christian suny personal statement

8/12/2019 Christian Suny Personal Statement

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Christian Pridgen

Personal Statement- SUNY Buffalo Law School PLUS Program

When I entered the 8th

grade I began to seriously think about career choices. At

age 14, I was a very abstract and unpredictable person. I have always been the type of

person to try something new. In middle school I played every sport, from cheerleading to

basketball to softball, also I was a part of every academic and extracurricular activity

possible. Entering the next stage of my life I felt that it was appropriate for me to begin to

get serious and concentrate on two particular aspects of my life, which were my

education and my occupational future. After researching various occupations of my

interest I came to the conclusion that I wanted to become a lawyer or a social worker.

My interest in law was heightened in high school when I participated in job

shadowing several times. My first job shadowing took me to the Department of Social

Services as I shadowed a social worker. I did not enjoy my experience. Social work was

nothing that I expected. I identified social work with visitations, not a nine to five of

paper work. Since I was no longer interested in social work the next year, my junior year,

I chose a popular local personal injury law firm. This was also a bad experience. I did not

get the full experience of what it would be like to be a lawyer. While I was visiting the

office the administrative lawyer was out of town for the day, therefore I did not get to

interact with him. Most of my time was spent with the paralegal, who shared her many

experiences. One experience relating to a lawyer that the paralegal shared was that of a

murder case which inspired me to begin researching what type of law I would like to

practice. During my visit I set in a conference room listening to many more stories about

what it was like to be a paralegal. This visitation helped me come to the conclusion that I

did not want to be a paralegal, and I definitely wanted to be a lawyer. My final job


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Christian Pridgen

currently majoring in sociology. By majoring in sociology I am hoping to gain a better

understanding of the interactions between people. I also plan to add minors in political

science along with urban youth and communities.

I am from an urban community where domestic problems and juvenile

delinquency are abundant. I have been too many of my peers funerals, many of

them dying at the hands of gang violence. One of my main objectives is to obtain the

knowledge over my college and professional careers that will provide explanations

and allow for possible solutions to problems such as juvenile delinquency and

domestic violence. My goal is to attend law school for every reason that I have

stated above. I desire to make a change as a lawyer. I want to help young people

and elderly people who are in the mist of situations that are beyond their control.

Participation in the DiscoverLaw.org PLUS program will motivate me, by serving

as preparation for law school and giving me an idea of what law school would be like.

This program will inspire me to continue to improving and doing well in school, to get

even more involved, to take charge and action toward my future. The PLUS program

will also help me through networking. I will have the opportunity to interact with law

school professors and begin to become accustom to their standards and expectations. I

will also have the opportunity to network with others who were once in my position and

are now where I aspire to be some day. Additionally I will have the opportunity to bond

and get to know others who are also college students and who hope to attend law school

and become lawyers as I do.

christian suny personal statement

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