Sam Thorne

Pre-law:

When she was younger, Sam always knew this is what she would do. Everyone always said, “Sam really likes to talk about politics or just likes arguments in general.” It’s kind of a renaissance women field and that’s what she’s tried to be. “And law school is very much for renaissance women,” she says. Sam was an economics major and did international relations and then most of her jobs were in communications. In addition, Sam did a lot of public service internships. For example, she worked in a gubernatorial office and a senator’s office. That was inspired by the Hinckley Institute at the University of Utah. Sam liked the professors at that institute, and they told her to do these internships and that’s what got her interested in public service during undergrad. She also did international market analysis at the World Trade Center Utah so that showed her the economic side of things.

But what really got her inspired was when she was a reporter in D.C. her junior year of college and she kept going to different political events and meeting really interesting people. And every person she covered had a law degree even though they weren’t all lawyers—some were ambassadors, for example. But having a law degree was a common denominator. She really enjoyed her work as a reporter initially but then she was doing remotely while still finishing classes and she kind of got to this point where she felt like she was always behind the scenes in everything. She realized she wanted to be in the forefront, she wanted people to write about her!

In addition, she had a bishop in D.C. who said, “Send me some of your articles.” And when Sam did, he said “Samantha, you would love law school.” He really inspired her. He said law school was very academically stimulating. “You’re having to think in so many different ways, it’s practical, it’s philosophical, it’s multidimensional.” Sam felt she was lacking that in her undergraduate degree a little bit. Although she had worked very hard and done very well, Sam felt like she didn’t have a particular purpose in mind. So law school became that in some ways. She wanted all her hard work to pay off in some capacity. She wanted to feel like she had reached a goal.

Law school decision/application:

When Sam applied to Harvard, it felt just perfectly right. “Everything fell into place really well,” Sam said. She had taken a gap year off after graduation because she wasn’t even planning to go to law school until she got this Truman Scholarship to go to law school.

During Sam’s senior year she applied for and received the Truman Scholarship which can be applied to any graduate school program but she hadn’t applied to any yet!  So she had to take a year off and she hated it. She was surprised by the fact that after a month of school, she wanted to go back! She had gotten a job on a political campaign and that were great but she missed the intellectual stimulation of school. When Harvard gave her the option to defer instead of doing Zoom school, she decided that there was nothing else she would rather do. She just wanted to be in school.

Law school:

After having been in the trenches for two months, “ I’m having a great time,” she says. “Yeah it’s a lot of work. But it’s so cool how much your professors know. I really respect all my professors. And it’s surrounded by people like me…they’re like me! The Harvard people are my people. My classmates are a lot of fun, they have a quick wit. So I like to be surrounded by my professors and classmates.” She continues, “Yeah I’m in classes all day and then I read all night. But everything I’m reading is fascinating, everything I talk about in class in interesting. You don’t normally think this way in everyday life, and I like how you’re pushed to be more critical. And to also be more crisp in your way of thinking. That’s been a big thing I’ve liked.

I kind of change around which class I like the most.”

Although Sam came to law school with a plan to do cyberlaw, talking about all the many kinds of law during her classes has broadened her horizons. Some days she leans towards a public service or government job and other days it’s clerkships and other days it’s private industry. But the cool thing is that Sam loves to be well-rounded and “that’s where law school can help you thrive.”