was between Arizona and Vermont. I knew I was going to Arizona, but I definitely wasn't going to Vermont. So I thought. Well, that summer I was working at Spelman for their high school summer programs and one of the parents I met was a lawyer. I told him my plans to wait a year then reapply. He look at me and asked "Why wait a year for another school to accept you when someone already has? You'll be taking a year off and you can already have year done.". It made sense. I talked with Vermont some more and I was sold. I was sad I had to be so far away from my family but I went anyway.
I arrived in Vermont with one suitcase and rental car. When I saw my apartment (this was my very first apartment) was a 500 sq ft studio and didn't look as big as it did in the picture I was ready to go home. I called my Dad and he calmed me down and told me to stick it out. I got myself together, cleaned my place, and put up furniture. My time at Vermont was short, but I experienced a lot. I saw REAL snow for the first time, I was regional secretary of the Black Law Student Association, I traveled, learned that people in the northeast don't drink Sweet Tea, I met people I will always remember and it let me know law school was way more challenging than I anticipated. My father passed October 10, 2013, shortly after I got to Vermont. I needed to be back with my family so I transferred to Mercer University in Macon, GA.
While I was Mercer, the joint MBA program they offered caught the attention of myself and 2 other classmates. Went on to scruggle through the MBA grogram and the JD program at the same time. I was hard but we did it. I graduated with a 3.45. In my third year I got pregnant with my daughter. I ended up doing okay in law school, I got around a C average. I didn't excel but I didn't sink either, I think was a more burned out than anything. But, I finished. 1 year after graduation and have 6 months of experience as a high school Business Education teacher. That's a story for another time lol.
Looking back, I was blessed to have the opportunities that I did.
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