NoWayInHell (2022-2023)

Education

: BS Mechanical Engineering
: AS Engineering
: AS Mathematics

Experience

: 4 month in Configuration Management
: 1 & 1/2 years with United States Patent & Trademark Office
: 5 years retail

Awards

: Government Clearance
: USPTO Certificate of Training
: NCEES Engineer-in-Training (EIT) Certificate

Activities

: AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics)
: ASME (American Society Of Mechanical Engineers)
: SAE (all-terrain building competition)
: SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers)
: SWE (Society of Women Engineers)

Languages

: Spanish (intermediate)
: Italian (novice)

I know I don't have a good GPA or LSAT score. I know I don't have his looks. I know I don't have his money. I know I don't have his connections, his knowledge of fine wines. I know sometimes when I eat I get this clicking sound in my jaw... But I do have experience in patent law and arguing against attorneys on which I base my confidence in being a successful lawyer. Hopefully with my scientific background, two awesome LORs, and Personal Statement I have a fighting chance of gaining a seat at a Tier 1 (or Tier "2") school.

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10/01/10 : Applied to GWU early decision; GMU early application; and Columbia early application. My hopes are so high your ki... rejection might kill me. : Applied to Catholic, Washington & Lee, and DePaul; early applications. The only question left is should I apply to Georgetown to round out my rejections?

10/04/10 : W&L and CUA applications are complete. Now we play the waiting game.

10/04/10 supplemental : Reading blogs like Third Tier Reality or JDUnderground scares the crap outta me.

10/05/10 : Decided to face reality and not bother to apply to Georgetown. I hate to acquiesce defeat or whatever but it costs $85 plus $12 to apply and I'm nowhere near their LSAT norms. Lamesauce.

10/07/10 : GMU application is complete. I'd actually love to go there. The location is pretty awesome and convenient. : DePaul application is complete as well. I've been reading on some blogs that DePaul is a bad school and expensive to boot. If anyone out there has any insight to share I'd love to hear it.

10/10/10 : Hehe.

10/11/10 : I keep reading posts on butidideverythingrightorsoithought.blogspot.com and it just really seems like law is a poor choice of career field. Hmm... I suppose I feel confident in life because of my engineering degree but it's not like that's any sort of guarantee either. I might pursue a Masters if this experiment fails. That said - I REALLY WANT TO GO TO LAW SCHOOL. I think those schools I applied to should just go ahead and send me nice big envelopes of acceptance.

10/12/10 : Still haven't heard from GW or Columbia. Not an email saying they received my application or anything. WTF

10/14/2010 : DePaul app is in review. I wonder how it'll go. Chicago would be a nice city to live in. Cold though. : Columbia app is finally complete and received. Could you imagine going there? I mean, it's fantastic. Even though my chances are slim, just the possibility and imagining myself there is great fun.

10/19/2010 : Just waiting on those responses. I don't think I'll be applying to any other schools. $150k is too deep a debt to owe if I don't get into the schools I've already chosen. Even then...

10/19/2010 supplemental : So I spent a semester on Academic Probation and it's haunting me still.

10/20/2010 : GW app is finally received and complete. Hurray, rejection pending!

10/22/2010 : Why does working with the registrar and dean's office have to be such a chore? Why do people lord any little bit of authority they have over the heads of others? Terrible.

10/26/2010 : Got rejected by DePaul today. I didn't plan on going but getting accepted would have been nice. 1 down 5 to go.

11/01/10 : Received an Open-House invitation from DePaul in the mail today despite being rejected by them nearly a week ago. Isn't it ironic? Don't ya think? ...No, it's actually quite annoying and shows they're uncoordinated at best. Screw Chicago, I like my pizza NY style anyway.

11/04/10 : Today I was emailed by Ave Maria in Naples, FL. There's a fee waiver so maybe it's worth $12 to apply but then again it's TTTT. The only way I'd go is if it were a full-ride... This economic depression is emotionally depressing.

11/05/10 : Another email, this time from Loyola in Chicago. The fee is waived so maybe $12 isn't so bad to apply. It's funny considering my crack about Chicago pizza (which I stand by).

11/09/10 : My Columbia app is complete! Complete-complete. For real this time. God I'd love to go to school there. I'd gladly incur the debt. But you know, che sar sar.

11/10/10 : My W&L app is in review. Hmm...

11/11/10 : Washington & Lee... DENIED. That's alright, W&L is in BF, Egypt anyway. Four more rejections left to go!

11/21/10 : I've gone ahead and applied to Loyola Chicago. I don't know how I particularly feel about tier 2 schools and they might be equally wary about me. But I have a friend from Chicago and he highly recommends the city.

11/26/10 : My Loyola app was received on the 23rd. And today I got a nice big envelope in the mail. Unfortunately it was just a stupid school magazine from USC. They didn't even include a fee waiver... not cool getting my hopes up like that.

12/01/10 : GMU says thank you but no thank you. Meh. This whole process is just draining. I know my LSAT score sucks and I know that schools need a way to eliminate applicants. So I'm not surprised that I'm not being met with open arms. That doesn't make it suck any less. Once this is all said and done I think I'll be happy to put it all behind me and move on. To what I'm not entirely sure. : Loyola app is complete. Cool. Seems like a nice place.

12/07/10 : I'm not gonna get into the details here but I was at US District Court today and it's pretty awesome.

12/11/10 : I received a holiday card from GMU thanking me for my interest in their school and wishing me luck. Pfft. Why bother? I mean, honestly. Plus the card has a photo of the Washington monument. GMU isn't a district school! So there. Bah humbug.

12/20/10 : Still waiting on some apps. I don't think I'll get in so I mean... that's okay. I guess. The plan now is to hope that I passed my Engineer-in-Training exam and then study for and take the Patent Agents exam. It's been a year and a half since I quit the Patent Office but I should be able to pass it since I had to learn it all anyway. Then try again with the LSAT and do one final cycle of apps assuming my score improves. If not then I'll put this law school dream to rest.

12/23/10 : So apparently CUA rendered a decision and mailed it out to me on 12/03/10. I have yet to receive it, at least in my own hands. I wonder what it says. I also got an invitation to apply to UDC. And while I'm sure it's a fine institution, ranking makes a big difference. Even going to a 2nd Tier school is a bit of a gamble isn't it, let alone 4th?

12/28/10 : Received notice from GWU that I didn't get the biding early decision. But they'll still review my app for regular decision. In other news I passed the FE and my next goal is to study for the patent bar and get a registration number.

01/05/2011 : Loyola has made a decision - I just have to wait for it in the mail. I've signed up to take the Feb. LSAT so it's time to study, study, study!

01/08/2011 : As expected, I did not get into Loyola or Catholic. My s/n isn't NoWayInHell for nothin'. I think I might post-pone that Feb. LSAT and instead take the traditional April/May (w/e) exam. There are more interesting things in the works so I want to be flexible. And yes, there are things more interesting than law school folks. Which is actually a good thing. Consider for a moment that the average cost of attendance over a 3-year law program is in the neighborhood of 165,000USD. Meanwhile, the US produces over 50,000 freshly minted JD's a year. In a saturated job market only the cream of the crop will make six-figures upon graduating. Note the legal section of Craigslist and you'll find offers of $10 per hour for legal services. And while I'm sure everyone would work super duper hard in law school, bear in mind that 90% of the population IS NOT in the 10% of their class.

01/10/11 : I didn't know it was $65 to switch testing dates. Guess I have a month to study for Feb.

01/11/11 : Jeje.

01/17/11 : Waiting on GWU and Columbia... Now I don't think I'll actually get into these schools but til I get the small envelopes it's fun to dream. Why not?

01/28/11 : As expected I didn't get into GWU. While not a surprise, I'm still disappointed. I'm disappointed at not getting in. But I'm also disappointed in getting rejected via email. That's what an $85 application fee buys you apparently. Classy. But they damn sure like to send out requests for alumni donations don't they?

02/04/11 : And that's all she wrote folks. I just "EPIC FAIL"ed with today's rejection letter from Columbia. It was written better than the other ones too.

So I guess that's all for this cycle. The plan now is to study super duper hard and retake the LSAT. I plan to take the Patent Agents exam in a couple months. Also, I think I'm applying to transfer into a second bachelor's program for mathematics which can help me on the undergrad GPA side. In the meantime I'll keep working as a defense contractor at a company I'd love to name but won't.

I wish everyone the best of luck in being accepted into the program they want the most and I'll be back for the next cycle. Hopefully I won't see you there because you'll be knee deep in L1 torts or whatever.

07/09/2011 : I guess it's that time of year to start planning for the application cycle. I did end up applying to a math program at Gtown that I was surprised to not get into. I mean, how long could the line be to learn math? Right? Anyway, I have been cleared to take the Patent Agent's Exam and so I gotta do some studying for that and the October LSAT. Time to get super cereal!

12/10/2011 : Actually, gonna put all this off a year and try the LSAT one last time in the Spring of 2012.