# Made it to Law School Admissions With SA



## Normal With SA (Mar 8, 2006)

I'm not one for motivational messages. But I wanted to share my story, so others know people with social anxiety can still make it through life. Along the way, I hope to share some insights into how I have coped with (not beat) my anxiety.

My anxiety became prevalent in high school. I grew up in such a bad neighborhood that public school was not an option. I was forced to enter an all boys catholic high school. Those 4 years hurt me. I made no social contact with females. My circle of friends mainly just played sports. Other people would go to parties, but I was afraid to go because I knew there would be alcohol. I was afraid my parents would catch me drinking, so I avoided the parties entirely. 

My SA expanded in my senior year. The biggest symptom of my SA was my inability to eat in front of my classmates at lunch time. I confirmed this was a common symptom of SA.

When I entered college, my SA expanded. I experienced serious physical symptoms of nausea, sweating, flushed skin, etc. as I feared the “open discussion” format. That year, I maintained a 3.0 GPA. Obviously, things could have been worse, but I knew my performance was suffering.

I was forced to take a year off from school due to financial hardship. My life began to spiral downward. I discovered alcohol seemed to help my SA. I began drinking a lot. While I was able to party and socialize, the drinking became overwhelming. The alcohol also was a gateway drug to marijuana, various pills, and cough syrup. I began smoking marijuana daily. During this time of partying, I was around women, but I was so socially immature around them. I had a few short term girlfriends, but they only made me realize I may suffer from “love shyness” as well as SA.

Without rambling, my partying led to a bunch of legal trouble. I realized I had to get my life back on track, so I enrolled in community college and focused solely on school. My GPA increased to a 3.6, but my SA wasn’t entirely gone. Most of the classes I took in community college were online. I simply did not want to experience the pain I felt in class during my freshman year. When my time at community college, concluded, however, I was forced to return to the school I attended during my freshman year. And that meant no more online classes.

At this time, I found a few things helped ease my SA, at least a bit. I changed my diet—no more fatty foods, sugars, etc. I became a routine distance runner. And obviously, I quit all drugs. I still had one weakness, however: alcohol. I literally had a presentation in every class during my senior year. And before every presentation, I drank vodka. I knew my SA was still obviously present, but only in situations of public speaking. Otherwise, I took the lead role in group projects, became a pretty active member in class, and received a GPA of 3.7 the entire year. 

After graduation, I decided to enter the legal field to see if the career choice was for me. This changed me quite a bit. I found myself able to socialize openly in the legal format—with attorneys, clients, etc. It seems my confidence level is at around 95% in this format, whereas my confidence level is perhaps around 25-50% in a normal social situation—at a party, bar, etc. For the past year, I began studying for the Law School Admissions Test. You need full mental capacity for the test, so it forced me quit alcohol almost entirely.

No longer using alcohol and drugs, I feel less anxious on a daily level. Also, because of my healthy eating habits, I am less sluggish, and I have more energy. Running allows me to keep my stress levels down, and it’s become my go to “drug” if I’m ever feeling low. 

However, I’m still not cured. I’ve had 2 failed attempts with women in the past 2 years. I’m not sure if this is because of my social anxiety, love-shyness, or simply inexperience with the opposite sex. Now in my mid-twenties, my lack of contact with women is quite burdensome. My family does not question me, but I’m sure they’re concerned. I don’t do much, socially. I lost contact with my old friends, largely because none of them were going in the right direction. I have a few “friends” at work, but I’ve yet to go out on any social gatherings with them. (Though I do plan to initiate something, I hope.)

My co-workers have no idea I have social anxiety. Most attorneys and people in law are pretty boring and socially awkward, so I appear no different than them. This is certainly why I’m so attracted to the profession. But I still feel quite inadequate. I wish I had a girlfriend. And at this point in life, I’m ready to settle down and begin looking for a woman long-term. People at work don’t ask about my personal life, and out of respect I don’t ask about theirs. 

I hope/plan to begin law school in the fall (all my applications are out). I’m only a bit concerned about my SA. I really feel the legal realm will give me the confidence I need to succeed. But my social life is still a burden. I do fear I’ll isolate myself from social gatherings, and this will hurt my ability to meet women.

Still, though, I realize to make it to this point is quite a feat. I’m aware of how bad social anxiety can affect one’s life. I’ve certainly “cheated” along the way with my alcohol use, but I refused to get treatment because of the horror stories I’ve heard about meds. I’m not sure what the future holds, but I do have some sort of plan and direction, in terms of a career. My hope is to meet a shy girl in law school, and start to get my social life in order. 

I hope my story helped anyone who has read. I’m free to answer any questions about college, law school, or anything about coping with social anxiety. I've also experimented with a bunch of natural remedies along the way, with varying degrees of success. So if you have any questions regarding that, let me know. Also, feel free to PM me with anything personal.


----------



## woot (Aug 7, 2009)

Wow great story


----------



## shygurl723 (Jan 3, 2010)

Wow thanks for your inspirational story. 

I will be graduating this year and I am terrified I can't make it in the real world. Oh I am a graphic design student btw. I was a very shy quiet student in high school so art and reading was my getaway. 

Will be turning 23 this year and I never and i mean never had a boyfriend. I never talked to guys when i was in high school. I have a few guy friends in college but I just can't seem to keep my friendship intact whether they are with guys or girls. Do you ever feel like wanting to hang out with friends but also wanting some alone time?

I just feel really down. With me graduating soon is making me more stressed.


----------



## peach123 (Dec 13, 2010)

Normal With SA said:


> I'm not one for motivational messages. But I wanted to share my story, so others know people with social anxiety can still make it through life. Along the way, I hope to share some insights into how I have coped with (not beat) my anxiety.
> 
> My anxiety became prevalent in high school. I grew up in such a bad neighborhood that public school was not an option. I was forced to enter an all boys catholic high school. Those 4 years hurt me. I made no social contact with females. My circle of friends mainly just played sports. Other people would go to parties, but I was afraid to go because I knew there would be alcohol. I was afraid my parents would catch me drinking, so I avoided the parties entirely.
> 
> ...


Congratulations on your accomplishments!!!! I agree, eliminating sugar is one of the steps to minimize SA, I feel so much better when I eliminate sugar from my diet!!! Flour is another one to eliminate too to reduce anxiety for me as well!!!


----------



## ryobi (Jan 13, 2009)

What kind of Law do you plan on practicing???


----------



## Haven (Jan 8, 2011)

It's very uplifting to read an inspirational success story like yours. Wow! Congratulations and I wish you all the best.


----------



## Normal With SA (Mar 8, 2006)

Thanks everyone. I got my first acceptance last week. It was to a top-80 school! I'm very excited to begin my career. I'm very close to seeing a doctor to perhaps look for some treatment before entering school. I hope I can enter with a "clean slate."


----------



## Normal With SA (Mar 8, 2006)

shygurl723 said:


> Wow thanks for your inspirational story.
> 
> I will be graduating this year and I am terrified I can't make it in the real world. Oh I am a graphic design student btw. I was a very shy quiet student in high school so art and reading was my getaway.
> 
> ...


I like alone time, most of the time. I wouldn't mind going out one or twice per month though.


----------



## Normal With SA (Mar 8, 2006)

ryobi said:


> What kind of Law do you plan on practicing???


Something with business law, but sometimes you get lucky and fall into something decent that you didn't expect to be in.


----------



## sighsigh (Nov 9, 2010)

Blah, I know this forum is all about support, and I certainly have nothing personal against you.

However, do you have any idea what prospects are for law jobs in this economy? You are making a huge, huge mistake if you are entering this school without a significant scholarship (and keep in mind that if you did recieve one, they are usually scams as they require you to have very high 1L grades in order to be kept), or you have connections at a firm somewhere.

Otherwise you are looking at going 150-200k in debt and coming out with a 40k job. You have absolutely no chance whatsoever at biglaw unless you are literally top <1% of your class at a school of this rank, and that is NOT something to bank on, by any means. Remember that the salary of law jobs have a bimodial distribution: you are either starting at 160k or starting at closer to 40k (and working the same 70-hour week, I might add). There are virtually no jobs in-between.

The law field is completely over-saturated and the recent recession has made prospects even more dire. Please, PLEASE, do the goddamn research before you make this kind of investment. In this economy, no law school is worth going to unless it's in the top 14 (and more realistically, in the top 6). If you go to the Top Law School Forums this kind of advice will be absolutely spewed all over the place.

EDIT: I just picked out a random thread out of the thousands concerning this subject. Read all 9 pages before you spend 200k. http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=115635 (I know your school is classified as teir 1[and used to be classifed as teir 2 before USNWR changed it], but believe me, all law schools from 20 to 181 are more or less the same thing. This article applies to you.)


----------



## Marce (Jan 5, 2011)

Congratulations, Normal With SA! What a great story! I wish you the best! You should be proud to be going to law school, but even more proud to have come this far carrying the challenge of SA.

Good day!

Marce


----------

