Going To Law School

dunno about law school, but my experience with wait listing involves waiting, sadly. i'm assuming they gave you a date when you will find out again and you basically just have to wait until then, and i guess they judge upon space issues and merit, but i don't they would accept stuff you sent them and/or consider them

they said in the e-mail that I could submit additional materials such as updated transcripts/resumes (which doesn't really apply to me) or an additional essay.

They also didn't give me a date >:(

then i would probably submit something and hope it worked but you never really know

yikes re: date, that's kind of harsh

i guess that means that they are waiting too see how many people actually enroll? but that wouldn't be fair to the waitlisted people really

Penn. is fantastic! Good luck with the wait-listing process.

uhg, my last transcript -finally- processed today--my schools have been waiting for weeks after requesting my report to get it.

I only had the money to apply to 4 schools, so ... I'm not sure what chances I have at this point.

Yeah, the processing took weeks for me too.

hmmm... having been laid off, if I don't get into a shcool this year, what then?

Is 26 too old to start law school?

fuk no I'll be almost 29

You could still probably get another application in to a surefire safety school if you're really worried, work your ass off, and transfer. Do it at CUNY or some other cheap public school if you don't want the financial burden.

Anyway I wouldn't give up on getting in yet. I think I heard from Cardozo like one day after going into deep despair that no one was going to accept me.

Cool. I applied to Cardozo, but my other recommender (who promised to send the thing forever ago), said he'd fax it last week, but has yet to do so. It's like one crazy thing after another.

Are you going to go to Cardozo?

Good chance of it. I'll wait to hear from Fordham at least or maybe see if I get a full ride at any lesser schools.

Goo luck. It'd be awesome to get into Fordham (even if it's the "lesser" school to most of the people who go there); I'd be happy with a Cardozo at this point ... they did give me a fee waiver. I just need that one other recommendation.

congrats on getting wait-listed @ penn -- hopefully you'll get in (if that's where you really want to go & any of yer other top schools don't let you in).

i also started l-school @ age 29. that age is SO not "too old" (our class valedictorian was a 40-something).

Good luck to you both. Just remember that being a lawyer isn't as glamorous as it may appear.

don't worry, it doesn't appear even slightly glamorous to me

Yeah, same here. I'm hoping it's a (slightly) more fulfilling trade than permalance writing, especially since the mix of postgrad life + freelance + ultra competitive, anti-creative NYC has made a stable, normal life pretty hard

My point -- obvious as it is -- is that you should go to law school only if you really want to be a lawyer. Too many people go because they don't know what else to do or because others around them are going. And too many of those people end up as competent-to-exceptionally skilled attorneys, but stuck in a long career drift and often terribly unhappy.

I like being an attorney, and I've seen several sides of it, as an associate in a 500-lawyer old-world firm and as a partner in a small firm. But I know many lawyers who aren't happy or just seem lost. And your life, and your happiness, are too valuable to trifle with.

But as I say, I like being a lawyer, and aspects of the job can be very satisfying and creative. So, again, best of luck in law school and beyond.

And too many of those people end up as competent-to-exceptionally skilled attorneys, but stuck in a long career drift and often terribly unhappy.

I have a bad feeling I'm going to end up in this category, but I think I'd probably wind up like that whatever I do and I don't have any better ideas.

And of course I am hoping that I turn out to be wrong about that.

Then consider using the degree as a springboard into another career. Some of my law school friends went off to write showtunes. Law degrees help you in lots of fields. Bottom line: Be happy and satisfied. Life's too short.

Is 26 too old to start law school?

no

(xpost) Yeah that's actually a strong possibility for me and one of the ideas that first got me to consider law school - I thought I might use it as a springboard into an arts-related career that actually had some legs and wasn't something flimsy like P.R.

Oh yeah, I got WL at GW (I'm writing them a letter of continued interest), and in at American with scholarship money. Still waiting from Cardozo and Fordham, etc. :S

A friend of mine graduated from American magna cum laude, and he thought it was a great law school. Are you going to go to Cardozo or Fordham over American, if you get into either/both of them?

Fordham and GW probably, Cardozo it'd be a split ... my life is in NYC, but American might draw me to DC.

go to Fordham

actually don't go anywhere

If I'm lucky enough to get in, definitely. My numbers are like ... 25% there.

"I really don't want to work straight out of college, but I don't feel like going to grad school for econ either"

This guy was kind of a douche.

Have you visited the American law school's "campus"? Dude you might as well go to some school in the suburbs. But there is a v. good butcher next door. And a Crate and Barrel across the street. With a Starbucks. And a Chicken Out. And umm I think you can get there on a bus, but certainly not metro.

actually don't go anywhere

Cynic.

Really, the suburbs? I thought it'd be like ... Washington D.C. I guess I could bring my motorcycle down.

I hear they have a good international law program, if that holds any truth.

1) I grew up near there. Yeah it's the suburbs compared to NYC but so is the rest of DC. Anyway there's public transportation.

2) The campus shouldn't be that much of a factor anyway. It's not college.

Yeah, it's not like you're going to be sitting out on the quad watching some guy juggling on a unicycle

At this point I've got scholarship at Cardozo and Rutgers-Newark, WL at Penn, "on hold" at Fordham, and in at Temple, Rutgers Camden and Brooklyn with no scholarship.

Even if I get into Fordham I'll probably go to Cardozo because of the money, but if I got into Penn I'd gleefully go into massive debt. Cost of living in Philly is a lot lower too so that'd make up some of the difference.

I should have done this! Goddamn, I could have been rich as fuck in half the time it takes to do a PhD. wtf.

Don't tell me about loans, either. I know you dicks can pay off 150k in like 5 years.

Nah, the "rich as fuck" thing is exaggerated.

rong

xpost

the NY schools are probably at least marginally better than the DC schools, but go to DC if you want to work there and/or do public international law.

American is in an inner-ring burb, ie the outskirts of DC. yes, you can get downtown, and no you're not gonna be living it up all the time, but it's not the city, even by DC standards.

if you go to any of the schools listed above and are not one of the top 10 graduating persons than you really won't have a good chance of paying those loans off any time soon

My friend got into Fordham off the "waitlist", so goo luck. I submitted my application on 1/11/07 and haven't heard shit from them yet. Same with Cardozo.

Fordham's $$$ is nuts; my friend who goes there is looking forward to 2,000/month in loan paybacks after graduation.

Is American as bad a school as people say? Everyone's always so down on it.

I have law school grad friends who aren't making much better money than I make now. But my job is a dead end and law is at least a career.

read that wall street journal article from last fall, people

hurting on the right track, dan is misinformed :/

That Wall Street Journal article was written about some whiny slacker. If I can make it as a writer in NYC, I can probably do OK in other pointless, senselessly-competitive fields.

if you go to any of the schools listed above and are not one of the top 10 graduating persons than you really won't have a good chance of paying those loans off any time soon

that's not true of Fordham, is it?

Whatever you say Cutty McMoneybags, Esq.