Waiting

So at this point I am waiting for LOR's. This is really stressful because this part of my application is out of my hands. Add to this that one of my writers is having the busiest time of his life and I am fairly nervous that something might get forgotten.

In the spirit of this I have made a list of 5 things to do to pass the time at college while waiting for LOR writers to get your stuff in.

5: Watch every episode of Family Guy.... twice. I am convinced that college students keep tv show box set profitable. Need to pass the time? What better way than watching 30 hours of the same tv show. Sure the jokes aren't related to the plot, but what better way to pass the time then the random collection of punch lines that is Family Guy?

4: Watch 24 in real time: Similar to the family guy marathon, watching a season of 24 in real time (one full 24 hour day) adds a new level of authenticity to the show. Large supplies of sugar are needed and bathroom breaks are recommended during the time that was supposed to be used for commercial. Do this and you have knocked a day off of your wait.

3: Actually do homework for a class. Sure your grades have already been sent, but if you end up on waiting lists wouldn't it be nice to show a GPA improvement? After completing #4 you will no doubt be behind in at least one if not all of your classes, so why not take some time to catch up, open the books that cost you $500 + and overachieve a little.

2: Hit on somebody of the opposite gender. From what I hear law school isn't super condusive to dating, so take this time to go out to a bar or other place of interest and chat up an attractive male/female. With any luck you will get a phone number and develop a new way to kill even more time. Don't get too attached however, in a few months you will be leaving for the ultimate relationship killer, law school.

1: Exercise. I'm sure will all your worrying and application polishing you probebally haven't gotten outside to go for a jog. Take this time and enjoy the outdoors before the weather turns horrible. Play a game of touch football, go for a jog or find some friends for sand volleyball. Whatever your activity of interest is, go out, get some sun, and exercise!

Disappointments and Karma

This week hasn't been the most exciting. It has been extremely busy but it hasn't been very exciting. It also hasn't been the most uplifting. I was talking to a friend from home about this very thing today and he said: man, if karma isn't your friend this week, you better hold of on law school appliations.

Obviously this is a comment made in jest but he has a fair point. Things haven't been falling my way recently and with law school (the most important results I have had in my life to date) on the horizon it seems to make sense to wait for karma to be on my side.

Does anybody have any karma suggestions? How do I put myselves back on the good sides of the fates just in time for decisions (hopefully postive) to arrive?

Obviously this is in jest, but I wasn't home much this weekend and I've had a crazy week, plus, it is something worth thinking about.

Please leave any suggestions for improving karma!

Classes (continued)

Since I have a few minutes, I will continue the discussion of what I expect from my upcoming classes for the semester that I started a few days ago.

PLS419, Introduction to Public Administration: Ok, so the material seeks like it could go either way and the testing method (4 take homes) seems like it should offer an opportunity for success, but the professor makes me rethink this. To begin with, he seems dry. More importantly, he has a reputation as being a VERY tough grader when it comes to his exams and I am not sure how much I will be able to benefit from the "Take home" aspect. At least it knocks off one class that I will need to cram for. His test questions also seem odd. Hopefully I can do well and get on his good side. I plan to see him twice per exam, hopefully this is a good strategy.

ELH: These classes will be tougher than I expected but I still think they will be enjoyable.

ENG 301: After one class all I have to say is WOW. The teacher is pretty funny which is good, but this class is going to be WORK. I am glad that I am in the honors program, and I don't mind doing some where, but after 1 day of class I already regret not sucking it up and taking the evening class that wasn't honors with the rollover teacher. Hopefully I am making more of this than it is, but daily writing assignments = scarey.

Classes

Classes started today, here are my impressions so far:

My EHS class could go either way. The students seemed like they could be a good time, hopefully we will let them have some fun. I heard a great line from a freshmen guy today. When asked what he wanted to be in five years he said: "A father." All the girls couldn't help but go "awww."

PLS 302 should be interesting with a though grading scale. A 10-15 page paper, a group project, and two tests = a hard class. Throw in the fact that this is Aspin and the other students are all very solid/inteligent people and this could be my most (or at least one of my most) competitive classes. At least the topic should be interesting.

ELH: Easy......

I will update you on the others later in the week!

Also, with law school applications coming up soon I will be checkin in about those often. Good luck to everybody applying in this cycle!

Update: I talked to the professor writing my main academic LOR and she said that she knew about it, would do it, and was going to complete it right at the end of the month.

Thanks so much to her!

An equality rant that has nothing to do with affirmative action

Ok, so before I start with a rant from this afternoons activities, I would like to qualify it: this has nothing to do with AA. I don't mean that in a sarcastic way, I mean I am ranting about something I saw happen here on campus, nothing more.

So something drove me crazy today: people that play both sides of the fence. This surfaces every year during welcome week and bothers me every year. Here is the thing that I can't stand: if you want to be a part of something, and you want everything to be equal, then act like it. Don't say "we want to be treated like you" most of the time, then turn around fifteen minutes later and go "oh, but you have agreed to conceed something here in return for benefits and I don't want to conceed that, so I wont, but I still want the benefits." Get over it. You are either in or out, there is no middle.

On the flip side, groups that celebrate their "elite" or "unique" status, shouldn't then pretend to be "one of the rest" in order to enjoy those benefits. This is stupid. Be what you want, but don't have your hand out if the others can't.

Sorry for that having nothing to do with law school. On a more law related note, tomorrow is my first full day of work for the semester. More importantly, Wednesday starts classes and I begin meeting with professors to fine tune my application package.

Liability?

Today I had to ponder an interesting question: Is it capable for somebody to approve something (an act that would assume liability) contingent on the fact that liability is removed from them? Isn't this essentially "you can do it if it doesn't come back to bite me in the butt?"

Here are some more details. To insure ethical behavior and that a proper image is presented an organization I am a part of requires all members to submitt what they will be doing for certain activities. We were presented with an activity that we believed to carry a high degree of liability.

After reading the waiver (which I believe to be solid, but I still lack advanced training) I informed them that we would approve it "contingent on the fact that we were completely absolved from liability." Is this possible? It failure to completely deny the request consent? I am still not sure, this is why I need law school.

On a side note, why did I sign up for this stuff? I just angered LOTS of people tonight and had to listen to 20 minutes of complaining from some student about something that doesn't even relate to him.

Work

So much to my suprise, I started work today. I had myself written down to start next Thursday, but apparently I made a mistake and was supposed to begin today. I was getting lunch during work week when I received a phone call askign where I was. I quickly got dressed and went in, but the damage was done. Thankfully that experience is over. What a crappy way to start a day.

Also, I had some Greek drama today, but I think that is resolved, at least until tomorrow.

Finally, I was speaking with our office manager and learned something interesting about the legal market I currently am in (Central Illinois). Apparently, starting salary for an associate in central IL is between 40 and 50 K... kind of makes it seem like the DA's office isn't a terrible option. Anyway, that pretty much seals the deal for me not wanting to work out here after graduation.

Missed Goals

Well I didn't reach the goal I set for myself. Instead of having all of the simple stuff done, I only completed two small tasks which leaves me with some heavy duty writing and proofreading to complete between now and the end of the week.

On the plus side, I did get some things done.

My activities and awards sheet is as complete as it can be. The only event remaining is the committee that I was appointed to, but I won't be filling that out until I have a better grasp of what it is (thank god I have 4 weeks until I start submitting applications.) In addition, my resume is edited and ready except for adding that activity.

The next big task is lining up proofreaders. I have four criteria for proofreads that I will be using:

1. Good as english. This includes both the ability to write in ways that make sense and skills in grammar, which is where I will need the most work.

2. Somebody that I see often. I will need to keep on them and I am hoping for a quick turnaround.

3. Somebody that will have enough time to get it done quickly.

4. Doens't know me too well. They need to know me enough to not have a problem doing it, but I don't want them to bring enough outside knowledge to the reading because I do not want them to read between the lines.

Hopefully I will be able to find somebody. I will update when I do!!

Back at School

I'm back at school for a while which means its back to reality pretty soon. My goal was to be ready by now, and thought I didn't complete it, I am going to try and take the weekend (since not many people will be around until tomorrow) to catch up and get stuff taken care of. Hopefully everything will work out!

The goal for the end of my today is to have all the simple stuff (for example awards lists and a touched up resume) complete. I will be putting the awards and involvement list into application folders (which I have talked about before) but will wait on my resume.

In related news, I was appointed to a university committee to work on a putting together the details for a joint-venture between a local federal center and the university. This could be a really neat experience once I figure out the details.

Not much else new here. I don't have internet access in my room which is a pain, but I will try to continue posting as often as possible. I am not to worried, computers are not hard to find around here.

One Step Closer

So today I took one more small step towards setting up my application cycle. Today I finished organizing my documents into what I need for each school. I have put each document in a digital folder for every school that needs it along with changing any school specific references. This doesn't sound like much, but for some schools it was the difference between needing to figure out what all I needed and being 100% ready to apply.

Speaking of ready to apply, I heard from a recommender yesterday that she just sent of my targeted LOR's. This is big news! I am now one step closer to having a complete application! I give her major kudos for being the first of my recommenders done. When I get back to school Friday I will begin knocking on doors to remind the others that time is running out for my LOR's to get written and submitted. (2 weeks left if I am going to do this right!) Hopefully everybody else will be this on the ball. I found out I have a few more documents, but they are mostly recompiling and not as much about writing new documents.

Wish me luck!

In Related News: Your an Idiot

So Maurice Clarrett was arrested.... again. This time he was being stopped for an illegal U turn when he led the cops on a chase for a while, then pulled into a parking lot. When the cops asked him to get out of the car he refused. They taser'd him but he was wearing a buller proof vest so it didn't work. Then they used the wonderful happy fun spray to get him down. Inside the car was a riffle, handgun, and bottle of vodka. I dunno what he was doing, but I can TOTALLY see how whatever it was beats playing professional football, or even staying in college, on a free ride, and enjoying life. Smart guy. Really. Smart guy.

Additionally, he hasn't played a down of professional football. He had a 1 year college career. Thats it. It doesn't look like he will ever play again soooooo.....

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN THIS MAN BEING AN IDIOT PLEASE STOP BEING NEWSWORTHY!!!!

He is constantly an idiot..... its not news anymore.

And yes to both of you that emailed me, You're is spelled the way Maurice would spell it.... Your
That is all.

LSAC and GPA

Today I am going to continue an online argument that I joined in on earlier and finally touch on a point that I have been meaning to touch on (read: rant about) for a while.

LSAC recalculates your GPA. They tell you how they do it, they post the scale they use, the rules are online, and your university can tell you how they display varioius things on your transcript. All these things together mean one thing: There is no excuse or reason to complain about LSAC unfairly recalculating your grades.

Now to qualify that statement. First, if you go to a school that uses written evaluations instead of grades, you can complain. Additionally, if you were out of school for a long time and decided a legal career was for you, then you are also excused because, as we have said earlier, your work experiences tops (doesn't replace but tops) your grades, so any recalculation should pale in comparison to your work experience. As for the rest of you, get over it. Notice that I didn't say people that didn't know how LSAC recalculated your GPA or who didn't know they wanted to be lawyers. If you didn't know LSAC recaclulated your GPA, shame on you. You are making a gigantic life decision, the least you can do is find out the details of how you will be evaluated. As for those who didn't know they wanted to go to law school, you don't get to complain. First, your GPA is probebally a good indicator of your academic ability since it is "ungamed" and shows how well you perferm without the bias created by people doing what they can to up their GPA. Additionally, there is a good chance these people are going to law school because they 1. couldn't find a job or 2. have an unmarketable major, so these people by definition I don't feel bad for since these are terrible reasons to go to law school. Also, if you started pre-med then went pre-law cause you couldn't hack it in pre med and your transcript is a mess because of it, you get no sympathy. You are probebally pre law because you want a professional degree thats carries a big salary and respect, you get no sympathy here.

Now that my ad hominem arguements are over here comes an actual analysis of why LSAC recalculating is necessary:

Before I can do this, it is necessary to note the GPA is a flawed measurement (which is why I believe the LSAT is a good tool for assessing candidates) and that the system isn't perfect but it is an attempt at takign SOME of the variation out of grades.

Ok, so first and foremost, different schools have different grading systems. LSAC is not a substitute for understanding an institution and a major, but it does a nice job of taking out a few biases that result from institutions using various policies. If one school lets students retake at will and the other counts each against you, clearly it is easier to get a good GPA from school 1. If one school coulds A+'s different from another, clearly the more generous one gives students an advantage. LSAC standardizes so that adcomms can look at a GPA and have a general feel for how the student did. Thats what it tries to do. To that end, rigid rules are necessary. I dont care what your school said, I care how well you did compared to what my school did, and every other school did and for that reason LSAC is necessary.

One exception: I feel for anybody who took college classes while in high school and did not do well. You are the only people getting screwed in this system (with the above exceptions noted). To the people that are upset because their W's came back to bite them: Get over it, you shouldn't have dropped the class, you should have done better! Do the people that are angered by the fact taht they couldn't replace that D- with a B+, why did you get a D the first time? I believe we can all agree that there is a big difference between gettting a D than a B and getting a B the first time.....

In total, get over your GPA recalculation. It standardizes. If it bothers you to think that somethign was "taken away" then think of it like this: Your school gave you a bonus for going there, they raised your GPA over what it "should be" on this standardized scale.

And most importantly, everybody, stop acting like you "deserve" something and stop acting like something in the process going against you is somebody "taking something away from you."

Easy for me to say, I have started receiving rejection letters yet.

A Minority Law Professors View on AA

Today somebody that I have a lot of respect for sent me the following link:

http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2006/the-biggest-mistake-of-her-life/

I read through the article and had several thoughts which I will refrain from sharing here. I hope you all read it, it provides a unique look into the side of Affirmative Action that often gets overlooked. I hope you read the comments, they are a good example of what a hot button issue this is, very few actually address the article, they all just address the idea of being pro/con affirmative action. I would be interested to see some empirical data to show to what degree the author's experience is representative and to what degree he is relying on unrepresentative personal experiences.

As I said, I am refraining from comment, but its an interesting read.

Apps are out... finally

So LSAC posted applications today. Needless to say I spent several hours going through applications and trying to get things ready. For the most part the applications were automatic, and my goal was only to get to the point where I just had to go "ok, I'm basically done with the application part, time to attach essays." I got through about 3/4 of the schools I plan on applying to, so it was a solid first day. Hopefully I will finish up tomorrow. In filling out applications, I noticed a few annoying things about the way information transfers from the common info form to the real form:

1. I go to Bradley Univ...... it took me a long time to catch this, and I have to triple check applications to make sure this doesn't show up repeatedly.

2. I am an econ major. This is true, except that the form automatically shortends the work to econ when I want it to read economics. This didn't seem like a big deal, but after I started correcting it, it got annoying in a hurry.

3. My parential information transfers all sorts of odd ways. LSAC really struggles to grasp the idea that my father is not living.

Also, I wish schools took more care to include instructions on what they want sent seperate from the application. To this end University of Chicago does the best job, major props to them.

I hope to finish this project tomorrow and mabye to write a needed addenda. Also, I would like to finish my SOP this week if possible.

How We Teach Our Lawyers

I dont have any deep thoughts today, just a link to some ideas posted by an academic. Here is the link:

http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2003/10/the_socratic_me.html

For anybody that doesn't know Brian Leiter is the person who does the strength of faculty rankings, which I consider to be the second most often cited rankings (after USNews of course). It is an interesting article. Normally I find Leiter overly negative, but this particular article interests me.

An Interesting Read

http://sptimes.com/2006/01/22/Floridian/In_his_own_defense.shtml

I found this and thought it was interesting. If you have some time to kill, give it a read.

Arguments That Are Pointless

So there are lots of arguments in the world that are pointless. In almost any walk of life you can find a debate over which people are divided: Mantle v. Joe D, VHS v. Beta (mabye not anymore), DVD v. Whatever that Blueray thing is, Public v. Private control, auction v. snake draft (I'm in a fantasy football mode) or countless other arguments that are industry and interest specific.

For law students there are plenty of these. Today I want to take the time to put three of them to rest. I am sure that I will repeat this again, but for new, we have three arguments that are pointless finally put to bed.

Columbia v. NYU
If I had a dollar for every time I saw somebody post about which of these schools is better, where they should go, or if the rankings are incorrect in their assessment, I could pay for law school without any loans. They are basically identically ranked schools in the exact same legal market. Columbia is the old blood Ivy, NYU is the high spending upstart. Both produce top level law students that take top level firm jobs. If you want to go into academics is Columbia better? Yes. If you want to go into International Law is NYU better? Sure. If you want to go into Public Interest will NYU kids tell you they are better? Ya. Are they? I can't really tell, the sample sizes are too different. The point is this: at either school you will get a top rate education and have the opportunity for top flight jobs. Stop arguing, its pointless.

LSAT or GPA
The only semi-official study I have seen is that using a combination of LSAT and GPA is a better predictor of law school success than flipping a coin and that the difference is statistically significant. To my knowledge there is no evidence one way or the other that one is "right" and the other is "wrong." What I do know is that law schools consider both, but that LSAT seems to determine "where you can go" and GPA seems to determine "if you will get it." Even this isn't an exact science. Which is better? Having high numbers for both is better (unless you go someplace that does a straight 1-500 ranking, in which case low numbers rule!) Do well on both. If you dont, oh well. The LSAT is a one day test. GPA's are easy to game and very too much (not to mention there is an unlimited number of 3.8 +, especially compared to 170+. This debate is stupid and only adcomms opinion matters, and in reality, they are forced to care by USNews.... so get over it. The argument is pointless.

PowerScores or Testmasters
They are the same course. They cover the same course material. They both strive for 10 point increases. The only difference is that one is an offshoot of another and that they use different copywriten terms to describe things in an obvious way. They will both help. You should take one. I tried PowerScores and will always recomend it because it was successful for me. I bet testmasters would have worked just fine also. Take the one that is closer or has a better teacher, but don't argue about it.

Dear People that Put Together Law School Applications:

Dear people that put together the applications I am filling out this fall:

Can you please tell me something? Why on earth are you having me write a diversity statement? University of Michigan, you can feel free to ignore this, since you gave me 6 choices and I just happened to selected the diversity statement because I am lazy. For the rest of you, why do you specifically ask me for a diversity statement? I mean, even when its optional, its not really "optional." When you specifically ask for one, or say you can also submitt a diversity statement, what you are really saying is "ok white kids, time to come up with 250 words on how you are different than the majority, lets see how creative you can be in coming up with things that we really don't care that much about." If somebody really had a super unique trait that they felt you wouldn't know from their application, they would have/should have written it in their personal statement. Now you get a few thousand "Im unique because I went to X on vacation and really understood how my nation is viewed oversees" and other similar, unimportant, contrived essays.

If somebody really is diverse, they would write it in their personal statement. The diversity statement is a waste.

Here's another option: use ONLY the diversity statement as your judge of diversity. When somebody is considered diverse because they check a box (without explaining the significance or importance of that box and how it gives them a perspective to add to the classroom) you take away the entire value of the diversity statement. If we toss out the boxed for traditional race based diversity and instead say everybody have to write a statement stating what they will bring or add to the law school class...... oh wait, thats what a personal statement is supposed to do.

The diversity statement is garbage. Either make the diversity statement the ONLY way to be considered for diversity factors (including URM status.... you only get it if you demonstrate how it has impacted you through a diversity statement) or, better yet, USE THE PERSONAL STATEMENT, THATS WHAT IT IS THERE FOR!

I feel better now.

Dont say that

Ok, so there is one sentence about law school admissions that bugs me above all others: he/she doesn't deserve to get in. This sentence has a slightly less but still very annoying counsin that goes something like "I deserved to get in but didn't because of X criteria for admission."

Look, adcomms look for what they look for. Don't rant about how the LSAT or you college GPA shouldn't count. They do. You know this when you apply. Get over it and get over yourself.

Here are some common claims along with my thoughts:

Why should one test count for more than four years of academic performance?: Oh I don't know, mabye because its the only tool available to fairly match one person against another. This comment usually comes from somebody with a 3.9 from a XY state. The LSAT is the only part of the process where everybody is given the same/a very similar shot. GPA's are easily played with. Inflation is different between schools and majors have a huge impact on what your final GPA is. The LSAT is the only element where everybody is competing on the same or a similar test. Get over it. If you dont do well, study harder. Now, if you were working for two years and are complaining because the LSAT overshadows your WE, that I feel for, but to complain because the LSAT is weighed more than GPA.... no. Stop talking.

My GPA is old, it shouldn't matter:
It does, mabye you should have done better in college. Remember, law school is still school. This is the only indication of how you perform in an academic setting

My GPA was bad, but I got a 4.0 for my MBA:
Grad school grades are a joke. Accept it. They are really really inflated.

I should be URM because I am (Jewish, Asian, etc.):
You are over represented as it is. In my opinion, if we are going to stick with the idea of AA balancing things you, you should be put at a DISADVANTAGE, not an advantage. Stop looking for a handout. If you really did struggle because of this factor, congrats, you have the perfect personal statement topic.

I have work experience:
This is great, and it definately will help you get into law school, but when people claim that their work experience is so good that both their LSAT and GPA shouldn't matter.... well..... I don't buy that. There are lots of candidates with good work experience, you shouldn't expect this to be the ONLY factor that gets you in.

My awsome EC's didn't help:
Mabye they wheren't as awsome as you thought. There are tons of student body and fraternity presidents applying to law school and lots of people do community service things.

A wee bit closer

So I finished cutting my diversity statement down to one page today. It is very short and to the point, I don't know if it will help but I don't think it will hurt. I am not sure how many schools that I am applying to will request a diversity statement, but if they want one, I've got one. At this point I now have the following tasks left:

1. Get letters of recommendation into LSAC
2. Decide 100% for sure on what my personal statement will be
3. Edit the heck out of my personal statement
4. Finish my statement of purpose
5. Write a Why Michigan essay
6. Edit resume

Things that I have completed:
1. Study for the LSAT
2. Take the LSAT
3. Compile a resume
4. First run through of applications
5. Diversity statement
6. Why Penn
7. Get LOR info to writers

So I would say when my LOR's get in, I will have the most difficult parts of the application process out of the way and will be ready to begin applying.

I am thinking that my targeted letters and one of my LOR's will be in in the next few weeks. I have no idea when my two academic letters well be complete.

Its starting to get to crunch time.

Mail Call

I got back from vacation today. I was able to do a little bit of productive work on the plane, including putting together a personal statement choice (which I may have mentioned before) but nothing too exciting.

When I got home, I had received a decent amount of law schoo mail including the following:

University of Tennessee viewbook
Albany Viewbook
Georgetown Viewbook
Wash U Viewbook and fee waiver

I fully intend to flip through the Georgetown Viewbook as well as apply. I am glad to have the updated version. I was also already applying to Wash U so the fee waiver is appreciated. The only problem is, I DONT KNOW HOW YOU USE THE FEE WAIVER. It is just a few sentences at the bottom of a letter pitching the school that says "based on your academic record we are waiving your application fee," but doesn't say if I should include the letter or if I can apply through LSAC and just check a box or what. Frustrating, but I'd rather have this fustration than have to pay the fee. I will not be applying to Tennessee and was going to put the viewbook straight into the trash but something caught my eye. On the first page was a picture of Howard Baker, a very important Pi Kappa Phi that is the namesake of an important Pi Kapp award. Out of some silly sense of respect I read the viewbook so I could make the educated decision that Tennessee wasn't for me.

Albany didn't have a famous Pi Kapp alum near the beginning and as a result went straight into the garbage can.