3L Law student seeking to finalize his dream

I was born in Cuba, a communist driven country to two doctors. When I was six years old my parents decided to escape the island in order to give myself and my brother (who was still in my mothers womb) a chance at a better life. My father left the island first, worked as a dishwasher and raised enough money to bring my mother and my brother to this country just seven months after he had originally left.

We were very poor when we arrived at this country. We did not know the language and my parents started from scratch; two doctors now were a cook and a store clerk. They saved money, opened a business and started providing a better life for my brother and I. My parents always stressed how important school was to my brother and I because they had risked their lives and freedom just for us in order to give us a better opportunity at an education and a good job in the United States.

Unfortunately, I hurt them a lot when I was younger. I grew up around tough crowds in a tough neighborhood so I became involved in things I shouldn't have. But as always, my parents were there in order to help me and push me forward even if I was not ok with the way they handled things; because at the end of the day, they were doing it for my own good.

I graduated high school in 2006 and for my first two years at Barry University I did nothing but party since I was a promoter at local miami clubs. This led to an unfortunate night; I was arrested on June 8th, 2008 for DUI. This was very hard on my family. I had been doing really bad in college and I was about to be kicked out due to my 1.17 GPA. My parents had a long talk with me about my future and how I was messing up everything that they worked hard for. This is the event in my life that changed everything.

I was arrested on a friday night; that monday morning at school, everything changed. I became obsessed with my studies and my promise to my parents that I will get a professional degree and become successful in order to show them that their hard work and sacrifices were not in vein. Having a 1.17 GPA in college at the time, EVERYONE doubted me, and this fueled my desire and passion. I ended up appearing on the deans list in college twice during my last 2 years, raised my GPA from a 1.17 to a 2.8 by the time I graduated, took the LSAT and gained acceptance to 14 different law schools. These achievements are something that I will always treasure because no one except my parents believed in me and I proved everyone wrong, and still do to this day.

I went my first year of law school to Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida. I did phenomenal and after one year I transferred back to Miami to Florida International College of Law. I got better grades, interned for a federal attorney and just recently, interned during this past summer of 2013 as a prosecutor for the Miami State Attorney's Office.

My list of achievements is rather impressing because I did it all from scratch. To put myself in a better place for my future and to make my parents happy and proud. Now I have two last achievements on my list: 1) Law school in NY; 2) The bar.

I have always wanted to go to law school in New York City; either NYU, Manhattan Law, or Brooklyn Law. Unfortunately, as impressive as my accolades and story has been, I messed up too much before my transformation and I would never be accepted to such a prestigious institutions with my college credentials. Fortunately though, there is an alternative. As a third year law student in good standing at my current college of law, there is the option to become a "visiting" student. With this opportunity, I can do my last semester of law school at any other institution, I still receive my degree from my original institution but I am able to attend another institution for one semester. This would seriously put an exclamation mark on my resume of impressive feats for an immigrant Cuban who turned his life around.

The other achievement is to pass the bar in both Florida and New York and practice law. The attorney I have worked for practices in both states and holds offices in both states which is why I would need to be licensed in both states to work for him. I have always loved New York City as well and it is a life long dream to be a part of the big apple.

This is why I am here. Attain funding for a relocation to New York and for bar costs in order to be officially licensed as a lawyer as well as get help for expenses during my last year of law school.