jnb983 (2020-2021)

VISITS
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Illinois ASD: Good events, very nice facilities. I especially liked the library. The College of Law is at the edge of campus near sports arenas. The town seemed fine if boring-ish. Students, faculty & admin were nice, knowledgeable and treated us well. Overall impression: didn't love it, but liked it a lot. I went looking for a reason to cross it off my list but didn't find one; U of I remains a contender.

George Washington: decided not to visit since, realistically, if DC then GULC for me. Oh, I am all about the rhymes.

Georgetown Open House: I loved DC. The school was pretty great too. They definitely wowed us with the awesomeness of the faculty and the myriad unique opportunities. I visited both Curr A & Curr B classes; to my surprise, I liked the standard class better. The current students were nice, and so was the faculty/admin (if a bit stuffy). Little was done to dispel the "big school => lost in the shuffle" stereotype, other than to say it is a non-issue. Although the were clearly strong smaller communities, there was not much of a sense of general community. I think the experience would have been better if they'd provided individual student hosts and had more programming on Friday. They are resourceful, though: when there were scheduling issues, opening a tab for a group of us at a bar across the street=great move. Overall impression: Liked but not loved. I really wanted to love it here, so I left feeling confused.

Northwestern ASW: Ah, Northwestern. I got a really good feeling about this place at DANL, and I've been waiting for it to wear off. It's been 10 days and it hasn't diminished much, so NU may be The One. Going in, I had pretty low expectations. I expected the school to be very business-oriented and impersonal, so I was completely caught off guard by the overwhelming sense of community and the down-to-earth-ness of everyone I met. I found NU to be a mix of many of the things I liked about GULC(urbanness, programs, prestige) and UofI(community, small classes, being in IL). I met a lot of students, and they were just so _normal_ . I liked the class I sat in on a lot. The Law Scholars program really interests me. The only negative thing was that, outside of ITP, there didn't seem to be much of an international focus. Also, surprisingly, no free t-shirt. Overall impression: budding love? Oh, but will the scholarship committee love me back...70K/yr scares the shit out of me.
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SCHOLARSHIPS
$$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$

--Northwestern scholly is $10,000 per year. Meep.

--Georgetown academic scholarship is $20,000 per year. More details coming in the mail :)

--GW grant is for $16,000 per year. Not sure if it's need based or merit based.

--Illinois scholarship is $20,000 per year, with the condition of remaining in 'good academic standing'. Now if only that money could make Chambana not smell like cow poop, I'd be sold for sure.

--Rutgers scholarship is $10,000 for the first year and $7,000 for the last two, contingent upon getting a 3.5 gpa

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I applied to so many schools because financial aid is going to be a deciding factor, and I want as many options as possible.

Fee Waivers :

11/5--NU (unsolicited)
11/6--UIUC
11/7--Case Western (unsolicited)
11/7--Rutgers-Camden
11/12--UVa
11/15--Wayne State (unsolicited)
11/16--another UVa (unsolicited)
1/16--Michigan

I signed up for CRS late, so I don't have as many as I would've liked. FW Requests denied from UCLA, U of C & Vandy.

7/3--This cycle is sooooo over. I finally got around to withdrawing from UVa's waitlist (priority non-res).

6/9--Michigan wl ding via snail mail over the weekend encouraging me to apply again next cycle. I think not.

5/12--Last regular cycle decision is a "thanks but no thanks" from U of C. I was actually expecting a waitlist, which I wouldn't have stayed on, so I suppose it's the same difference. Maybe I should have written one of those 'optional' essays they asked for. At least they are consistent: they also rejected me for undergrad. That's cool. Thanks to them, I bleed purple now.

5/8--Decided to play the field a little bit longer. That pricetag is weighing on me. Fudgy numbers are back.

5/4--While cleaning out my inbox, I realized that I never responded to the Penn WL email. I guess that was a withdrawal. Oh well, I was apparently not interested in them enough to remember. I wonder what else I've forgotten accidentally on purpose...

5/1--Withdrew from NYU waitlist. If I'd wanted a ginormous school, I'd have picked Gtown. No use waiting on one that doesn't really want me.

4/27--Excruciating decision made: withdrew from Georgetown. Happy to be going home for school to become part of The Northwestern Difference :)

4/23--Just withdrew from Fordham's waitlist again. The first time apparently didn't take.

Also...Northwestern scholarship!!! Not as much as I had hoped, but much better than nothing. Unfortunately, this makes my decision even harder. It was almost better when there was no money on the table and I was deciding based purely on the merits of each. Almost.

4/17--Georgetown scholarship?! ::swoons::
It's weird to know that my cycle could be completely over by next Friday when the binding decision on this offer is due.

4/15--Withdrew from UofI and GW. It feels good to narrow the list. I'm planning to visit Columbia and Penn in the next few days to see if I want to hang out on the WLs.

Why did I withdraw from everywhere that offered me money, you ask? Because I am certifiably insane.

4/7--Really Penn? Just what I needed: another waitlist. Thanks for the direct decision Harvard, and for impersonally rejecting me via an email addressed to my LSAC number. It's time to do something about these waitlists (visits and whatnot), but I'm getting law-school-visit fatigue in body, soul and wallet.

3/31--Okay, I wanted timely decisions, but waitlists don't count! When you include the waitlist letters I received from Vandy and Virginia today, I'm up to five; if you count Chicago's 'hold' and Columbia's 'reserve', that's 7 non-decision decisions!

3/28--Came home from Gtown ASD to find out that my Virginia decision is in the mail and that I got the "Reserve" letter from Columbia yesterday. It's good to know that if I just can't give up the excitement of the application cycle, I can pretty much extend it out indefinitely with holds, deferrals and waitlists. Yippee. ETA: Vandy decision mailed 2 days ago!

3/24--Put on "Hold" at U of C. I plan to write the optional essay, which is due by 4/11, meaning no decision until at least then, probably longer.

3/16--Got WLed at UCLA yesterday. The west coast doesn't like me very much, so it's colder climes for me. Also got a less-than-stellar FinAid package from GW which included no scholarship and a grant with a whole lotta loans.

3/11--Decided to stay on MI waitlist. I've come to realize that the financial aid process for law school will put me into some serious debt no matter what I do (Duh!). Since I suspect I will be eligible for substantial need-based aid, and since schools take scholarships (including their own merit scholarships) into account when determining how to satisfy need, merit scholarships of less than full tuition will likely not change my aid package/total cost much. This excludes U of I, though, since tuition and expenses are significantly lower than those at the other schools I am considering.

3/3--First REJECTION of the cycle goes to...Boalt/Berkeley/Whatever they are calling themselves these days. Not surprising.

I wonder if my decisions are coming in order: first 5 acceptances in a row, then 2 waitlists in a row, and now a rejection. If the rejections continue, it would form a neat pattern. A disappointing pattern, but an interesting one nonetheless.

2/29--Mich WL via extraordinarily nice email. Will most likely be staying on. ETA: Or not, since wls get no chance at merit money :o(

2/28--Withdrew from RU-Camden, and will not be returning the waitlist letter I got from Fordham yesterday, so that's an automatic withdrawal.

2/25--Special Report!: No news

2/20--Waitlisted at Fordham via their horribly frustrating status checker. No big loss.

2/13--In at NORTHWESTERN!!!!!!! I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop...

2/11--60K scholarship from Illinois! Even without need-based aid, this brings tuition down to 3K per year (EDIT: 8K)! This also means I should withdraw from Rutgers soon.

2/7--Complete at Penn & Boalt. Berkeley hadn't acknowledged my app at all until that email, so I'm now relieved to know I'm that much closer to my inevitable rejection! Yay!

2/6--In at U of I!!! This week has been so much more interesting than last week, when nothing law school-related happened.

2/4--Rutgers is winning the free stuff race. Got a different shirt and a pink ball cap from the scholarship people. Mmmm, marketing.

1/24--Harvard status checker now says 'Application Under Review', which I'm going to take as a complete. Also complete at U of I via status checker and Columbia via email.

1/19--Big packets from GW & GULC today. Complete at Vandy & Virginia yesterday. Alliterative, aren't we?
ETA: GW letter had a long-ish personal note from the dean :o)

1/17--Got the GW acceptance email yesterday, I was approved for a MI fee waiver, so I'm applying, and am also currently wearing the Rutgers t-shirt.

1/15--Complete at U of C via email. Others have acknowledged via status checker that they have all of the parts of my application, but are apparently not prepared to call it complete yet. This process is mystifying.

1/11--YES! LSAC has finally processed my final LOR. This is as exciting as hearing from a school.

1/10--Acceptance email from RU-Camden with a scholly! This rocks my socks. First promise of law school swag, too: t-shirt coming with the official acceptance package.

1/9--Just realized that Fordham has a status checker. Am complete there, don't know for how long. NU too. And now UCLA too (which is odd since they require 2 LORs and only have 1 of mine?!)

1/7--Can't decide whether to go to GULC Open House in January or March. Such a lovely problem to have :o) Also, Harvard is stalking me about not having my second LOR in: this is a good sign, right? right?

12/28--Hell yeah! In at GEORGETOWN!!!

12/23--Yale acknowledged my app yesterday, on a Saturday. Sweet. Also, found the recommender. Things are looking up...

12/19--Every school except for Yale has requested my report, and two are being held for the 2nd LOR. Only five of the sixteen will consider me without it. Hopefully the hold-up is in processing at LSAC; I'd hate to have to hunt someone down over the holidays, but...

12/14--Complete at GW via postcard, while UCLA has yet to request my LSDAS report. I find this amusing.

12/13--Finito. Unless, of course, I get some compelling fee waivers after the December CRS searches

12/4--Yay! Finally submitted some apps. More to come tomorrow.

11/29--Self-imposed deadline of 12/1 approaching...just can't settle on ps

11/20--LOR problem fixed, still waiting on 1 more.

11/16--LSAC screwed up my LOR, should be fixed by next week.

11/14--NU off-campus interview