I'm not the only member of my family starting on a new higher education journey. My children are also matriculating at institutes of higher learning.
- Gina, 31, will be entering her second semester at American River College -- home of the fighting Beavers. She started on in restaurant management, but is considering switching to nutrition.
- After graduating magna cum laude from Sac State with degrees in history and journalism (sounds a little like bragging, doesn't it?) I'm starting at University of the Pacific -- the Fighting Tigers -- law school: McGeorge School of Law. While UoP is in Stockton, the law school is in Sacramento, 9.4 miles from door to door.
- Tony, 33, started the MBA program at University of California, Berkley -- The Fighting Golden Bears. He had a three-day orientation this weekend. The Cal MBA program he is working on is a Saturday program and it takes three years to complete.
Who would of thunk all three of us would be going for higher education so late in life. You gotta admit -- life is sweet.
I haven't made the decision if I want to be an attorney some day. I just think law school will be interesting. Just in case I do decide to go out and earn a living some day, a law degree should be much more valuable than undergrad degrees in history and journalism.
After Sac State I wasn't going to go to law school. The cost seemed prohibitive considering I wasn't even sure I wanted to be an attorney. spending some $120k on law school would mean I might have to do things I'd rather not do to justify the expense. But I did fairly decent on the LSAT and McGeorge came through with a generous scholarship offer.
The other cool thing about the potential lawyer gig is there isn't the ageism of some of the other possible careers. It's hard for me to imagine I'm worried about ageism -- not that long ago I was a young whipper-snapper with lots of promise. But most any advanced degree I'll be getting started on my career at 55.
The bad news is I have a class on Fridays. I've avoided the Friday classes during my higher education sojourn, but McGeorge doesn't give 1Ls any option on scheduling classes.
My orientation is Tuesday, with regular classes starting up on Monday, Aug. 17.
I know one of my professors already. I interviewed Prof. Lawrence Levine a number of times for articles I wrote about Prop. 8. He is my Tort professor.
| "A Lawyer will do anything to win a case, sometimes he will even tell the truth." --Patrick Murray |
I picked up my books on Friday. I got about a foot worth of books on my shelf for $944.65. Lucky for me that is just an interesting amount since my scholarship included books. I just showed them my letter, and in the immortal words of Mr. Cash, "it didn't cost me a dime."
Speaking of books, I need bookshelf space for law books and various books that are more in keeping with this new phase. Anyone interested in buying somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 golf books -- let's talk. They are primarily dealing with golf history and architecture. There are some fairly valuable collectibles, but the collection was purchased for reading purposes, not collecting purposes.
My newest books:
- Richard D Freer Civil Procedure: Cases, Material and Questions 5th Edition $137.60
- Lexis/Nexis Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 2010 Edition $27.75
- E. Allan Farnsworth, William E. Young, etc. Contracts: Cases and Material 7th edition $172.80
- E. Allan Farnsworth, William E. Young, etc. Selections for Contracts 2008 $41.60
- Dukeminier, Krier, Alexander & Schill Property 6th Edition $164.30
- Marc A. Franklin, Robert L. Rabin & Michael D. Green Tort Law and Alternatives 8th edition $172.80
- John L. Diamond, Lawrence Levine and M. Stuart Madden Understanding Torts 3rd edition $39.00
- Julie A. Davies and Paul T. Hayden Global Issues in Torts $27.75
- Linda H. Edwards Legal Writing and Analysis $72.55
- Darby Dickerson ALWD Citation Manual 3rd edition $34.10
- Tracy L. McGuagh & Christine Hurt Interactive Citation Workbook for ALWD Citation Manual $35.20
- Richard C. Wydick Plain English for Lawyers 5th edition $19.20
Hopefully I'll have more to say after orientation.
Cheers,
Dan
