preLaw Magazine - Spring 2008 - (Page 18)

TREND A law student at last After 26 law school rejections, 56-year-old finally gets long-awaited acceptance letter. BY PAUL HUGHES G ilbert Ronald Bento applied to law school 26 times. And 26 times he was denied entry. A lesser man might have gotten the message and concluded that law school just wasn’t in the cards for him. A lesser man might have aimed lower and stopped subsidizing the local Kinko’s or taken up taxidermy. Especially when he was 56 years old. But Bento, a San Antonio, Texas, resident who had endured the 26 rejections from his hometown St. Mary’s University Law School was beginning to take the hint. “To be honest, I was at the end of my rope,” Bento said. But shortly after he was rejected last May, he received an email from the admissions office. It sounded different. By that time, anything different was better. it was up to us individually to show we deserved to be there.” The class “gives them a fighting chance,” says Valencia, who will head the program next year, “and a little bit of everything from the first year of law school.” Bento says it was all about tenacity and commitment — which after almost a decade of trying he’d shown in spades — plus some intelligence and the ability to juggle schedules, work and homework. It’s also part of St. Mary’s re-opening —Professor Rey Valencia of its evening program. “The faculty decided there was a great deal of value for the school in attracting different him it was real. However, his admission hinged on fin- applicants,” says Michael Ariens, associate ishing the school’s Summer Skills Program. dean for evening legal studies. The value includes attracting more In July, Bento found himself in an accelerated course on legal theory and American mature students and those with greater law, taught by Professor Rey work experience. Ariens said the school will aim for about Valencia. “It allows us to provide 50 students in each class; the first has 62. opportunities for people who Bento is near the top end of the age range, might not otherwise have which Ariens figures at between 22 and been admitted,” Valencia 60. It makes Bento a bit different even said. “We see something in their profile that can bring among those law students who are already a them success in law school.” bit different. As the elder student he’s even Valencia says two types taken on something of a fathering role: he of students take the Summer hosted a barbecue for students. He just finished his first semester as a Skills Program — people who don’t have the num- full-fledged law student and described it as bers in GPA or LSAT and “extremely scary.” Once a professor looked at him and said, students who have been GILBERT RONALD BENTO will soon finish up his out of school a long time. ‘No, that’s the wrong answer,’ he said. first year of law school at St. Mary’s University Law “Another time, I couldn’t answer and Bento was both. He graduated from Texas A&M in couldn’t answer and couldn’t answer,” School. After 26 rejections, he says getting into law the early 1970s, but says his Bento said. “The teacher called on another school was all about tenacity and commitment. test scores were “well within student, who said exactly what I’d been the 25 percent end of the thinking but couldn’t communicate.” But Bento figures he’s already beaten applicant pool.” “It was conditional more than competi- the odds. “Congratulations! You’ve been selected After his anticipated 2011 graduation, tion,” Bento said of the summer program. to ,” the email started. So Bento naturally concluded what any- “We weren’t vying for slots. They said there Bento plans to teach real estate law to comone in his position might. He thought it was room for all of us or for none of us; mercial agents. was a fake and marched over to the admissions office, where by now he’s on a firstname basis with the receptionist. “I said, ‘I’ve been getting these fake e-mails,’” he said. But when she looked it over, she told “ It allows us to provide opportunities for people who might not otherwise have been admitted. ” 18 preLaw

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of preLaw Magazine - Spring 2008

preLaw Magazine - Spring 2008 Contents From the Editor For the Record Large Gender Gap Remains Among Political Hopefuls Man Charged in LSAT Scam Barry Dean Recognized New Report Examines Legal Ed Drexel Receives Accredidation New Mexico No. 1 for Hispanics A Film Journey in Law A Law Student at Last Debt Salvation Great Law Schools for Minorities Grad Opts Out of Big Firm Job Specialties Helpful Advice

preLaw Magazine - Spring 2008

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