0L Preparation: A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar...

Law students, in general, tend to be high-strung overachievers with slightly neurotic tendencies. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. And in a majority of cases, future law students are desparate to find a leg up on the competition, even before getting to the hallowed halls of their chosen institution. They try to prep for law school before ever setting foot in a classroom.

This is like trying to learn to fly an airplane JUST by reading the owners manual for a Cessna. It's just not possible.

Unless this 0L has had a LOT of legal experience in the past, odds are that they are not going to know how to brief, or even how to read a real case. And so ordering casebooks and hornbooks and sitting down with them is going to be like a 6 year old sitting down with War and Peace. Odds are they're NOT going to get it, and just end up more confused than ever.

As a 0L, I have these same tendencies to try to get ahead. But I know myself, and I know that trying to slog through a commercial outline or a casebook without going to a class where they're explaining it is just going to make me even more neurotic and depressed about the challenges I have to face in a few months. So I'm trying to stay away from the actual prep work for 1L by preparing for law school in general, as well as an eventual career in law.

Every so often, I'll read a book or watch a movie and file away some information for future use. And now I'll share some of that information with you. A movie that I recently streamed on Netflix was particularly interesting (and anxiety-inducing), and I felt compelled to share it all with you so that you, too, can feel this particular brand of fascination mixed with panic. A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar... is a documentary film following 6 California law graduates all attempting to take and pass the July 2006 bar exam. We follow them in their daily lives and studies for a 12 week period leading up to the exam in Ontario, CA.

So who do we get to know on this journey? Well, two subjects (Cassandra and Megan) both graduated that year from Loyola Law School, one (Tricia) had just graduated that year from UCLA, one (Sam) had graduated two years earlier (also from Loyola, I believe), one (Magda) believed that she had just graduated from People's College of Law, and one (Don) had graduated from Western State College of Law in 1980, and was taking the bar exam for the...are you ready?...42nd time.

We follow these six subjects through their bar prep courses, while the 4 new grads prepare for the 1st time, Sam for his third attempt, and Don for his (I still can't believe it) 42nd go. They relay their fears and anxieties, the stress of studying for an exam that's not just knowledge-based but also a competition (only so many can pass in a year), and address the sacrifices they've had to make in order to prepare.

They show the cameras where their hair has literally fallen out in clumps, fall into fits of laughter to keep from crying, and express what the massive amount of caffeine is doing to their nervous system. Cassandra's young son falls ill and has to go to the hospital, and she has to wrestle with her feelings on inadequacy when she chooses to stay in and study rather than spend another day with him during visiting hours.

I think every person considering a career as a lawyer should take a look at this film. Aside from just following the six exam takers, there are also interviews with famous trial lawyers, law professors, and television personalities about the type of person it takes to be a serious litigator, which is VERY interesting.

This movie shows a potential law student what they can realistically look forward to after graduation. The stress, the drama, the anxiety...it's all worth it if you pass, but what if you don't?

SPOILER ALERT: For those of you wondering, Cassandra and Megan both passed the July 2006 exam. Tricia failed, but passed in July 2007. Sam and Don both failed (again) and have yet to be admitted in California as of today. Magda was unable to sit the exam because it was determined she didn't have enough credits at the law school to be able to take the bar. However, a Cal Bar Attorney Search shows that she was admitted to the bar in 2009.

Only 1/3 of our subjects passed the exam in July 2006. This is about even with the pass rate for California over all, which was (I believe) 36% for this exam. That's so crazy when you think about it!

It's important to know, as a 0L or a 1L, that this is what you really want to do, and that you'll be committed and see it through to the end. Being aware of the end goal (namely, passing the bar exam) from the start will help you see the light at the end of the law school tunnel, and hopefully get through the next 3 years (and the exam) with a steady head.

Visiting Schools -- Worth the Expense?

So, you've gotten in to a couple of law schools. Congratulations! The worrying is over now!!! Or is it?

What if you don't make the right decision? What if you aren't happy once you get to the school you decide to go to? What if you didn't even apply to the school that would have been perfect for you?? If you've been reading this blog at all, you know that I am the world's biggest worrier when it comes to this sort of stuff.

I thought the hard part would be waiting to hear back from schools. And while, yes, that was it's own particular brand of nerve-wracking, worrying about making the right decision for you is on it's own level of intense...these aren't butterflies in my stomach, they're dinosaurs!

My own experience with campus visits pre-law school made it clear to me that I needed to take the time and resources to visit the schools that I was seriously considering (if you don't want to read the blog entry I linked to, just know that I decided to go to a school that I never would have considered -- for the admittedly shallow reason of location/weather -- based on my campus visit).

There is only so much information you can get on TLS and from the USN&WR rankings and profiles. Honestly, if it's a place you're considering spending the next three years of your life, and probably more, then you have to make sure that the quality of life, as you see it, is good enough for YOU. Because let's face it: no one has the same value criteria when evaluating law schools, and reading someone else's opinion is just NOT going to give you the information that you would get for yourself if you visited.

However, for a LOT of potential law students, cost is prohibitive. Hopping on a plane and flying to all areas of the United States is just not practical. You have to take time off of work, pay for your ticket, hotel, rental car, food, etc. It can be a daunting prospect. So, while I do think it's important to visit the law schools you're considering, I don't necessarily advocate visiting every school you've applied to.

If you KNOW that you are SUPER interested in a school, by all means, visit in October or November. But if you're just kind of riding out the cycle, like me, then you should wait until closer to seat deposit due dates before you visit. I mean, you want to make sure that you'll actually get into a school (with good scholarship $, if that's important to you) before you spend $500 visiting.

What I did was narrow down my list, and then determine which schools, if any, offered any sort of travel reimbursement (unfortunately, the answer to that question was "not many at ALL."). I figured out which schools had ASW programs on which weekends, and went from there.

If, however, there isn't an ASW planned on a day or weekend where you can visit, you need to make sure that you visit DURING THE WEEK. (This is really important, so I bolded it). While seeing the campus and the outlying areas around a law school is nice, and can be done on the weekend, you're not just going to be living there -- you'll be going to school there! You need to be able to talk to current students, sit in on classes, and see what the REAL atmosphere is like during the week. Saturday just won't cut it.

I will be visiting 3 law schools this month, and those are my top 3. Earlier this year I visited a few more, but I didn't go out of my way to see them (they're geographically close and I have friends who either went or go there, so I had people to crash with). As you can tell from earlier posts, it will come down to the campus visits to determine where I ultimately end up. I couldn't commit to spending a year somewhere without seeing it first, and I don't see how anyone could.

Yes, it sucks to spend the money and time, but it would suck MORE to get to a place in August and realize that it is SO not the school for you.

But what I really wanted to be...

Yes, I'm going to law school. But what I really wanted to be was....

A full-time cupcake baker with my own cupcake-only bakery! YUM!

Where have you been all of my (application cycle) life?

So, everybody knows by now that I find TLS incredibly helpful (as long as you take it with a grain of salt). Every now and then, though, you just come across one of those posts, or one of those users, that is just RUH-TARDED.

Thankfully, this isn't one of those times. In fact, this is the opposite of one of those times. This is one of the times when you happen onto a thread so valuable it will LITERALLY change your life. I can't say enough nice things about the enterprising, kind, and all-around amazing shatra.

What make shatra so amazing, you ask? Well, she's come up with the greatest innovation for law school applicants since the internet, and i'm really NOT exaggerating. She, in her infinite genius, came up with Law School Status Check, a desktop application that allows you to aggregate all of your law school online status checkers into one program! Rather than opening a million status tabs all at once and refreshing them individually, you can have them all compiled into one easy grid, so you can refresh them all at the same time. PLUS her program will alert you when anything on any page changes!

This is seriously revolutionary. Think of how much time I would have saved if this had come about earlier in my cycle!

So, future law school applicants, take heed. Should this website/program be in existence next cycle, for the love of God, download and use it!!!!

Playing a game of email tag.

Soooooo, I got a kind of weird response from Whittier already in my attempt to negotiate the stipulations set on my financial aid award there. Here:

Twenty-Something Law:

It sounds like scholarship money is your number one concern. While on the face of our offer the scholarship seems hard to keep, how you perform in law school is completely within your control. You received the highest scholarship offer that we are giving to anyone, even those in the 99th percentile for LSAT and GPA. We offered that scholarship amount to you because, based on your scores, you are likely to be in the top of your class. The offer you received from SMU is a great one. I would accept their offer as the actual terms of my scholarship program are not something that we are able to negotiate with.

I know this is an incredibly difficult decision to make and I wish you the very best in whatever you decide to do.

-Associate Dean XXX

Huh? You're telling me to accept another school's offer? That just seems strange to me. But nice, because he's actually taking into account what's important to me.

And, as far as the whole, "we think you could be at the top of your class" goes...100% of the people going into law school expect to be in the top 10% of their class. No one goes in expecting to be mediocre. It's one of those things where EVERYONE is smart and competitive. I just think it's impractical to predict something like placement based on GPA and test scores.

Hmmmmm, we shall see!

Stipulation Negotiation

That title sounds like it could be a song on Schoolhouse Rock.

Anyway, after posting yesterday about the likelihood of retaining my scholarship at Whittier, I decided to send an email to the Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid an email asking if we could reconsider the stipulations. I know it's not likely, as everyone that I've spoken with has said that their scholarships had the exact same tiered GPA requirement, but, once again, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Here's what I sent:

XXX -

Thank you so much for the incredibly generous scholarship offer of $26,000 from Whittier Law School. Whittier has always been one of my "top contenders," and the scholarship offer goes quite a long way in putting it right at the top of my list.

However, the requirements on keeping the scholarship greatly worry me, and I'm afraid that, if they remain the way they are currently structured, it would be impractical for me to attend Whittier Law School -- while my first year would be affordable, the likelihood of me keeping my aid package at the same level is low, and the increase in cost would be prohibitive for me.

At this point in my application cycle, I have been offered admission and generous aid packages at other schools, and a majority of them seem that they would be easier to keep. For example, Southern Methodist University offered me over $21,000 a year, renewable as long as I remain in good academic standing (which is a 2.0 cumulative GPA).

I was hoping that there might be a way that the stipulations on my retaining my scholarship might be relaxed, or removed all together, in order to make my attendance more financially feasible.

I appreciate your time and dedication in this matter, and I hope that there is some way that you can consider my request. I look forward to hearing back from you, and am eager to move forward in the process of choosing a school.

Sincerely,

Twenty-Something Law

LXXXXXXXX

So, hopefully that's well-received over there at Whittier, and they at least consider my request. Honestly, if they removed the stips completely I would probably put Whittier as tied with McGeorge on my shortlist. I like Costa Mesa, I have friends who go there and friends who have graduated from there (and currently live/practice in the area), so it wouldn't be a bad time for me socially.

We'll see. If I was a betting girl I'd bet they send me a "haha, you're kidding right? NOPE" email within the next 48 hours, but you never can tell.

Snip, snip!

Another one bites the dust. Well, a few more. It came down to another round of withdrawals this past week, and I made some tough choices. Went ahead and withdrew from a few schools I still hadn't heard back from (TexWes, University of Memphis), and a few that I got into (Arkansas at Fayettville, Marquette).

And I've got plans to cut a few more -- namely, South Texas (who offered me $12,400 a year, but that's still not enough to make it palatable). I'll also probably let Akron ($29k/yr), and DePaul ($12k/yr) go this week. Which means that my cycle is drawing closer and closer to a definite end. So far still in the running (no matter how seriously) are:

- Santa Clara ($15k/yr with a top 25% stip, already got turned down for more $.)

- Southern Methodist ($21,557/yr as long as I'm in good standing)

- McGeorge (definitely in, but haven't gotten my scholarship info yet)

- Whittier ($26k/yr that would be almost impossible to keep)

- Baylor (in for summer, don't know about fall or $$ yet)

- UArk at Little Rock (a full ride plus stipend is just so hard to turn down!!!)

- University of South Carolina (just waiting for aid package)

- California Western (sent a negotiation email and haven't heard back)

I'm also still waiting to hear from: Loyola Law School (CA), University of San Diego, and UC Irvine. I think I'm going to stick those ones out...at least until I put in a seat deposit or two.

Whittier has a really nice $$ offer, but the stips are just so ridiculous, I wouldn't be able to keep that award. I'm pretty sure I don't want to go to Baylor, and I know I don't want to go starting in May, but I want to see if I get any $$. And Little Rock's offer is suuuuuper tempting, but the down side is that then I'm stuck in Arkansas.

They talk funny there.

Hahaha, I kid. (But not really). Either way, that's not even a teeeeensy factor in my decision, don't worry.

Ultimately, if I'm being honest with myself, I think it all comes down to two things: the scholarship offer at McGeorge and the ASW at SMU next weekend.

If the offer is too good to pass up at McGeorge, it will move up to the top of my list. If SMU blows me away, I'll probably go there. If it's just okay, then it will be a tie with Santa Clara, but I'd still probably pick it (better aid, lower COL, higher ranking, better employment). If I'm just not digging it, then it will be between Santa Clara and McGeorge.

Ugggghhhh, this is a wayyyy harder decision than picking my bracket for March Madness (by the way, I'm doing AWESOME so far).

Santa Clara ASW: A Review

Well, this weekend found me making the (rather boring, but incredibly long) drive up the I-5 toward the Bay Area to take part in yet another Admitted Student's Weekend, this time at Santa Clara University. For those of you who have never driven up the I-5 through Central California, you're really not missing much. Cows. And rolling hills. That's all.

Hey, at least it's better than driving through Kansas.

But I digress. Santa Clara has been my top choice law school for a while now, and in spite of a recent bad experience with them, I decided that the ASW might be the perfect way to recapture that lost spark of interest. So I gassed up the hybrid and bought some twizzlers, and made the 5 hour trek up there (Santa Clara is actually only about 4 hours, but I drove up farther to visit my uncle in Marin County).

First and foremost, it POURED (like, we're talking "is-that-noah-over-there-building-an-ark?" poured) the whole time I was at Santa Clara. While I was lucky enough to have a rain coat and an umbrella in my car, I was not fortunate enough to have thought of packing my wellies, so I ended up walking around in my white canvas Toms all day. This has very little to do with the school itself, but my level of comfort probably affected a few of my observations.

Santa Clara is a BEAUTIFUL campus, and anyone who is considering it should definitely go visit. Aesthetically it's really pleasing - green, spanish style, close to the mission, across the street from the train station (so you could feasibly commute in from the city -- although hopefully you wouldn't try during 1L)...really just great. Santa Clara Law is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year -- wow. The streets are all hung with "SCU Law" banners, and I thought that was pretty nice!

The set up for the event was nice. Check-in was in front of the rooms in which the morning panels and classes were taking place, which was convenient. We were situated in Bannon Hall, which is where the majority of the law school and law classes are housed. The rooms were nice, well set-up so that every seat had a clear shot of either of the projection screens and the prof. There was at least one outlet for every seat, and the chairs were comfortable, but the lighting could have been better.

After hearing the dean speak for about 15 minutes (he took two questions, one about the rising cost of law school and one about legal fraternities and pretty much didn't answer either of them), two professors (Torts and CivPro) came in to do a quick question and answer session and discuss what the students could expect during their 1L year. A lot of people seemed like they were pretty nervous about the Socratic Method in application, and the professors did their best to allay the 0Ls fears. They also talked about time management and dedication (duh).

One interesting tidbit that stuck with me was something the CivPro prof said. She said, "Law school isn't really SCHOOL. It's the beginning of your profession. If you look at it in that way, I think you won't get caught up in the small, mundane stuff, and you'll make it through okay."

Then the contracts professor (Pope) came in to do a mock class. She had assigned three readings, and attempted to cover them all, but ran out of time before even getting to the third one. The readings were actually fairly interesting (they were about advertising and when advertising constitutes an offer and a contract) and the class seemed engaged. Personally this felt like an incredibly tame, soft version of what a class might be like. (Although I did take notes; one said, "Gunner in the back -- cute shoes, not cute attitude. Hands down, Hermione Granger.")

Unfortunately, since it was a Saturday we didn't get to sit in on an actual class to see the comparison.

After the contracts professor came the LARAW (Legal Analysis, Research and Writing) demonstration. It was supposed to be a mock class, but it DEFINITELY wasn't. The professor (Ekern) was engaging and interesting. It seems like the sections are split into smaller groups for LARAW, and that's where you learn lawyering skills. Prof Ekern definitely seemed like she would be a good resource for 1L students to go to when they had questions about the process of 1L. I was impressed.

THEN we had a panel of 6 students (5 FT, 1PT; one 1L, one 2L, three 3Ls, and one 3E) come in to talk about the student's perspective on SCU. I kept hearing over and over that the school was expensive. It seems like the debt load on these students is worrisome. While the students raved about the active alumni base and the ease of networking, I was a little wary, just based on the competition from the other Bay Area schools. However, two of the three 3Ls had jobs already lined up after graduation, and the third said she hadn't even been looking, that she's focusing on passing the bar. So maybe it's not all that bad. No one was suuuuper stressed about not having a job or not passing the bar, everyone seemed pleased to be there. The 2L and 1L both had internships lined up, the 2Ls was paid (with relocation).

The students were from a wide variety of practice interests (2 Public Interest, 1 IP, 1 Family law, 1 Intl. Law), and all seemed like they had a good experience in finding classes that suited them, which helped calm my nerves about going to such an IP-centric school. They also seemed to appreciate the opportunities afforded to them by being a part of a school with an attached undergraduate campus (sports games, choice of libraries, etc.), and none of them mentioned the undergrad campus being a distraction at all, which was also a worry of mine. It seemed to me that there wasn't much evidence of serious competition, either, which is good.

After spending literally the WHOLE morning in the same room, in the same seats, by the time lunch came around we were ready to stretch our legs. We walked a little ways to the Locatelli Center, past a heated Olympic-sized pool and the field that the San Jose Earthquakes (the local soccer team) calls home. Lunch was nice, veggie burgers and BBQ chicken, but there weren't assigned faculty/current students at each table, which made lunch kind of non-informative (for my table, anyway. I noticed a few tables with three or four professors or students, so the prospies at those tables must have been very informed).

After lunch we took a campus tour. It was the Saturday after Spring Break started, so it seemed like everything was closed. Not to mention my feet were wet and cold. We saw the (impressive) moot court room, the undergrad/grad dining facilities, the bookstore, the law library (fair -- not too new, but enough resources for all), and the two main law buildings, Bannon and Bergin.

Overall, I think that the experience was fair. They certainly didn't knock my socks off, and when I compare the effort McGeorge put into their ASW with SCUs I'm left a little disappointed. BUT, that being said, Santa Clara seems like it would be an amazing place to spend three years, and the students that I talked with all seemed incredibly pleased with their choices. It's well ranked, has 13 study abroad programs, a great reputation in Northern and Central California, and seems to put a lot of effort into preparing students to become lawyers.

In short, (or TL;DR, whatever): While Santa Clara didn't knock my socks off, they were impressive enough to stay on my very short list. I don't think choosing Santa Clara would be making a "wrong" choice.

But what I really wanted to be...

Yes, I'm going to law school. But what I really wanted to be was:

The First Lady of the United States.

(Actually, law school might be the first step towards that dream. Well, it was for Hillary Clinton! And Michelle Obama...)

You can make it into law school, but can you pass the bar?

So, the 2010 Bar Exam results for the state of California are pretty interesting.

You can see a break down by school, which is the best way to judge similar schools in the same state.

Personally, I find it a little disheartening. I also think that the only reason that the overall pass rate is so high is ONLY because Stanford has a 98% pass rate. And when you look at the TTT and TTTT schools and the number of people who have to retake after graduating (and the percent of retakes that pass!) it's pretty scary.

I work at my local Bar Association (after being laid off during a round of budget cuts at a mid-law firm here in town...the legal field is DEFINITELY not safe from the economy, people!) and so I get to meet a lot of attorneys and support staff from all over the city, in all sorts of jobs and practice areas. If you're interested in getting some good advice about law school and the bar exam, start attending events through your local bar association, or with the local Young Lawyers sections...it's pretty great, and often free for students.

Recently I had a lot of contact with someone identifying themselves as a law clerk at a well-known firm in town. Being that it's the middle of the school year, and that there aren't any law schools here in my fair hometown, I was a little curious about him, and so at a recent event where I met this person I thought I might pick his brain a little.

He went to a T4 law school in California a few years after his undergrad, after working at a law firm for a year or two as a legal assistant (sounds familiar). He figured he wouldn't have any problem getting a job, so the fact that he didn't have a good GPA or a great LSAT didn't bother him, so he went to law school anyway.

Honestly, with his connections (the legal market where I live is pretty insulated, and if you work for a few years at a firm and make a good impression it doesn't really matter where you go, you're in like Flynn), he probably could have gotten a decent(ish) job post-grad.

If he had been able to pass the bar.

I felt sorry for him when he told me he's taken the exam 5 times since graduating six years ago, and hasn't ever been able to pass. And then I realized that it's probably a pretty common story. I mean, it's obviously common enough that Grey's Anatomy worked it into their story line. I remember that there was an episode about a girl who had taken the bar 4 times and failed each time, and then when it came time to take it for the fifth time had some sort of breakdown and couldn't subject herself to failing yet again, so rather than just give up she pretty much mutilated her hands in order to have a legit reason to skip out of the test.

Can we say cray-cray?

Ultimately, you have to go somewhere that not only teaches you the law, but will also prepare you to pass the bar. You can take as many bar prep classes as you want, but if you don't have a solid foundation upon which to build, you'll never be able to make it through the two-day endurance test/hell that is the bar exam.

I know that this is a MAJOR case of crossing a bridge before you come to it, or counting your eggs before they hatch, or whatever, but it's definitely something to think about when choosing a law school.

A Little Narcissism Never Hurt Anyone

(well, except Narcissus, right?)

I'm listed on the first page of most popular users on LSN. Lolz.

Here's my profile (again) in case you want to keep up with me on which schools I'm hearing back from individually!

What Happens in Vegas sometimes bites you in the butt...

So, funny thing I read yesterday on the intrawebz:

Lauren Serafin’s wedding was set — dress purchased, Ritz-Carlton reserved, honeymoon to Bora Bora booked — when her fiancé called it off, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court.

Serafin, a Chicago attorney, alleges that her ex-fiancé, Robert Leighton, now owes her $62,814.71 in expenses for a wedding that never happened because of his “breach of promise,” according to the lawsuit.

Leighton, also a Chicago attorney, proposed to Serafin on July 2, 2009 and the couple decided to marry on August 21, 2010, the complaint states.

Serafin says she paid tens of thousands of dollars to prepare for the wedding, including about $5,000 on a wedding dress and about $7,000 on their honeymoon to Bora Bora.

But in July 2010 the couple’s relationship began to deteriorate after Leighton went to Las Vegas for his bachelor party, the lawsuit states.

Serafin’s lawsuit alleges that while in Vegas Leighton had sex with another woman. She became suspicious after reading text messages on her phone and when she questioned him about his activities on the Vegas trip, he tried to move out of the home they shared, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit states that Leighton at first denied anything happened in Vegas, but later admitted that he “hooked up” with the woman and that he no longer wanted to marry Serafin.

“The defendant’s conduct was extreme, intentional and outrageous,” the lawsuit states.

Leighton declined comment when reached by phone Friday evening.

Lesson learned? Fellas, if you're going to dump your fiancée make sure that you don't live in Illinois, where "breach of promise" is a valid cause of action. Hell hath no fury like a bridezilla scorned.

USNWR Law School Rankings

Well, the 2012 rankings for law schools were released today (actually, they were leaked last night). I think it's so insane the way some people look at rankings as if they were the holy grail of all things law school related.

Newsflash, there's not THAT much of a difference between a school ranked 45 and a school ranked 50. There's really not.

I would implore people who are interested in attending law schools to look beyond the rankings when trying to make a decision about where you should go. I know people who just went to the very best school that they could get in to (Pepperdine, one of the most expensive law schools everrrrr) without any scholarship money. He liked it well enough, but honestly would have probably been happier elsewhere. Not to mention way less in debt.

Yikes.

Here's a nice little analysis from Above the Law about this years rankings. It has links to loads more sites, if you happen to be interested.

As far as the rankings are related to my law school choices, Santa Clara jumped a few spots (back to where they were last year, #84) and SMU dropped two places (from #48 to #50). But honestly, when you're talking that small of a drop or a jump it's really completely arbitrary. In the "Law Firms Rank Law Schools" list SMU was listed as #41, a jump of three spots from last year. I think that's probably a little more important than the arbitrary USN&WR.

We all have bad days.

You know, Santa Clara has been one of my top choices for a LOOOOONG time, and I've been really excited about the prospect of going to the school next year, but I just have to say that I've been so turned off by the admissions staff that I'm really second guessing myself.

I've contacted them on a variety of issues, and they've been way less than helpful in each and every single one of my correspondences with them. They just don't seem to care about anything! They've really come off as a completely lackluster office, especially when I compare them to the other schools that I've been in communication with. I'm going to the ASW this weekend hoping that the rest of their departments aren't so...for lack of a better word, BLAH, as they are, but so far this year my experiences with Santa Clara have left a bad taste in my mouth.

Okay, /rant.

But what I really wanted to be...

Yes, I'm going to law school. But what I really wanted to be was:

A presidential speech writer!

Money, money, money.

(Must be sunny, in a rich man's world).

Sorry, I had to.

Anyway, I've asked for increased scholarship money (otherwise known as Scholarship Negotiation) at a few schools so far.

Unfortunately, 2 of the 3 flat out turned me down. I know it's a little early in the game (I mean, a lot of people haven't started withdrawing yet), but still...BUMMER.

DePaul and Santa Clara both said that they were out of money, and neither really gave me hope that I could expect any more down the line.

Cal Western hasn't responded yet. I'm thinking about sending the same letter to Whittier (just to see if I can make it cheap enough to consider, or maybe get rid of some of the stips), and possible Baylor (once I see their aid options).

Sigh.

Scholarship Negotiation Request Email

Well, here it is: the final version of the email I sent requesting more scholarship money. From the forums on TLS it looks like they're flat out saying no to a majority of the people that has asked, so I'm not expecting anything. Which is a bummer.

Dear __________,

I was elated to hear of my acceptance to the 2011 entering class at ____________ with a renewable scholarship of $________ per year. I would like to start by thanking you for this great honor!

While the scholarship offer extended to me from _____________ is extremely generous, not to mention helpful in lessening the financial burden attending law school will create, I have received another offer of admission from _________________ for $_________ per year, renewable as long as I remain in good standing. Although ___________'s location in northern California, along with its reputation for a strong commitment to ethics and social justice and beautiful campus, has made it a long-standing dream of mine to attend, I find that a better offer from a higher-ranked school in an area with a lower cost of living is very difficult to logically turn down.

In light of my strong admission profile, profound desire to attend, and scholarship offers from other schools, I am writing to respectfully request your consideration for additional renewable scholarship dollars. If there was any way that the cost of attending ______________ could be lowered, it would certainly become my top choice.

Thank you so much for taking the time to review and consider my request.I look forward to your response with great anticipation. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Respectfully,

Twentysomethinglaw

LXXXXXXXX

Great School vs. Good School with $ vs. Okay school with $$$

A lot of people look at deciding which law school to go to as strictly a ranking game; they go to the best school they get into without taking any account of the scholarship offers they've received (or not received). Others play it as a numbers game, taking the best financial offer they get and to hell with the rankings and job prospects.

I'm not independently wealthy, and my parents aren't willing to front me $180k for law school and living expenses, so that first option is out for me. Also, I don't think that I'd care to get through three years of hell (aka law school) and then go back to a job that I could have gotten after I graduated with my BA. Why bother, right?

So I'm one of the (many) people that has to look at all sorts of options when trying to determine where I should go for the next three years of my education. I feel like there are so many factors to take into consideration, too! I have to think about where I want to live, because it's very likely that I'll end up practicing in the region that my school is located, since I'm not going to be attending a T14. I need to think about the COL in that area. I need to look at employment statistics, because I'd like to be able to pay off the staggering amount of debt I'm probably going to be taking on.

It's enough to make a girl's head spin!

And so, that brings me to looking at the choices of going to a GREAT school with little-to-no money, a good school with a fair scholarship, or an okay (TTT) school with a super scholarship. In my case I've pretty much ruled out the GREAT school/no money scenario. It just doesn't make sense for me. So I come down to a good school with fair money (SMU, Santa Clara, possibly McGeorge) to an okay school with good money (Whittier, U. Ark at Little Rock).

There a positives for each. Leaving Little Rock I would have verrrry little debt (as I received a full ride plus a stipend), but I would be in Little Rock. I can't imagine that the U. Ark - Little Rock degree would travel ANYWHERE outside of Arkansas, and I honestly don't think I can take that thick of an accent for the rest of my life.

Santa Clara has been a school I've wanted to go for FOREVER. It's pretty, it's in a good location, they have a great local reputation, etc. But it's EXPENSIVE, and they've only offered me $15,500 in scholarship money for the year, with a pretty serious stipulation (I have to stay in the top 20%). Not to mention that the cost of living in pretty high in the bay area, and SCU is competing against Berkeley, Stanford, and UC Hastings all in the market, so summer employment up there might be hard to come by.

McGeorge is a good school, less expensive than SCU, but I would pretty much be stuck in Central California or Sacramento with a JD from McGeorge. Nothing wrong with that, but something I might want to consider if I ever think about relocating.

SMU is the most expensive of the schools that I'm considering, but with the COL in Dallas compared to California, the total COA (cost of attendance) will be right around the same as it would cost in Santa Clara. SMU also gave me about $6,000 more than Santa Clara did, and the stipulation says I just have to remain in good standing, so it would probably be less expensive in the long run. Plus Dallas is a pretty decent sized legal market, and SMU is the only law school in Dallas. It's also the highest ranked school I was accepted (without being held or waitlisted) to. But do I want to spend that much time in Dallas? I don't have any ties at all to Dallas, and it's pretty far away from my family and friends.

And I'm just giving you a taste of all of the options that I have. I really should have limited my applications a little more -- I'm not that decisive of a person!

At least I know that when I do finally make a decision (I'm anticipating that it will be the week after I return from Dallas) my friends are taking me out for a night of partying. I think I'll deserve it by then!!

Legal Scholars Day at McGeorge

Well, this weekend I made the 300 mile trek to Sacramento to attend the Legal Scholars Day at Pacific McGeorge. From 9:30 until 4:00 there were a whirlwind of activities to take part in, from campus tours to lunch with a sitting judge/alumni to panels with students and faculty.

I didn't have high expectations for the weekend...I knew McGeorge was not in the best area of town, and it's not highly ranked (it's solidly TTT), but ultimately I was kind of impressed by the program that they put out!

We arrived and had a nice continental breakfast, and then opening remarks by Adam Barrett, the dean of admissions. After the opening remarks, the group of potential students (I think there were between 35 and 40 of us) split into 2 groups and went to two different 1L classes. I went to Torts, which was taught by the professor who would be leading the mock class later that day (Levine). The class was about product liability, and was pretty interesting and entertaining. The classrooms were all well laid out and well lit, with comfortable chairs and fair acoustics, and an outlet at each seat. Every building on campus has wireless internet.

After our 1L class, we split into smaller groups and took campus tours. My tour guide was a 4E who was nice, but couldn't give me as much information about the full-time program as I would have liked. While the campus itself is very nice, well-manicured, and, for lack of a better word, "homey", the area immediately surrounding the school was GHET-TO. I definitely wouldn't feel safe walking to my car alone after dusk, and wouldn't be surprised if my car was broken into while I was in class. My tour guide (AnnMichelle, but let's call her Ann) talked about a lot of things. Here's a bullet list of my notes:

• Library is under construction right now, but will be completed late summer 2011. It has over 1/2 million titles, but is switching (slowly) to database based catalogue.
• On-campus housing is available on a first come, first serve basis. Prices are comparable to off-campus apartments (especially in 2 bedroom apartments).
• Two institution study abroad programs exist: Guatemala and Salzburg. Justice Kennedy (that's right, the Supreme Court Justice) teaches one of the courses in Salzburg every summer.
• Career services is a good resource for honing interview skills or working on your resume, but you have to do almost all of the legwork for finding a job yourself.
• Campus safety and security is pretty present, and are willing to walk you to your car in the evening.
• Seems like there's a definite turf awareness -- the people from the neighborhood don't come on to campus, but expect for the law students not to go to the neighborhood park, etc.
• There's a strong externship placement program in place, and especially in the public interest/government sectors.
• Life in on-campus housing can feel like living in a dorm, but it's not quite as bad as undergraduate dorms.
• A lot of people seem pretty glad that there's not attached undergraduate school, because then there's not a lot of competition for the same resources, and everyone at McGeorge is there with the same goal, and generally the same mental outlook.

After the tour came lunch (which was really nice...I was expecting sandwiches or something), and then a talk by Judge England, a 1983 McGeorge grad. After lunch we went to our mock class, which wasn't long enough (only 30 minutes). Professor Levine had sent out an email with a case that we needed to (briefly) read up on -- Hammontree v. Jenner. It was really interesting, and pretty fun, although I suspect that's mostly to Professor Levine's credit.

After the mock class we had the "talking heads" portion of the day, where the Dean of Students, Dean of Admissions, Career Services Director, and Director of Placements (Externships) spoke to us about what they do and the help their offices provide. It was the least interesting, least helpful portion of the day.

After that there was a panel of 6 current students that came in to talk to us about the school without the administration there. It was helpful, I guess, but a little long winded, as each student answered each question.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the program, and my expectations were met and in some case exceeded. And I got a free sweatshirt, so it was definitely worthwhile.

I'm going to a similar program at Santa Clara on the 19th, and then to Dallas on the 1st, so we'll see about how it compares to my other choices! :)

Riding out the waitlist...

There are few things that I think are more aggravating for an impatient potential law student than the waitlist. It comes in many incarnations -- held for further review, deferred until regular applicant pool, etc. -- but it all means the same thing...you need to settle in for several weeks of nail biting.

Personally, there are very few schools that I've applied to where I've been waitlisted. 2 "real" waitlists, and 1 "hold for further review" is my count. And, in my humble opinion, there are not very many instances in which I would consider waiting out the waitlist period in any potential law student's best interest.

I think that there are actually several negatives to riding out a waitlist. It's a gamble, and more often than not (just like in Vegas) you lose.

• coming off a wait list you are less likely (wayyyyy less likely) to get any sort of scholarship money, so odds are pretty good that you'll be paying sticker. Yikes.

• if you ride out the waitlist and foolishly decide not to put deposits anywhere else as a sign to the universe that this is your only option, and then you don't get in, you lose your chance at going to a good school that you actually got in to on a gamble.

• if you ride out the waitlist and play it safe and put down seat deposits elsewhere, and then you get in off of the waitlist, then you lose all of the money you spent (between $250 and $500 each) on seat deposits.

• if you ride out the waitlist and make it in at the last minute (we're talking July or August here, folks), you have very little time to prepare for school. No time to tour apartments, figure out where you're going to live, get settled in to a new area. No time to buy books, examine the syllabi, make friends (either online or IRL) with new classmates. And that's a LOT of pressure.

Not only this, but odds are you can make someone else lose, too. You can cause them to lose out on their spot at their dream school if you stay on the waitlist with no intention of enrolling.

The only time I can see a waitlist being worth it is if it's your absolute dream school. I'm not talking just the highest ranked school you applied to, or somewhere you think you would probably have moderately successful career placement out of. I'm talking about the "eating-breathing-dreaming" devotion, the "I've got their pennant on my wall and will LITERALLY break down in tears if I try to go anywhere else" commitment.

(and if you have that level of devotion, you should be committed...to a mental institution).

But seriously, I think the only scenario in which riding out a waitlist is worth the time, worry, and money is in the case of a DREAM school, one where you didn't think you had a shot of getting in, but applied anyway and getting waitlisted was a SIGN FROM GOD.

Or if you're waitlisted Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Chicago, etc. and in at T2 schools. Then, by all means, ride it out.

As for me, I'm withdrawing from the waitlists at both of the schools where I've been waitlisted. One of them is the best school I applied to, but ultimately I got into good, comparable schools in perfectly decent legal markets, and I think that I would honestly rather attend any of my top three choices instead of this great school I was waitlisted at.