fulkersonr1 (2022-2023)

Not extracurricular information but the other side was too full for this. So I have decided to attend Notre Dame and my cycle is over. It was a fairly tough decision and I also thought a lot about WUSTL, Tulane and would have really considered Minnesota and Illinois if I would have been admitted. In the end I felt ND was a great place for me and worth the extra cost. I felt I had a really good cycle with several great options. Biggest surprises were acceptance to ND and deferral at Northeastern. I probably applied to a few too many schools but if I had not been accepted to ND I would have given all, with maybe a couple exceptions, serious consideration. I have a few pieces of advice for future applicants. Apply early. I was able to get my applications in fairly early which was good, but I did not ask for my LORs early enough which delayed my complete dates. Make sure to get everything lined up early. Make your application as cohesive as possible. Whatever is your greatest strength try to find several different ways in your application to point to this same strength. Ask schools that you are interested in for fee waivers. Going into this process I had no idea that my LSAT score would allow me to gain application fee waivers from so many schools just by asking. You can save a lot of money and have nothing to lose. If you are really interested in a school complete any optional essay you can. For those applicants interested in Notre Dame i would say this is especially important. Writing a Why ND essay may be listed as optional but if you wish to gain admission I would say it is a requirement unless your numbers are simply outstanding. Showcase why you are interested in Notre Dame and what you would contribute to the community. If you are interested in specific programs be sure to mention those. If anyone has any questions I would be glad to try and answer. Well good luck everyone, hope the rest of your cycles go great!

MA in International Relations 3.9 GPA
Internship at United Nations

Changed scholarships to total amount because Loyola was 1 year scholly and seems to be norm on LSN anyway.

12/01/09 : Accepted to Tulane today via e-mail with admissions info. and scholarship info. to be mailed. Excited to start the cycle off with an acceptance, especially since Tulane is high on my list of schools!

12/07/09 : Accepted to Notre Dame! Im pretty shocked, now will have a tough decision to make by January.

12/11/09 : Received e-mail from MSU requesting essay for scholarship consideration. Decided to withdraw as I am no longer considering MSU.

12/14/09 : Accepted at Miami.

12/21/09 : Received fee waiver from Fordham.

01/05/10 : Notified my file was being held for a second review at Iowa. Not an official wait list but according to the admissions office is basically the same thing. For LSN purposes their is no hold so I listed it as a WL.

01/07/10 : Accepted to Loyola Chicago. $4,000 service scholarship with merit offers to come in March. Do not see myself going to Loyola at this time barring huge scholly but still nice to be accepted.

01/08/10: Received acceptance e-mail from Cincy today. Also decision has been mailed from Northeastern and Washington & Lee.

01/11/10: Received acceptance letter to W&L today! Not sure whether I like their new third year program but I do like the small class sizes and honor code. Deferred at Northeastern. Pretty surprised by that one. My GPA sucks but still thought Northeastern was a safety. Decided to withdraw.

01/12/10: Received expected rejection to UVA. UVA is a great school but knew would be a miracle for me to get in. Would not have even applied if not for their generous fee waiver policy.

01/13/10: Waitlisted at Colorado. Probably going to withdraw.

01/14/10: Received acceptance voicemail from George Mason.

01/14/10: Was just accepted to WUSTL! Really happy for this acceptance. Visiting Notre Dame tomorrow and will also hear from UIUC tomorrow. It seems to be boiling down to these three plus Tulane and hopefully Minnesota if I hear from them and am accepted. Couple others may be on the table if they make an amazing offer but Im now going to begin to withdraw from some more schools.

01/15/10: Application held for further review at UIUC. This is most disappointing decision so far. Was really hoping for an acceptance to Illinois, glad got the WUSTL acceptance last night to take the sting out some.

01/19/10: Application held for further review at Cardozo. I have been kind of arbitrary about listing holds as deferrals or waitlists. Cardozo mentioned LOCI, updated resume, etc. and sounded like WL so I listed it as such. Not too bothered about it. Asked to be withdrawn. Also withdrew from George Mason today.

01/22/10: Received scholarship info. from Cincy today. Total of $19,500 which coupled with the GMR makes it pretty affordable but in the end prob. not enough to make me attend. My request for scholarship consideration at ND was denied today. Going to be doing a lot of thinking this weekend as to whether it is worth around $50,000 more to attend ND or if I should consider cheaper options.

01/25/10: Sent in seat deposit to Notre Dame. Withdrew remaining applications. Excited to be attending NDLS! Go Irish!

01/28/10: Received UGA acceptance after I had asked to be withdrawn. Guess it was already in the mail. UGA is a good school and bargain but even if I had been accepted earlier I really do not want to practice in the South.

02/16/10: Acceptance packet from IU came in the mail today well after I requested my application be withdrawn. Going to contact admissions again to make sure they withdraw my application. Was a really nice acceptance packet and offer. I really liked IU but still would not have attended IU over ND had I been accepted earlier.

02/25/10: $30,000 WUSTL scholly. Getting money and acceptances is much less exciting after you've asked to be withdrawn. This would have made my decision to go to ND more difficult had it come earlier but when deciding to go to ND I knew there was a possibility of $ from WUSTL and perhaps possible acceptances and/or $ to UMN or UIUC. That was what made it such a tough decision but I am still happy and excited to be going to ND and think it was the right choice.