Re: Accepted at UW

Now that I have had a few more days to accept the seemingly impossible fact that I will be at UW Law next year, I am more excited than ever. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was surprised because my lawschoolnumbers.com profile became a hot topic on the law school blog @ www.top-law-schools.com. A whole bunch of over confident potential law students were dumbstruck by the fact that I was accepted before them. I love this feeling of victory, and I look forward to the many victories to come.

Seeing as I hadn't even considered UW a possibility after my LSAT, I never took the time to actually gain a deep understanding of their program. They are well known for the credentials of their faculty, and the head of the Native American Law program is very respected in his field. They also offer a few courses in Native American law as well as an opportunity to work for public defenders in Tribal Courts. I have to go sit down and speak with Mr. Anderson, the head of the program, to see about the other opportunities that they allude to on the website.

UW also has a great student to faculty ratio of 11:1, and the new dean says that relationships are easy to build with the faculty. The new law building is absolutely gorgeous, and over the weekend I spent a little time looking around. Sadly, I wasn't able to access the floors with classrooms because they are for students only. It looks like I will have to take a guided tour after all. Apparently the 1L classes are pretty big (as much as 90 students), but during 2L and 3L those class sizes shrink down to 25. I am also a little awestruck with the shiny diamond that is UW Law. They are the highest ranked school in the entire Pacific Northwest, and if I want to practice in Seattle than UW is the place to be. The tuition is also a bargain right now, although that is probably going to change over the next few years.

I want to make sure and get a gift and write a nice thank you letter to the faculty that gave me recommendations, but I don't know what to get them??? I'll ponder and post later.

Cheers!

law.washington.edu

No love today...

Well I didn't hear from the UW law school today, and according to lawschoolnumbers.com nobody else did either. The difference between today and yesterday was that I dealt with the waiting much better... Let me give you (and myself) some advice for dealing with waiting in the future.

Keep yourself as busy as you possibly can. It doesn't need to be productive, but it needs to keep you from thinking about whatever you are waiting for. Today, for example, I was busy from 8:30 until 1:30 with various school things. I came home and was so hungry that I only thought about food, and after overeating I was so full that I took a two hour nap. I woke up and got ready for work, where I discussed religion, politics, and how awesome New Zealand is with another tutor. Now I am waiting at the library for a textbook that I need, so I am filling my time by listening to TBTL (www.tbtl.net) and writing to all of you (I wonder if anyone else reads this?).

In fact, my slate is absolutely 100% full until I get to see my wonderful girlfriend tomorrow! So take that anxiety!!!

Cheers!

P.S. Please let me know my UW fate tomorrow...

LSAT Experience (For those who took or are about to take the LSAT)

In my first blog post I promise to write about my LSAT test day experience, and while I was studying for the LSAT I would have loved to hear a first hand account... so here it goes.

When I first began contemplating the idea of law school I didn't have the faintest idea what the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) was. I had to learn all about LSAC (Law School Admission Council http://www.lsac.org/) and the CRS (Credential Referral Service), but enough with the acronyms. I learned that the LSAT is a hellacious test that forces your mind to process huge amounts of data in a very short period of time. I found that I could easily get all of the answers correct if I had an hour for each of the five sections, but you only get 35 minutes a piece. I bought the Powerscore bibles (http://www.powerscore.com/) and the the three published LSAC books of Preptests and went to work.

I started in June by reading through and taking notes on the bibles. About mid July I began going through timed individual sections of the preptests, and by the end of August I began taking tests. Now campus is basically deserted during the summer, so I would go on campus at 8:00 in the morning (to simulate the actual testing time) and connect my laptop to a projector in the business school. Using the LSAT Proctor dvd, I would take the tests. This was a godsend for me because it allowed me to actually focus on the test rather than my wrist watch. I kept this up throughout September and was actually relieved come test day that the grind was over. I did almost thirty complete timed tests...

Now the test was on a Saturday, so on Friday my Dad took the day off from work and we went hiking up at Sunrise (Mt. Rainier). We hiked the Burroughs trail, which I highly recommend. Aside from the sheer beauty of the scenery and the pleasure of breathing fresh mountain air, the hike served as a nice getaway from it all to get a little perspective on life. I would highly recommend some sort of getaway the day before the test. DO NOT STUDY! You need as much mental stamina as you can get on test day, and studying the day before can only hurt you. Get your mind right for christ's sake!

The night before I got my one gallon zip lock bag full of testing materials put together. I set two alarms, put in some ear plugs (greek row is noisy during the summer), and struggled through a night of restless sleep. I woke up early the next morning and had my normal breakfast. Do not make yourselves a huge breakfast! Your nerves will get the better of you, and you may end up regretting that four egg ham and cheese omelet. Now, LSAC suggests that you leave a half hour early to make sure you get there on time. For some reason I interpreted this as 'leave a half hour before I am supposed to arrive'. So although I arrived at 8:15 for an 8:30 test, I was one of the last people to get into the check in line.

Now I took my test at Kane Hall at UW, which has huge auditoriums for our notorious 400 person freshman lectures. We had to turn out our pockets and reveal the contents of our zip lock bag before entering the testing room, which I didn't get into until after 9:00. At the check in desk they made me sign my ticket, and then I went up to my seat. After everyone was seated the staff came around and fingerprinted us before reading the testing instructions and handing out the test. We filled out our personal information on our answer sheets and began potentially the most important test of our lives, or so it feels like.

Some interesting notes: At break there was a mad dash of hundreds of test takers for a single bathroom with two stalls. I had to go to another building, which was a bit unexpected...

There weren't really any big disturbances during the test, although people sporadically had to leave for a bathroom break. Train your bladders and hold off on that second cup of coffee!

I hope that helps, and please feel free to contact me with any questions!

Cheers

Introduction and musings of the LSAT

Well hello! This is my first actual non-academic blog post, so I believe an introduction is in order. I am a fifth year senior at the University of Washington, and am so damned close to getting a degree in history and a degree in business administration that I can taste it! I have a wonderful girlfriend who has no idea that I have taken up blogging, although she will know soon enough :) I grew up in the Seattle area, so my views are inherently a little to the left. I spent the last year taking Native American history courses and interning with the Duwamish Tribal Government. This knowledge and the related experiences have led me to consider and ultimately decide upon going to law school.

Now law school is a funny thing. Given the current economic crisis facing our country (which I heard today on KIRO 97.3 FM that we are actually climbing out of) I would assume that a record number of people are applying to law school. I mean, who would want to venture out into this job market when you could hide in law school for another three years? However, my Dad pointed out an article that claims fewer people are applying due to the financial obligations associated with graduate work. I guess there are always two sides to every story. My point is that I feel that there is going to be healthy competition to get into good schools. Now I am in a pretty comfortable academic situation going into applications, but who would have known that there is this monster lurking in the waters that preys upon the hopes and dreams of unsuspecting law school applicants... I am frightened to even speak its name, but for the sake of my new blog I feel I must. Yes, it is the LSAT.

One half day test that means more than four (or in my case five) years of college. I am fortunate enough to have that god forsaken test in my past, having taken it on September 26, but I am still waiting for my score. I will fill a different post with my thoughts on the LSAT, for the entire reason that I have taken to spilling the wanderings of my mind into a blog is to deal with the stress! I have four days until one little score will be branded on me like a tattoo that can never be removed. My mind has been filled since test day with discussions from pompous assholes who have felt the need to post their scores of 176 and 178 (cough, *bullshit*, ahem) all over the internet, and yet I keep searching for more. Somewhere is the one post that will make all of my anxiety go away! Right?

Wrong, I know. There is no comfort outside of 'I know I did my best', and thoughts that 'when one door closes, another always opens.' Perhaps some of you have turned to your God for peace of mind. I have turned to blogging. It seems to have worked for now... Cheers!

P.S. If you haven't listened to the podcast 'Too Beautiful to Live (tbtl.net) you simply aren't living life. You can check it out on itunes as well. I have nothing to do with the show outside of being a fateful Ten.