Academic Stuff

Well this week was rather uneventful. After arriving to school from fall break on Tuesday we had a short week. Things in the house have been slow. I have an audit comming up, so I have been putting some time into straightening up our finances.

Lately I have been working on an idea for a research project. Earlier I posted a paper dealing with needing to standardize legal compensation between states. I plan to take this argument and extend it offering and testing a solution. My solution is to use the bond market as a predictor. The next step is to design and test a model dealing with projected interest rates from the bond market.

Friday I talked with Dr. Gardner, a Quantative Methods teacher about how to go about doing this. She was very helpful and gave me a list of websites to check out. After I research this I will be sure to update you with the list and some info on what I have found. My goal is to have the model expressed in terms of factors being a function of other factors by the end of next week. If this goes well it will double as a PLS 209 research project and a start to my Econ senior research paper.

I have been reading posts on law school discussion a lot lately. I am hoping to use winter break to get excited for the LSAT. Wish me luck.

Iowa

Well I'm out in Iowa for the weekend. I had hoped to visit the Pi Kappa Phi house at the University of Iowa, however I have been struggling to get a hold of any of the members down here. On the plus side I'm having a good time hanging out with buddies from home.

I visit the University of Iowa School of law. Like a few of the other law schools I have looked at, it appears as if everything you would ever need is located under one roof. I think that. An interesting thing about the school is that it is set up so that you can literally attend law school as if it is a full time job. There are personal study areas for non 1Ls and you can rent locker space. That have a dinning room and plenty of space to lounge around. It is really interestin how it is, in many ways set up for you to not leave.

I liked the lady I talked to, however the school seemed very competitive to me. I was reading a sylabus and it sounded more competitive than some other schools I have looked at. The message boards around the school had several references to "gunnars" and similar things.

I am excited about the fact that they are strong in two areas I feel I will probebally be weak in. First, I think I will struggle to make the adjustment and they offer weekly presentations on how to adjust to law school. Also, I feel as if I will be weakest in legal writting and they have several resources. Between Iowa and American I am sort of torn. I liked a lot of things about Iowa (including the location) but I didn't like how competitive it seems to be to make one of their journals, wheras at American it seems easier to get involved in journals and clinics. On other nice thing about Iowa is their promise that any interested person can become a RA and get in state tuition. I like this A TON.

I am torn. I would call my visit "good but not great."

Of the schools I have visited so far, I rank my experience:

1. George Washington
2. Iowa
2a. American University
3. University of Illinois
4. Northern Illinois
5. Southern Illinois

The more schools i visit the more I look forward to visiting more schools.

I'll update you on several things as they occur.

Thankful

Wow, what an awsome start to Fall Break.

I now have grades for all of my tests and I must say, I am thankful.

PLS 209 turned out about how I thought competitive for an A. I ended up with the highest possible A minus. I will take that as a solid start, hopefully I can improve upon that or at least hold my grade steady at A minus.

In QM 262 I raped the exam. Perfect score on the in class portion. I havent received the out of class grade yet, but I feel confident I did well enough for an A after all. Again, looking to maintain.

BMA 352 was solid. I ended up with a 94 percent, as did the kid that sits in front of me that is part of my group. Hopefully this will continue, thought section 2 is far more difficult.

ECO 332 was the shocker. I thought I had a low B. Somehow, Dr. Scott is the nicest grader of all time. I am still not sure how this happened but I ended up with an A. I am REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY hoping that I can continue this. A solid GPA this semester would be awsome and really boost my confidence (in a good way).

The last exam was the disappointment. In BMA 342 (business law) I ended up with an 84. This was a HUGE disappointment. I feel slightly better however because he is giving back three points because one multiple choice question was bogus. He also made it sound like I will be getting back 2 or 3 points from an essay question with some iffey grading. That would put me at 89-90, or the lowest A. Considering I did 10 minutes of studying, I am ok with this resullt.

One more exam to go (ELH 200, Introduction to leadership). Wish me luck.

On a side note, the sox won their first playoff series in my lifetime today. I am thankful beyong belief. It was touch and go there for a minutes (nice job saving the day Hernandez). Hopefully we can continue playing this type of super sharp baseball. This one was stressful. Lets keep it up!

I am heading to Iowa tonight. I have a law school visit planned, so of course there will be many comments about this once it is done. I am excited because this is a place I could really picture myself at.

Update On classes

Well now that all of my tests are over it is time to recap how things went.

I took my PLS 209 - Scopes and Methods test and it went.... about as well as I could have hoped. People say this is the hardest PLS class and they are correct. You really have to know the material to do well on Dr. Aspin's exams. I think I did fairly well, but I certainly did not kill the exam. Hopefully a low A, with a possibility for a high A. I would not be suprised if I got a B/B+, however I would be disappointed.

In ECO 332- Intermediate Microeconomic theory, the exam was challenging. I feel like I studied the appropriate material (though there was one question where I had no idea what "section" it was asking about. I do not think I did well enough to earn an A (especially after talking to a few other students). I feel like I understand the major concepts well, but I certainly would not deserve an A in this class, which is why I will not get one. I predict low B. This is the first time I have taken a test where there was an honest chance I got a C.

In BMA 342 - Business Law, I really really miscalculated. I guessed that I could walk into the test cold and score well. I didn't. I got all of the basic concepts correct, however on one essay question I possibly got a 0, I know I missed several multiple choice, and a poorly worded free response question will probebally cost me four points. Here's the offending question: " List two types of treaties and give examples." My answer: Extradidtion, the US Italian extradition treaty and Trade agreements, NAFTA. This is a true answer. You would think a lawyer would be more precise in his wording of questions. Since it was in an "explain the difference" section you would think he might have asked "explain the difference between unilaterial and multilateral" or something similar. Oh well, such is life.

I'll report back when I have scores.