According to the American Bar Association Journal, law school applications in general are up 2 percent this year, but the increase at some schools is as high as 8 percent states the Wall Street Journal. The ABA article, citing the WSJ, states that top tier schools like Yale Law School, the University of Texas School of Law and Cornell University Law School have all increased their applicant pool despite these trying times.
Read the article here.
Here’s another article from the National Law Journal that discusses the recent increase, with a focus on the UC Irvine School of Law.
Photo: Joe Gratz / Flickr
When I first started (seriously) looking into law school, I felt like one of those little white mice trapped in a maze that it had never been in before: wall, wall, wall, ooh, opening! wall, wall, ooh, something shiny! I had no point of reference, and with no point of reference I was easily distracted by the Internets.
I mean, I had seen Boyfriend go through the whole LSAT prep course, applications and waiting period, but when it came to the minutiae of applications – the best time to submit, what to expect, etc. – I was clueless. So I did one of my favorite things there is to do in the world: research! (seriously. I’m a total nerd) And while poking around and burrowing into the little caves that make up the Interwebz, I found some interesting sites that made me feel better and a lot more comfortable about the whole process.
- Law School Admission Council. This was one of my first stops during my law school application journey. Here you can register for the LSAT, register for law school forums (basically, where you can meet representatives from different schools), find out about funding for law school, etc. Be sure to take a look at the ABA-approved Guide to Law Schools. Though the schools listed are unranked, the guide is helpful in that it discusses the strengths of particular schools and also allows you to see how your LSAT and GPA fit in with applicants from previous years. The site’s handy dandy UGPA (undergraduate GPA) and LSAT calculator also allows you to see what your admission chances to individual law schools are.
- U.S. News and World Report. On recommendation from Boyfriend, I registered for online access to America’s Best Graduate Schools. The registration allows you to see the rankings of individual schools, and narrow down choices based on LSAT percentiles, GPA, state, and the like. A great feature is the ability to save schools you are particularly interested in so you can compare them later. Note: Some have challenged the validity of the law school rankings found on the site. You can read about that here and here.
- Brian Leiter’s Law School Rankings. The site, by Brian Leiter, John P. Wilson Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Law, Philosophy & Human Values at the University of Chicago, independently compiles lists of rankings according to specific areas of interest. These include ranking schools according to faculty scholarly impact and where current law professors went to law school.
- Law School Numbers (LSN). This networking site aggregates user-submitted LSAT, GPA and school application information into easy-to-read databases and graphs. You can search for people with “numbers” (LSAT/GPA) similar to yours and can see how well they’re doing at specific schools. You can see if applicants listed themselves as URMs (underrepresented minorities) or Ns (nontraditional students). You can look at individual schools and see exactly who they are admitting based on numbers. Sometimes applicants even list their “softs”, factors apart from numbers that are also listed on their application. If the users are diligent, you can see the progress of their applications from sent, complete (when their package is ready for review at the law school), and when a decision was made. The admitted, waitlisted, and rejected users can then be plotted on a scatter plot graph. I don’t like this graph. It’s scary, but it could be useful for some people.
- www.hourumd.com. You can input your LSAT score and GPA into this site, and your probabilty of admittance into individual schools is calculated based on information gathered from the LSN database. I’ve been reading that LSN statistics tend to be on the higher end, so I’m uncertain of how much weight you should put in this probability thingy. I say, if you feel good about submitting your application to a particular school, just send it in. It won’t hurt and you won’t be asking “what if?” later on. Also, if you find out what “hourumd” stands for, let me know.
- Chiashu. This site is similar in concept to LSN, but may have a different set of users. It’s not as pretty as LSN, but it does have a function that allows you to see decision and rejection numbers, and how many of each there were per month, plotted on a line graph.
- Law School Discussion. If you have questions for current law school students, or other prospective applicants, this is a great resource. There are individual forums for law school applications and preparing for the LSAT. Once you’re admitted (yey!), there are also individual boards for admitted students in general and for specific schools.
- Top Law Schools. I haven’t used this site much, but it also has a list of law schools and a message board for prospective students.
Photo: Vito / Flickr
Here are the answers to the anagrams posted yesterday
1. Cabana Kaiser Bum Hos -> Barack Hussein Obama
2. Corny Egalitarian Song -> Antonin Gregory Scalia
3. Chlamydia Horn Tin Roll -> Hillary Rodham Clinton
4. Nosy Pelican -> Nancy Pelosi
5. Anal Parish -> Sarah Palin
6. Hogtie Thirty Men -> Timothy Geithner
Find anagrams for you and your friends’ names at the Internet Anagram Server.
I love words. I get giddy when I craft artful prose or pen a pithy phrase. And I am amused by things that have to deal with all of the above. Which is why it tickled me pink to find the Internet Anagram Server. Just type in your name, and the page generates a lengthy list of word combinations your name can make. Here are the anagrams of some famous people’s names. See if you can figure out who they are. Answers will be posted tomorrow at 6 a.m. PST!
1. Cabana Kaiser Bum Hos
2. Corny Egalitarian Song
3. Chlamydia Horn Tin Roll
4. Nosy Pelican
5. Anal Parish
6. Hogtie Thirty Men
From cobalt123's Flickr photostream
The Fire John Yoo! Web site is a project of a group of rebels who are against the hiring of John Yoo as a Fletcher Jones Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the Chapman University School of Law. Yoo served in the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel under former President George W. Bush, and those calling for his dismissal believe his memos played an integral part in the Bush administration’s stance on torture. A Newsweek article published this week discusses the Obama administration’s plans to declassify and release publicly Yoo’s memos.
Fire John Yoo! (which, interestingly, is an anagram for ‘heroin of joy!’) is affiliated with the No To Torture – John Yoo Must Go! coalition at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, where he also faced opposition and where he could be facing disciplinary action. The site also has links to the anti-war, anti-torture, etc. group The World Can’t Wait.
Chapman University is set to host a discussion with Yoo at 11:30 a.m. Weds., April 15 titled “Presidential Power and Success in Times of Crisis”. The discussion will take place in Kennedy Hall, Room 237. For more information, Chapman’s Web site says to contact Barbara Babcock at 714-628-2502 or bbabcock@chapman.edu.
Here’s what the local media had to say about Yoo’s appointment
LA Times: Bush policymaker escapes Berkeley’s wrath.
OC Register: Ex-Bush lawyer talks about torture memos.
Not a single student has sat in a single chair at the University of California Irvine School of Law, but the fledgling law school – the first public California law school in 40 years – is already sitting pretty in the top 10 rankings of schools for their faculty’s scholarly impact.
Ranked No. 10 by Brian Leiter’s Law School Rankings for 2005 through 2008, Irvine beat out the law schools at Northwestern University and the University of California, Los Angeles for a spot in the rankings, which are based on a study that was conducted in February.
The study weighed the school’s “scholarly impact”, which was measured by citations of the faculty members during the past four years. For the purposes of the study, Leiter assumes that UC Irvine will hire professors who are as prolific as the founding faculty. He also excludes Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean at the law school.
“Given Dean Chemerinsky’s very high citation count … to simply add his cite count to the currently small number of faculty would produce highly misleading results.”
Read the study here.
Thumbnail photo: Okinawa Soba / Flickr. It’s an Asian woman reading a newspaper. It makes sense to me: an Asian girl who likes her some news.
People going into their first year of law school know that law school is going to be difficult. It may even be the toughest thing that they have ever had to face. Like ever. They prepare mentally. They read books, blogs and blawgs on the topic. They speak to people who have had experience in the area. They drop enjoyable but unproductive hobbies in favor of said research on law school. By the time first-year orientation rolls around, they are fired up and ready to go.
But in all their preparations for their big first day, they may have forgotten to consider that they are not the only ones going to law school, that they are only half of the equation. Because when they go, they take all the relationships they have - and all the obligations they have to the people they are in those relationships with – with them. Romantic relationships included.
Being someone who is going into law school, but who has been on the other side as well, I would like to share some insight into what your significant other(s) (hereafter referred to as “SO”) might be feeling and might share with you, and what YOU can do to support them. Because, let’s face it, going to law school is a selfish thing, and being a grad student forces you to be selfish with your time. But when you’re through being scary-evil-time-hoarding hermit, you’re going to want the person you care about to still be around three years later.
- “I won’t be able to see you in, like, forever.” If you plan on being a good student, and definitely if you want to make law review, you’re probably definitely going to spend a lot of time hitting the books and preparing for class.
What you can do: Help your SO understand why you’re going to law school and why your law school grades are important. Then, take out a calendar, write out your law school schedule, and make sure you schedule a day when the both of you can just hang out and do whatever it is you do as a couple. Make sure that day is a priority, and that SO knows it’s a priority.
Also, it’s healthy to make friends in law school, but it might not be a good idea to frequently substitute “going out” with SO and law buddies as that one day a week you spend together. He/she still needs to feel like they are an important part of your life, even though law school clearly is your No. 1 priority.
- “You won’t have time for our relationship.” Yeah, this kinda relates to you hitting the books again.
What you can do: Don’t forget that there are other ways to connect with SO during the week. If you can’t see them, maybe schedule a certain time in the evening, every other day, whatever works for you, when you can give them a call and maybe catch up and share things about your day. If calling is too much (Really? If it is then I wouldn’t want you to be my boyfriend), then you can send an email, or get a Twitter account and touch base that way.
- “We won’t be able to go out like we normally do.” You’re taking out huge student loans and have little or no income. You probably won’t be able to go to a fancy frou frou French restaurant, or even the not-so-fancy Red Lobster, like you did in your pre-law school days.
What you can do: Instead of going to the movies, rent a movie. Instead of going out to eat, maybe cook a meal at home. Maybe take a walk at the park, or go for a run by the beach or on some trails. The point is, when you’re out with SO, you have so little time that the venue or the activity sometimes isn’t very important. The reconnecting with each other and the enjoyment of each other’s company is.
- “All you talk about is law school.” Stop it. No, really. Get a hobby or something.
What you can do: Yes, law school is tough and all-consuming. But you don’t have to talk about it to SO every single time, and at the expense of talking about more important things. Like feelings. Seriously though, the reason why it’s good to have someone you can speak with intimately is because they can help you get away from the stress that is law school sometimes. Why bring that burden onto an already time-burdened relationship.
- “You’re really annoying to argue with.” Yes, you are.
What you can do: Don’t be an ass. Remember that some arguments are not meant to be won and that you have to LISTEN to what SO is saying. Sometimes they bring up a point not to convince or persuade you, but to share a point of interest. Don’t use lawyer speak. Communicate with SO, don’t preach or talk at them.
This list can go on forever, believe me. But as someone who has lived on the other half, there’s just one thing I hope all future 1Ls, 2Ls and 3Ls understand. Those of us on the other half just want to know that we still matter, that you respect our relationship and the sacrifices we have to make as well. If you do, we are more likely to take our half and meet your half somewhere in the middle. (Not meant to sound dirty, but if that’s how you take it I can do nothing to sanitize your dirty, dirty mind. Well, maybe, except this)
Photo: Ayumina / Flickr
There are very few YouTube videos that I rewatch. Whenever I need to be inspired, there’s the spine-tingling performance of Nessun Dorma by Paul Potts of Britain’s Got Talent fame. And, when I need some cheering up, there’s always “Laughing Baby”, where (surprise!) a baby laughs hysterically as his father tears up pieces of paper. Thanks to YouTube director Kutiman (also known as Ophir Kutiel, a musican based out of Tel Aviv) I’ve got several more videos to add to my list.
Kutiel, whom I discovered through blog BoingBoing, artfully remixes a hodge podge of videos from vocalists, instrumentalists, and other artists into what can only be called works of audio art. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but Kutiman’s blend of seemingly unrelated bits and pieces into a single cohesive song seems representative of the power of YouTube (and technology in general) to connect people who have never met, to bridge the gap between languages and cultures to make something new and beautiful. You decide. The video up top is titled “Just a Lady”, one of my favorites from Kutiman’s collection.
The videos aren’t just beautiful, however. Washington Post “Faster Forward” blogger Rob Pegararo states that they bring up some interesting copyright issues. Read his blog here. On a kinda sorta related note, BoingBoing also recently wrote about some economists’ call to abolish copyrights and patents.
Read more about Kutiel and his interview with NPR’s Michelle Block here.
Image from http://www.ladyofthecake.com
If you’ve already read the “About” section of this blawg, then you already know my significant other is also pursuing a law degree. Scary. I know. So imagine the fear I had when I first learned he would be going to law school.
From what I had heard on blawgs and from people who had a niece whose friend’s boyfriend’s best friend was in law school (or something of that sort, too lazy to diagram), law school would KILL the relationship. Or would turn my significant other into an unattractive, smelly, unshorn, libido-crushing monk two weeks into his first 1L semester. And that’s where author Scott Turow’s “1L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School” came in.
Turow’s account at the Ivy may be somewhat dated (he attended in the ’70s), and his mere admission into the hallowed halls of Harvard Law were something me and my LSAT score could only dream about, but the book gave me a realistic idea of what my boyfriend and our relationship would be facing. School work would be hard, but it could be managed. The relationship would need to be adjusted, but it could be maintained. Factor into that the fact that me and the boyfriend had been dating for an long, long, long time (almost five years when he started in fall 2008), and we had a pretty good shot at survival.
And for those of you who plan on strapping on a pair of steel undies and throwing away the key for three years, the book can also help you filter through the mixed messages of gunners, whose goal is to make you soil yourself with stories of the first year, and well-meaning-but-misled advice givers, and develop a healthy perspective on what to expect.
Being a fan of the short-lived but much loved science fiction space-western television series “Firefly”, I was incredibly excited to learn that fans, known as Browncoats, will be making a movie set in the world of Firefly. What got me even more excited was the opportunity to audition for the voice of the ship. I sent my MP3 in earlier this month, and hopefully will hear something by the end of April or May! The proceeds for the movie will go toward charities that “Firefly” creator Joss Whedon supports, including Equality Now and Kids Need to Read, and will hopefully pave the way for a sequel to the Firefly movie “Serenity.” Follow the progress of the movie @browncoatsmovie.
If you haven’t seen the series yet, you are missing out! Watch it at Hulu, where it was recently voted on as the show that most people would bring back if they could.
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