Legally Bland

2003-04-22T16:23:00.000-04:00

And the winner is...

Temple! And I'm really excited about going. I don't think I wanna go through the entire drama about how my parents tried to blackmail me into going to OSU...I'm at work and I'm tired and reliving that at the moment is not very appealing.

2003-04-11T15:50:00.000-04:00

Temple

Ah...sweet, ghetto Temple. I've learned that peoples' perception of the school aren't the best, largely due in part to its less than desirable location. Alright, I've been the neighborhood myself, and it doesn't seem that bad...during daylight. I would say there are parts of D.C. that are much worse. Any urban savvy individual should be able to navigate the area (North Philly) without managing to get shot. Right? Right.

The actual Temple campus is quite fetching. One can sense the hustle and bustle of a busy urban institution, and some of the buildings are rather lovely (some draped with ivy!). Walking around Temple, it's easy to forget you're in the heart of the ghetto. I mean city. Oops. It was also quite evident to me that Temple posseses the diversity that Ohio State lacks--Jersey Guidos, midwestern farmer's daughters, southern baptist bible benders, sassy Long Island JAPS...the whole gamut! Hehe. And If I go, they'll have at least one D.C. Paul Frank toting whore. Now that's diversity.

Ok...this analysis should have some substance. Hmm. I don't plan on being a litigator, so I can't too much advantage of this, but Temple has a kick ass trial advocacy program. The best in the nation. Unfortunately, I don't want to pull a Lara Flynn Boyle and become a ball-busting snitty trial lawyer. Lucky for me, Temple is strong in other areas as well, such as business law and intellectual property. The law building is modern and the facilities overall are excellent. The library...looks like a cross between a prehistoric cave and some sort of fetishy torture chamber.

The student body seems friendly and non-backstabbing. I managed to talk with some kids not on display by admissions so I got sort of the insider info. OSU seems way gayer to me, which is weird. But apparently Philly as a whole has a fairly compact "scene" for such a huge city.

Well, if I'm going here I can't see myeslf settling in the dumpy area around campus. Well, if I expect to live, that is. That means setting up shack in this fabled "Center City" that people keep telling me about. Apparently I won't be shot here, at a price of fairly steep rent costs. Ugh. Will I become a Temple Owl? I dunno. OSU is a better school. But I prefer ghetto Philly to undergraduate staturated Columbus. Eh, we'll see.

2003-04-10T10:16:00.000-04:00

Ohio State

I visited Ohio State last month. Alright, I'm a D.C., east coast snob. I admit it. My preconception of the midwest, Columbus, Ohio in particular was not favorable. I don't know what I was expecting...tractors running around downtown, bales of hay stacked up next to city hall, whatever. But you know, I was really surprised. Columbus reminds me a lot of Baltimore...if Baltimore was clean. The city is cosmopolitan, modern, and has everything a boy could possibly want (Chipotle and Urban Outfitters, score!). And guess what? There are gay folk there. Lots! Really shocking...I wasn't expecting it at all. Flamers sassing it up and down High Street in droves. White flamers, but flamers nonetheless.

Alright, OSU's campus is gigantic. Not a huge fan of that, after 4 years of 25 minute walks to class at Maryland. I do walk slow...but whatever. Tangent. Anywho, the law school is nestled on the very edge of campus, so it's thankfully isolated from the hordes of Abercrombie adorned undergrads shuffling about. The building is modern and quite lovely. My impressions of the faculty were excellent. The law students? Friendly and congenial, although I doubt they'd present disgruntled folk at an open house. But still, the school left me with a good impression. One thing really bothered me though. I felt the school, and Columbus, were pretty homogeneous.

I guess living and growing up in D.C., and then going to college at Maryland has left me taking diversity for granted. I mean, I've never really thought about it...it's just always been there for me. When I was placed in an evironment filled with predominately white folk, I was surprised at how awkward I felt. Now mind you, I'm down with the white folk. The ex is an eagle scout from rural PA--if he were any more white he'd be clear. But the thing was that there was no diversity even among the white people there. Everyone was clad in J.Crew, or AE or Abercrombie. THAT type. Where were my Asian divas in Bebe? What about Euro Trash in Bennetton? Or the Birkenstock toting granola sect? And FOBS? You'd have to search the coasts for them. Not here. I don't have a problem with the people of Columbus or OSU...I just desire a greater mix. I can't believe i'm championing diversity, because normally i'm such an apathetic jerk about such things. Kudos to me. Huh.

These gripes aside, OSU is a Tier 1 school and has a kick ass Alternative Dispute Resolution program. It's hella cheap to take up residence in Columbus also. So, I may well become a Buckeye afterall. We'll see.

2003-04-08T14:22:00.000-04:00

Applying

So I applied to 15 schools. This might seem a little extreme (and expensive). Yes and yes. Basically I was paranoid I wouldn't get in anywhere. My undergrad GPA is blah and my LSAT score is eh (two logic games sections!) so I was not confident going into this process. I would have considered getting into a solid second tier school a major victory. So when that first acceptance to Miami came in, I was relieved and excited and kinda surprised. Miami wouldn't have been so bad...I could have studied on the beach while working on my tan.

The final tally for my neurotically gigantic application pool was 6 acceptances, 6 rejections, 2 waitlists and 1 hold file. Hold file? The hell? I hate Wisconsin. Apparently it's a glorified waitlist. Ugh. But yeah, overall it wasn't the bloodbath of rejections that I had predicted.

I've narrowed it down to two schools--Ohio State and Temple. I have to decide on this in two days by my parent's decree (they don't trust the mail). I hope to make the right decision and be happy with it, and if Wisconsin mails me an acceptance after I do this I will be pissed and happy and confused at the same time. I hate Wisconsin.

2003-04-08T10:52:00.000-04:00

Beginnings...

Welcome to Legally Bland! I'm using this little nook of the web as a cathartic device, one with which I can comfortably vent and make observations and bitch and be sincere. Historically these mundane things have been rather difficult for me--hopefully this will be a help. I don't anticipate this blog to be utterly law school-centric...I just themed it as such because starting this summer law school will be such a huge part of my life. Ugh, I'm so paranoid I'm going to fall on my ass with this whole thing. Am I even allowed to say "ass" on here? I dunno. So yeah, welcome.