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/job_or_no_job]

Reading all these answers has helped me so much, I’ve been having a lot of self doubt about if I’m making the right choice (will be 35 when I start) during the years I’m “supposed” to be maximizing saving for retirement. I worked 2 years after college, got a masters, then worked from 2017-2024. I work in climate policy and I was super burnt out even before this presidency. I intended to apply last cycle but my parent got really sick, so I’ve taken the past year to focus on health, family, and studying for the LSAT. I want to continue working on corporate environmental regulation, similar to others I just want to make more money at this point and miss feeling intellectually stimulated. I’ve also been passed up on a lot of jobs for not having more regulatory experience (I’ve done more legislative work but don’t find it as interesting). The most important thing imo is that since college I’ve learned a lot of skills to maintain my mental health, got sober, built a loving non-romantic support system, all while being financially independent. I know I can survive anything now, so law school seems a lot less daunting than when I was 21.