*Scholarship amount is over 3 years.
**Sent = Date app transmitted.
***Received = Date LSDAS report sent.
****Decision = Date on acceptance/waitlist letter.
Admissions Blog:
01/02/07 - Applied to 11 schools.
01/10/07 - Applied to 2 more schools due to fee waivors.
01/16/07 - Email from Tulane. App complete.
01/17/07 - Email from LSU asking for residency information.
01/17/07 - Email from American. App complete.
01/18/07 - Email from South Carolina. App complete.
01/18/07 - Email from Alabama. Fee waived, check shredded.
01/23/07 - Call from FSU Dean. Accepted!
01/24/07 - Email from Alabama with my CWID number.
01/25/07 - Letter from Michigan State. Accepted!
01/25/07 - Email from Baylor. App complete.
01/26/07 - Email from Stetson. App complete.
01/29/07 - Email from Emory. App complete.
01/31/07 - Email from LSU. App complete.
02/01/07 - Email from Michigan State. Scholarship information will be mailed by Feb 5th.
02/02/07 - Letter from Loyola NO. Accepted! with $11,000 per year scholarship. Must keep 2.9 to renew 100%. 2.8 for 75%. 2.7 for 50%. 2.6 for 25%.
02/06/07 - Letter from LSU. Accepted!
02/10/07 - Letter from LSU. Named a Faculty Merit Scholar and awarded $2,675 per year scholarship. That equals 1/4 tuition. Must stay in top 50% to renew.
02/10/07 - Letter from American. Waitlisted. Not sure if I will send in the Waiting List Reply Form or withdraw.
02/10/07 - Letter from South Carolina. Accepted! with $500 per year scholarship and tuition reduction. Tuition reduction will cover all out of state fees and the package will be worth more than $13,000 per year. Only stipulation listed is that I remain a non-resident.
02/12/07 - Email from UNC. App complete.
02/14/07 - Email from Suffolk. My app is incomplete. Missing a Dean's certification. I don't know what that is. With the offers I have already gotten, I will probably withdraw from this school.
02/14/07 - Call from Adam Candeub, Assistant Professor at Michigan State, congratulating me on my acceptance and asking if I have any questions about the school. Nice personal touch. I was studying in the library so I didn't answer. I am still waiting to see if a scholarship offer is coming from Michigan State.
02/16/07 - Packet from Stetson. Accepted! Scholarship offer will be mailed later.
02/16/07 - Letter from Michigan State. Awarded Merit Scholarship. 75% tuition pending paying both deposits by April 15. Must keep 3.0 to renew.
02/16/07 - Withdrew from American. Even if I get in off the waitlist, they are too expensive.
02/16/07 - Withdrew from Loyola NO. Considering other options, Loyola is out of the picture.
02/16/07 - Withdrew from Suffolk. Shouldn't have bought the fee waivor bit from a T4.
02/21/07 - Email from Tulane. App submitted to admissions committee for review. Fingers crossed. This is the probably the school I want to go to the most.
02/27/07 - Email from Tulane. App is still under consideration. Kinda confused as to why this warranted an email.
03/07/07 - Things are quiet. Too quiet.
03/15/07 - Finally got rejected. Twice in one day. UNC and Emory were both big reaches so I am not overly surprised. I still have hope that I will get into Alabama or Tulane.
03/22/07 - I weighed the costs of flying to Michigan State's Admitted Students Day against the chance I will attend their school. After inquiring about travel reimbursement, I have withdrawn from Michigan State.
03/23/07 - Emailed Stetson to check on scholarship status. Notified I will not be receiving a scholarship. That most certainly out-prices a T3, especially since I have received scholarships from T2s. I am withdrawing from Stetson.
03/26/07 - Attended USC's Admitted Students Day on March 24th. I absolutely loved Columbia and their campus is amazing. However there law school left a lot to be desired. First, I drove 12 hours to sit through a 1 HOUR presentation on the law school. Was not offered a tour of the law school, a chance to talk to a financial aid officer, a mock class, a law school students panel, or anything else. No attempt was made to convince me to attend their school or even personalize my visit in any way. I am Very disappointed and withdrawing from USC. Too bad because Columbia was one of the coolest cities I have visited.
03/26/07 - It is down to two. I am deciding between LSU and Florida State, with Baylor, Tulane, and Alabama yet to be heard from. I am going to a Scholarship Dinner on March 27th for LSU and the Admitted Students Day at Florida State on March 30th. I am still holding out hope for Tulane or Alabama, as these are the schools I want to go to the most.
03/26/07 - Received a letter from Alabama today. Rejected. It sucks because I really wanted to go there. I refuse to get down though, as I am blessed to be choosing between two really good schools.
03/28/07 - Went to LSU's Scholarship Dinner last night. It was amazing. It was held in this ballroom in downtown Baton Rouge that overlooks the Mississippi River as the sun sets. There were lots of professors and administrators, not to mention law school students to mingle with and ask questions. Sitting at my dinner table were: a 2L, a 3L, a professor, and two alumni. I am very impressed with LSU right now.
03/28/07 - Received a letter from LSU. My scholarship has been increased to $3,575 per year. This amounts to 1/3 tuition. Leaving for Florida State tomorrow. Making my decision on Saturday.
03/29/07 - The new law school ratings have come out. I wrote them on the left. Lots of movement for the schools I applied to. Both T4's (MSU, Suffolk) moved into T3. One T3 (Stetson) moved into T2. Emory, Alabama, and SC all moved up. UNC took a hit. The rest stayed about the same. Looks like Alabama is rising fast. Guess that's why I got dinged. The Stetson move kinda shows why I didn't receive a scholarship. Yeah right. I take the ratings with a grain of salt. I urge future applicants to do the same.
03/30/07 - Just got back from Florida State's Admitted Students Day. It was very impressive and well done. The faculty and current students seemed very fun to be around and the school seems to be very committed to the students. I learned that residency can be established after the first year and in-state tuition rates can be used for 2L and 3L years. That reduces the potential debt substantially. However, the first year's tuition alone would be more than all three years at LSU. The students attending the ASD were not overly friendly. I was having a bad day (truck broke down on the way to FSU) and that probably accounts for some of it. Breaking down in Tallahassee revealed just how frustrating it can be in a town where you know no one. This is the toughest decision yet. I will mail my first deposit to LSU (due April 1) and leave the FSU door open until their deposit is due (May 1). I don't want to let a bad experience on this trip sway my opinion of the school. I need more time to think.
04/03/07 - Received an email from Tulane after inquiring about my application status. My application is still in committee. At least they see something in my application that keeps me hanging around. Should hear something by mid-April. I have found a great place to live for the next year in Baton Rouge. A friend of mine who will be a 1L at LSU this fall has a nice condo with a reasonable rent. This is just another reason to stay at LSU. Let's see what Tulane says, but I cannot imagine a scenario that would have me leaving LSU.
04/18/07 - Received a letter from Tulane today. Denied admission. With no scholarship from Florida State, I am staying at LSU. Baylor is too expensive and too competitive.
04/23/07 - Final Reflections on the cycle. After applying all around the country, I am staying at LSU. I really didn't want to be one of those people who went to the same school for undergrad and grad school, but the benefits of staying far outweigh the benefits of leaving. I already know dozens of law students. I will know dozens of my incoming class. I have relationships with local attorneys. I love Baton Rouge and LSU. In hindsight, I would have probably left LSU for Alabama or UNC, but nowhere else without a significant scholarship. LSU Law Class of 2010 here I come.
04/26/07 - Received rejection from Baylor today. It is interesting that two schools that contacted me with fee waivers (Baylor and Alabama) rejected me. I guess they use fee waivers to increase their rejection numbers. The Baylor rejection came with auto admittance to their spring class. No thanks. I am happy with my cycle and the decisions I have made.
Good work on the pounding of tool bag, Brady Quinn.