StefanieS23 (2022-2023)

Sorority, an internship, not much else.
No optional essays, two okay LOR's.
Dying to stay in or very near NYC. Getting less hopeful as time passes, late applying number twins get their acceptances, and I get the silent treatment...

Better late than never?

2/10: I know it's only been two weeks, but someone let me in, please. I've gotten into the habit of making the trek out to my mailbox everyday, and I get so psyched when I have a big envelope, but twice this week it has been brochures from Cooley. Bad omen?

2/13: OMG! My first decision! Northwestern! One of my top choices! So I get an email, and I'm already shaking, and it says, go to the status checker. So I put in my info, and it says, download your decision letter. I can't handle the suspense! Finally, it opens!!!!!! -- On hold. Seriously, Northwestern? I finally hear back from you, only to be informed I have to wait longer? Come on.

In all seriousness, I'm psyched, because I thought with my extremely limited work experience, I would be outright rejected. Maybe the alumni interview helped. Will probably start looking into more letters of rec and write a Why Northwestern.

2/14: Happy Valentine's Day to me! Got my first acceptance-- GW. Not one of my top choices, but it makes me feel a little better, after being kicked around by Northwestern. Notified by a really sweet email, that says my package should be coming tomorrow. Now I'm just hoping to break into the top ten! Should be hearing from Duke any minute now, if they keep up their end of the Priority Track deal. But maybe my pining won't be in vain, and Columbia will step up, and ask me to be its Valentine?

Later: Getting antsy, decided to call Cornell and see what the deal is with my status still being 'Applied'. Spoke to a really nice girl on the phone who explained how backed up they were, and checked my file, and told me that I was complete, and as long as she had my file pulled up, she was going to update it in the system and whatever else they do. Glad I was able to get the ball rolling, and it's nice to be reminded that there are actually real people at the other end of this process. PS. Hey Columbia, call me, wink wink.

Even later: Waitlisted at Duke. Come on. I am so not happy about all of the LOCI's I am going to have to pump out. It's like a second round of applications, which made me miserable enough the first time around. Also, no word from Columbia on whether it will be my valentine. All in all, a pretty disappointing day.

2/20: I'm feeling neglected. Why are things slowing down, they should be speeding up! The Duke status checker says that they made a decision, a whopping 4 days after they put me on the waitlist, and that I will be 'notified soon'. Unfortunately, as I have come to learn, law schools are in a completely different dimension when it comes to time. Soon = an eternity. May take awhile = hopefully by the time you're dead. And so on and so forth. Patience, as you may be able to tell, is not one of my strong suits.

2/25: Finally complete at UCLA via email. More Cooley brochures in the mail. Nothing new to report. Over and out.

3/6: Got the letter about what is generally being referred to as the "Preferred Preferred Waitlist" at Georgetown. Pretty bummed, but it sounds kind of promising. I'm just sick of waiting!! Additionally, got a letter from Cornell this week about wanting an interview. So basically, nearly every school I have heard back from has said "We just want to make you do more work before we give you an actual decision." Getting very, very frustrated. Every day leaning more and more towards taking a year off and sending my apps in to HYS and CCN on day 1 of the next cycle...

PS: Cabra, congrats on your acceptance, but you owe me $10.

3/14: Okay, this is just getting annoying.

3/20: Woohoo! In at UVa via snail mail, a small white envelope.

3/24: Received an email at the end of the day with the great news from Penn. I am the waitlist queen!

3/26: Fordham acceptance via email... the day after they move down in the rankings and UVa moves up. I really want to stay in NY, but without any money from Fordham (which I am sure will be the case), can I really justify the nearly 20-spot ranking difference? Maybe I'll have some good news in my mailbox when I get home from work.

3/27: Small white envelope of doom from Columbia. Reserve group. Not revisiting my application until the end of May. Please send final semester grades. I hate my life.

4/6: It's quiet. Toooooooo quiet. The only schools I am really waiting on are NYU and Chicago. Why the silent treatment, guys? I'm going away for a week, so maybe I'll come home to an overflowing mailbox???

4/8: It's the wee hours of the morning, and I'm about to go to sleep, but go through my routine of checking my remaining status checkers/admitted students sites... and it looks like I'm in at Georgetown. Cool. It will take some money to sway me from UVa though...

4/27: It's not that I've stopped updating. I really haven't heard anything from that many schools. This is ridiculous.

4/28: Waitlisted at Chicago by snail mail. Called NYU this morning to see what's up, and apparently a decision was mailed on April 20. I live super close by. This is so frustrating. I know it's not an acceptance though, since I can't log into the admitted students website. Will probably mail my UVa deposit tomorrow, along with Columbia and Penn LOCIs. Looking forward to a summer in waitlist purgatory.

5/1: Finally some action! Nothing that really changes anything, though. I got an extension on the deposit deadlines for UVa and Georgetown, and I think I am leaning towards heading to DC. I am a little worried about having to withdraw from my (many) waitlists, but I feel like my chances on them are slim anyway, and I kind of like the idea that my dreadful cycle might finally be OVER. Will know for sure by next week.

I wonder if I'll ever hear from NYU, Harvard, or UCLA? (For Stanford, I never went complete, and for Cornell, they asked for an interview that I never did, so those will be 'Pending' forever!)

5/5: UCLA waitlist. This is comical. Pretty set on committing to GULC and ending this whole charade.

5/7: So, I decided to just go for it, and committed to Georgetown. One of the conditions of accepting the scholarship is that you have to withdraw from everywhere else, even waitlists. And of course Harvard and NYU, from which I STILL have not received a decision. At first I was a little iffy about taking myself off the waitlists, especially Columbia, my dream school, and it still saddens me a little, but really, I'm just so glad my cycle is over. And, as you can see by the little personal rankings I left up, Georgetown was on my short list from the beginning, and as time has gone by, I think it has actually crept up above the Chicago schools, and maybe even Penn. So, I'm happy, and I'm done, but also just another warning to future applicants...

APPLY EARLY!

(but even if you don't, it will probably still turn out okay.)