law de dah's b-l-o-g

[law de dah]

hi TLSers!

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[law de dah]

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[law de dah]

Lessons I Have Learned:

- semper ubi sub ubi. (lety - see, i'm a latin scholar too!! hahahhahahha!)

- do not solely rely on prep courses to improve your LSAT score. study on your own. i started with a 167 on my diagnostic for Kaplan, and i just assumed that my score would increase after taking a course. um, no, it definitely did not. i didn't really do extra practice tests or study outside of kaplan, and it shows. (i got the same score for my "real" lsat in september.) after reading on this forum about how ppl have improved so much after some hard work, i really regret not being one of those ppl. kaplan says that the average increase after taking their class is 7 points; i would have just taken 3 points. oh well. it's completely my fault (although in my defense, i was working at a full-time internship during the summer and got home at 8 PM each night, and then when school started, i had sports/work/scary classes all the time. oh, and b/c i was paranoid about not getting into law school, i was applying for banking jobs after college, and i did interviews at goldman sachs, jpmorgan, and morgan stanley THE WEEK OF THE LSAT.)

sidenote/summary: take an lsat class only if u know u can't study on your own. if u take the lsat seriously and set a specific time each day to study, u don't need a stinkin $1,000+ course. however, if u do take a class, do NOT solely rely on it as i did. u will not improve your score.

- i'm glad that i applied to just target/reach schools and no safeties. (although i might be saying something different if i didn't get accepted to any.) this is b/c law school isn't necessary like going to undergrad is necessary. i knew if i didn't get accepted to my targets/reaches, then i could always apply next year. being the elitist that i am, i didn't want to rush into law school for the sake of going to law school. i wanted to make sure that i got a premier education and go to a school i would be proud to call my own.

more to come..

[law de dah]

"On Hold" at Northwestern today. I was expecting to be deferred b/c of my horrible interview and lack of full-time work experience, but the weird thing is that I JUST went complete 7 days ago (1/22). I don't understand why they couldn't just give me a "real" decision in 6 to 8 weeks like normal schools instead of giving me a half-assed "decision" in one week! Oh well. That's law school admissions for ya. Just doesn't make sense.

It's okay. I still love you, NUSL... even if you toy with me.

[law de dah]

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[law de dah]

online status checker: "decision" at umich. time for the 10-14 days wait (although w/ my campus mail service, it might be 20 days.)

i'm not sure how i feel about this. on one hand, i'm glad b/c i will finally have an answer; on the other hand, i don't think i'm ready to receive my first rejection. i have a feeling that i'm gonna get the boot from umich. on LSN, the ppl to last get a decision from michigan have been either rejected or deferred. not to mention, most of the LSN ppl with my same numbers in last year's cycle were deferred/waitlisted. i've been stalking LSD too. not looking good. need to brace myself. have strength, cross, have strength.

[law de dah]

waitlisted at duke (yesterday). i'm really disappointed b/c i had written every additional statement requested (academic essay and all), and it was one of my very top choices. oh well. you win some, you lose some. (i sure hope i'm gonna be a winner elsewhere.)

i wonder if the new priority track/fee waiver thing at duke affected my application decision. i know i'm still borderline/slightly under, but i feel that their accepted applicants have higher numbers compared to last year (at least on LSN). i remember reading some article on LSD that this was the first year they offered priority track b/c the dean wanted to raise the number of applications (and entice more 170-plusers to apply). the article said that duke had the fewest number of apps among similarly ranked schools. apparently, duke was very successful this year and had a record number of applications. not so good for me.

in other news, i'm still waiting on michigan. so far on LSN, all 2/9/07 decisions have been rejections. woot woot.

[law de dah]

i'm thinking about redoing the entire cycle. i want to retake the LSAT b/c i feel like i am capable of scoring much higher. i mean... to not improve my score at all after enrolling in a test prep course is p-a-t-h-e-t-i-c.

here's my inspiration:
--LinkRemoved--

he jumped from a 163 to a 179 and got into FANTASTIC schools! i know, i know. ppl are going to ask me "do you really want to practice law or just get a fancy JD?" ummmm, i really want both..

[law de dah]

TLS has helped me tremendously throughout the application process, so I'm doing what I can to help others out.

This is my Letter of Continued Interest to X Law. I have already sent it out, so for the love of GOD, don't tell me if it's bad or if I've made a mistake. Thanks!

Dear Dean XXX,

Thank you for extending an invitation for a place on the waitlist, which I have gladly accepted. I would like to express my continued interest in X Law, which has been my first choice institution since the beginning of the application process. My admiration for X stems from its academic prestige and reputation for providing the perfect balance between academic rigor and a sense of collegiality. This sentiment has been further solidified by my visit to the campus on March #, when I was able to take a self-guided tour and attend Professor ABC’s Criminal Law class.

Though the architecture of X Law’s # buildings is elegant and worthy of note, I found the real essence of X Law to be inside the classroom of Professor ABC. Through an animated discussion of self-defense, I learned about concepts such as determinism versus fatalism, but more importantly, I was exposed to the intellectual vitality that has become synonymous with X. All of the students seemed well-prepared for class and were able to intelligently respond to the professor’s provocative questions. Professor ABC, obviously, was also an integral component to the dynamic atmosphere in the classroom with his informative lecture that was filled with amusing expressions like “metaphysical libertarianism is such poppycock.” This friendly yet intellectual environment, where thoughts and opinions can be exchanged in a vibrant manner, is undoubtedly where I would like to receive my legal education.

Since submitting my application last fall, I have continued to be a diligent student as well as an active member of my extracurricular endeavors. Just recently, I have been nominated and accepted to present my research paper at the YZ Conference in Q. Only five undergraduate students and three graduate students were invited to represent [my undergrad] at this conference, and I will be presenting my paper entitled, “WXY” to a distinguished panel of judges. The first paragraph of this paper is enclosed with this letter. In addition, I have [...done 2 more things...]. All of these are being done while engaging in my usual activities, such as 12+ hours per week of working as a XX and being involved in XXX.

I hope that you and the committee take this into consideration when reviewing waitlisted applicants for admission to X Law. Thank you very much for taking the time to review my application thoroughly, and I hope to hear from you in the near future.