Lots of Updates

Towards the end of last week, I received a huge amount of decisions. Well, by huge I mean 5. The good news is that 4 of them were acceptances! The bad news is that the one that wasn't an acceptance was from a Top 10 school. The mediocre news is that that decision was a waitlist, so I guess I can't be too down on it.

The 4 acceptances were from Chicago-Kent (75ish), University of Houston (60ish), George Mason University (41, in Arlington, VA), and Wake Forest University (40, in Winston-Salem, NC). The waitlist was from the University of Virginia (10). I'm really hoping that the waitlist turns into something more, but we will see.

Just to help everyone out, now seems like a good time to recap how the deicisions have been thus far:

Accepted at:
University of Illinois
University of Iowa
Ohio State University
University of Wisconsin
Wake Forest University
George Mason University
University of Cincinnati
University of San Diego
University of Houston
Baylor University
University of Pittsburgh
Chicago-Kent Illinois Institute of Technology
Santa Clara University (Have since withdrawn from here)

Waitlisted at:
University of Virginia
Notre Dame

Rejected at:
Georgetown University

Still waiting for decisions from 16 schools, meaning I am now at the halfway point. Still a LOT of big decisions to come.

Great Day

This is a great day. It really is. I have my last final exam of the semester. It's bittersweet because I get to go home soon, but I'm also halfway done with my senior year. Either way, I'm really excited for what life has in store for me next semester, next year, and for the many years to come.

I also have a job lined up for next semester, working about 25 hours as a clerk at a law firm that I clerked for in 2007. They were really excited I contacted them about a position, meaning I must have done something right that summer.

But most of all, today is a great day because my only sibling, my brother, a member of the Military Police in the Army, is flying home from Iraq. He has been overseas for almost a year now and has missed so much, including the birth of his firstborn child. Even though I will not be with him on Christmas Day, I'm very excited to go see him a few days after Christmas, and I'm happy to know that he will be with his family for the holidays. Unfortunately, many members of the armed forces will not be returning in time for the holidays, and I think it would be a great idea to just reflect on that a little bit during this time that many of us take for granted. This post has very little to do about law school, but I think it would be wonderful if, during this joyous and family-oriented time of year, we say a little thank you, even silently, to the troops overseas who won't be with their families on Christmas, Hannukah, or any other holiday they may be celebrating.

University of Illinois/Santa Clara University

It seems like I'm posting everything in twos, and they typically have nothing to do with eachother. This time, though, I swear that they are linked. As you can see in my last post, I was waiting for a notification from University of Illinois last Friday, and to my joy, I was accepted! They even gave me a scholarship, which really surprised me to see that a school ranked at the same place as Notre Dame would give me a 30,000 dollar scholarship (10k per year) when Notre Dame waitlisted me. I guess that just goes to show how much of a crapshoot this process actually is. Thank you, Dean Pless, for my acceptance! You have easily taken the preliminary lead in my law school search.

In other news, I withdrew my application to Santa Clara University today. I received my scholarship information from them, and they only gave me 33,000 dollars over the three years (equating to 11k per year). I will take the 1k less per year and go to a school that is ranked over 60 spots higher than it, even if it is not in California. Good luck to all who are still awaiting a decision at SCU, and hopefully my withdrawal will open a spot for someone who is very deserving of that spot.

Now for the rest of finals week. One down, three to go!

Wisconsin and Georgetown

So today was a very mixed bag of decisions. On the good side, I got accepted at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. It is tied with Ohio State at #35 in the country, so it is a very good school. I'm proud to be among the first few people who were accepted to this school. When it is a school as great as Wisconsin, it is an honor to be in that first batch. Guess I will have a little more research to do about good ol' Wisconsin!

On the flip side, I FINALLY received a decision from Georgetown. As one can probably infer, it was a rejection. It's not completely unexpected, but it was the most nerveracking week I can ever remember. The fact that I waited a week from the time a decision was made until the moment that I received an E-MAIL (a generic one, at that) telling me of my rejection was completely uncalled for. Obviously, maybe there were extenuating circumstances that caused them to have to delay the decisions that long, but I can't see anything that would cause them to be unable to send out a mass e-mail of rejection notifications. This process made me lose a lot of respect for Georgetown.

In the same sense, it made me gain a lot of respect for the University of Illinois. The dean of admissions at this school, Dean Pless, is a regular poster on the website Top Law Schools . I went under review at this institution on December 3rd, and he immediately posted that all individuals that went under review on this date would receive an e-mail notification of their decision on Friday, December 11th. That sort of honesty and transparency has to be admired, even moreso after the Georgetown fiasco. Well done, Illinois. Even if you send a rejection my way, I will always admire those qualities.

Cincinnati and Notre Dame

So it's been a mixed 4 days. On one hand, I got accepted at the University of Cincinnati on Friday (12/4/09). It is a good school, but not quite as high up as Iowa or Ohio State. I will certainly keep it as a possibility, but chances are I will not be attending Cincinnati.

On the other hand, I received a decision from Notre Dame today. Waitlisted :(. Bummer, I know. It is better than a straight out rejection, though. I'm hoping that I can still get into a top 20 school (Notre Dame is tied for 23), but I guess only time will tell.

In other news, Georgetown has made a decision regarding my admission. It was made last Tuesday (12/1/09), and I still have heard nothing. I'm still trying to determine whether I should be happy (rejections and waitlists are said to go out via e-mail, and acceptances are said to go out via snail mail) or scared. Hopefully I will get a decision soon enough. Pray for me!

University of Pitt

So I got a very pleasant surprise today as I got back to school from Thanksgiving Break. In my mailbox was a very nice acceptance letter from the University of Pittsburgh, along with a very large, heavy, shiny gold paper clip (there was also a $52,000 scholarship attached to it, which helps out). This application was one of the applications that I sent out at the end of October when my only acceptance was from Baylor. Being my pessimistic self, I applied here, thinking that Pittsburgh was actually a very underrated town in terms of safety and beauty and that this might be the area of schools that I would be going to (Pitt is ranked 71). Now that I have some acceptances from Iowa and Ohio State, it seems like Pitt probably won't be an option for me. I will wait a little bit to withdraw, however. Maybe the job prospects on the east coast will be somehow better for someplace like Pitt as opposed to the midwest colleges. We will see! For now, I'm simply enjoying the acceptance, hoping that some of the higher ranked schools will give me a chance.

In at University of Iowa

This is a little bit late, but I had a busy weekend with a school project and such. I received an e-mail on Friday afternoon from the Dean of the University of Iowa, notifying me of my acceptance. It was very cool. They are ranked 26th in the nation, so it is nice to be climbing up the rankings a little bit. It gives me hope for those schools in the Top 20, maybe even the Top 10! Also, they are higher ranked than William & Mary, which makes me feel even better! By the way, W&M, I have been decision pending since October 27th. This is reminding me of the time when I wanted to watch a television show as a very young child, and my mom told me to go wait for her in the living room. An hour later, she walked into the room, and I was still sitting there in front of the blank TV. See, W&M? I can be very patient. I have no problem waiting you out.

But anyways, about U of Iowa. First off, I received my formal letter via snail mail today. In it was a map of the campus, a couple of brochures outlining the college, and an acceptance letter from the Assistant Dean. I was very pleased to see a handwritten note discussing my seemingly excellent academic motivation and my superb personal statement. I figured that those would have to be the two things to set me apart from other people with higher scores when I am going for the oh-so-prestigious Top 10 schools, so maybe I have what it takes to pull it off.

As far as the curriculum there, I am very enticed. There are three areas of law that I, as of now, would consider going into: Intellectual Property, Business, and Entertainment. The University of Iowa is the only school that I have come across in my research that actually has a concentration program in Intellectual Property/Business law that is combined (not two separate concentrations). That is extremely attractive, Iowa. GO HAWKEYES!!!

Vanderbilt Interview/Ohio State Research

So while I'm waiting for my decisions to come in (they seem to be coming in pretty quickly for some people), I've been doing some research on Ohio State University, and I have to admit, if this ends up being on the same level as the rest of my acceptances (as in I get rejected from most/all of the top 20), I will not be sad if this ends up being my choice. Columbus seems like a pretty great place to live for a few years, and the connections with the East Coast seem strong enough that I may be able to get a job outside of Ohio after graduation. The cost of living is not high at all and the campus is beautiful (see below). Oh yeah, and the Buckeyes have some pretty good sports teams. Besides, what's not to love about buckeyes? It's my favorite Christmas treat!

The Ohio State University Campus

Columbus, OH

I also had an interview with Vanderbilt earlier today. I think it went extremely well. I obtained high marks in every category, but I also learned a few things that make Vanderbilt very attractive (assuming I can get in, which is a HUGE HUGE HUGE assumption). First off, Nashville is another great city. The programs that are offered at Vanderbilt would be absolutely wonderful for me, and I would graduate from a very prestigious university with the ability to get a job most anywhere I choose. Let's hope that this interview gave them enough reason to give me a chance at their university.

That's all for now. Let's hope this quiet stage I'm at right now is just temporary... I really don't want the decisions to drift too far into next semester.

THE Ohio State University

I just received an e-mail from Ohio State Law School notifying me of my acceptance! It is easily the highest ranked law school that I have been accepted to thus far (OSU is ranked #35 in the nation... San Diego is next with a #61 ranking). It is very uplifting knowing that a Tier 1 school wants me at their institution (for those of you who don't know, Tier 1 is #1-50, Tier 2 is #51-104, and then there are Tier 3 and Tier 4 below that). It also helps out with my recent frustration with William and Mary College (ranked #28). Many people with worse test scores AND GPAs that had their application completed later than I did have already been accepted, and I have yet to hear anything. It is a little bit easier to swallow that delay with an acceptance from a school that is only a few spots lower than they are (in some ways, OSU is better than W&M. In educational quality rankings, OSU is ranked 32 in the nation, while W&M is ranked 37).

Even though I have received full tuition at Baylor, it seems like it will be hard to turn down Ohio State with the huge disparity in rankings. It will still be a consideration (obviously), but now I definitely have to have a visit that knocks me out of the park. Let's hope I have a few schools that are even higher up on the list to choose from! Needless to say, I am really enjoying this acceptance. Easily my happiest acceptance.

Helpful Sites and Getting Up to Speed

The one website that I have been using a lot during this process is www.lawschoolnumbers.com . There are so many nice and helpful people on that website (shoutout to veritas85 and LoveSaltLife), and it has really been a joy to be a part of. My username on there is zpratt, and it's been a nice way of meeting people going through the same process I am and dealing with the same terrors as I am. It also has been a nice place to track my updates thus far. Here is what I have so far...

09/22/2009 - Almost done applying! Just have to wait for the next group to be available on October 1st, and then the waiting game.

09/24/2009 - So I was talked into going through with the Stanford app. I know it's a longshot beyond longshots, but you never know. I'm shooting for the moon, hoping that I can end up somewhere among the stars.

10/1/2009 - The last of my applications are done. Have to mail in my payment to Colorado.... Don't really get it but I'll do it. But more importantly, the application process is done! (hopefully). Now the waiting game REALLY begins.... Hooray?

10/9/2009 - Acceptance letter from Baylor arrived in the mail today... Full scholarship, too! The first one is in, and with a decision like that, I am only that much more confident for some of the higher level schools. Hopefully there will be many more, but I am enjoying this one a whole lot.

10/20/2009 - So I got a letter from Duquesne, and I never realized how beautiful Pittsburgh is. Guess that shows what I get for having preconceived notions about a town.

10/21/2009 - So I was checking my statuses today and the University of San Diego has made a decision. Unfortunately, they won't tell me what that decision is. I finally found something more frustrating than simply waiting for the decisions to be made. Oh snail mail.

10/30/2009 - Accepted at USD! This is getting exciting, although I'm dreading the first rejection letter, even though I know it will be coming eventually.

11/4/2009 - Accepted at Santa Clara via application status checker. I hope there are more to come!

And that's where I am so far. Another website that has been nice is www.top-law-schools.com . It has been a great place with helpful people who will answer questions regarding anything (for the most part). Again, if anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave them and I will try to answer them.

For Starters

Hey all,

For those who don't know me, my name is Zach Pratt, and I'm a 20 year old senior at Saint Michael's College. Currently, I am going through the law school process. It's kind of hard to update everyone about everything that is going on, so I figured I would create this to help out. If any prospective law school students see this, feel free to shoot me a message asking questions about the process, and hopefully I can help out.

My stats for law school are decent. I have a 163 LSAT score and a 3.84 overall GPA. I'm hoping the GPA will help out quite a bit to make up for the LSAT score, but we'll see.

Schools I have applied to:

Baylor University
University of San Diego
Santa Clara University
University of Georgia
University of Houston
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
University of Iowa
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Notre Dame
University of Southern California (USC)
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest
University of Wisconsin Madison
Stanford
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Cincinnatti
Boston University
Case Western Reserve University
Chicago-Kent College of Law
College of William and Mary
Duke University
George Mason University
George Washington University
Georgetown
Indiana University Bloomington
New York University
Ohio State University
University of California Berkeley
University of California Los Angeles
Univeristy of Pittsburgh

I have already received three decisions. I have received a full-tuition scholarship to Baylor University, which is really exciting. I have also been accepted to the University of San Diego and Santa Clara University. I will try to keep this updated with decisions and other random thoughts as time goes on this year.