P and I just got back from a great weekend in Jacksonville. On Friday afternoon, I took a campus tour at Fl*rida Coastal and the facilities are great! I didn't get to talk to many students, because it was the last day of classes and there weren't too many around. The ones that were around were studying furiously for finals! I did pick up a campus paper and there was an article in there about how the non-traditional students feel "out of the loop". This is something that concerns me, although I feel like I'll have to address it to a greater or lesser degree anywhere I choose to go. From the article, I learned that about 10% of the student body would be classified non-tradtional in terms of age.
The city is beautiful, and the area around the law school is very livable. Our hotel was just a couple of blocks from where P would go to school. Jacksonville seems to be very spread out, but the road system is excellent and it wasn't hard to get around. There was very little traffic, even on a Friday afternoon.
I do have some concerns of course. How am I going to make it by myself in Jacksonville, with no friends or family around? How am I going to support myself and P and go to law school full time? I consciously chose not to pursue part time law school. I've been a paralegal and a full-time student for the last two years, I know I don't want to have that kind of hectic schedule for myself or for P while I'm in law school.
So if I go to Jax, I will have P, and be a full time student only (at least for the 1st semester, hopefully for the entire first year) Then I will work in the summer time while P is up visiting his Dad and sibs. 2nd year, I will probably try and find some kind of work to help with expenses. I would prefer not to borrow everything I need to live for the next three years. Borrowing tuition is bad enough!
There are so many details to work out/think about. P loved Jax and was very excited about the idea of living there. I'm excited too- it's less than 2 hours from S and she will be done with her degree in Dec. 08. Hopefully after that she will be able to find work in Jax. She doesn't want to go to grad school right now. She's ready for a break from college life.
When I came home I had a letter from Stets*n in my mailbox. I've been wait-listed there. Not too disappointed by that, it's not a rejection after all. I don't think they will be offering any scholarships so I'm pretty sure that one wasn't going to pan out anyway.
So far I've heard from 2 schools, and still waiting to hear from 2 more. I have until 4/30 to give Fl*rida Coastal my seat deposit.
