boopragmatism (2022-2023)

So, time for some background information to help the next wave of applicants make sense of things.

I was a former military kid with around 4 years active and 5 guard. I didn't get in anywhere my numbers didn't have me getting in anyway, but I do believe it helped with some scholarship offers (see Northwestern.) Other softs were unspectacular and in retrospect, I'm not surprised at all Chicago waitlisted me. I came from a relatively weak undergraduate institution, and Chicago seems to value schools with some prestige. Coupled with the fact that my numbers were weak for the school, I'm surprised I wasn't just dinged.

Advice: apply early. Enjoy the time you have before law school starts. Finally, keep things in perspective. The legal market is still in rough shape, but there is something to be said for questioning the T14 or bust mantra. Scholarships should be a serious consideration for all students because most law schools lack the integrity to be honest about their employment numbers. This holds true for the T14 just as much as other schools, albeit to a lesser extent. Do your best to ignore this hypocrisy because, believe it or not, there is room for integrity in the legal profession.

Good luck to all of you.

10/16/2009-LSAT in at 170. I'll take it.

11/4/2009- Deferred at Duke. Disappointed, but I'll just try to keep it in perspective.

11/13/2009- Call from Jason Dugas, in at UVA!

11/21/2009- Acceptance packet from UVA came in the mail. There was no scholarship information, but information on just about everything else. Personalized notes from both Jason Dugas and Dean Trujillo. It still doesn't seem real.

11/25/2009- Under review at Chicago. It took 5 minutes to stop hyperventilating. Oh wait, nevermind, I'm hyperventilating again.

12/1/2009- Email from Iowa: in. Told the packet will be sent in a couple of days.

12/9/2099- Email from WUSTL: in. Sounds like it is a generic form letter about being considered for scholly. Not too upset, however, I'm just happy to be in.

12/16/09- Following the example of several TLS EA complete kids, I decided to call the admissions office to see what my status was. I was informed by the kind woman who answered that I was accepted. Hooray for initiative.

12/17/09- Email regarding Cornell acceptance came in. Full ride scholarship offer from Iowa. Good day.

12/21/09- Packet from Cornell in the mail. Still no word from the University of Chicago. Starting to get a little flustered.

12/28/09- Waitlisted via email at Chicago. Pretty upset right now.

1/9/10- Accepted at Duke via email. Hooray for some good news again.

1/13/10- Accepted via email at Northwestern. I have no idea whether I am going here, Duke, or UVA.

1/30/10- Accepted at Emory via snail mail. It was dated 12/31. Must have been one hell of a trip.

3/23/2010- I haven't posted anything in a while due to a busy semester, but here you go:

Duke offered 45k in February. WashU came with their offer around the same time.

Virginia let me know they were not offering me a scholarship at ASW.

Northwestern offered a fantastic scholarship today. I am 99% sure I will be going to Northwestern.

4/30/10- Withdrew from Virginia when they told me they couldn't come up with any scholly money and were overenrolled. To the folks at Virginia Admissions Office:

You were, bar none, some of the nicest people I have had the pleasure of dealing with this cycle. Despite a decision that left me smarting, I cannot say anything bad about any of you. Go cavs.