econtutornv (2022-2023)

To answer a question often asked by my family and friends, namely, "just where the heck am I going?" I've decided to put up the following relevant information for the offers I still have open.

(All figures are from LSAC's numbers. I don't know if these are current for the next year but I don't think you'd lose money by betting that tuition is going to increase at any given school)

Direct Tuition costs

GMU-27K/yr (no scholarship)
OSU-19.2K/yr (no scholarship info yet and this assumes relatively easy to get instate tuition)
IU-15.5/yr (with 19K scholarship, this one would be what we call a "no brainer" if not for the seemingly harsh 3.2 GPA requirement and extreme difficulty of achieving residency, which would serve as a fall back should I blow my first year of school)
Tulane-21K/yr(20K scholarship, roughly top two thirds of the class to maintain)

The outcomes I expect at each of the schools that I still have yet to hear from:

Georgetown-Rejection
Emory-Rejection
WUSTL-Rejection
UC-Davis-Waitlist/Accept (god knows when they'll get back to me though)
UC-Irvine-Rejection
UA-Accept

This might seem a little on the pessimistic side but in reality I don't think I could stomach paying the bill for Emory or WUSTL so I'm not bothered by either of those schools likely rejections. Davis would be nice but is going to be soul crushingly expensive without a lot of aid. Irvine would be incredible but looking at the students already admitted as well as the unique circumstances of their inaugural class I doubt I have much of a shot there. UA is really the wild card at this point, cheap out of state tuition and if they have any scholarship funds left I stand a decent chance at qualifying for them; they're the one school I'm really hoping to hear from soon.

4/26/09-Though about it for awhile and I'm going to Davis. I didn't get enough money at any other school to pull me away and no other school provided the "prestige" necessary to do so either.

4/20/09-In at Davis! Short of an incredible offer at UA it looks like I know where I'm going. Somewhat ironic that I got into the hippie school on 4-20 (insert random giggling stoner joke here)

4/09/09-Rejected at Emory by snail mail, seems I ran face first into the 164 wall. Not surprised at all, but I do have to say it's about time Emory!

4/06/09-WL'd at WUSTL, the only surprise was that I wasn't an automatic rejection. Also, received an 8,500/yr scholly to OSU which coupled with the instate tuition drops the total COA, at least for school only expenses down to just over 12K/yr, dirt f&$%^g cheap and a very tempting offer.

4/05/09-To quote the weak splitter thread on TLS "Welcome to purgatory-expiation's a bitch"

3/29/09-Withdrew from Tulane, GMU, and IU today. If I fail to get any other acceptances it looks like I'll be heading to OSU. I'm really hoping UA or Davis comes through for me but I think I'll be perfectly happy with instate tuition at OSU if need be.

3/26/09-Out at G-Town. Meh, Looks like it's official,I'm going to a 30 ranked school. I'd be disappointed about this but considering my best option last year was my barely TT ranked local school at sticker I realize that I've come a long way. Now it comes down to OSU, IU-B and Tulane. Any reader input would be appreciated as I really do not know enough about these schools to feel like I could make an informed decision.

3/24/09-Decision at Georgetown. Apparently they only send out decisions via snail mail so it will be a while before I hear what the verdict is. There is a possibility of a tell if I can log on to the ASW, but the site itself says it'll take four days to update if I'm in. G-Town is the only school that could throw a real wrench in my plans at this point so I'm really anxious to see what they say...

3/23/09-Evaluation in progress at Davis... How long it takes to get a decision from this point on is anybody's guess.

3/20/09-Rejected at UVA, I am econtutornv's complete lack of surprise. I didn't expect any other outcome and to be honest after I put in the app I completely forgot I even applied to this school. I will say that it would be nice if other schools would take a cue from UVA and A) make decisions based on auto-admit/auto-reject criteria in less than a month (Emory and WUSTL, I am looking right at you and B) send their decisions, whether good or bad, through email. UVA had a turnaround time of a little over three weeks for me, the fastest decision I've received yet and even though I didn't get the extremely unlikely nod I'm glad that they were so quick in notifying me.

It's getting down to the wire on decision time and I'm still waiting to hear back from some possible heavy hitters...

3/19/09-In at OSU. I talked to the Regsitrar's office and it looks like I'll be able to get instate tuition with little to no hassle, which knocks 20K off of the sticker price. Definitely an appealing offer, let's see if they have any scholarship money to push me over the edge...

3/16/09-Dinged at GW today. No big deal as I wasn't expecting to get in since I applied late in the game.

3/09/09-The squeaky wheel gets the grease apparently, in at GMU via a phone call from the Diversity Coordinator (I think that was the title, I was a little excited at the time). GMU is a very attractive option for me, it features a law and economics based curriculum and a feeder school for many federal government positions. I'm supposed to receive my entire acceptance package this week, I hope they have some more good news in there for me!

3/08/09-Checked my mail tonight after spacing it yesterday...

The good news-I finally received another decision.

The bad news-Waitlisted at Washington & Lee.

Now don't get me wrong, this was a school that I thought that I had approximately 0 chance of getting into so the WL is a nice surprise. It just kind of stinks that It's just one more non-decision "decision!" Either way, I'm glad SOMEONE got back to me, I was beginning to think that I'd roll a donut for decisions this month like I did last one.

For the record, I would definitely like to attend W & L, I've only heard great things about the school.

3/01/09-I'm still mired in the doldrums :) and it's one month before seat deposits begin to come due, here's to hoping that a rapid fire succession of decisions come poring in this month!

2/23/09-IU-B upped my scholarship offer to $19,000/yr in consideration of my Tulane scholarship! That's great! If these turn out to be my two best choices then I have some serious thinking to do.

2/21/09-Applied to UVA. I know my chances resemble a snowball's in hell but they're the best CRS fee waiver I received so I feel, why not? Completely expecting to get dinged here so when it comes it will be no surprise at all.

2/19/09-I'm starting to understand that Tom Petty song "the waiting is the hardest part" more and more lately :). I hope my mailman has a strong back as it looks like he'll need it when the decisions start pouring in next month.

Oh yeah, complete at Ohio FWIW, which was pretty quick. Not a peep from UA yet, but my report probably hasn't had time to make it across the country.

2/15/09-Still no more decisions but what can you do (shrug)? I've decided to apply for U of AZ, cheap out of state tuition, and not a glut of lawyers in the state make it an attractive option. I lived in AZ while in the army and liked it a lot, so that's a plus as well. I also decided to put in for OSU, which until about 30 minutes ago was completely off of my radar. Apparently Gov. Strickland in Ohio decided that he wanted to attract veterans to the state and reduced tuition to INSTATE levels for any honorably discharged veteran, which means that if I was accepted OSU would have my current best offer beat without any merit aid whatsoever. We'll see how those two go, they are both incredibly attractive options due to price and should none of my "must go to" schools fail me, I'd be happy with either UA of OSU.

2/09/09-Not a whole lot to report at the moment. I haven't had a decision come in since my WL at Hastings two and a half weeks ago. UC-Irvine requested my LSDAS report today, which means that it should be processed and sent off in the next few days. Hopefully they request the image instead of the paper copy! Aside from that, I'm complete at the D.C./VA "George triplets" but not yet at Davis, which still shows my status as "Application received 1/4/09."

***UPDATE***

"Application file complete, awaiting evaluation" at UC-Davis. Hopefully they get me to decision sooner rather than later. If I do get accepted I'd like it to be before I pay a seat deposit to another school!

My cycle is turning out to be longer than I expected it to be when I filled out my first apps back in September. While the waiting is a pain, its part of the process. Maybe I should just consider it good practice for when I have to wait for bar results!

2/02/09-Withdrew from San Diego today. I thought about trying to negotiate with them about lowering the GPA requirement to maintain the scholarship and raising the amount of the award but I realized that the conditions I would have to have to attend were going to be nearly impossible to negotiate for. I also gave IU-B a call today to try to get them to either up my offer or relax the GPA requirement. Ms. Weatherford, whom I spoke to over the phone said that the GPA requirement was non-negotiable (damn!) but asked me to email her my best other offer to see if maybe they couldn't reconsider my offer in light of it. I also inquired about their summer start program, which I'm very interested in as I think it would be nice to have some idea of what to expect but with only having one class to worry about messing up.

Overall I'm feeling kind of "meh" about the whole process/my cycle. I'm not asking to get into Harvard or anything but I was kind of hoping to at least make it into one of my targets (UI, UMN, UC-Davis, UC-Hastings or Emory) by this point. As of right now the only two options I have on the table are my two T1 safeties of IU-B and Tulane, both of which I like well enough but neither of which I'd go to without feeling that I was "settling." Just me kvetching, hopefully sometime in the next three months I'll get a surprise acceptance.

1/29/09-I finally received my scholarship offer from San Diego, 18K/yr renewable if I finish in the top 1/3 of the class. I'm not willing to wager 45K on my law school exam taking abilities so I will be withdrawing from there by the end of the week. I put in an application to UC-Irvine to finally alleviate the nagging coming at me from my family in L.A. I don't think that I'll get in there but if I somehow luck out and score a seat I'll have to give some serious thought to attending; it's not often that one gets to learn the law from such an incredible faculty and the bargain basement price of room and board.

1/26/09-WL'd at Hastings. Oh well, if Davis doesn't send me some good news it looks like I'll be going further afield for law school. So it goes... Also, decided to start culling the schools that I've been accepted. SCU, Loyola and Baylor all got the chop for providing little (SCU) to no (Loyola and Baylor) merit aid.

1/22/09-I dropped apps for the 3 DC area Georges. GMU full time as out of state tuition is (comparatively) dirt cheap, G-Town and GW PT as the only way I could afford to go to these schools (and get into them!) is to look a their PT programs.

1/14/09-Good news-Accepted at Loyola.

Bad news-"although you have a strong academic profile we are unable to offer you a scholarship at this time" BTW we are raising tuition to $40,000 this year. Well Loyola, it was nice entertaining the idea of living in LA, it's not you, it's me, well, me and my strange aversion to massive debt.

1/09/09-Decision rendered at Loyola law school with a letter on the way. In/out/scholarship? will hopefully be answered by Tuesday.

1/08/09-Out at UIUC via status checker. I'm ok with that as it makes it far more likely that I'll be going to school in CA should one of the UC's bite (here's looking at you, Hastings).

1/08/09- $14,000 Scholarship offer from Santa Clara. While I'm grateful for the offer I'm afraid that the requirements to maintain it are a little too steep for me to take it seriously, top 25%. I guess I should send them my withdrawal letter soon.

1/07/09-UIUC status checker changed to "decision letter mailed." Whether that means I have a similar outcome to Minnesota (which said the same thing) or I have been accepted is something I'll just have to wait and see...

1/03/09-I caved and decided that I will be applying to UC-Davis. While a fine school, I did not plan on applying there as it is a little too close to home. I've since reconsidered after more closely examining their job prospects and will be sending my certification letter in on Monday.

12/27/08-Accepted via snail mail at IU-B, package came with both a scholarship and a nice personalized note. Nice to see that I now have some T1 options.

12/26/08-Accepted by mail at Santa Clara today. I expected it, but it's still nice to see it in writing. No word on scholarship info but if other members on this board are any indication it comes about a month or so after your acceptance. Hurry up Loyola and Hastings, I have a CA law school road trip to prepare for!

12/22/08-My status checker changed to "Decision Mailed" at Santa Clara today. Hopefully they actually drop the decision in the mail box before they get out for X-mas. It would be nice to hear back from one of my two Northern CA schools before the new year.

12/17/08-In at USD. The letter said scholarship decisions will be made starting late January on a "rolling" basis. Hopefully that bodes will for me seeing as how I had my app in 3 days after they started taking them. My status checker at Santa Clara remains at "In Committee", though the date changed to 12/17/08, more looking busy by the admissions office? I can haz more decisions before x-mas?

12/12/08-Status Checker at USD changed to "Decision Rendered". I wonder if I'll get a phone call or an email tomorrow or if I'll be waiting for the thin white envelope of death over the weekend. Status checker at Santa Clara changed to "in Committee".

12/11/08-Tulane Scholarship info arrived today, 20K renewable with a 3.0. I don't know what a 3.0 translates to class rank wise, I suppose I'll have to ask some questions on LSD.

12/10/08-Checked my phone at work and it seems I had a missed call from a Baylor 2L congratulating me on my acceptance to the Summer semester (June start). I'm pretty confused at this point as I a)have yet to receive an official piece of correspondence from Baylor stating that I've been accepted, and b) Applied to start in the Spring semester (January start). We'll see what actually comes in the mail but I'm stoked enough on Tulane that if their scholly offer is decent my mind may be made up. As an aside, IU-B just changed their name to the "Mickey Mauer" school of law. Not to knock the guy (or his $35 million donation) but I can't imagine having that on a diploma.

12/09/08-My UIUC status checker has been bouncing around with different variations of "File complete, review pending" over the last week. I don't know if that means anything or if the admissions staff are just trying to look busy.

12/08/08-Accepted to Tulane by email. Pretty stoked as I almost went to LSU last year before I retook the LSAT. The email said scholarship award information would be getting to me through snail mail soon.

12/05/08-Put in an app for W & L. Not expecting much but I figured it was $12. I do respect the fact that their online apps are free and I like the concept of the "honor code" that the school maintains.

12/05/08-Waitlisted at Notre Dame. If it was any other school I applied to I wouldd just pull off the list. So, yeah... now I have a wait potential of 8 more months for a decision.

12/01/08-Applied to Loyola, Santa Clara and UC Hastings. Though I was pretty sure that I was fine with leaving the N. Nevada area for better job prospects I realized that these three schools match job prospects for all but my original reaches. If I don't get into one of my top picks (ND, Emory) there's a good chance I'll end up at one of these three or USD.

12/01/08-My Baylor status checker says that a decision letter will be mailed to me within 10 days of 11/19/08. At this point I'm pretty indifferent about this. I applied to start in their Spring program, which begins in January, and I just don't think that I could be ready to move to Waco in a little over a month. Of course if I'm rejected there it won't bother me much at this point either.

11/19/08-Rejected at Minnesota. Great.

11/14/08-Status checker at Minnesota changed from "in review" to "decision letter sent". I suppose one way or another I'm hearing from a school next week.

11/12/08-People are starting to get dings and WL's from Notre Dame now. Hopefully I squeak by...

11/10/08-Email from Tulane saying that my app is now before the admissions committee. Great to hear that they're doing something with it, not so great that they say on their website not to look for anything before next year...

11/07/08-Got some movement in a status checker today! Apparently I've gone from pending review at U MN to under review. Whether this means that I'll hear back from them by the end of the year remains to be seen but it's good to see that at least someone is looking at my file!

10/29/08-Nothing much to report at this point as I am in a holding pattern waiting on anybody to send me something. About the only odd thing I've received is an email from Tulane saying that I am complete today. The odd thing about that is I received an email from them in the middle of last month saying the exact same thing. At least this one had the web address for their status checker in it...

07/20/08-Most of my schools are in broad ranking categories, I'm sure that will change as the day to put in apps approaches.

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I've been pretty involved politically since 2006, both for individual candidates and for the democratic party in general. Currently I'm a section organizer for my assembly district.

6 yrs. in the military, including one deployment.

Currently employed as a file clerk at a well established local firm.

Worked 30-40 hrs/week while in school.