See the post below if you haven't. I've gotten a handful of responses, and they've all been really interesting. Here's the first one. I'll post people's comments to this if anyone has any and e-mails them.

I fit in the "prospective law student" category. I am a paradox in that I grew up knowing I would be a lawyer someday but have taken a "long way 'round" to get there. I sit here on a September night trying to do anything BUT write personal statements and work on my applications. This will be the fourth fall (in a row) that I have faced the application process. All that faces me has never seemed more daunting.

Although my LSAT score is not stellar (I think I can do better -- who doesn't? -- and may have the chance), my undergrad GPA was fairly strong and, as someone who has worked as an intern in a state legislature and now full-time in a law-related field for nearly two years, I believe that those elements which make me a "non-traditional" applicant are what makes me a strong candidate. These experiences have certainly refined my long-term interests and goals and will give me the drive once I get to school.

But, that is the angel on my one shoulder; the devil on the other spins a very different tale. I am married (2 years next month) to a wonderful professional woman whose job may be affected by my enrollment choices (and vice versa). This, combined with concerns of cost-of-living and having to move a home environment that is just starting to feel "right," adds even more pressure to the decision(s) of where to apply. Then there's the aforementioned LSAT score. It likely comes down to a fear of rejection at the hands of strangers on an admissions panel but acknowledging that fact has yet to make things easier.

The bottom line is that I can recite nearly word-for-word what I want to write in a personal statement or what I would say to an admissions officer, but when facing the keyboard in recent days I have frozen. This isn't writer's block for a term paper; this is holding me back from something that in one form or another I have been preparing for my whole life.

I started this ramble by saying that I grew up knowing that I was destined to go to law school and become an attorney. It was always an exciting, inspiring, and driving thought. I still feel that way; but now it has become a thought that scares me.

I don't write this to hear motivational thoughts from a desktop calendar or what your pre-law advisor told you years ago (or last week). I write it because Jeremy's use of the word "afraid" really did "strike a chord," this is cathartic, and it is cheaper than therapy. Besides, my wife and friends are sick of hearing about it. And now you are, too.