Cycle is Over...here is everything!
Fee Waivers:
Washington & Lee
William & Mary
Duke
Cardozo Yeshiva
Vanderbilt
Ok so I will start keeping a blog now.
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11/20
Accepted to Berkeley via Phone call from Dean Tom...I totally flipped out considering I got accepted on the very first day! Definitely going to make my cycle SOOOO much easier
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11/24
Decided to send off 4 more apps to HYS and Penn just to make sure I didn't undersell myself.
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12/07
Deferred at GTown via small white envelope. Kinda disappointing but at least its not a rejection!!
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1/03
Recieved the dreaded "Deferral" email from Michigan. 2 Deferrals in a row is making me a tad nervous...but then again....I have to keep telling myself i'm already into Berkeley. Mailed off a "Why Michigan" essay and also wrote a nice personal "Continued Interest" Letter to UMich...added to my file promptly.
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1/10
Accepted to GW via phonecall...missed it because I was in class. E-mailed the assistant dean a few questions and she wrote back that day! Very classy! Also wrote Dean Tom at Berkeley w/ the same questions and got another quick response, despite the fact that his e-mail replied with a message that he was "out of town" until late January.
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1/16
Accepted at USC via mail. This is a welcome acceptance considering USC was my #1 choice before I took the LSAT. Will most likely withdraw though.
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2/8
Deferral E-mail from Harvard. Thoroughly expected this one.
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2/9
Waitlist E-mail at Duke...not exactly what i was hoping for. At least I've got Boalt : ).
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2/20
Wow what an awful day. Waitlisted at Penn and UCLA...and priority waitlist at Georgetown! Geeez....
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3/2
Michigan Waitlist...BRING ON THE UVA WAITLIST
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3/5
Decision E-Mail at UVA, I KNEW IT WAS COMING!!!
I am somewhat disappointed in my cycle...I was hoping I'd have more choice...maybe I will yet. But then again, it only takes one t10 school, choice is really somewhat irrelevant : ).
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Summer 07
Accepted my admission to Berkeley after recieving 0 calls from my waitlist schools. Sunny Sunny California here I come!
Here's my PS:
Night Drives
The night is balmy, the stifling Tennessee air perfectly balanced by the cool tunes of Miles Davis Tribute to Jack Johnson that emanate from my stereo. Driven by underlying melodies and steady percussion, jazz is the perfect allegory for the topic of my discourse: the underlying mystery of each new day: How did I get here, and where am I going? Like the future, the route for my journey has only a general bearing: south towards Georgia along country roads that have yielded a number of inspiring considerations before.
Anytime I reflect upon my motivations, I am always inclined to first consider the various ways my parents have influenced me. My mother, Bonnie, left home at 16; my father, Mark, left at 18. Both were forced to become self-sustaining, and neither stayed in college very long. In fact, neither my parents nor anyone in their family has ever attained a college degree. My father was hired by the local telephone company and because of his industriousness, he managed to maintain a fairly comfortable existence. My mother was a secretary until my sister and I were born, at which point she left her job to give us her undivided attention.
Both of my parents always made one aspect of their stories very clear: their aspirations were never truly fulfilled. They often remind me not only that I have already succeeded where they failed, but also that they wholeheartedly believe I will continue to do so in the future. I know that when my parents look back upon their lives, they will partially gauge their own success relative to mine. I want them to have the satisfaction of knowing that their son achieved the happiness they worked so hard to ensure.
As I pass out of the city lights and into the twentieth guitar-driven minute of Right Off, I remember listening to the same tune during the summer after my freshman year in college. Jazz always helped me unwind on my way home from my job as a meat-department associate at a grocery store in my small, Appalachian hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee. I worked there with a hodgepodge of middle-aged high school dropouts and even some with criminal records. They were the products of broken homes and the poor schools of a community that spent more money on social welfare programs than on education. There was a certain dysphoria, a deep-seeded dissatisfaction that always hung over that room; no one ever really seemed to enjoy or take pride in their work. I assumed that I had little in common with any of them.
Over time, I began to realize that many of these people had seen their own aspirations devastated by circumstances out of their control (alcoholism, failed business ventures, and family crises). My assumptions had been truly ignorant. If my circumstances had been less favorable, I could have ended up with the same hardships and the same regrets.
I now appreciate just how fortunate I have been during the course of my life. I was raised in a stable home with a strong, consistent moral foundation. I recognize that my particular social circumstances have shielded me from disadvantages that, sadly, many people work their entire lives to overcome. I understand that to give any less than my best is to ignorantly snub an opportunity that many others never receive. Thus, rather than allowing my advantages to make me complacent, I have derived another sense of motivation, a sort of responsibility to maximize my contribution to the society that has afforded me every opportunity to succeed.
The cumbersome bass-guitar introduction to Yesternow has come and gone and I have covered much ground in my reflections. As I turn my car back towards home, however, I realize that I have overlooked a critical point during my inner dialogue. Certainly, the desires of society and my parents are important, but something else has been driving me forward. What is the purpose of this night drive, anyway? Certainly not simply to relax, I think, I could have done that in my apartment. No one told me to go reflect on my life or my motivations; I did it on my own.
This was the answer. My entire life, I have always been motivated to succeed by some kind of inexplicable inner drive. My success, however, has always been measured by how helpful I can be to those around me, by how proud I can make my parents, by how useful I can be to society. Success is being the friend people turn to when they need stability or comfort. Success is being the student people listen to and call on for help. Success is being the father who does right by his children. Success is being the attorney who people confidently trust. Foremost, success, for me, is being able to look back on my accomplishments one dayamong them a loving family, happy clients, and a successful careerand be satisfied. The true answer to my original question, though, is not all transparent, even to me. I simply know that these goals are my ideals in the truest sense of the word: they are my utopian realities.
As I draw close to home, I realize that, while I still have no strictly tangible understanding of my motivations, I have achieved that sort of temporary closure that allows us all to move forward with our lives. Despite my temporary reprieve, I know that in a few days my mind will lose sight of the logical cohesiveness of my reflections and become cluttered with the triviality of everyday life. Like my drive, I know I will always eventually end up right back where I started, with the same questions and the same doubts. But when that happens, I also know that I can return to my car and again confront this complicated existence. Such is both the bane and the beauty of my night drives.
Here's my Criminal Record Addendum for those of you who worry about such things:
On the night of November 5, 2005, I was arrested in my Chattanooga apartment building for public intoxication, a Class C misdemeanor in Tennessee. On Monday, November 14, 2005, I appeared in the Hamilton County Court of General Sessions. Because I had no prior criminal record, I was granted a pretrial diversion into a public works program. Between November 15th 2005 and February 14th 2006, I spent eighty hours performing community service on public highways around Chattanooga. Additionally, I served six months of probation which ended without incident on May 14, 2006. Immediately afterward, the arrest and charge were expunged from my record and all criminal proceedings were dismissed. No conviction was ever sustained. I have disclosed this incident in the interest of honesty. The harrowing intensity of the entire experience has granted me an unequivocal sense of the sometimes harsh consequences of my actions. My clear record since the incident demonstrates that I have substantially modified both my attitude and my behavior to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss this matter further.
which schools are your backups? i'm trying to get a good list of backup schools, so far just gw, hastings, and davis. thoughts on the matter? we have the same numbers (almost: 166/3.96). Who did you consult, if anyone, to get a list of schools together? thanks and good luck!