Applying to law school: My thoughts, frustrations, opinions.

Wow.  I have a lot of crazy stuff on my mind lately.
DC was a blast last week.  I had a tough time returning to the cold here in Utah.  The weather was absolutely perfect the whole time we were out there.  Low 70s-ish the whole time, and sunny.  It was great.  I came back here, and we've had a bitter cold wind going on.  Not great.
I really enjoyed getting to see George Mason Law.  It's a tiny little campus.  It was also under construction, so there wasn't much to see.  They have one big building, and they're building a second.  That's about it, plus, I may have already mentioned this, but I kept smelling cigarette smoke all over the campus.  It's in a nice area of Arlington, though.  I really love the DC area.  I think that I'd enjoy living there a great deal, however, it's not exactly cheap.  I would want some decent assurance I could pay off the debt of living there and of going to George Mason without a scholarship.

Random interruption to discuss the photo above.  That's me and Ty on one of our three flights on the way out to DC.  I had only had about 3 hours of sleep the night before, but I can't sleep on planes.  Ty, as you see, was not having the same problem.  That trip was seriously fun though.  The flights weren't comfy, but getting to go somewhere was tremendous.  I'm really glad that Spencer and Ty went with me as well.

Anyway, so I'm struggling with the George Mason choice, even though I really want to live there, and it's the best school that accepted me.  I just worry that I'll get tons of debt and then struggle to get the types of jobs I would need to pay it all off.

I just learned that BYU sent out a bunch of decision letters today, including mine.  What with the timing of their response, and the fact that there are a bunch of them at once, I'm fairly certain that at best I'll be waitlisted.  If they had accepted me, I would definitely go there at this point.  It just doesn't seem like I'd be accepted this late in the game.

I haven't thrown out Loyola, but it seems really unlikely.  Cincinnati and Houston are pretty much out.  (Houston could change my mind if when they offer scholarships next week they give me a great offer.)

Now, my current thoughts:  I'm actually really considering Arizona State.  When I applied I didn't think too much about going there, but now it's looking like one of my best options.  To make it affordable, I'll have to establish residency after my first year.  They've offered a scholarship for only my first year, in order to bring me down to below resident tuition.  Then if I could actually establish residency it would be almost as affordable as Loyola with the big scholarship that they offered.  It's a tough decision, and I need to make it in the next couple weeks, provided I don't want to waste any seat deposit money.

I've been pretty frustrated with getting waitlisted at U of Utah.  I thought I'd get accepted, but it was never a for sure thing, obviously.  Anyway, I'm surprised that I probably don't even have the option to stay in Utah for school after all.

I'm anticipating a lot of news tomorrow.  I have a few letters on their way.  I'll know more tomorrow.  Wish me luck, again.

K, bye.

The best band you probably haven't heard of, and MARCH MADNESS!

Imagine Dragons Rock the Local Music Scene
Originally uploaded by libertynance

I know I've plugged Imagine Dragons multiple times, but they really deserve some credit! They're a GREAT band just getting some traction in the biz. They've recently released their first EP on iTunes and will soon be releasing their second. Many of their songs are available on their MySpace. I really like this band, and think they're really going places. (I'm NOT just saying this because I know one of the members of the band, (Otherwise I'd be plugging the good bands that my close friends have been in,) they are a legit favorite that I'd like even if I didn't know who a couple of them are.) Check them out, for realz.

As for March Madness, I've got it. Whatever that is supposed to mean, I'm kind of obsessed right now. I read ESPN.com all the time, and watch for updates about my Utah State Aggies. I really can't wait for the NCAA tourney. I love it. I'm pretty sure I know more about the tourney from reading all these articles than almost everyone I know. (Maybe there's a couple of you out there that have March Madness worse than I do.) Not likely. Really... I'm obsessed.

I don't think I've announced it, but the University of Utah waitlisted me. This does not bode well for BYU, as it is ranked higher. Based on my LSAT and GPA I compared favorably to other people that were accepted there, so I thought I was in for sure, but they decided to waitlist me for some reason. Oh well. We'll see what happens. Wish me luck!

Denied.

EEJXK9284
Originally uploaded by Eric E Johnson

Boo. The University of Illinois decided they were too good for my kind! I had been looking at my websites (Admissionsdean.com, Lawschoolnumbers.com, and top-law-schools.com) to see how other people were fairing at U. of Illinois U-C this year and it didn't look like I'd get in. Sure enough I was rejected. Although I liked that they used the word "Denied" on my online status checker. For some reason it's funny... (Wayne's World?)

Woah. I just saw a girl that I dated a couple years ago and haven't seen since. She's married now and looks ten years older.

So, I've had one of those days. Things haven't gone my way today, more specifically last night. I didn't sleep much and I feel like crap now. Oh well.

And now, two of my favorite SportsCenter Commercials, just because.

BYU Law School is CHEAP!!!

So, as you, my many faithful readers, know, I've been applying to law school.  (Was that enough commas in one short sentence for you?)  So far I've now been accepted to two schools: George Mason, and Loyola Law School.  I was very excited about Loyola's letter to me because it said that I will receive an estimated $84,000 worth of scholarship money over the three years.  That sounds GREAT, right?  Well... when I considered that the latest tuition rate at Loyola is about $40,000 per year, and that living expenses plus fees, etc will amount to another $20,000 or so... I'd still actually have almost $32,000* of debt every year!

Ok... so then there's BYU.  It's in Provo, UT.  Yeah, PROVO.  That's significantly cheaper to live in than Washington, D.C. or Los Angeles.  (The locations of GMU and Loyola)  So living expenses/fees etc. will probably be significantly lower than $20,000 for BYU.  (Their website actually estimates additional costs at $15,070.)  Then there's the tuition.  Without a scholarship it's only $10,280 per year.  So what does this all mean?  Even though BYU would never in a million years give me a scholarship for $84,000, their regular cost is far cheaper for me than Loyola Law School.  Who is significantly lower-ranked, and has again, offered 84 freaking thousand dollars.  Let's hope I get into BYU Law.  $25,000 of debt per year sounds a little better than the $32,000 per year I'd get at Loyola, and it sounds MUCH better than the $55,000 of debt I'd have each year at George Mason.  Ugh.  Money sucks.

K, see ya!


* Actually, I made some errors in calculation of living expenses.  It would be $37-38,000 of debt actually.

Democratic Republic of Congo, George Mason, Haiti...

UNHCR News Story: New UNHCR video report on DRC
Originally uploaded by UNHCR

This morning I went to my geography class on Violent conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa. We had a great lecture on the DRC (Dem. Rep. of Congo). My teacher spent time there recently and really wanted to communicate to us the magnitude of the situation the people face there. That country is in a REALLY bad way. The factions that are all fighting and years of international intrusion have left a nation that could be incredibly wealthy due to its resources in a dire state. It's quite tragic. After all the discussion about DRC and its issues, my desire to go to Africa is even stronger. I just REALLY want to go there and make a difference. In fact, after I got home from class I sent in an application to win a trip to Africa with a NY Times journalist. The lecture today just put me in one of those mindsets where I suddenly am very aware of the incredible span of difference between the life I lead and the lives of many of Africa's poorest folks. As I got a drink from a drinking fountain right after class I realized that I should even be joyful that I have clean and fresh water that I can trust so readily available. I lead a life full of luxuries that many Africans can't even imagine, and they lead lives devoid of things I can't even imagine. It's quite sad, but makes me want to make a difference. Of course I most want to contribute to human rights, but any difference I could make at all would be great.

After my class I came home and applied to win that trip, and then after a while I headed back up to campus. On the way there I looked at my phone and realized that I'd missed a call. It was from an area code I didn't recognize, so I thought it might be a law school. They left me a message and sure enough, I got accepted to George Mason! Woot! It's definitely one of my top 3 choices. I was thinking it was one place that I was feeling fairly borderline about my admission chances.

So I was feeling pretty great about that and went and bought some food in the student center. I sat down with my food and saw that they had CNN playing on the TV there. Of course they were covering the earthquake in Haiti. It's an incredible thing when nature can shut down the center of a nation badly enough that people can't even get into the country. Watching the coverage brought my mood back down, but also reminded me of how much I want to make a difference in the world. Hopefully the more I say things like this the more I'll be driven to actually do something about these feelings.

Anyway, that was the roller coaster of feelings that I felt this morning. I can't wait to figure out what comes next. K, see ya later.

Law School Applications and the Wait-time

The anticipation is already killing me.  I'm always excited when I'm waiting on a package or something in the mail, and especially when it's something potentially exciting.  Now I have to wait for 11 different somethings to come in the mail, by phone, or even by email.  I don't know where they'll hit me from.  (Oh, happy new year, by the way.  ...uh... cool... anyway... back to anticipation...)  Some of the law schools have said that I could hear from them within a couple weeks, and some of them say they can take upwards of 8 weeks.  Yeargh.  That's WAY too big a window for me.  I've never had such a big window for a package or anything. 

Spencer also makes fun of me for always checking my email, but now I'm probably going to check it always times two. 

Rejected, waitlisted, or accepted?  Scholarships?  I am having a hard time waiting.  Oh well, I guess once I know, I'll just have to go through the labor of figuring out how to pay for law school... so maybe it's not that exciting.  But alas, I'm still excited.  Or at least VERY anxious.

Anyway, I'm sure you (my millions of readers) will get to hear plenty about the many communique that will inform me of my law-school fate in the future.  K...

bye.

"Hot Blue Kitties!" --My friend Ty on the Avatar Characters.

Avatar movie image (4)
Originally uploaded by tamilbluefilm2009

Based on Ty's very positive review of this movie, and another friend that said I should see it, tonight I decided to get out of my house and went with some friends to see Avatar. Even though I had only heard really good things, I was still a little skeptical if I would actually enjoy it. I'm not usually into weird sci-fi movies.

My overall opinion of the film: I enjoyed it! It was pretty good. It was noticeably long, but I didn't think it went too long. I think it's definitely worth a watch, even if you're not usually into, as my sister put it, movies that "seem like only gamers would like." It's definitely weird at times, but I did enjoy it as a whole.

The cons:
-At times it was a bit too cheesy. My friend Griff summed it up as "the adult version of Fern Gully."
-The alien "natives" actually had some things about their culture that were comparable to human cultures, and that kinda bugged. I wish they were more their own culture ENTIRELY. (Dreadlocks, wearing loin cloths and their accents for example.) It seemed like they were way too comparable to stereotypical African tribes. Perhaps this was purposeful, but it made it harder to believe them as an alien race.
-One thing that REALLY bugged me, and I know this is me being very picky, but did the main girl HAVE to have a freaking gauge in her ear? Really? She's an alien, but she's into modern fashion trends? I HATE gauges.

Pros:
-I don't remember being bothered by the acting, with the exception of the main two villains, they kinda bugged a little, but the rest of the acting was pretty good.
-This movie was beautiful. They were really creative with all the plant life and stuff, and I had fun watching it. I enjoyed the cool scenery and the special effects.
-I was very entertained by a weird movie. I was just really glad that it didn't weird me out too much.

Anyway, that's my review of sorts. If you're on the fence about it, I'd give it a shot. It was pretty good.

So I'm done with 6 applications for law school, and I'm mostly done with my BYU application. Just need signatures and the ecclesiastical endorsement. So tonight I'm going to try and finish the last three applications I have left. Since I've been sick I haven't been able to sleep at night. It's buggin' me. But I think I'm starting to get over the cold. Anyway, that's all really. K, see ya.

There are two types of personal statements for applying to law school.

"Yheyarkle Smarfgh!"  This is exactly how writing my third personal statement is making me feel. 

So, when I decided to go to law school once and for all more than a year ago, I felt like I was never going to be able to articulate WHY I wanted to go to law school without explaining that I prayed and felt like it was the right thing to do.  That was originally my ONLY strong reason.  However, when I finally reached this point where I'm applying to law schools and writing my personal statements it felt very different.  So the different applications ask for subtly different things with the personal statement, and some of them have different length requirements.  There are two main types of personal statements that I've been asked to write.  One is the kind that answers the question: "Why do you want to go to law school?"  I sat down to write that one the other night, and amazingly... it flowed from my fingers as easily as this blog-post is right now.  I also wrote a more brief version of that one for various length requirements.  So those two were surprisingly easy.
The other type of personal statement answers the question: "Why should we pick you for our law school?"  I've stared at a blank Word document for over an hour total now, and I still just can't figure out how to write that one!  I DESPISE bragging about myself in a professional setting.  When I did my Sterling Scholar portfolio in high school I really really hated it.  It's all about taking mediocre things you've done and trying to spin them to sound spectacular.  It essentially turns me into a politician.  I hate it.  Perhaps this means that law schools really just shouldn't pick me, but I find it odd that I can't write it.  It's funny that someone who can have such a self-serving blog as this can't figure out how to draw more attention to themselves.  Blogging is all about ME ME ME!
Anyway, wish me luck.  I'll get it written eventually, but I'm afraid that I'm no good at spinning things mediocre into spectacular.  We'll see.
Side note: I decided that applying to Quinnipiac was totally a stupid idea because I know I'd never go there.  So I swapped it out for St. Louis University.  We'll see how that goes.  (I'd pretty much only go there if they gave me a full-ride scholarship.)

I have NO idea where in the country I will be next year...

University of Illinois Union
Originally uploaded by VSmithUK

Applying for law school is kind of weirding me out. I haven't the slightest clue where I'm going to be a year from now. I think this is the first time since waiting for my mission call that I've felt like this. (Holy crap, it's been 5 years since I got my mission call... that's nuts.) On Thursdays I work two shifts. (What's wrong with me that I'm on my computer between these shifts!? You'd think I'd have had enough computer time.) I spent the whole of my first shift compiling my "short list" of schools that I'm going to apply to. I've been working on figuring out where I was going to apply for a long time, but today I finally just decided on 10, yes, TEN schools that I'm going to apply to. I'm applying to a wide enough range of schools that I don't know if I'll end up in LA or Connecticut. It's a lot crazy.

Here's my long "short list" (I remember when McCain and Obama were picking their VP, the media kept talking about their short lists of candidates, and I want my own short list) of schools:

• Arizona State University:  It's not a bad school it seems.  It's a VERY hot school, but I think I'd rather be super hot at the beginning and end of the school year than frozen like I frequently am throughout the school year in this frosty Frigidaire of a city I live in now. 
• Brigham Young University:  Ok... this one's a no-brainer.  It's the least expensive top 50 law school.  It's 15 minutes from home.  I can find me a Mormon wife.  
• University of Cincinnati:  This is a nearly top 50 school that is actually a safety school for me.  They didn't make me pay the application fee, so why not, right?  I actually started my application to them because they were the first to offer me a fee waiver, but then a BUNCH more schools offered them to me.  (In fact, aside from BYU and ASU, all of these schools offered application fee waivers.)
• University of Connecticut:  I'm not really sure why this one is happening.  Pretty much the same reasons as Cincy.
• George Mason University:  This is a school that I'm really interested in.  It's a top 50 school, it is right by D.C., and it's a conservative school (which is only appealing because I won't feel quite as weird being a Mormon in a conservative atmosphere.)  Being right by D.C., this is probably the best dating atmosphere for me aside from the two schools in Utah.
• University of Illinois:  This is a great school that's ranked really well.  I don't know if Chicago is where I'd want to end up, but it would be cool to get accepted there anyway.  This school is the one that I think is most likely to reject me.
• Loyola Law School (L.A., CA):  There are like three Loyolas, so it's necessary to say that this is the one in Los Angeles.  I think it would be fun to go into entertainment law.  The only way I'll end up at Loyola is if that's what I know I want to do.  (This is also pretty much a safety school.)
• Quinnipiac University:  This is a SUPER-safety school.  I'm just entertaining this idea because I wonder if I could get a full-ride scholarship there... probably not, but I want to find out.  (This is definitely my least likely destination.)  (Can you believe I'm applying to two schools in Connecticut?)
  
• University of Utah:  This may be the most-likely destination.  It's also a top 50 school that is very cheap, but not quite as cheap as BYU.  Like BYU they have a great employment placement rate.  It's close to home, etc. 
  
• William and Mary:  This is the second oldest university in the country.  Cool, eh?  Yeah, this is a fairly prestigious school in Virginia, but I'm kind of only applying because they made it free.  It's cool that it's in Williamsburg though.  There's tons of history there.

There ya go.  My "short" list that actually felt super long.  Where do you see me?  Provo?  Salt Lake? Arlington?  L.A.? Champaign? Tempe? Hamden? Hartford? Williamsburg? Cincinnati?