Thierno Diallo
265
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FinalistThierno Diallo
265
Bold Points1x
FinalistEducation
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis
Doctoral degree program (PhD, MD, JD, etc.)Majors:
- Law
Indiana University-Bloomington
Master's degree programMajors:
- Management Information Systems and Services
Indiana University-Bloomington
Bachelor's degree programMajors:
- Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
Minors:
- Sociology
Career
Dream career field:
Law Practice
Dream career goals:
Justice Adolpho A. Birch Jr. Scholarship
(1) What matters to me most in my life is God and family. I live my life to ultimately worship God, and truly subject to and please him. My family holds the spot right under God, they mean so much to me. My parents are from Guinea, West Africa and sacrificed everything to come to this country to give their children a better opportunity in life.
My mother was pregnant with my oldest brother during a civil war in Guinea, and due to health implications and poor health services, he passed after birth complications. My parents decided this wasn’t the life they wanted for their future children and decided to flee the country. They came to America to raise us and found a way as Immigrants to build a life for me and my siblings. That means the world to me, and they do too. I want to become successful in life and retire my parents so they do not have to ever work again in their lives.
Coming from a low-income community, it is important to me to influence the youth and show them they can beat the odds too. In my community, the majority of the youth has a fate of being dead or in jail and it is truly discouraging. I want to be able to truly inspire and encourage others to want more for themselves, and set programs they have to tend to and get those people for them to look up to. I want to do this in many communities and help the black youth.
I feel my ultimate purpose in life is to worship God and please him. But right under that it is to impact the world and inspire the youth. If you can’t give back to your community then what is the point of being blessed with the opportunities that you were blessed with? It is a question that I ask myself every day, and that is why I live my life to answer it.
(2) Throughout the ups and downs, and the stresses of law school I have truly learned a lot. I am a person that likes to “go out and get it”. I have learned not to wait until something falls in your lap, you control your future by being proactive. I have reached out to so many lawyers and law school students throughout this process to receive advice from people who have been through this process.
A huge insight I felt I was able to learn was networking. You will never be able to be successful on your own, you will need people in your corner. Developing that network is so helpful, I feel more prepared than ever. Without those people, I would go into law school blind and not have the insight that I do. People are willing to help me with summer associate positions and give advice for my future classes. That is truly a valuable insight, and it applies to life. People always say “It isn’t what you know, it is who you know”, and I have been able to capitalize on that quote.
Studying for the LSAT has also taught me a lot too. It gave a bit of perspective of what to expect with reading in law school, and how exactly to truly analyze the readings. I know in law school, there will be so many readings and the LSAT is meant to prepare you. On the other hand, I didn’t do my best on the LSAT which had a rippling effect. I didn’t land a good amount of money on the merit scholarship, which leads to me needing to take out more loans. I feel like the most valuable insight I have been able to learn is that statistics doesn’t tell the whole story.
Being a black man with a not as high LSAT score in a white-dominated area, just teaches me that I have to ascend to beat the odds. I want to aim to get to the top of my class, and I am truly aiming for perfection. I was declined at my number one choice school, which was Howard School of Law. But I didn’t let that bring me down, I am proud to have been accepted to the Indiana University McKinney School of Law. I will put my best foot forward, and show everyone why I deserve to be there also.