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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| "Dear David:"
so far, so good... this can swing either way.. at least they didn't address me as "fucking moron."
"We are very glad to have
received an application from you to the University of Michigan Law School, and
we found your qualifications extremely impressive."
crap.... they're starting with a compliment.. this isn't good..
"Although you are without
question a very strong candidate, we are unable to offer you admission at this
time."
well... i kinda knew this was gonna happen.. i'm a lil disappointed, out of the top schools, i thought i had the best shot at michigan.. i was expecting to be put on the waitlist though... not being rejected completely....
"I sincerely hope you are willing to be considered as part of our waitlist
while we ascertain what space is available in the entering class of 2008."
.........hm.... waitlist..... well, this is the best i could've realistically expected from michigan, so i'm happy. 
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| i just put in my first batch of law school applications, and i must say... it made me realize several things about me (not in the nice, self-reflection kinda way). i'm kinda not feeling very confident about my personal statement, so i'm hoping that a lil bit of free writing will help get me in the groove for writing a better essay for my second batch of schools. so to help me ease back into the whole writing thing, i figure i start with a very easy format... the good old fashioned list. so without further ado, here's my list of five things that applying to law school has made me realize about myself.
1. I can't write for shit anymore.... well... more like I was never able to write at all.
so the law school application is really made up of three things that carry alot of weight and, depending on the strengths of these three things, can get you accepted into a school. they are: your LSAT score, gpa, and personal statement (the recommendation doesn't carry much weight... you can't really ride a good rec to, say.. harvard. BUT, a bad rec can very easily destroy your chances of getting in... yea, it's not fair).
the personal statement is a complete bitch for the following reason... the only guideline that you have is that the schools "want to know more about you." .......ok..... so.... wtf does that mean??? oh, and here's the worse part, they're carefully reading what you're writing to determine how you would do in law school... but if you ever address them directly about why you want to go to law school or why you're well prepared for it, your essay practically gets chucked. well... that might be an exaggeration, but that's pretty much what happens.
they're also bored as fuck, so they not only want you to show them why you want to go to law school, but they expect you to amuse them for the five minutes they spend reading your essay. yea, i know... being an admissions officer blows at times because you're stuck reading thousands of shitty essays. but nonetheless, it's not fun being the monkey entertaining these officers.
2. My life was not extraordinary enough or tragic enough.
i read through some samples of personal statements and most described how the writer started a school in his impoverished home country or how the writer's cocaine addicted mother blew off her head. fucking hell... now what the fuck am i supposed to write to compete with the likes of that? sorry, i didn't start a school, or volunteer in subsaharan africa for two years, or lost my entire family in a horrible accident involving a fork and the bathroom sink... seriously now... i'm just an ordinary guy who wants to fucking go to law school.
there are entire books, filled with personal statements detailing amazing accomplishments or unbearable tragedies. and when you read through one of these books, you get the impression that EVERYONE BUT YOU is extraordinary. granted, these essays were probably collected over a long span of time, and at most maybe a few hundred of these people are competing against you for admission to law school.. but still, it's not fun thinking that you'll be competing with someone with identical numbers, but with a much more interesting story to tell. speaking of numbers...
3. You're a smart guy/gal! Well.... actually... here's a list of people just as smart as you or better....
i scored a 171 on the LSAT, putting me in the top 98th percentile of all test takers. this was no easy feat... i studied my ass off and the rest was dumb luck. i also have a 3.52 gpa... decent gpa, but not spectacular. so where can i apply to with these numbers? well, the top 15 law schools in the country are definitely within reason. what're my chances of getting into these schools? incredibly low.. why? because everyone else who scored in the high 160's and 170's will be applying.
the typical top 15 law school receives 5,000 applicants for 250-300 spots. it's very likely that an overwhelming majority of the applicants scored 170 or higher, so right off the bat, the advantage i get from having a high score is gone. now comes the gpa... my gpa is ridiculously low for the top 15 schools. the median gpa's for the top schools hover around 3.7, with the bottom 25% of their entering class having gpa's of 3.5.
so yea.. i have nice numbers, too bad everyone has similar or better numbers. oh, and combine high LSAT scores and gpa's with #1 and #2 of this list, and that equals quick rejection for me.
4. What the hell did I do with all those summers?????
here's one of the biggest regrets i have after going through the application process... i did absolutely nothing with my summers during college. did i work? nope..... did i intern somewhere? nope..... did i volunteer somewhere? not really, no..... did i travel? no......... did i study abroad? no.........
meanwhile, there are all these gifted writers who wrote personal statements about their volunteer work in some impoverished area, did internships during their summers, worked, did ridiculously well on the LSAT, and got great gpas from top notch schools majoring in difficult fields.....
ya know... all this stuff sounds unbelievable, but supposedly these people exist and are attending harvard law. assholes.
5. Thanks for dinner, don't call me.
the previous four realizations leads up to my fifth realization: i have absolutely no shot at the top schools, and yet, here i am, stressing myself out, trying in vain to impress them in the hopes that a severe lapse in judgment on their part will get me an acceptance letter.
yea, i know what some of you people will say... "oh come on... you never know what will happen unless you give it a shot.." well i agree, you never know what will happen... but do i really wanna put down a sizable sum of money in application fees to find out what i am 99% certain about already? i sent out five applications, spending about $350 in application fees. AND i have four more to send out.
applying to the top law schools is like taking a woman (who's way out of my league and not interested in me anyway) out on a date. i do my best to make a good impression, try to show that i'm smart, witty, charming, charitable, whatever the hell i think she wants to hear. she doesn't give a crap, orders the most expensive thing on the menu, drinks her fill of champagne, and leaves me the bill, saying "thanks for dinner, don't call me."
these schools are just going to take my money and reject me anyway. a friend of mine said this about law school rejections: "like i said to every woman i've ever dated, if you're going to reject me, at least be prompt about it." but no... i'm gonna have to wait approximately eight to ten weeks to get that rejection letter.
....they always say such nice things in rejection letters. i've received many.
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| 25 Looking for payday loan? i probably lost a few points for not going to the gym for the past 4 months and for not being as ruthless as i should be... i still would use a 5 year old as a weapon though.
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