Years ago, Rebecca Fate\u2019s vision of her future never included college.<\/p>\n
Neither of her parents earned college degrees, and growing up in a single-parent household meant there was little to no extra money to send her to school, she said. But when her fifth-grade teacher opened Fate\u2019s eyes to her potential, her vision of the future drastically changed.<\/p>\n
At 21, Fate is now an alumna of the 海角直播\u2019s Burnett Honors College. She graduated May 6 with bachelor\u2019s degrees in political science and legal studies, honors in the major, a 4.0 GPA and a near perfect score on the Law School Admission Test under her belt. Out of 180 possible points, Fate earned 178 and a seat at one of the country\u2019s most prestigious law schools, Harvard, where she sent her \u201cdream application,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew since Rebecca was in my criminal law class in spring 2014 that she was extremely gifted and that she would do very, very well on the LSAT,\u201d said James Beckman, UCF professor of legal studies and Fate\u2019s Honors in the Major thesis chair. \u201cHowever, I must admit, when she told me that she scored nearly perfect, I was slightly taken aback. Not because I did not expect an extremely high score from her, but simply because I have never known a single student, of the over 1,000 students I\u2019ve taught, who has scored in the top 0.15 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fate credits her success in education to her elementary school teacher who saw something special in her while giving her individualized curriculum. Fate, her mom and older sister a month into her fifth-grade classes moved from Oregon to the Tampa Bay area. When Fate\u2019s new teacher took her aside to help her get caught up to the rest of the class, the teacher noticed the young student already knew the material and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe encouraged me to do more because she felt I was ahead of the curriculum already,\u201d Fate said. \u201cIt was a difficult transition moving to Florida, and school gave me something to focus on. The attention she gave me really helped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fate\u2019s teacher encouraged her and her mom to consider a magnet school for sixth grade. Although hesitant at first \u2013 considering it was a two-hour bus ride one way to the school \u2013 Fate ultimately attended. That was the beginning of her college-bound path. She would continue on to a high school where there was an International Baccalaureate program filled with students whose expectations were to go to college. Being immersed into that atmosphere, where resources were in plenty to help students apply to college, gave Fate the vision she needed to continue her education.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until the IB program and its expectations that I starting thinking about college,\u201d she said. \u201cCollege was never pushed on me. It just wasn\u2019t offered up as the obvious path.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fate applied to a handful of universities \u2013 海角直播 of Florida, Florida State 海角直播, Vanderbilt 海角直播 and ones back in Oregon \u2013 but UCF\u2019s offer of a full-ride National Merit Scholarship sealed the deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cUCF just gave me the feeling that I was wanted here,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t gotten a scholarship, it would\u2019ve been really difficult for me to come to college.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fate joined pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta, became a tutor at UCF\u2019s Student Academic Resource Center, and worked for the honors college as a student assistant and peer ambassador.<\/p>\n
Now, Fate aspires to continue in higher education as a professor of law.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the university atmosphere and learning,\u201d Fate said. \u201cI just never want to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
For students taking the LSAT, Fate suggests diligently studying in the months leading up to the test and taking the LSAT practice tests. She bought LSAT preparation books to figure out which parts she struggled with, and studied daily.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am confident that she will do extremely well at Harvard and I wouldn\u2019t be surprised in the least if she ends up at the top of her class at Harvard Law,\u201d said Beckman. \u201cIt has been my great privilege to have interacted with Rebecca at UCF.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Years ago, Rebecca Fate\u2019s vision of her future never included college. Neither of her parents earned college degrees, and growing up in a single-parent household meant there was little to no extra money to send her to school, she said. But when her fifth-grade teacher opened Fate\u2019s eyes to her potential, her vision of the future drastically changed. At 21,…","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":77602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[15992,5,27],"tags":[650,982,8792,9561,7986],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-77600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-colleges","category-student-life","tag-burnett-honors-college","tag-college-of-sciences","tag-department-of-legal-studies","tag-department-of-political-science","tag-student-academic-resource-center"],"yoast_head":"\n