olddog (2022-2023)

Worked during undergraduate years...BIG mistake.
I've been out of school for several years now...I now know better.
Law school may not work out if I don't get some serious scholarships and/or aid.
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Since I have pretty much written a book (or at least an instructional tract) in the "Additional Information," I'll put my info on my applications here. Perhaps someone can learn something from it.
I would assume my personal statement is highly unique, not only because I have been out of school for well more than ten years, but because my life has followed a weird path. I stressed my professional success as much as I could. I tried to make everything sound as upbeat as I could, even when discussing the reasons for my, ah, less than stellar GPA. I didn't make excuses. I would guess the statement went over either really well or really poorly. For my hobbies and what-not, I discussed my kids, time spent coaching baseball, etc. I can't say a spent a semester feeding people in Africa or anything like that.
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I'm not sure if there's any advice to offer future students from my admissions result. Low-ranked schools that I thought would've given me a scholarship didn't offer much, and higher-ranked ones did. Perhaps the lower-ranked ones didn't think I would attend, or maybe they just didn't have the money. My advice for a "splitter" or non-traditional student such as myself would be to apply to quite a few stretch schools and make your personal statement gutsy. Make a "second-tier" school your "safe" school. The worst that can happen is someone says no.
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To the "less-than-exclusive" schools that put me on a waiting list: stick it. In a polite, and comfortable way, of course.

I've received a lot of fee waivers, many of which I forgot to mark for the individual schools.
The scholarship figures are for three years to match what most people are doing; I thought it looked a little pretentious, but maybe that's just me.
By the way, I appreciate all the nice and encouraging comments from people. I'm going to try for some higher tier schools, but I'm financially strapped, and I have two kids.
------Update for 12/30/08: I've now heard from eight schools, and been accepted at every one.
I'm in at Charleston, Campbell, Charlotte, St. Mary's, Barry, and Stetson.
Florida A & M let me know I was accepted with a very nice phone call. Unfortunately, the phone rang on my cell as I was walking out of Chik-fil-a (For the record, I did wait to answer it until after I got out, thank you very much). What's more, the connection was bad, and I didn't understand the Dean when she told me which school I had been accepted into. I had to deduce it from the phone number and the letter that showed up a couple of days later.
--------------Update for 1/5/2009: I've decided to try for some schools that are more of a stretch. Maybe I'm feeling overconfident from getting accepted into several schools, but if I want to try, I have to try now. If they reject me, all I'm out is the app. fee and my time.
--------------Update for 1/11/2009: I heard back yesterday from North Carolina Central. I have been waitlisted. This was certainly a weird turn of events. I was more than a little shocked. It certainly does not have the, ah, best academic reputation, but I could have gotten in-state tuition, and a law school is still a law school.
--------------1/17/09 Update: I got in to Wake Forest! Hooray! Now, if only I can figure out some way to pay for it...
------------2/5/09: I got accepted to Baylor (sort of). I got into the summer program, but no word on the fall program. The problem is, I'd have to put down a deposit by the end of the month.
---------2/10/09: I continue to receive a flurry of letters and e-mails from schools I have already been accepted into that tell me exactly...nothing.
----------3/12/2009: Got in at Indiana-Bloomington, with a nice scholarship, to boot. Now my decision gets more difficult.
----------3/18/2009: I'm in at Alabama! The scholarship makes the school super affordable. I really like the place, too. Where to go, where to go?
---------3/23/2009: Waitlisted at Illinois & Pepperdine, in at Elon. Oh, well, I couldn't afford to live in Malibu, anyway.
-------3/28/2009: Rejected outright at Emory, but in at Tulane with an as-yet-unspecified scholarship.
--------3/30/2009: In at George Mason...all right!
Also, withdrew from a slew of schools. I've decided to go to a Tier 1, no matter what kind of scholarship I have at the other schools. I just don't think there will be good jobs waiting for me at schools no one has heard of.
-------4/1/2009: I visited a couple of schools I was excited about last week, and I was majorly disappointed. The folks at UNC were borderline rude.
-------4/3/2009: Great scholarship at Tulane. This decision is getting tough.
-------4/11/2009: Withdrew from George Mason & Indiana. Unless one of the others I haven't heard from comes through, I'll probably go with Alabama or Wake, or maybe Tulane.
-------4/24/2009: In at Tennessee with a nice scholarship, waitlisted at UNC. No one in my home state will give me any love...even at the state schools!
-------4/29/2009: With a heavy heart, withdrew from Tulane. I loved the school, but New Orleans is just a bad place for kids.
-------5/7/2009: In at FSU. However, I'm still getting a much better deal at other places. It looks like it's still probably going to be Alabama or WF.
-------6/6/2009: In at Washington & Lee, but received a scholarship too small to matter for such an expensive school. (For some reason, they said my application wasn't complete in time to get a real scholarship..which is baloney, but unfortunately beside the point).
Well, my first pick is Alabama, but 1) my inability to sell my house in NC, and 2) my wife's inability to find a job mean I'll be heading to Wake Forest. Too bad "Demon Deacons" is a silly name for a sports mascot.
-------Epilogue: Baylor accepted me for the regular fall semester, with a nice scholarship to boot. TX Weslyan came back with another scholarship, too. I was never accepted by any of the schools that put me on a waitlist.
I unfortunately did not get to go; I just can't afford to go to school full time and feed my kids.