I Am a Single Parent. Can I Go To Law School?
By Alice Foley, Director of Pre-Law Programming
As a single parent, you’re a lot of things. Both parental figures in one, the sole head of the household, a superhero and… a law school student?
If you’ve been thinking about attending law school but are worried that you may not be able to be successful because you also happen to be a single parent, this is the place for you!
First and foremost, you can (and should) absolutely apply to law school. Being a single parent shouldn’t hold you back from your dreams, and you can be successful in law school and your future career while balancing parenthood.
Throughout my time as an admissions officer and as I’ve become a consultant, I have worked with plenty of single parents who have not only been accepted to law school but have gone on to be successful afterward. Taking care of a small human may mean that you have to take some other considerations in mind as you begin the law school process, but that does not mean that it is not the space for you.
In this blog post, we’re going to discuss the considerations that you should make as you begin your law school journey and how to make it manageable.
Would you rather listen to this blog post? Check out our podcast episode on being a single parent in law school on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts!
Why Law School
The very first thing that I want you to think about as you are starting this journey is your why.
Law school is a lot. Before you even start, the application process is time-consuming and at times tedious. Then you get to law school and you’ve got new classes, a new way of learning, a new way of writing, and so on.
At some point during the application process or after you’ve started law school, you will likely get overwhelmed. This does not mean that you can’t get through it, especially when you can hold onto that “why” for going to law school. If you have that in the front of your mind when things get overwhelming, when you are tired, when you are stressed, that reason can help you get through.
There is no good or bad reason to go to law school; it’s all entirely dependent on you. Everyone has their own reason for going, and even “traditional” students need to hold onto that to get through the law school lows.
I know for a fact if you have kept another human alive up to now, you can do hard things. Law school is just another hard thing that you are absolutely capable of doing.
Making the Time for Applications
The next thing that I want you to really think about is your time. Law school takes time; so does parenting. There is no way around both of those things being time-consuming.
You need to make sure that you’re taking care of yourself, that you’re taking care of your kid(s), and that you are also taking the time to do the work you need to be successful in law school.
If you have the benefit of a child who is partially or all the way grown, those time constraints may be different. They may not be quite as abundant as they would be with a younger child who requires a lot of care. Making sure that you have a realistic perspective on that is key.
For example, the standard advice for the LSAT is to study at least three hours a day, every day for three months to prepare for the test. When we work with students the quickest and are making sure they have the strongest application outside of the LSAT (essays, letters of recommendation, etc.), that alone takes six to eight weeks. You can find our suggested (and very healthily spaced) timeline here as a starting point.
You can make a timeline stretch by starting earlier — for example, doing 10 hours a week of LSAT studying by stretching your timeline a month or two. If you know this is what you want to do, working well ahead of time will really help you in managing your time for applications.
By now as a parent, particularly as a single parent, you should have some idea of how much time out of your day is required for parenting. I know that is a 24/7 thing, but there is active parenting and then there is downtime, like nap time or other lower activity periods. (Although, remember that you don’t want to give every waking moment that you’re not actively parenting to this. Balance!)
Make sure to leave some time, as well, for cushioning things that you can’t really plan for. What I very lovingly refer to as the “daycare ick” can wipe out your kid and even you for a few days with sickness, so you want to have those instances built into your plan.
As long as you start with a strong plan, you’ll have plenty of time and can make it manageable for you.
Making Time During Law School
Once you’re finished applications and get into law school, that time component is still equally as essential.
When I started law school, I went in thinking that it can’t be that difficult. I used to read 300-400 pages for class every week, it couldn’t be that different, right? I was very wrong. I went from being someone who read very quickly to someone who took a long time to get through my class readings to get the information I needed out of them. I got better at it, but those first six weeks were very rough for me.
I had no idea how to budget my time properly, and I don’t want you to be like me.
You can choose to attend law school full-time, but I want to assure you that that’s not your only option. Plenty of law schools have a variety of part-time or evening programs. Some also offer hybrid or blended options for you to choose how often you are in class.
Many schools with part-time programs will also give you the option to switch to full-time. So if you start law school while your kid is still in daycare, but during your 2L year they go to school full-time, maybe it would make more sense for you to start part-time and begin full-time during 2L year.
Going with one of those options gives you the time to do those other things that you need to do. Think through what makes the most sense for you for a class schedule.
If you’re not sure what options a school has, don’t be afraid to reach out to an admissions office. They’re not trying to hide it from you; they want to work with you to make law school feasible.
Finding Your Resources
The best way to make sure that you’re successful in the law school application process and once you actually begin school is finding and understanding the resources available to you.
First, I need you to find your people. This can mean a lot of different things. Whether it’s your biological family or the one that you’ve chosen for yourself, find the people that support you and let them know what’s going on.
If there are folks that you and your kid love that may be willing to watch them sometimes, lean on them and give them a heads up that you may be more in need of their support. There are people in your life that want to support you and your kid! (I say this as a very devoted auntie.)
You want to also make sure that you have people supporting your needs outside of childcare. Who will make sure you’re going to eat? Who will drop by and make sure that you’re not totally losing it? Find these people and keep them close.
The next set of resources are more technical and require some research. Does the law school you’re interested in (or it’s greater university) offer childcare? Are there resources there specifically for students who are also parents? Do they have a student organization for parents in law school or non-traditional students?
We have a whole blog post on resources for parents in law school that you can view here!
You also want to think about the faculty (and meet with them!). Are they flexible if for whatever reason you may need to bring your kid to class?
One of my favorite stories is of a friend of mine who is the dean at a law school. They had a snow day, and a bunch of local schools closed while the university didn’t. He wasn’t teaching a class that day, so he sent a message out to the community that he would watch the kids so that parents could still attend class. This may sound like a special situation, but I guarantee you that there are many faculty members at a number of law schools that care enough to do something like this.
These are the kinds of things that you should look at before you commit to a school.
During the law school application process, be on the hunt for resources that can assistant you while building your applications. This can be in the form of practical things, like what resources LSAC has for parents, or community building things. We host Mommy & Me LSAT Groups occasionally (keep an eye out here for those), and there are things like Facebook groups out there to help you find other people going through the same process.
Final Thoughts
You have already done a hard thing. You are parenting 24/7, and I would be shocked if someone told me that law school as more difficult than that. You know you can do something that difficult, so why on earth would you not be able to do law school, too?
To recap, these are the pieces I want you to have in mind as a single parent interested in law school:
Why do you want to go to law school? Dig into that and hold onto it.
What do you need to do to make the timing manageable? Think about the application period and law school itself.
What resources are available to you? Think of tactical things as well as the community aspect.
I hope that this blog post was helpful! Remember, we’re rooting for you over here! You can absolutely be a single parent and go to law school, and you’ll be amazing at it.
If you want more support throughout the process, we’re here for you! Learn more about our private packages with sliding scale pricing for BIPOC, first-generation, and other marginalized students here.
As always, reach out to us if you have any questions at hello@smontgomeryconsulting.com.