I have now applied to:
University of Washington
Georgetown University
Cornell University
University of California - Los Angeles
Stanford University
University of Southern California
and I'm working on University of California - Berkeley.
So, there you go. There's more on the horizon, but these are the right now ones.
Thursday, January 31
Friday, January 25
Schools, Schools, Everywhere
I applied to Georgetown too. Now that I have all of the pieces (save for letters), I think getting them out will be fairly painless. Fingers crossed.
Anyway, I hope to have all my apps out within two weeks. I think my family would like to have their kitchen table back. And their family room. And their fireplace. You know, let's just say they'd like to have more than a square foot of any flat surface downstairs showing. And I'd like to get cracking on my laundry again. I haven't done any in so long, I'm running out of clothes!
Anyway, I hope to have all my apps out within two weeks. I think my family would like to have their kitchen table back. And their family room. And their fireplace. You know, let's just say they'd like to have more than a square foot of any flat surface downstairs showing. And I'd like to get cracking on my laundry again. I haven't done any in so long, I'm running out of clothes!
Friday, January 18
Friday!
Can I just state for the record that I have the coolest, awesomest best friend in the whole planet? I love her. She's amazing.
Wednesday, January 16
Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm.
Ok, so here's where I stand. My counselor and I took awhile bouncing the essay back and forth. So what that means is my UW application didn't get sent in until January 12. Woot. Which may have been a problem considering that I don't have two letters yet. Good thing that UW said that letters were optional. Now, would I have liked to have completed all the optional pieces, yes. But it came down to I had to turn it in, so there you go.
And about those letters. So I sent two requests to two professors at the end of November. The one professor never wrote me back because he's on sabbatical. Ok, that one I can let go. Not his fault.
The other one, is frustrating. The second professor got my request and just ignored it. I didn't know that, so I emailed him to see if he received it. I got back the most horrible response! Some select quotes
"A bit of advice: I know no professor at UW who prepares letters for student who haven't even asked for a letter...personally. Few professors write on behalf of students with whom
they have no meaningful relationship (what would they write about that student?) and none would simply write a letter having received a package with letter requests. It simply doesn't work that way."
Apparently there's rules about this. Too bad no one told me. And instead of him telling me this, he just ignored my letter. He 1. assumed I didn't come in personally out of choice (how does he know I didn't move to Florida?) and 2. assumed that I had the opportunity to have meaningful relationships with my professors, which I didn't.
"Without those things, all we can say about the student is "she earned a 3.5 in my class." That's not going to get you into a decent law school."
That's a big assumption. I'm pretty sure I can get into a "decent" law school with pretty crappy recommendations. He knows nothing about me! I may not have the most confidence in myself, but my LSAT score is more than "decent"!
Another choice quote:
"It's unfortunate that you didn't build deeper relationships with the faculty during your undergrad days. I'm always telling freshmen that they will need us someday soon so they need to get to know us and let us get to know them. All letters ask "how long and how well do you know this student?" Sadly, you never got the memo about this."
What memo?!?!?!?!? Had there been a memo, I could understand his hostility to me, but NO ONE TOLD ME!!!!! I did not get this memo!! I was busy working my way through school and trying to save money by not living on campus. It's not like I was out at keggers instead of getting to know my professors. I was working. RRRRRRrrrrrr!
I also enjoyed this line:
"Law school admissions are highly competitive and letters count a great deal."
Everyone I've spoken with has said they still count, but they matter less and less each year. They used to require three, now many require two, one, or none at all! I think much of his hostility to me comes from misplaced ego. He is totally convinced that his letter will make or break my application. I'm convinced that, based on the copious amounts of reading and research I've done on law school admissions as compared to the probably zero research he's done, my LSAT is more likely to make or break my application. And my LSAT rocks.
It has worked out all right. My boss agreed to write me a letter, and it's amazing. He let me read it. I don't know that my mom could write me a better letter, and she's my mom. I also got in contact with another professor whose class I enjoyed and she agreed to write one for me. So, bases covered without you, crotchety and inappropriately accusatory professor. I think the most disappointing part about all of this is he was one of my best professors. I picked him because I really enjoyed his class. And now this. How frustrating. I'll tell you what, I'm going to stop recommending his class. And stop regretting I didn't get to take the second class of his that I wanted to. Not taking it just means less memories that have been tainted by this email.
Lizamichatello Out.
And about those letters. So I sent two requests to two professors at the end of November. The one professor never wrote me back because he's on sabbatical. Ok, that one I can let go. Not his fault.
The other one, is frustrating. The second professor got my request and just ignored it. I didn't know that, so I emailed him to see if he received it. I got back the most horrible response! Some select quotes
"A bit of advice: I know no professor at UW who prepares letters for student who haven't even asked for a letter...personally. Few professors write on behalf of students with whom
they have no meaningful relationship (what would they write about that student?) and none would simply write a letter having received a package with letter requests. It simply doesn't work that way."
Apparently there's rules about this. Too bad no one told me. And instead of him telling me this, he just ignored my letter. He 1. assumed I didn't come in personally out of choice (how does he know I didn't move to Florida?) and 2. assumed that I had the opportunity to have meaningful relationships with my professors, which I didn't.
"Without those things, all we can say about the student is "she earned a 3.5 in my class." That's not going to get you into a decent law school."
That's a big assumption. I'm pretty sure I can get into a "decent" law school with pretty crappy recommendations. He knows nothing about me! I may not have the most confidence in myself, but my LSAT score is more than "decent"!
Another choice quote:
"It's unfortunate that you didn't build deeper relationships with the faculty during your undergrad days. I'm always telling freshmen that they will need us someday soon so they need to get to know us and let us get to know them. All letters ask "how long and how well do you know this student?" Sadly, you never got the memo about this."
What memo?!?!?!?!? Had there been a memo, I could understand his hostility to me, but NO ONE TOLD ME!!!!! I did not get this memo!! I was busy working my way through school and trying to save money by not living on campus. It's not like I was out at keggers instead of getting to know my professors. I was working. RRRRRRrrrrrr!
I also enjoyed this line:
"Law school admissions are highly competitive and letters count a great deal."
Everyone I've spoken with has said they still count, but they matter less and less each year. They used to require three, now many require two, one, or none at all! I think much of his hostility to me comes from misplaced ego. He is totally convinced that his letter will make or break my application. I'm convinced that, based on the copious amounts of reading and research I've done on law school admissions as compared to the probably zero research he's done, my LSAT is more likely to make or break my application. And my LSAT rocks.
It has worked out all right. My boss agreed to write me a letter, and it's amazing. He let me read it. I don't know that my mom could write me a better letter, and she's my mom. I also got in contact with another professor whose class I enjoyed and she agreed to write one for me. So, bases covered without you, crotchety and inappropriately accusatory professor. I think the most disappointing part about all of this is he was one of my best professors. I picked him because I really enjoyed his class. And now this. How frustrating. I'll tell you what, I'm going to stop recommending his class. And stop regretting I didn't get to take the second class of his that I wanted to. Not taking it just means less memories that have been tainted by this email.
Lizamichatello Out.
Wednesday, November 28
Essays and stuff
So, I sent my (crappy-craptastic) essay ideas to my adviser. It took me FOREVER to get them in to him, but I hate writing about myself. It's kinda why I need help. So there you go.
I also mailed out my letter of recommendation requests (one yesterday, one today). For most schools, I'll be fine, but I like to have room to move, and UW's application is January 15. My one consolation is that they have on their website "up to two" letters accepted, giving me hope that if one recommender is exceedingly slow, I can get another one for my other schools, but it won't affect UW's application.
By the way, can anyone explain to me why UW's due date is so early? It's way before any of the other schools I'm applying to. Most are in February or March. Like I needed more stress. Especially frustrating: They're the one school I need to apply to. I already went there, they're local, here's where I want to practice, I need to apply to UW. I have to. So why is that the one that's so early? Answer: the universe hates me. Awesome.
All right, I have to go figure out Dean's Certifications now.
I also mailed out my letter of recommendation requests (one yesterday, one today). For most schools, I'll be fine, but I like to have room to move, and UW's application is January 15. My one consolation is that they have on their website "up to two" letters accepted, giving me hope that if one recommender is exceedingly slow, I can get another one for my other schools, but it won't affect UW's application.
By the way, can anyone explain to me why UW's due date is so early? It's way before any of the other schools I'm applying to. Most are in February or March. Like I needed more stress. Especially frustrating: They're the one school I need to apply to. I already went there, they're local, here's where I want to practice, I need to apply to UW. I have to. So why is that the one that's so early? Answer: the universe hates me. Awesome.
All right, I have to go figure out Dean's Certifications now.
Tuesday, November 20
Update
So, I'm working on two one page essays, which will later be combined into one essay for my application. I'm finding it difficult to write about me. Yes, I can tell crazy stories about my life/family, but they usually aren't character building, really. Sure, Lefse stories, or stories about Reecekitty, or the story of that one time with the SeaFair pirate make for good stories. But how exactly does being emotionally scarred by an animatronic, perverted bear make me a better person. It doesn't. So I'm struggling.
I finished up my stuff for Letters of Recommendation, though. Mom looked over the letters, and had a few changes, so those will go out tomorrow. Which is good, cause then they won't get them until after Thanksgiving which means they're less likely to loose them. I wish I could've gotten these out a month ago, but there you go. Who's surprised. (You? Then you don't know me.)
Anyway, Thanksgiving's in two days and everyone's going to ask, so I better have a clear idea of where I'm applying and why. I should work on that tonight. (I fully expect to hear "Why don't you just go to school here?" a full 1.42 million times come Thursday. There's a thousand reasons to stay, and a thousand to go. I just have to figure out which reasons matter the most. An unenviable position, to say the least, especially when people you would think would be supporting you are going "I know it's ranked 70 spots lower than schools you got into elsewhere, but don't leave me for three years." Ugh.)
I finished up my stuff for Letters of Recommendation, though. Mom looked over the letters, and had a few changes, so those will go out tomorrow. Which is good, cause then they won't get them until after Thanksgiving which means they're less likely to loose them. I wish I could've gotten these out a month ago, but there you go. Who's surprised. (You? Then you don't know me.)
Anyway, Thanksgiving's in two days and everyone's going to ask, so I better have a clear idea of where I'm applying and why. I should work on that tonight. (I fully expect to hear "Why don't you just go to school here?" a full 1.42 million times come Thursday. There's a thousand reasons to stay, and a thousand to go. I just have to figure out which reasons matter the most. An unenviable position, to say the least, especially when people you would think would be supporting you are going "I know it's ranked 70 spots lower than schools you got into elsewhere, but don't leave me for three years." Ugh.)
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