After reading a few articles on how to deal with being waitlisted, I decided to be a bit proactive and do a couple of things to hopefully keep my name fresh in their minds.
First of all, I made an appointment to tour the law school. I had hoped to do it today, but they didn't have time, so it's set up for Thursday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
Also, I sent an email to the admissions department asking a few questions about the waitlist like how long it is, or how many people eventually get admitted, etc. I also enclosed a copy of my Final Grades because the transcript they had didn't reflect those grades yet. So my overall GPA is a bit higher than what the law school has for me.
I'm hoping that doing these things will help me get off the waitlist and accepted there. Meanwhile, I've paid half of my seat deposit at the other school where I was accepted and I will be getting a registration packet in the mail and will have to pay the remainder of my seat deposit by July 1, 2008. It sure would be nice to find out about the waitlist before I have to send in the balance of my seat deposit. I guess we'll see...
Monday, June 9, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Waiting...
I figured I should post something even though I haven't actually started law school. Actually, I'm not totally sure exactly where I will be going.
I applied to two schools because those two are closest to me and I will have to drive back and forth. That's one of the problems with owning a house. I can't just pick up and move. I had originally planned to apply to three schools, the two in Orlando, and one in Jacksonville. But with gas prices going up so much, there's no way I could afford to drive to Jacksonville and back. So, it's between Barry and FAMU.
I've been accepted to Barry with a $15,000 yearly scholarship. Their yearly tuition is around $30,000, so the scholarship will pay about half of it. The rest will have to be student loans. I just heard back from FAMU and I've been waitlisted there. I think it's probably because I applied later than most people. I was waiting on letters of recommendation and that is what held me up. I'm sending them another letter of recommendation and plan on sending an updated transcript since my overall GPA went up some from the transcript that LSAC has. Also, I will go visit the school and probably call them about once a week.
Yearly tuition is about $8,000 at FAMU. Big difference from Barry, even with the scholarship. The only thing that concerns me is the accreditation situation at FAMU. The report came out recently that they have some issues and a long way to go to attain full accreditation by next June. They are provisionally accredited right now and that means that anyone graduating from a provisionally accredited law school has the same rights as someone graduating from a fully accredited law school. What worries me is if they lose their provisional accredited status next June and don't become fully accredited or the provisional accreditation extended, then I'm not sure exactly how that will affect currently enrolled students. I'm thinking I will have to talk to someone at the ABA to know for sure.
And of course being waitlisted means I get to wait. How long I have to wait to find out if there's a spot for me, I don't know. Obviously I'm not going to depend on that happening and that's why I went ahead and paid a seat deposit at Barry. Going to Barry means I will graduate with about $100,000 in student loan debt from my undergraduate and law school years. Ouch. Hopefully, I will be able to get a halfway decent paying job when I graduate so I can make those payments. I'm sure it will be a hell of a lot more money than I've ever made or even hubby and I have made together. We is poor & haven't ever made even the median income in our area. There's such a wide difference between the upper pay scale (business owners, developers, professionals, etc.) and anyone else (which make peanuts). I'm not sure if that's the case everywhere in the country, but it certainly is here. A $15/hour job here is a gold mine if you're not one of the people in the upper pay scale. Most people don't make even that much.
I can't even imagine what it would be like to actually have money in the bank and be able to pay bills when they are due instead of juggling from paycheck to paycheck. The very first thing I really want when I am making enough to at least pay the bills is an emergency fund. I don't want to get in debt anymore than I already will be (student loans, car, house, etc.) and with the economy being so uncertain now, having that emergency savings will make me feel much better. There's nothing worse than having something break when you have no money to fix it, or someone loses a job and you wonder how you're going to pay the bills until they find another job.
I just wish I knew how long I am going to have to wait on the waitlist...
I applied to two schools because those two are closest to me and I will have to drive back and forth. That's one of the problems with owning a house. I can't just pick up and move. I had originally planned to apply to three schools, the two in Orlando, and one in Jacksonville. But with gas prices going up so much, there's no way I could afford to drive to Jacksonville and back. So, it's between Barry and FAMU.
I've been accepted to Barry with a $15,000 yearly scholarship. Their yearly tuition is around $30,000, so the scholarship will pay about half of it. The rest will have to be student loans. I just heard back from FAMU and I've been waitlisted there. I think it's probably because I applied later than most people. I was waiting on letters of recommendation and that is what held me up. I'm sending them another letter of recommendation and plan on sending an updated transcript since my overall GPA went up some from the transcript that LSAC has. Also, I will go visit the school and probably call them about once a week.
Yearly tuition is about $8,000 at FAMU. Big difference from Barry, even with the scholarship. The only thing that concerns me is the accreditation situation at FAMU. The report came out recently that they have some issues and a long way to go to attain full accreditation by next June. They are provisionally accredited right now and that means that anyone graduating from a provisionally accredited law school has the same rights as someone graduating from a fully accredited law school. What worries me is if they lose their provisional accredited status next June and don't become fully accredited or the provisional accreditation extended, then I'm not sure exactly how that will affect currently enrolled students. I'm thinking I will have to talk to someone at the ABA to know for sure.
And of course being waitlisted means I get to wait. How long I have to wait to find out if there's a spot for me, I don't know. Obviously I'm not going to depend on that happening and that's why I went ahead and paid a seat deposit at Barry. Going to Barry means I will graduate with about $100,000 in student loan debt from my undergraduate and law school years. Ouch. Hopefully, I will be able to get a halfway decent paying job when I graduate so I can make those payments. I'm sure it will be a hell of a lot more money than I've ever made or even hubby and I have made together. We is poor & haven't ever made even the median income in our area. There's such a wide difference between the upper pay scale (business owners, developers, professionals, etc.) and anyone else (which make peanuts). I'm not sure if that's the case everywhere in the country, but it certainly is here. A $15/hour job here is a gold mine if you're not one of the people in the upper pay scale. Most people don't make even that much.
I can't even imagine what it would be like to actually have money in the bank and be able to pay bills when they are due instead of juggling from paycheck to paycheck. The very first thing I really want when I am making enough to at least pay the bills is an emergency fund. I don't want to get in debt anymore than I already will be (student loans, car, house, etc.) and with the economy being so uncertain now, having that emergency savings will make me feel much better. There's nothing worse than having something break when you have no money to fix it, or someone loses a job and you wonder how you're going to pay the bills until they find another job.
I just wish I knew how long I am going to have to wait on the waitlist...
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