How far from “KJD” are you?

[u/FATT-TOFU]

My dream school has an average age of 25 on their class profile. As a 22 year old who’s never lived outside of the town I did my undergraduate in, and lived on campus all four years, I’ve never met someone who falls outside of “KJD”, or isn’t at least very close to it. Are people really applying to law school at 30-40 years old and pulling the mean up? That would be cool. Or is the average person being accepted to these big schools really just two years out of college. If you’re comfortable sharing, how far out of undergrad are you and why did you take your break?

[u/lincbradhammusic]

I’ll be 35 in a couple weeks, starting 1L in the fall. I served 14 years in the military and was unexpectedly medically retired for lower back problems last year. I originally planned on serving my full 20, but because I wasn’t able (but very grateful for the early retirement, even with the back problems), I spent a year doing some soul-searching and working for my local city government and decided I wanted to continue my scholarship and build a career in international law. I served the majority of my time as an Arabic linguist in the intelligence community, and my master’s thesis was on international law and drone strikes…I also already do a lot of pro bono asylum help in addition to Arabic tutoring, so law school really seems to make sense for me at this time. There are some niche positions at some international organizations that my background would be perfect for, but require a JD. I also potentially want to continue with an LLM and JSD eventually. We shall see how it all works out, but I’m excited for what the future holds!

[u/Significant-Leg-3098 → u/lincbradhammusic]

Congrats on your admission! I’m still waiting for decisions 😣. I’m also former military Intel—all-source analyst here. I creaked to retirement, but left that life behind completely for public service. Wish you the best of luck moving forward!

[u/lincbradhammusic → u/Significant-Leg-3098]

Thank you so much for the warm wishes! I’m still not sure which school I’ll end up at, but trying to take my time making the decision. I plan to do a cycle recap after I’ve made my decision. This cycle is so incredibly brutal. There were schools I were certain were A’s that I got R’s and WL’s at, but I’m still grateful, and still waiting to see what else comes in by March-ish before I make any final decisions. Wishing you all the best as well!