Future I Am Very Aware

¶ … Future

I am very aware that right now is the time to ensure that my future is what I want it to become. Therefore, my plans for now are all directly related to making sure that my plans for the future can be realized. As a result, I intend to attend all of my classes, make good grades in them, and put myself in a position to attend graduate school. I also know that many people meet lifelong friends while in college, and I want to make sure that I meet the kinds of people that I can see being friends for life. That is why I intend to volunteer for some service organizations and be active in my house of worship, to meet people with similar values and goals and build on the foundation that my family began establishing, putting myself in a position for a bright future. However, I am also aware that at no other time in my life will I have the freedom that I have in college. While I will not sacrifice my education for it, I intend to attend a lot of parties, enjoy a lot of somewhat reckless behavior, meet and befriend people I would not have interacted with in high school, and otherwise take the opportunity to broaden my horizons. I want to have experiences in college that I would not want my children to know about until they were also in college, though no experiences that would haunt me or my family for the rest of my life. While those plans may seem somewhat vague, that is intentional, because I do not want to restrict myself; instead, my plan is, socially, to be very open to new experiences, while being very rigorous with my studies.

As far as my future plans go, I have things that I want to accomplish in both the near future and the distant future. For example, I want to participate in a study-abroad program for a semester during my junior year. I feel that, by then, I will be sufficiently established in school and with my base of friends that I can take a break without having to reestablish myself when I get back to school. Ideally, if it is available, either through my university or through a university's sister program, I would like to spend my time abroad in Italy. I have an immense interest in art, and I feel like an experience in Italy would give me ample opportunity to study such art.

At the end of my junior year, I will be taking standardized tests for admission to graduate schools. Right now, I am leaning towards going to law school, specifically one with a combination MBA/JD program. I hesitate to say which school I want to attend, because my decision will be based on a number of factors, including my LSAT, my GPA, scholarship packages, and the strength of the schools to which I am admitted. If I happen to be in a relationship at the time I seek admission to law school, I do not intend to allow that relationship to determine where I go to school. I strongly feel that any partner of mine should support me doing the best thing for my future, which will involve going to the best available law school. When I graduate from law school, I hope to get a job as an associate at a mid-size law firm, spend 3-5 years working hard as an associate, and determine whether or not I am on a partner track at that firm. If not, I will look into the possibility of opening my own office or of seeking employment in a private firm.