Friday, December 30, 2005

An imperfect process

When I first started thinking about law school I thought of the admissions committee in a somewhat idealized way. In many ways I saw them as the "keepers of the gate" into their respective schools and viewed the decisions they made as being logical and uniformed (in other words, I largely believed that the admissions committee agreed on their decisions and that if somebody was admitted, everybody on the committee agreed that they deserved to become a student at the university.

I do not know where this image came from. The more I read, the more I become convinced that admissions is a scatershot process where luck and timming play a far larger roll than I would like to admit. With this in mind, it is comforting to know that the men and women making the decisions take great care in making certain that they make informed decisions about each candidate.

What sparked all of this thought? A trip to the blog of Toby Stock, the Director of Admissions for Harvard University. If you want a good read, feel free to drop in:

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/admissions/

While the process is not perfect, and a unanimous decision is not always the case, it is good to know that at the very least each memeber of the admission committee is making every possible effort to learn as much as they can about the candidates who's fate they are deciding before making a decision.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

School for lefty

As I have been telling many many people that I talk to about issues of diversity, law school, acaemia, or anything similar, empirical evidence is starting to emerge that shows that our societies obsession with affirmative action, along with a few other factors have led to an interesting situation: The vast majority of academics are left leaning. Some claim this is not problematic or that there are bigger diversity issues to worry about than political affiliation.

I will conceed that there is one greater diversity issue: income. I feel that if we are ever going to assemble "truely representative" law school classes than the single most important factor we should use in assessing diversity is the variation in the income level of the families that a university's students come from. Race, gender, sexual orientation, and other factors are all minor compared to income level. In fact, an AA candidate from the top tax bracket has probebally (I do not actualy know because I am not an AA candidate or in the top tax bracket) experienced very little that is different from a non-AA candidate in a comperable bracket, while a poor applicant, regardless or race, has a very unique view to offer.

This aside, ideology, especially among faculty has a far more drastic impact on the variety of viewpoints brought to a classroom that other factors. If the "new" justification for AA is that we need to promote a variety of viewpoints and achieve a "critical mass" to better the learning envoironment, then shouldn't having a faculty (aka the group with the most control over learning) come from diverse\representative backgrounds be more of a priority? How is a student that goes through law school having 1 conservative professor for every 4 or 5 liberal professors creating a balanced person? It isn't.

Its time we stop obsessing over AA as a means to creating more well rounded individuals and start focusing on the composition of the faculty, aka the people that actually attempt to shape the though processes and view of students. Either that, or we need to come up with a better reason to support AA than "it is needed to foster a positive learning environment."

Finally, for some additional reading on this idea, I want to encourage you to take a look at an article by a liberal Yale law professor about the topic:.... http://www.law.yale.edu/outside/html/Public_Affairs/686/yls_article.htm

Have a good night everybody!

Good Reading

Well I wandered around the internet today searching for some interesting law school related reading. I found one site that I think everybody should at least give a cursory glance to in order to get a view into the mind of a Biglaw associate. This article definately made me NOT want to go into big law. I hope it is an exageration but I do not think it is.

Here is the link for anybody that is interesting:

http://opinionistas.blogspot.com/

Also, I took a quick look around and discovered something: There are a ton of quality law school student blogs on the internet right now. If you get a chance, check out Barley Legal (sorry its not what you are thinking) at:

http://barelylegalblog.blogspot.com/

Last ten posts or so are falling off my chair hilarious!

Enjoy the reading!

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

"Secret Reading"

I finished "Freemasonry" this week and I have some thoughts on the book.

First and foremost, I would not recommend this book to somebody as a casual read but if you are looking for a little more information and have some background to begin with then it can add a lot of interesting information, specifically about the history (drawn from primary sources). Also, any fraternity man should read this book to fully understand the history and importance of their organization.

On another note, I am beginning to get reinvigorated about the law school application process and also nervous. I hear applications are down this year, I hope that trend continues into next year.

I am beginning "How to talk to a Liberal if You Must," I'll let you know what I think as I get into the book.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Addiction

I have started work again and that means one thing: my addiction to law school discussion has been reinvigorated. I have spent about 2 hours a day (conservatively) reading and posting various ideas on LSD, and what have I learned? Not much, other than that law schools have the horrible idea of having the main part of their application period take place during the most hectic mail season of the year when everything takes longer to deliver.

On a related thought: Lets say I am an 8 year old boy. One of my older cousins (that is of legal age) tells me that for $1 he will sell me a machine that will trap Santa in my house. In anticipation of Santa being trapped in my house I spend about $300 (I do not know how an 8 year old gets $300) on items to make Santa more comfortable. Not clearly there is an implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose problem here in that his machine will not be able to do what he claims it will. I am fairly certain I would be entitled to my $1 back, but would I be able to claim that I relied on him promise that the machine would trap Santa when I spent the $300 and as a result be entitled to collect $300 from my cousin as well? Its interesting food for thought.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Grades in

Wow, two days in a row, what a change from my latest pace!

Grades came in late last night\early this morning (I don't know when they went up, I just saw them now).

The verdict is good, straight A's. I feel good about the semester in general: academic, social, involvement, exc.

Now I am left to sit around for the winter and contemplate getting a job.

On another note, it seems like everybody and their mother is going to law school these days. Family friends I didn't know had even considered law school are in the process of applying for next fall. It is kind of neat but at the same time I hope this is not the beginning of a trend.

Monday, December 19, 2005

WOW a long time

Well first of all let me appologize for being away for such a long time. A lot of things have changed and I guess its time that I update you on the goings on in my life.

First and foremost, The second round of exams was almost identical to the first.

Quantative Methods: Exactly the same but with an extra credit portion, instead of a 100% I eneded up with a 104%.

Economics: Another tough but good exam from Dr. Scott, I definately didn't have the highest score but I still turned in a high A, which I am more than happy with.

Political Science: A solid A. A tough test.

Business Law: Another B+, man I cannot figure out this man's tests for the life of me.

Business Management: A solid A (like a 94ish).

Leadership has only has 1 exam, I earned a low A. Also, we are in the middle of reworking this class from the bottom up, talk about a stressful time.

Overall I am very pleased with this result. I am well positioned to have a good chance at an 18 hour 4.0 come finals time.... at the very least there is a solid shot at 5 A's and a B. (Crosses fingers).

Next, in the beginning of December both Pi Kapp and IFC had their elections. For Pi Kapp I was elected President, a position that is both exciting and depressing at the same time. I was elected the President of IFC as well. While I know that we must begin so VERY unpopular changes, I am excited about the possibility of being able to create meaningful change for the entire Greek Community.

Finals just finished up and I am not yet certain how I performed.

Quantative Methods: This exam did not seem too tough, I feel like I probebally got a high A, I feel like I certainly got the C+ that I needed for an A in the class.

Business Law: Ok, this class was tough. I thought it would be a roll over, but in the end it ended up VERY challenging. I did not think I did well on the final ( a lot of multiple choice I didn't have a good idea about), however I needed a low B for an A thanks to some extra credit case briefings and I feel like I probebally did well enough to get the grade I needed.

Leadership: The exam was fun. I had an honest to goodness fun time writting this take home exam and took time to take shots at any and everything I could think of. I think I did well on this test and had fun doing it. I am fairly certain I got an A on this exam and in the class.

Economics: Good exam, a challenging mix of old and new questions. The throw away policy is going to help me, but I needed a 72 for an A on this exam and I feel like I probebally earned at least that. My gut says low A (perhaps 92?). I feel generally confident. On a side note for econ majors, I was asked to relate marginal cost to productivity of labor. I ended up using guess and check to find the formula, but written in a different order..... hopefully that will count.

Business management: This one I am not certain about. I did not need an all word score, this is one of two classes that could hurt my straight A bid. My guy says I probebally did just barely enough for an A, but I am not certain and as a result I am nervous.

Political Science: This exam was a trainwreck from the beginning. I studied exactly the wrong information. Note to future political science majors: you can do well on the final if you ONLY know partials. I thought partials woudl be a minor part of the exam and only glanced at them. BIG MISTAKE. hopefully I earned just enough points for a rounded B+ which SHOULD give me an A in the class..... I need luck and lots of it to do well here. I really hope I did not stick myself by not emailing a homework assignment. If I had to pick one class that would ruin my bid for a 4.0 it would definately be this one.

Thats all for now, content should increase over winter break, also, I am looking for a new site, anybody with any suggestions feel free to make them.