Threads of Anxiety

I know I shouldn't, but I keep returning to the Princeton Review Discussion Board to see if I can learn anything that will help me make this final decision about where to go to school. Mixed in with the asinine juvenilia (I'm sorry, am I showing my age), the board offers some interesting bits. For example, from "Why did American fall out of T1?" (which, in the interest of full disclosure I'll admit I started) we get this reasonable answer:

yeah, I heard the drop was due to overenrollment. less expenditure per student, and the student/faculty ratio went up, which I know USNWR considers quite a bit. But I kind of think the ratings are bullshit: I have a hard time believing that Pitt, University of Alabama, Maryland, and others are better schools (Pitt gave me a full ride, american gave me nothing, which makes me think quality of american applicants are higher than Pitt, at least) I'm sure its mostly political, and something like 40% of USnews rankings are based on name recognition, which seems kind of dumb to me. I personally think American sounds better than GW if you want to do Int'l law or Public Interest, but if you want a big firm job maybe GW is better? I don't know that for sure, but that's the impression I've gotten from other people on this board, that GW=big firm (although I've heard that students there aren't as friendly as American) good luck in your decision, I'm sure both schools are great, have their strengths and weaknesses, etc.

And from the same poster (confused4321) we get this in answer to the question of whether AU is a conservative or liberal school:

I haven't visited the school, but I "asked a current student" on the admitted students website that question, and he told me that AU is more liberal than most schools because of the people who go for public interest, and that AU in general is more liberal than most law schools. thats all I know

And finally, from "What do you think of George Washington Law" we get this from a 1L at GW:

I've found it both friendly and fun. My classmates are all friendly and I haven't really experienced the mean competitve spirit that is sometimes associated with GW.

This goes for most law schools, but every Thursday there's a bar review. These are lots of fun and they're usually well attended. We occasionally socialize with our professors- last semester two of our professors who are neighbors invited the section over for a picnic, which was nice.

People are certainly focused on school here, but I think most keep a balanced life.

One thing I must say I don't like about the school is the library. It's too small, the computers suck, and it's not aesthetically appealing. I think they'll remedy this in the coming years, but probably not before I'm gone.

I agree about the library—the weakest part of GW for me, as well. Anyhoo, food for thought as the game enters overtime...

Posted 08:18 PM | Comments (2) | law school

Law Schools Phone Home!

Gee, there's really nothing better than an entire Monday (or at least the second half of it) spent waiting for the mail to come and the phone to ring. My calls to AU and GW yielded zilch. AU says try back in the morning and they'll have some kind of offer. I applied in December, kids; can you hurry the f#&! up? ;-)

Today's real ire is directed squarely at GW's financial aid office, which refused to tell me about my revised aid package (after the "request for reconsideration" I sent them last week) over the phone. I tell the woman my name, rank, and serial number, I wait, she comes back and says, "Your reply was mailed on the 11th. It should be in the mail soon."

Me: Uh, you do know the deposit is due tomorrow, right?

Her: Yes, I know that. You should get something in the mail within a couple of days.

Me: (thinking to myself, 'she's staring at a screen that holds my fate and she's not going to tell me what it says!?') Could you tell me what the letter that is coming in the mail will say?

Her: No, I can't tell you that information over the phone.

Me: (getting snippy) Can you fax it to me?

Her: Hmph. What's your fax number? I don't know if I can get to it. We're very busy. I'll try to do it by the end of the day.

Did she send the fax? No. Does GW seem like a nice place to go to school? No.

Perhaps I'll just ditch the whole law school thing. Who needs all that debt, anyway?

In other great news, check out this poster and welcome to Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace. Yay.

Posted 07:41 PM | Comments (1) | law school