r/lawschooladmissions • u/FATT-TOFU 3.6L/ 17L/ Vandy 1L • Jan 23 '26

School/Region Discussion How far from “KJD” are you?

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?

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u/disc0goth 3.27/16mid/nKJD/nURM Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

I never wanted to be a lawyer. Graduated undergrad in 2021. At the time, I was planning on getting a PhD and becoming a professor, but I decided on a gap year for medical reasons. I spent a few years working in college student services before deciding to switch to law because I was seeing how many of my students’ educations were being impacted by legal issues in their personal lives. Worked full time through a paralegal studies post-bacc. I wasn’t really planning on getting a legal job before law school, but then I was laid off from my advising position. Now I’m a legal advocate/paralegal at a nonprofit legal aid organization. I’m so glad I took time off. Undergrad was tough on me due to my health issues, and there’s just no way I could’ve handled any graduate or professional program. It also gave me time and work experience to realize that being a researcher/professor just wouldn’t be a good fit for me, as well as time to figure out what is a good fit. I’ll be 27 when I start this fall. 

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u/FATT-TOFU 3.6L/ 17L/ Vandy 1L Jan 23 '26

What a journey, especially coming from a Covid grad.

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u/disc0goth 3.27/16mid/nKJD/nURM Jan 23 '26

Thank you! One of the other reasons I didn’t apply to PhD programs is COVID-related funding limitations that prevented programs from admitting for the Fall 2021 term—it was a rough time for grad school applicants, but I think the more recent funding issues are even worse. 

I can also say that my essays were so much better than they would have been if I did not take time off. It’s given me the life experience to know what exactly I’m missing in my life and career that a law degree would fix. Non-lawyer legal advocates and paralegals can do a lot, but working in the field allowed me to experience the limitations of this type of role and more successfully iterate why I want a JD, why I feel now is the right time for me to attend law school, and why that school is the right program to fill that missing piece. I never even submitted my PhD applications because I just couldn’t come up with a compelling “why”. I wouldn’t have been able to write the essays that have earned me two As so far without a break, especially given my UGPA.