defeatist (2022-2023)

Views: 6883 User Since: 10/26/05

Application Information

F - Fee Waiver A - Attending W - Withdrawn D - Deferred
Spinner
Please Wait...
# Law School Status Type $$$ Sent Received Complete Interview Date Decision Updated
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Accepted W Type: RA $15,000 Sent: 12/19/05 Rec: 12/21/05 Comp: 01/06/06 Inter: -- Dec: 01/27/06 Upd: 17 years
Northwestern University F Waitlisted W Type: RA Sent: 12/19/05 Rec: 12/19/05 Comp: 01/25/06 Inter: -- Dec: 03/22/06 Upd: 18 years
Columbia University F Waitlisted W Type: RA Sent: 12/19/05 Rec: 12/20/05 Comp: 01/18/06 Inter: -- Dec: 03/15/06 Upd: 18 years
University of Pennsylvania Waitlisted W Type: RA Sent: 12/19/05 Rec: 12/21/05 Comp: 01/09/06 Inter: -- Dec: 03/30/06 Upd: 18 years
University of Michigan Ann Arbor WL, Accepted A Type: RA Sent: 12/19/05 Rec: 12/23/05 Comp: 01/23/06 Inter: -- Dec: 06/20/06 Upd: 18 years
University of Chicago WL, Rejected Type: RA Sent: 12/19/05 Rec: 01/04/06 Comp: 01/11/06 Inter: -- Dec: 06/12/06 Upd: 18 years
New York University Rejected Type: RA Sent: 12/19/05 Rec: 12/21/05 Comp: 01/12/06 Inter: -- Dec: 04/04/06 Upd: 18 years

Applicant Information

  • LSAT: 178
  • LSAT 2: 178
  • LSAT 3: -
  • GRE : -
  • LSAC GPA: 3.11
  • Degree GPA: 3.06
  • School Type: t25, private
  • Major: psychology/philosophy

Demographic Information

  • City: Chicago
  • State: Illinois
  • Race: W
  • Gender: Man
  • Non-Traditional Applicant: Yes
  • Years out of Undergrad: 5-9 Years

Extra Curricular Information

I'm in my late twenties, and have been working in a non-law-related field for several years.

Additional info & updates

My "received" dates are the dates of either LSDAS report requests, or dates of an email reporting receipt (whichever is earlier).

I was notified via email of completion at NYU, Chicago, UIUC, Columbia, and Penn. Michigan notified me with a small little envelope, and Northwestern didn't notify me at all -- I had to check their web status page.

1/24/06: I've offically driven myself insane with worry. As a guy with a job and a house, it's incredibly stressful to submit the last ten years of your life up for evaluation. As a 'splitter', it's even more stressful, because it's painfully clear that you're smart enough _now_, even if you weren't smart enough in college. If I don't get into law school it's not because of anything I've done or not done in the last five years. My GPA from before the Clinton impeachment will be my undoing.

01/27/06: Sweet relief! Notified of acceptance by UIUC via email.

02/01/06: Starting to get anxious again. It's looking like I didn't get into NYU. Why haven't I heard from NU and Michigan yet? I just know I'm going to end up on about four waitlists -- if I'm lucky. I can't wait around all summer! I'm nearly 30! Why am I doing this to myself?

02/02/06: Curse you, LSN! I'm watching everyone who went complete with me at NU get results today, but I'm hearing nothing. Silence = Death, or so I hear.

02/09/06: I'm strangely resigned to my fate now. I know now that every time I check my email or open my post box, there will be nothing, nothing, nothing. At this point, I'll be surprised instead of relieved if I do get any news.

02/14/06: Happy Valentines Day to me. My present: a big heart-shaped box of assorted nothing.

02/17/06: You're already in hell, you're already in hell / I wish we could go to hell // When the bottle gets empty / Then life ain't worth the drown

02/21/06: "In my life / Why do I give valuable time / To people who don't care if I live or die?" -- This is what I've come to: posting Smiths lyrics to my LSN account. Kids, don't apply to law school.

02/22/06: Started making plans to attend the 3/3 UIUC Open House.

02/27/06: My new hobbies: First, hourly examination of LSN trends, comparing myself percentile-wise with the accepted, rejected, waitlisted, and pending pools at each remaining school. (As of 1pm today, I would be in the 86th percentile by index number of waitlisted applications at Northwestern. That's good, right?) Second, constructing elaborate universal theories-of-everything that explain the reasoning process of law school admissions committees, the interminable delay in evaluating my application, and the blooming of flowers on distant Tibetan mountains.

03/06/06: Nietzsche was right! The abyss is TOTALLY staring into me RIGHT NOW. It's giving me the heebie-jeebies.

03/07/06: Received "hold" letter from Chicago. Letter dated 3/6, rec'd 3/8. I get to write an additional essay! Now I have something to do besides wait by the mailbox.

03/14/06: Another week has gone by, and I'm starting to feel the resignation set in. All of this pending, pending, pending! What are the odds that good news will come this late in the season? Why can't I just have my bad news now?

03/20/06: I'm getting ready to go on a much-needed vacation (to Argentina! hooray!) for a couple of weeks, so my LSN obsession will be interrupted. I'm looking forward to coming home in early April to go through my big stack of whatevers.

03/21/06: Okay, so I'm not technically on vacation yet, but while I was packing, I rec'd a letter (dated 3/15) from Columbia informing me of my "reserve" status. Sounds like a waitlist to me. Whee! Let's go on vacation!

03/23/06: Greetings from sunny Buenos Aires! I wish you were here! Also, Northwestern has put me on their waitlist! Chau!

03/30/06: The brightly-painted public buses here are called 'colectivos' and they race at frightening speed through the narrow streets. We took #29 from La Boca to Palermo today. Also, Penn put me on their waitlist.

04/03/06: Today we took the ferry over to Uruguay. Uruguay is a lot like Argentina. Also, Michigan put me on their waitlist.

04/05/06: So I'm back from Argentina. It's nice to be home. There wasn't any mail waiting for me from NYU (or any other law school). I'm still not sure what I'm going to do when that deposit deadline from Illinois rolls around.

04/13/06: Found my first rejection in the mail today, from NYU. Letter dated 4/4, postmarked 4/7. It's funny, since I've been half-expecting this rejection since February (see above), it doesn't sting too badly.

04/18/06: I'm getting ready to put my deposit down at UIUC, and I've been sending out all kinds of charming, but gently pleading, letters to my other schools. April waitlists bring May acceptance letters, isn't that right?

04/24/06: No news anywhere. I'm anxious about hearing from Chicago, since I've gone and gotten myself all excited about possibly getting in. Clearly, I'm well-and-truly insane at this point: why would I start getting my hopes up in APRIL?

04/26/06: I guess I'll click the 'Attending' checkbox for UIUC, as I sent them my deposit last week. Chicago, I'm still carrying a torch for you.

05/07/06: Process at a standstill? Must be time to go on vacation. I'm going to be in Paris for the next week. Would someone please water my plants? Thanks.

05/14/06: Back home again. I sorted through a giant pile of credit card offers to find.... nothing. At least I have good credit.

05/16/06: Rec'd letter today from Chicago -- 11 days after the 5/5 postmark! Waitlisted. I feel pretty good about it, though. I thought they'd laugh my application right out of there, so to get all this consideration from them is gratifying.

05/26/06: Putting down my second deposit at UIUC today. 87 days until classes start there.

06/07/06: No news, no news, no news. It's now been a year since I took the LSAT for the first time. This has not been a particularly fun year. 75 days until classes start at UIUC.

06/15/06: Today I got emails from Michigan and Northwestern checking my interest in spending the summer on their waitlists. There was a similar letter from Columbia that I rec'd on the 13th. Orientation at UIUC is in 64 days.

06/16/06: In today's mail: a rejection note from Chicago. Disappointment doesn't begin to describe how I feel. Actually, it's a pretty good beginning. I'm disappointed, among other things.

06/20/06: In either an astounding turn-around or the world's cruelest hoax, I was admitted, via telephone call, off the waitlist at Michigan.

06/25/06: I've returned from a lightning-quick visit to Michigan. It looks like the cycle is over for me, as I can't imagine I'm going to find a better situation. Michigan could have been my top choice all along. Hail to the Victors, indeed.

12/17/06: (In the middle of finals) I got a letter this weekend from LSAC, letting me know that they've re-examined my undergrad transcript, and their new opinion about my GPA is that it should be 3.03/2.97, and not the 3.11/3.06 I was admitted under. I hope there aren't any consequences.

Visitor Comments

You must be logged in to comment.
Not a registered user? Sign up now .
LSAT scores
Tuesday, October 25 2005 at 08:00 PM

They're in reverse chronological order. As for top 3 schools -- I'm 99% sure I wouldn't get in there, and I think that everything in the top 14 is a reach for me. My undergraduate GPA is terrible, and I haven't got a good excuse. My work experience is interesting and unusual, but not the sort of thing that makes law schools take notice. All in all, I'm very lucky to be able to attend law school at all, as I don't really deserve to. Many people have worked much harder than I have and are getting a much rawer deal. It's nice that I test well, but facility at coloring in ovals isn't a quality I'm real proud of.

thanks for the note
Friday, August 12 2005 at 08:00 PM

I agree that Illinois is pretty great. But it does bite not knowing if the cat is dead or what in those T14 boxes. Will go be going to admit days at Illinois? I'm 31 & a MAJOR splitter - looks like there are a series of splitter/non-trads who got into Illinois this cycle. We could start a club! Tshirts. Hats. A mascot, maybe??

my lsat story
Tuesday, October 25 2005 at 08:00 PM

How did I raise my LSAT so much? Primarily I credit my 10-point increase to the vow I made, to any gods that would listen. I promised that if I increased my score to 175 or higher, I'd throw a party for all my friends and ensure that they all got as drunk as they cared to be. This was accomplished less than 36 hours after I got my scores back; I relied on a hot cider with spices and prodigious amounts of rum for the heavy lifting. A gallon of apple cider plus a bottle of spiced rum equals a high LSAT score. A secondary factor is that I went into the first sitting unprepared. Not for the test itself, but for the experience of test-taking. It had been over 10 years since my last standardized test -- test of any kind, really, and ten years makes a big difference. I was nervous, anxious, underfed, jittery, tired, etc. Lemme tell you, taking the LSAT at 28 is not at all like taking the SAT at 17. Anyway, the second time I knew what I had to do. I've always been a fast reader and a really good test-taker, so all I really needed to do was clear out all of the other crap that was dragging me down.

I feel your pain
Tuesday, January 24 2006 at 07:00 PM

I've got the exact same stress you do, thinking how unfair it is that grades from 12 years ago can still hurt, even though bad LSAT scores would have disappeared twice in that period. FWIW, I was complete at NU before you, and I do have the kind of work experience that makes law schools sit up and take notice, but still nothing. Ditto NYU and Chicago. Good luck to both of us!

DEEP BREATH
Monday, November 28 2005 at 07:00 PM

dude, you seriously need to just NOT look at this shit every day...it will make you insane and miserable. If you cut yourself off, I PROMISE you will feel better. Also, you just appled 2 months ago. I applied 6 months ago, and I still haven't heard from everywhere. It's not you, it's just the process. Don't expect anything for a long time.

i want to thank you
Friday, March 03 2006 at 07:00 PM

for replacing my application anxiety with a belly laugh! i'm such a headcase now from all of this waiting that the neurotic humor cut right to the core. good luck with all of your applications :-P

Hold letters
Monday, December 26 2005 at 07:00 PM

I don't know if they are blessings or wastes of time. More essays and reccomendations are super annoying. But such is life. Craziness.

Waitlist fun
Monday, December 26 2005 at 07:00 PM

At least we know that if we applied to each others schools, nothing would change, we'd still be waitlisted...

Congrats
Sunday, December 11 2005 at 07:00 PM

on UMICH!!!

Plans
Sunday, May 21 2006 at 08:00 PM

What's your plan? UMich, or are you still waiting to hear from Penn or what?

mich
Monday, September 19 2005 at 08:00 PM

hey congrats! i enjoyed your notes on bs as...thats where im headed before moving to ann arbor...

WOW WOW and WOW!
Friday, August 12 2005 at 08:00 PM

Really great news on Michigan. Way to go!