|Dave: "How do you feel [about turning down Jonny Johnson's proposal]?" | |Lisa: "I... I feel strangely... uhm, powerful... in an eeevil sort of way. It's the oddest thing."| This is the part of the admissions cycle that many students relish. They have dreamed about it and schemed about it. Nefarious plans and scenarios litter law school discussion boards from Taipei to Tampa, describing in Poeian detail how admitted students plan to turn down the schools that have accepted them. My stomach, conversely, is in knots. Yes, it's annoying that they took a while to let me in (the ones that took a while, I mean), but many kids didn't get in. I should be happy with that and not seek to exact my revenge, which is really intended for the schools that will take months to reject applicants, but instead goes to those they can actually get: the ones that have accepted them. As of today I've withdrawn from Boston University, Brooklyn, Cardozo and Fordham. BU I actually would have held on to because of the financial aid potential, but I have no strong feelings for the school and the financial aid application is different from all the other schools (CSS Profile vs. Need Access), so it's not just clicking a button and sending it to an additional school -- I'll actually have to fill out one more damned form (which I guess, if I'm going to be a lawyer, I should get accustomed to doing) and it'll cost $23. For the other schools -- I've maintained all along that I would stay in NYC if I thought that going to say Brooklyn instead of Wisconsin would give me a better shot at positions in NYC. But 1) that's probably not true 2) I really really don't want to stay in NYC and 3) at the very least Michigan guarantees that if you can't secure private loans, they will loan you the money, so why would I go to a school in NYC when I don't want to be here and it's (probably) a lesser school than other options I have? To be certain, my whole "it's a cost decision" thing is based on the fact that I fear securing private loans will be difficult. So I've started rejecting schools. It feels good to have this option (so many kids apply to law schools and get into 0-1, so I've been CRAZY lucky), but I just hate having to do it. At the very least, I'm sending each one a nice, complimentary letter (well, e-mail) rather than just saying, as I know some applicants do, "Please withdraw me. Thank you," or worse, saying nothing at all. My letters aren't long, but I think it's important to give the same kind of consideration that I received. And now all of you kids who've been at me to withdraw 'cause you think I'm holding onto "your" seat (the faulty logic of that notwithstanding), I'm out. Have at it.
I went to an Ivy League undergrad.
I go to a top NYC law school.
I date men (well...).
I live in Bed-Stuy.
I don't need more to say,
just more room to say it.
Etc.