Epilogue

Well to those of you still reading (mostly from law school discussion boards), a lot has transpired since my last post. I decided on a school, started my first semester, and then about halfway through the semester, I withdrew. I may make a separate post about why I left (especially after spending so much time and energy trying to get in) in a later post.

Right now, I am at a bit of a cross road in my life and am trying to figure things out a bit. I'm not quite sure what the future holds for me. Right now I'm just blowing in the wind - at least until my student loans start asking me for their money and/or my first born.

I may or may not start a new blog with a new theme. Until then, be well.

I'm watching Office Space...

...and its making me depressed. Tomorrow is Monday and another start to a fresh week in the office, in my cube for 8 hours. Not quite sure how much notice I should give for my last day. Maybe a month...we'll see.

And the winner is......

Temple or Maryland.

My visit to the University of Florida really helped me decide what kind of school I want to go to. Gainesville is a great campus for undergrad - great weather, great sports, and did I mention the girls? Despite the gorgeous campus, ultimately, it just wasn't what I wanted for a law school experience. Everyone seemed to have done their UG at UF, FSU, USF, or UMiami. I also realized that the opportunities, culture, and city life that eat coast cities provide is what really appealed to me.

An interesting event occurred during the ASD at UF as well. A prof was making his rounds meeting with students. He must have been in his late 30's maybe early 40's....very young. He came over to me and we talked. He had joined the faculty recently and had been a partner at a NYC biglaw firms after going to LS at NYU. So the topic invariably led to what i thought about UF and where else I was looking. I told him that Wisconsin was one of my choices and he looked surprised. Then, no joke, he basically tells me to go to Wisconsin!

"...I personally would go to the best school you can get into. Loans are that big of a deal...you'll pay it off pretty quick if (my emphasis) you work in a large firm."

Easy for him to say....thats a big if.

Anyway, I decided on Temple mainly because of Philly and its (relative) proximity to home. I decided that I'd go to MD if they pulled me off the waitlist, but haven't decided how long I'll wait to hear back. I don't think I could wait too deep into the summer without totally being screwed with housing in Philly. Cmon MD....show me some love.

Deep contemplation

Sorry about the long hiatus. For the past month or so, work has been a bit demanding with 60 hour weeks and all. It's died down a little bit now thankfully, but the projects I worked were interesting actually, so it wasn't too bad. The client we served on this particular project received a good bit of national news coverage for a few weeks so it was pretty cool being right in the middle of a "controversy."

There have been some new developments in the law school front. I was accepted by the University of Florida (Go GATORS!!!) and the University of Pittsburgh raised my scholarship offer....(I haven't decided if I want to tell that story quite yet). Now originally I didn't consider Florida a serious contender. However, after some research, I am seriously considering matriculating. The prime reason is the very liberal residency policy of the state of Florida. After 1L year, I am basically guaranteed in state tuition....which is a little under 10k/yr. Compared to my other choices, this is very appealing. I've broken down (very quickly) my "How poor will I be" in a chart below of all schools that I am seriously considering. All info is based on USNews figures that have been reported to them by each school.

School and USNews Rank	Tuition	Cost of living/yr	Aggregate Scholarship amount.	Cost of attendance for 3 years	Aggregate Debt (COA-scholarship)
University of Florida (47)	-29,227 first year -9,861 2nd and 3rd year	12,830	0	87,438	$87,438
Pittsburgh (57)	29,056	16,860	44,000	137,749	$93,748 (+6,310)
Temple University (60)	25,552	19,254	36,000 contingent on a 2.5 gpa with a 2.85 curve.	134,418	$98,418 (+10,980)
Maryland (36)	19,105	23,848	0	128,859	$128,859 (+41,421)
Wisconsin - Madison (31)	30,816	13,650	0	133,398	$133,398 (+45,960)

So the question becomes, is the difference between a 31st or a 36th ranked school and a 47th, 57th, and a 60th ranked school worth $40k or so extra? Along with the debt I've incurred in undergrad and the interest my loans will accrue during law school (the unsubsidized and private ones), I will have over $100k in loans no matter where I go, and over $150k if I go to the 'better' schools I've gotten into. Is $40k more debt really that big of a deal in the long run? Thats just a new BMW....that would be nice to have though.

Seat deposit deadlines are coming soon and I am as lost as I was a month ago. I know that this decision will have big ramifications long into the future. I will need to spend some time to make sure I make the right decision. It's funny to think back a few months to when I was worried that I wouldn't get into any schools. Now the plethora of choices is almost suffocating. Sorry if I sound flippant for those who are still waiting to hear from a choice school. Best of luck to everyone else out there though.

This leads to whats been on my mind recently - What do I ultimately want to do with a law degree? After seeing first hand the life of "Biglaw" partner/associate, I'm not quite sure this is the life I want to live. Sure the money is great and the prestige of wanting to be the next Thurman Arnold and Paul Porter is appealing. But times have changed. The associates work ridiculous hours and so do the partners for that matter. I wonder how or if they ever have the time to spend with their kids, go fishing, take a walk, or go on an actual vacations (wihtout the leash of a blackberry) without having to make up time to meet their yearly billable hours. I don't want to want up one day 25 years later in a disfunctional marriage, with kids that don't know me, and with a scar down on my chest from my last bypass. I'll be filthy rich, but does that matter if I'm not happy? The thing is, if I do go to the higher ranked schools, these 'biglaw' jobs will be the only ones that will be able to pay off my loans.

Do I really want to be shackled by these golden handcuffs? Deep down, I want to be a happy, healthy and an ethical lawyer.

I am typing this properly

Well its been a while since my last post so I thought id shoot a post up while I watch the Oscars. On a side note, I decided to learn how to learn how to type properly (you know... asdfjk; home row, etc...) so i dont have to look down on the keyboard while I type. I recommend using Mavis Beacon, its a great program.

On the law school front, I finally heard back from my top choice - the University of Maryland, and I got waitlisted. Disappointed of course but I suppose it could be worse. I was actually hoping for either an outright acceptance or an outright rejection so that I could definitively go ahead and make final arrangements to go to wherever I end up matriculating. If Maryland gets back to me in August, I'm not sure I could drop all my prior engagements (especially if its to Wisconsin) for them. Oh and Cardozo also waitlisted me. Im letting that gestate in my brain for a little bit....

On the work front, Ive been working - a lot. It is some very interesting work however, more so than my last assignments. The overtime helps as well.

Ok well back to the Oscars. Marty better win this time...

Now it's getting interesting...

Accepted at the University of Wisconsin - Madison!!! I am still a bit shocked. This was one of the higher ranked schools I applied to. I had already come to terms with the fact that my chances were slim to none. I was pleasantly surprised.

For those who may not know, University of Wisconsin is ranked 32nd by the USNews. I don't want to be a rankings whore, but the reality is that in the end, they do merit attention. Rankings matter to firms, and firms have high salaries. Considering that I will have over $120k of debt after I graduate (not including my undergrad debt), this matters to me. Now this isn't to say that rankings/prestige are the most important factors. Clearly, if a school was ranked 30th and another school was ranked 35th, I think the difference is pretty inconsequential. However, the disparity between a 32nd school (UW) vs a 58th school (Temple) may be too much for me to take lightly.

After asking around and doing some more research, Ive learned a bit more about UW. Wisconsin is also one of the top public research universities in the country and supposedly has a gorgeous campus...in the summers. Winters are pretty rough. But more importantly, it seems as if UW grads stay in WI, primarily due to the fact that grads get admitted to the WI Bar (I dont know if this is good or bad - seems as if it would just breed laziness). It doesn't seem like WI grads go to the east coast firms much, most likely due to self-selection. However, they seem to be recruited highly by Chicago law firms.

But the question becomes - Am I ready/willing to drop everything and relocate to the mid-west? This is going to be very difficult decision to make in the next few months.

Update...

I got dinged from Indiana-Bloomington and American University. Didn't really care about Indiana. Despite being highly ranked, it seems as if their grads don't really break into the Mid-Atlantic/North-East big-law legal markets - both of which (kind of job and region) will be the main factors in my decision.

I was a bit perplexed with American. I suppose it wasn't exactly a target or safety. In all honestly, it was prob a bit of a reach. But for some reason I felt I would at least get a waitlist.

Ah well. To every ying, there is a yang. I was accepted to Penn State, University of Baltimore (prob withdraw), and Temple University. I am very excited about Temple. They also awarded a $12k/yr scholarship contingent on a 2.5 gpa (Temple has a 2.85 curve). This is almost the exact offer Pitt awarded, but with a conditional GPA. I am continuing to research everything about each school, their programs, legal markets, placement, cost of living, etc. It's going to be a tough decision, for sure.

I'm still waiting to hear from my top choices as I fill out FAFSA stuff and get my taxes in order. Gluck to all.