underwhelm (2022-2023)

Are you involved with any open-source projects? (just intrigued by the EFF citation). As to our chances with Northwestern: the admissions council takes the higher LSAT (good for you) , but they highly value business experience (good for you). With some luck, we'll both be there this fall ;) By the way, I seem to have the same problem with easy classes. I got D's in classes like Intro Statistics but As in Fluid Mechanics, etc. Who knows :-D

I need to get more sleep; the above post should read "good for me" the first time. /must cut down on the caffeine

Do you use Linux / BSD? I have been a fan of Debian for six or seven years now (back when you had to partially write your own scripts, lol). Also, comp-sci classes are totally unfair-- I had to struggle just to get past intro Java in college (the curve was A- at 99% w/no extra credit).

I started using slackware a few versions ago, and for a while hosted my own webserver, routed wireless etc. with it. Now I have a Gentoo box I use for MythTV. Geek-a-nerd stuff. I bought the X-10 firecracker when they offered it to Slashdot readers for $5. I loved taking programming classes at the non-liberal arts schools. It was learning Scheme at Grinnell for its beautiful structure that I didn't enjoy. They switched to Java the next year.

Congrats on Iowa (great MFA program too). I only tried Slackware once but I never really matched well with its "personality," so to speak. I've been thinking of setting up a MythTV system, but I just haven't had enough time lately. Slashdot-- before /. became huge, I actually got something submitted to the AskSlashdot column. Sort of a blast from the past, the site is just mind-bogglingly huge now. Did you end up interviewing with Northwestern? If you have time to go to Chicago, I would highly recommend doing so. The interview is totally painless (basically they want to make sure that you're not a "jerk," as they put it) and the people at Northwestern are extremely pleasant. Not to mention, of course, the absurdly beautiful campus...

where did you go to school? our GPA/LSAT medians are nearly identical. oh, and our transcripts might read alike, although I did not receive any Fs and only have one D. I do have a C posted for every A I received. sigh. Good Luck! and congrats on Iowa.

I am going to guess you are from Grinnell, after reading your info again. I went to Carleton. We had a 3-3 program with Columbia too, although the last time someone attempted it, the admin was still using carbon paper!

Got informed of the scholarship via regular mail

power: thx. MythTV is very useful and very needy. I'm having trouble right now where some recordings get so corrupt that trying to watch them locks up the machine so hard I can't SSH in to kill the process. Other than that it works quite suitably 90% of the time. I really should interview at Northwestern, particularly with your description. It's about a 3.5 hour drive... theflower: Yes, Grinnell. I had to get far enough from the twin cities to keep my parents from interfering. :) My personal statement and addendum are pretty audacious, in retrospect. I explain my GPA as depressed across my entire undergraduate career as a result of my economic background and to please ignore it as a metric of my academic ability and work ethic. I don't think Iowa even read it and I just got in on my LSAT. We'll see how it fares at my higher-ranked schools where I'm in the competitive band. I seriously understated my childhood economic problems, but hopefully provided enough information to substantiate my claim. I'm most curious to know if I put enough information in to inspire Iowa to give me an opportunity fellowship...

I am surprised you applied to William Mitchell but not UMN.... I know the Director of Admissisons Collins Byrd pretty well (two yrs of co-chairing the Pre-Law Assoc at Carleton led me to working with him on multiple occasions). He has always expressed a pretty generous attitude toward evaluating candidates for admissions. Seems like you'd have a very reasonable shot with your 172, along with your essays on your background? (As for me, and why I'm not applying.... HMMM!)

To be honest I prepared and submitted all but the George Mason application before my LSAT score was back. WM was my safety. Because I'm an Iowa resident of the last 12 months, I'd be paying UofM non-resident tuition which would just be insulting after living in MN so long. Since I currently live only a mile away from UI...

Best I can tell, Iowa is the only state in the midwest that doesn't participate with MN. Even Manitoba does. I think because Iowa has an inferiority complex.

I was afraid of this, I once bought a TV card ages ago and tried using the bttv drivers, a tremendous waste of time and effort. I'll give it another two years before I give it another go. Your PS statement seems to be much better than mine, which were all different (as described before) but they all had a similar theme, which was: 1. All of your applicants are outstanding. 2. I am not outstanding. 3. Therefore, I will stand out. 4. Admit me. If I thought it feasible, I would have happily submitted a video of myself break-dancing in a tragic yet poignant manner, however, I have heard that submitting videos is a faux pas these days...

about UMN.... did not realize. :)

Best of luck to you too! I think you'll be fine, though. =)

you're going to cruise into GMU. Why didn'y you hit GWU or GULC?

i didn't fill out any supplementary app for bc, though i vaguely recall something. Story time: BC requires a mail-in signature for electronic apps, but the paper you sign asks you to check from a list of attachments (resume, fin aid app, etc). I didn't have anything to attach, just my signature. So I check "Other", write "cryptic crossword" in the blank, and I pritn out a cryptic crossword, find four appropriate clue answers, fill in B, C,L and S in the grid, staple it to my signature page, and send it off. I hope I made some admissions officer's day a little more fun.

I read the bc page. Financial aid system is ridiculous. The whole think assumes a $18K/yr loan before they start to think about grants anyway, so no one gets off too easy. That's why I focused on getting merit scholarships. Really though, the solution is pull back the ridiculous tuition.

good luck man, i feel some good shit coming your way. also: how do you know you were deferred?

How did you get a fee waiver? Did you request it, or was it unsolicited?

They started coming in after I took the LSAT, because of the CRS. I only used one, though: George Mason.

HI how did your interview go at NW? in DEC you said they were too busy then in FEB you said the interview was pending. good luck!!

i only got fee waivers from florida coastal and ave maria and such. i wonder if I missed out on fee waivers at my interesting schools because my lsat score was two years old. cry cry cry.

Northwestern "waived" the interview requirement for me for an unspecified reason, but I started to get antsy. So I called and asked if maybe I should interview anyway. Then I did. I thought it went well at the time, but who knows...

I got waitlisted at BU too! maybe it's just me... could it be because I have no WE?? I dunno but now i'm really scared!

Yeah, I actually e-mailed them and asked them the same thing. No response yet. I don't think too many of the class gets them if their median LSAT is 160 or whatever it is, but now you've got me worried. That's interesting you miss the Twin Cities; I actually have started looking forward to (maybe) living in a college town again for a while. We'll have to make a trip back to visit if we both end up at Iowa. :)