Naomi Girson | opinions editor

I began the fall semester last year with two full years of college left for me to conquer, much to my chagrin.

Even that far into it all, I just didn’t have any particular feeling that I was really supposed to be doing this.

But then again, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing at all. I still sympathize with that feeling, and partly because of that lack of enthusiasm about school, I even found a way to fast track my time in undergrad.

I got lucky with an adviser that always answers my endless emails, and a four-week program at Slippery Rock University that gave me something to do over winter break last year. Plus, my best friend found out she was miraculously graduating a semester early, and she’s the one to credit for really inspiring me to take the plunge and scrounge for a few extra credits.

So, the second half of my undergraduate studies will be slightly shortened, but I don’t really mind. Because, luckily, I’m starting to actually figure out what I’m going to do after I collect my degree.

I have one semester left and with this time, I have decided to take on a new challenge: The Law School Admissions Test, more commonly known as the LSAT.

The LSAT is weird in the way that trying to sit through an important, if not slightly bland movie is weird: I know I’ll be glad when it’s over, and I’ll be able to say I watched it, but at a certain point, I’m wishing for the credits to roll more than I’m wishing to see the end of the third act. I wish I could just get my score and start applying, but I actually have to study to get to what I want.

I’ve thought about law school from time to time, but even if I thought about going, it didn’t seem like a choice I would have to make any time soon. But I’m 21 years-old and about to graduate college. It’s not so far away anymore.

I don’t think having different studies from other law students is necessarily a detriment. I’m getting a double major in multiplatform journalism and history, and last semester, I took a class to fulfill a 400 writing history class credit. It turned out to be a class full of political science majors already dreaming about their first year in law school.

I got an A in the class after hours of vigorous readings on each president and many more hours spent writing pages of notes that gave me the unbridled confidence I constantly needed to raise my hand in class.

I used to love reading, but I can’t ever remember a time where I was so academically inclined to study before class. I would look over my pages of color-coded notes, so I was ready just in case I was called on.

Unfortunately, I do think part of the reason I felt unmotivated in college for a long time was because the work load was too easy in some ways. It’s not like I didn’t have work to do. But I participate in class, have good attendance and know enough about everything that’s being discussed day-to-day that I never felt incompetent, even when I missed a reading or two.

The history class wasn’t like that.

I was being challenged to know specifics of the Constitution and other events throughout U.S. history. I couldn’t just brush by with my normal confidence and ability to speak, I had to know what I was talking about.

I really liked being challenged in that way. I loved knowing answers to questions that I wouldn’t have known three days earlier. It gave me a purpose and a sense of accomplishment that I had been missing for a long time.

Throughout the class, we were told numerous times about law-school expectations because so many of the students were planning on attending after they graduated. I know it will be harder than just one class, but at least I’ll get to do something challenging that matters.

I know I have to want this. It is absolutely ridiculous for me to pursue an expensive and somewhat extraneous law degree if I don’t actually want it. My parents are proud of me no matter what and I could find a job with the two degrees I’m really close to getting. I find law school personally compelling, and that’s reason enough to start studying.

I’ve been feeling grateful lately for going to college even when I didn’t know what it could possibly bring me. Now, I see I wouldn’t even be able to apply to law schools without my undergraduate GPA, which looks pretty good thanks to all the “easy” classes I took throughout the last couple of years.

I guess everything doesn’t have to be completely miserable forever, it only feels that way when you’re in the middle of all of it.

Everything feels like it’s falling into place. Going back to school for a higher, more specialized education to allow me to be a professional in the world of law feels like a pretty good trade for a couple mediocre years in undergrad.

I have an idea of what I want to do, it just so happens I have to go through a little more school to do it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go study.

Naomi Girson can be reached at girsonn@duq.edu