Sarina Zomay was 15 when her career path came into focus.
She had always imagined becoming a lawyer — “I was one of those kids,” she said — but in 2017, as immigration dominated national politics, the goal took on a sharper meaning.
Zomay comes from a large family of immigrants, and she began to see law as a way to serve families like her own. That sense of purpose carried her to Michigan State, to James Madison College and eventually to University of Detroit Mercy, where she recently began her second year of law school
When Zomay first applied to MSU, she planned to study political science. Then a high school teacher who was both a Madison graduate and a former attorney encouraged her to look at JMC. She was drawn to the specificity of JMC’s majors, especially Social Relations & Policy and its people-centered approach to public policy. She ended up pairing it with International Relations and minoring in Women’s and Gender Studies.
Her first year at Madison began in fall 2020 and unfolded entirely online in the midst of the pandemic, making sophomore year her first real experience of campus life. Meeting professors and classmates in person opened the door to career paths she hadn’t known existed. As she learned about new possibilities, a sense of doubt about her law school plans crept in.
Instead of dismissing that doubt, Zomay worked through it. Other paths genuinely interested her, she said. But when she tested each one against the reason she had been drawn to law in the first place, she returned to the same conclusion.
“I was ultimately led back to the law, even though all those other things seemed really interesting,” she said. “With my goal of helping people, I still feel that being an attorney is the best thing I can do.”
That renewed sense of purpose pushed her into opportunities across campus and beyond. She studied abroad twice, in Belgium and India, and spent two years working at the Refugee Development Center.
She also joined MSU Moot Court, a competitive legal argument team where students prepare a case and compete against other universities. Looking back, she calls her three years in Moot Court the single best preparation she had for law school.
“I learned how to read cases. I learned how to write arguments. I learned how to present my arguments,” she said.
Zomay had been adamant about heading straight to law school after graduation, but at the last minute, she decided to take a gap year instead.
She spent the year working full time at a nonprofit serving immigrant communities, helping clients apply for public benefits, translating documents and connecting people to resources. The opportunity changed how she understood the work of supporting those communities.
“I’m really glad I took a gap year,” she said. “In JMC we read a lot about people and the things people are going through, and it’s easy to say I want to help those people. Actually doing that work and seeing what it entails was very important for me.”
She reapplied and started law school the following fall.
Her first year has reshaped her understanding of community. At Madison, Zomay often leaned on conversation to gather information, but she still did much of the work on her own. Law school taught her that independence has limits.
“Law school is not something you should do on your own,” she said. “It’s so hard, and not just hard, but emotionally draining. You need other people around you to support you.”
In practice that has meant studying in groups, talking through concepts with classmates and finding out she is not the only one who is confused. As a first-generation student without lawyers in her family, she has learned to reach out to attorneys on LinkedIn for advice, to seek out other first-gen students and to stop being shy about asking for help.
“If you want something, you really have to go ask for it,” she said. “Everyone wants to help each other.”
This past summer, Zomay completed an internship focused on immigration law, but she’s still exploring options as she thinks about her long-term career path.
“I can’t say with confidence immigration is the path for me,” she said. “I’m being exposed to so many different interests.”
She plans to spend next year working in a completely different area of law, with family law among the possibilities, on the same logic that guided her through Madison: try it before you decide.