The usual: some volunteer work, a couple of organizations, some small scholarships, and a few years of work experience.

The 3 LSAT scores are a bit unusual. Took the 1st one with a week of studying and one prep test the night before the actual one. Wasn't happy with the 159 and decided to retake in Dec. which gave me about a month to study.

Couldn't afford a prep course so I bought another study guide which had sound techniques but flawed practice tests, sometimes having multiple choices correct or games violating conditions unintentionally. This only confused me and made me think I was not grasping the new concepts when in fact I was. This resulted in a minimal increase to 162.

Decided I could do much better and put off applying for another year to study properly. 5 months of studying yielded my highest score, 167, but still several points lower than what I was practicing at. Ultimately, I was satisfied with it.

This is my 2nd cycle. I screwed up my first 2 LSATs last year, had a pretty unspectacular application & personal statement, and applied at the deadlines. Decided waiting a year to improve my LSAT and to get my apps in order was worth it. I got an LSAC fee waiver so I decided to carpet bomb the T14 and see if I get lucky.

12/20: BAM! My first acceptances! I was walking out of work around 1pm when I noticed I had 2 new voice messages: one from Texas and one from SMU. That's a nice way to break the tension of the last 2 months.

12/21: Called Cornell. Very nice lady said I was deferred.

1/14: Rejection letter from Michigan arrived. It was a reach so nothing really surprising there.

1/28: Rejections from G-town and Penn today. Those are the last of the schools that I had little to no desire in attending anyway. From here on out, the denials are gonna sting a little.

2/1: Dinged at NYU. Very brief letter.

2/7: Dean's scholly from SMU with no strings. Nice.

2/25: Rejection letter from Duke arrived. Most apologetic one so far.

2/29: Harvard really does reject you by email. I almost didn't believe it.

3/1: Columbia rejection in a cream envelope.

3/10: Out at Chicago. Really brief letter.

3/24: Phone call from UT about Tom C. Clark scholarship. That would make my estimated debt out of UT $60k!!! That pretty much clinches it. I don't expect to get into UVA and I don't see Cornell making a more compelling offer than that.

3/31: Withdrew from SMU today. After UT's ASD, I can't imagine choosing SMU over them. I'll keep waiting on Cornell and UVA just to satisfy my curiousity, but I can't wait to be in Austin in 4 months!

4/4: Waitlist from UVA arrived. I'm surprised they're the only school that waitlisted me. I had hoped for maybe 1 or 2 more just for pride's sake, but in the end, I'm withdrawing anyway.

4/10: Got another $13k in need-based aid from UT. That'll bring down my debt to less than $50k! That's awesome. I really feel for those folks taking out $150-200k in loans. Thank you Texas state legislature!

4/20: Cornell rejection arrived. That's the last one!

Now that my cycle's pretty much over, time to reflect. I went into this year really just hoping to get into UT. The in-state tuition's a steal and I love the school. I threw the other apps out there knowing they were mostly reaches and was just curious what would happen. Knowing now that I'm about to be a Longhorn in a few short months is a gigantic weight off my shoulders after this long 2 year process. I hope future applicants find my info helpful!