Zachary M.

$1,000 Scholarships.com Law Scholarship Award Winner

Growing up, a career in law wasn't exactly my dream job. In truth, I always thought I'd be great at it, but I had a lot of misconceptions about lawyers that made the prospect of becoming one rather undesirable. The sheer existence of the justice system seemed rather undesirable to me. I guess I saw it as nothing more than a necessary evil, if anything. Despite this cynicism, or perhaps because of it, I always had an interest in law and political process. It was a fascination I generally avoided until I entered college though. Rather than avoid the law, I began to see that the way the law operates is much like how my own mind tends to approach things. The legal system just started to make sense to me, and I began appreciating the combination of analytical and creative thinking that is necessary for it.

More and more, a career in law seemed like just the perfect fit for me. I realized that my apprehension about going into law was based on my own ignorance of it, and I soon found myself trying to correct other people's misconceptions, as well as my own. Early on in college, my major was philosophy. I enjoyed it very much, and started seeing a number of parallels between philosophy and the legal system, particularly in the way philosophers and lawyers think and handle problems. These parallels, and the fact that the law offered many promising career choices, convinced me to take on a pre-law major as well.

A career in law is also going to give me a chance to apply my skills in a way that affects people's lives. I've always had a knack for logical and analytical thinking, but I never really knew how I wanted to apply those skills. I was aware that there were many ways in which those traits can be useful, but none of my prospects seemed desirable until I looked into law. Now I’ve found a career path that hopefully will have a positive influence on the world.