Jacob McRae: Breeding Mastiffs and Attending Law School

_20151110_104523 (1)Growing up on a farm and working hard for every penny he ever earned, 2L Jacob McRae decided he wanted a better return on his investment. Since his family has plenty of land in Idaho, Jacob decided to try something new: running a dog breeding business to earn money.

“It was kind of cool because I first started as a noname breeder,” he said, laughing. “I am still kind of a noname breeder, but I am on my fourth litter now.”

McRae says he acquires most of his customers through word of mouth. “My favorite part of [the breeding business] is working with people,” he said.

McRae is a 2014 graduate from BYU Idaho. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in political science with minors in pre-law and sociology. He continues breeding mastiffs to help pay for law school and living expenses.

He jokes that if being an attorney doesn’t work out, he will “expand the Mastiff empire and sell them across the world.” More seriously, though, McRae is interested in litigation, though he isn’t quite sure what career he hopes to pursue. He is grateful that BYU Law provides opportunities to students to explore different options. 

McRae credits a warm and friendly experience during his admissions interview to his being comfortable coming to BYU Law. He describes the interchange:

“Dean Sorenson, I have read all these things about how to talk to you and I am going to throw that all out the window right now,” he said.

“Yeah, just talk to me like I’m your aunt,” she said.

“From there the interview went very well. I could tell her my concerns and questions, and it made a huge difference,” McRae said.

The admissions process was also meaningful to McRae for another reason. “You have your LSAT score and your GPA, but [BYU Law] looks at everything,” he said. “They take the wholeperson approach. That’s why BYU stood out to me.”

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