Amy Bergamo is one of my friends from the horseback riding days. Many people at Marist don’t know that’s where I got my start in running. And much of it is in thanks to Amy. She and Lily told us about “imaginary horses” that we rode around the dusty arena at summer camp. Needless to say, I built up some form of endurance from all that galloping around and jumping over fences. Funny how life turns out. I started riding when I was 4. I had to give it up when I went to college. I sold Bandit and put everything into running. It still hurts when I look back to pictures of him and think of all my memories with my barn friends.
Amy was always REALLY talented. She rode Bandit once for me and she actually owned Sierra, the horse I first leased, before she bought another horse to compete with. I follow her blog now, chronicling her adventures with her newest prospect, Dee. However, Amy has decided to attend law school. She’s been following this grad school blog and gave me some constructive criticism about the personal statement. Her blog now follows her law school adventures (take a look at the list of blogs on my sidebar here, it’s titled “Dance Floor Metaphor”). Go take a look! So, to add a little variety, I thought it would be interesting to add in what Amy’s experiences were like and why she made some of her decisions.
One of my main reasons is to emphasize the point Dr. Graham made to me a few weeks ago. For writers especially, you need to experience life. You need to feel things out and do what you love. Amy’s always been connected with the horse world and continues to own Dee, hopefully completing her training after law school.
Amy decided to apply in the first semester of her senior year, spring 2010. She was a semester off and therefore graduated in December. And what lead Amy to decide to pursue law, even after she had shrugged off prompts from her professor to apply? An equine law class. Horses had, in a sense, brought her to something else she was interested in. She researched the field and how the classes would be set up. “I had a whole mountain of work ahead of me in the application process,” she said.
Amy decided on an LSAT test date that would allow her the most time to study and prepare. She didn’t rush just to get the application in. This applies to other graduate programs as well. Mainly, work off your own schedule and see what you will be able to handle. You don’t want to defeat yourself from the start by overwhelming yourself trying to get in tests and applications. Make sure the test date is early enough, however, to be sent in with your application on time. Amy explained that the LSAT only runs 4 times a year. She chose the October date because it fit her time to study and allowed her to apply in a time she felt comfortable with.
Perhaps one of the most important points Amy talked about was where she applied and why. Although she didn’t apply to many schools, she went by what her LSAT score said. “Basically, what I ended up doing was looking at my LSAT score, and then looking at schools who would normally accept people with scores similar to mine,” Amy said. “Then I began looking at the different programs (employment rates upon graduation, where people were going to work). From there, I narrowed it down by programs I liked and places I might like to live.”
For creative writers, this process is similar. LOOK AT PROGRAMS THAT OFFER WHAT YOU WANT TO DO AND PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTHS. You want to be a good fit. Even thought you aren’t worrying about LSAT scores, you still need to worry about if your writing is what is being produced by the program already.
Amy chose the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Her reasons included:
1.) Decent ranking
2.) Good atmosphere (great area and laid back school atmosphere; Amy explained she doesn’t succeed in extremely competitive environments.)
3.) Money. Tennessee was the highest ranked school that offered the most money. And as Amy explained, for law school, ranking is really important for after graduation.
Amy had clearly outlined what she wanted and had a clear idea of what she had to do. And while the process was still stressful at times, such as studying for the LSATs, she said having all her information set up was really helpful.
One final comment was about taking time off. Dr. Graham suggested this and Amy took some time off before her undergrad. So she had her own time schedule to see to. She didn’t want to spend much more time off. It’s all about where YOU want to take your education and when. Some people benefit from traveling and working different jobs for a while. What matters is that when it comes for application time, you have a clear idea of when, where, and why.
Amy and her horse, Dee
Next week: Look for the infamous Reckoning writing sample. It's a long one. Might post it in segments. Also, we're rounding that final turn with only a couple posts left for a while. One will be on potential jobs for creative writing majors/writing majors in general.
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