hax0r's blog Forum

[the lsat hax0r]

Hi everyone!

I'm bored while waiting for my girlfriend to get off work, so I decided to start a blog. I should have started this earlier in the process, but better late than never. I'll start off this first post with just general stuff.

Schools:
When I first began the process, I only intended to apply to a few Texas schools. My number one choice for law school was always the University of Texas at Austin. That's part of the reason I chose to go there for undergrad. I figured I would apply to SMU and Baylor as safeties in case I didn't make it into UT. I had no idea that I would get fee waivers from the schools that I did. Without the fee waivers, I doubt I would be able to apply to more than just a few schools with my financial circumstances. So I was truly grateful to get so many great fee waivers. With that said, on to the schools I applied to.

Accepted
Baylor (Full tuition scholarship)
SMU (Full tuition scholarship)
NYU (At least $62,500 scholarship, up to $75,000)
UT-Austin ($15,000)
Vanderbilt ($60,000)
Virginia ($36,000)
STANFORD! ($32,057 for 2007-2008)
Columbia (withdrew before hearing financial offer)
UC-Berkeley ($60,000)

Waitlisted
Notre Dame
Penn
Duke

Rejected
Yale

[the lsat hax0r]

I'm a huge MAVS fan. This was on ESPN today:

Dallas had the sixth-best record in league history, at 49-9, with 24 games to go in the regular season. All five teams above them went on to win the championship.

The list:

YEAR TEAM W-L WIN PCT.
1995-96 Bulls 51-6 .895
1996-97 Bulls 50-7 .877
1982-83 76ers 50-7 .877
1971-72 Lakers 49-8 .860
1966-67 76ers 48-8 .857
2006-07 Mavs 49-9 .845

It's utterly ridiculous what they are doing this year. They've had three winning streaks of 12 or more games. They've won 14 straight right now, 21 in a row at home, won 35 of the last 37. They're 49-5 since starting out 0-4.

No one can beat this team in a series. They've got one of the best coaches in the NBA. Their team is ridiculously deep. They have a legitimate 10 man rotation. They can grind it out and play D, up against teams like San Antonio. Or they can run-and-gun with teams like Phoenix.

I'm counting down the days until the playoffs.

[the lsat hax0r]

I got some Dean's scholarship from Vanderbilt today. $60,000 total. Pretty awesome, I wasn't expecting anything from them.

Hopefully I can use this to leverage some more money from UT.

[the lsat hax0r]

Wow. This is the greatest day of my life.

Faye Deal just called and told me I'm in at Stanford.

Wow.

[the lsat hax0r]

In at Columbia!!

They sent an email to me with the subject heading "Columbia Law School - Decision Letter". It says my decision letter is on the way and they have included a PDF copy of the letter.

It says I'm accepted to CLS class of 2010!

This cycle has been so unreal. I cannot believe everything has gone so well. I'm so happy =)

[the lsat hax0r]

slow week.

[the lsat hax0r]

Wow.

Stanford just offered $32,000 per year.

I'll probably withdraw from all other schools now.

/wow.

[the lsat hax0r]

Sad post following. Don't read it if you don't want to feel sad afterwards.

Monday was my girlfriend's 21st birthday. Everything was going great. She got a lot of nice presents, her friends surprised her with lunch. We went to a happy hour with a group of friends. We came back at around 6. Decided to go to dinner. We left 30 minutes later, without thinking to say bye to her dog, Jack, because we'd be right back within an hour.

Dinner was great. She got a steak and had some leftover, so we decided to bring it home for Jack. We got back to the house roughly an hour later. Her roommates dog was sitting outside by himself. Jack absolutely loves to go outside, so it was unusual to find her roommate's dog (who hates going outside) out there without Jack. When we entered the house, we knew something was up. Jack wasn't waiting on the couch for us when we came home. Whenever we leave, he always drags out one of my girlfriend's t-shirts to lay on. He pulls it up with him to the couch and lays on her shirt until we come home. He does this every single time we go somewhere. Then when we come home, he rushes to the door and starts barking like crazy and jumping all over our legs. It's one of the cutest things ever.

That day, he didn't come running to the door. I immediately asked her roommates where he was. They said he's inside the house. I said, no he's not because he would have come running to the door. I check the house anyway and he isn't here. We run outside and start calling for him. We look around the neighborhood, walk down the block, etc. Still no sign of Jack. Her roommates decide to take a car ride around the area. We decide to go inside and try calling the pound to see if Jack got picked up.

Then her roommate enters the room and asks if "we saw Jack". We said no, where is he?. And all of a sudden I got the sickest feeling ever in the pit of my stomach. Her next response was "well, we saw him....he passed away". My girlfriend starts crying outloud at this point, and as I'm trying to comfort her, I can't help but cry either.

Somehow he had gotten outside, her roommates claim to have no knowledge of how he did so, and ran two blocks down and stepped into a very busy street. He got hit by a car. We ended up spending the rest of my girlfriend's 21st birthday burying him in the front yard.

It still makes me so sad to think about. He wasn't even a year old yet. I got him as a gift for her last year. His birthday was in less than two weeks. We were planning a birthday party for him. I cannot believe that we were gone for an hour, he was fine when we left and just not here anymore when we come back. I don't understand why this had to happen. Why? On her birthday of all days. It's so quiet around here without him anymore. His food is still here, his toys are still laying around and I still keep thinking that he's just going to be waiting for us when we come home. I think of all the little things he did, and how much I miss them.

I'm sorry, I can't type anymore right now. This makes me too sad. I'm going to put some pictures of Jack here.

[the lsat hax0r]

Back to law school news.

In at Boalt today via email.

I also got waitlisted at Notre Dame last week.

Cycle is winding down...c'mon Yale!

[the lsat hax0r]

Bought plane tickets to Stanford ASW, April 13-16th. Will take lots of pictures and have a big write-up.

Withdrew from a few schools: SMU, Baylor, Vandy, ND.

Didn't really need that Yale update email yesterday. It's just made me more anxious. Thanks Yale!

[the lsat hax0r]

$62,500 from NYU.

$36,000 from UVa.

Withdrew from Uva today. Never thought I'd turn down a T10.

The Mavs commence their beatdown of the Suns in 45 minutes.

[the lsat hax0r]

Withdrew from UT.

Coming into the cycle, they were my #1 choice. It's hard to withdraw from your alma mater but their complacent attitude and lack of information has completely turned me off to them. I realize UT is a huge, distant institution (I'm used to that from my undergrad experience) but I figured they could care a little more at the law school. Other than my acceptance letter and my scholarship offer, I think I received one letter praising UT and some stupid postcard about ASW from a 2L who writes like a fourth-grader. Sorry UT.

In stark contrast to UT is Stanford, who has absolutely amazed me with their recruitment drive. First, Ms. Deal called me with an acceptance offer (and gave me her number to call if I had any questions). It's a nice, personal touch to the often impersonal admissions process. Then I received a huge acceptance packet in the mail a few days later (it cost $9 to ship!). It came with the acceptance letter, intent to enroll form, FAQ (admission deposit, transcripts, housing and financial aid), forms to submit to be considered about financial aid, etc - the usual. In addition, they included a copy of the academic calendar for 2007-2008, employment report for the Class of 2005 (very detailed!). The nice goodies included a map of Stanford, an $11 hardcover guide to San Francisco (128 pages), copy of Stanford lawyer magazine, and a "Why Stanford?" book with answers to every possible question I had about the school. And they sent a t-shirt!

In the weeks following that, I received a nice personal email from Dean Kramer, and an invitation to email him whenever I wish. I received emails from 1Ls that are a part of SLLSA (Stanford Law Latino Students Association). I've been chatting back and forth with one of the students who has been extremely helpful. Their assistant director of admissions has also emailed me a few times and has always responded within a few hours whenever I have a question. Stanford also sent me nice glossy booklets with information on every single one of their clinics, which was a lot of information. They sent me a packet with all the housing info you need, along with my financial aid offer within 3 weeks. They're paying for over 80% of my tuition, which is insane.

And I'm visiting Stanford for ASW on April 13-16, and they'll reimburse me up to $400 for the trip, which basically means I go for free.

I'd be incredibly surprised if any school can top their effort. They constantly keep you informed, the people are terrific and I cannot wait until I get to see the school.

99% sure I'm headed there in the Fall.

[the lsat hax0r]

Stanford sent me something again today. A letter from a faculty member praising the school, the professors and all that is Stanford.

I also got a letter from Vanderbilt today regarding my withdrawal. It was a very nice letter, where they basically said they're sorry to hear about the withdrawal, they wished I would have enrolled at Vandy and they wished me the best of luck in my career. It's nice that they went through the trouble of sending me a letter considering I simply emailed my withdrawal to them.

Speaking of that, UVa just sent a nice email too:

Dear Mr. hax0r,

Thank you for notifying us of your decision not to attend the University of Virginia School of Law. We are always disappointed when one of our best applicants elects to decline an offer of admission. Would you be willing to take a few minutes to help us better understand the factors that were important to your enrollment decision? We have posted a simple on-line survey on the School of Law website at --LinkRemoved--
Completing the survey should take only a few minutes of your time, and we will very much appreciate your perspective and feedback on the admissions process.

Wherever you choose to study law, I know that you have a challenging and rewarding three years ahead. We wish you the very best of success with your legal education and in your professional career, and we thank you for your interest in the University of Virginia School of Law.

Sincerely,

Uva

You stay classy, San Diego.

[the lsat hax0r]

I just rejected NYU and Columbia.

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.

[the lsat hax0r]

Just got back from Stanford's ASW. It was amazing. I'm definitely going to SLS.

Pictures!

DELETED BROKEN IMAGES

[the lsat hax0r]

Rejected at Yale.

$20k per year from Boalt.

Waitlisted at Penn and Duke.

Cycle is finally over.

[the lsat hax0r]

Turbochela is my new hobby. It's about finishing a beer in 2-3 seconds flat.

Read about it: --LinkRemoved--)

Everyone should try this. Girls love it too because they don't actually taste the beer, but it fucks them up.

Don't buy expensive shit either. I use High Life or any of the main Lite beers (Bud, Miller, Coors). There's no point in wasting money when you're not going to taste the beer.

This technique gets you hammered. It is a lot of fun with a group of people, that way you can have races. You can make rules like: last person to finish has to take another immediately, etc.

And if you're feeling crazy: use two straws. We call it dual-exhaust. It's almost impossible to keep up with it.

[the lsat hax0r]

It took long enough but my cycle has finally come to an end. I'm glad that it's finally over.

I remember when I first came to this site shortly before the December LSAT. I had no idea then that the law school application process would be so exhausting and time-consuming. For the last five months, a big chunk of my life has revolved around law school apps. I've spent almost every day eagerly anticipating some sort of law school news and spent a lot of my time on this very forum (and LSN & LSD). It's time for that to come to an end. After hearing back from every school, and deciding on where I am going this Fall, there really isn't a reason for me to spend much of my time on here anymore. I'm glad this whole process is finally over, and I can focus on different things in my life.

Good luck to everyone else who is still awaiting decisions.

I'd like to thank Ken for creating this great site that is probably the best resource on the web for anything law related. And thanks to all the forum users who were there to help me with any questions, offered advice and support.

I've withdrawn from all my schools.

Stanford Law, Class of 2010.