some place to call apartment

It's finals time on Rocky Top and for once, I could not have been more excited for this week to arrive.

I will graduate in 9 days from the University of Tennessee. The place that I have come to call my home. Since coming to UT, I have lived in a one room dorm shared with another girl... to an on campus apartment... to living with my boyfriend... just to end up in a studio apartment in the Fort all alone. To be honest, it sucks to move but the experiences I have had I wouldn't trade for the world.

I am excited and ready to move to Memphis. This will be the first real separation I have had. I grew up in East TN and moving to Knoxville was less than 30 minutes away. The 7 hours between here and Memphis makes this my first real move.

I was fortunate enough to find a fabulous apartment right next door to the law school. I could not be happier with my choice. It takes me a while to make decisions, especially small ones that aren't of much consequence but seem to matter so much more in the moment. The choice I had was between an apartment that was cheaper but wasn't available until the day after class begins and an apartment that was more expensive but available in June. So is it better to be early or late? Well every blog I have ever read about getting ready for law school recommends being settled so after much contemplation (more than I would like to admit) I decided on the more expensive apartment in June (it's only $10 more but it does add up).

To be completely honest, I am terrified. U of Memphis hasn't set up any way to connect with other students and as of now I have plans to move to a city where I don't have anyone. I think that's what scares me the most.

Whoops...

My lack of writing should indicate how busy I have been with school. Who knew that everyone goes crazy your last semester of undergrad. 

Just wanted to give a bit of an update. 

To back track... I visited Belmont (in Nashville, TN) and Memphis over Spring Break.

Belmont was beautiful and everyone there is very passionate about what they have started. I see nothing but a bright future for Belmont; unfortunately I didn't see my future there. 

Memphis was in downtown. It had a sense of activity about it. The students... the city... the faculty... it felt like a place where you learn to be a professional instead of focusing on being a student (not quite sure that sentence makes any sense... sry). I loved it.

I deposited at Memphis. 

I am happy with my choice. I will say that I also accepted a spot on the University of Tennessee's wait list so I'll have to wait and see if anything materializes from that. Does anyone really know how these wait lists work? The school doesn't offer much guidance other than it's not yes and it's not no. 

On a different note, I graduate in three weeks. :) 

I am thrilled and nauseous all at the same time. I have a lot to accomplish between now and then. 

I hope this update finds everyone well. 

Samford University Cumberland School of Law

Birmingham was beautiful.

This past weekend Cumberland had their admitted students weekend. I attended with my parents. It is a beautiful school.

Please excuse the fact that I am a horrible model. 

The building in front is where all of the class activity takes place and the building off to the side and to the back is the library.

Overall, it is beautiful and everyone was very nice. The biggest issue is that it is expansive. So I have a tough decision ahead of me. 

This weekend I head off to see Belmont and University of Memphis.

Appalachian and Northern Kentucky University

This las week/weekend has been a whirl wind. This weekend I, along with my mother, headed off to tour and visit some of the northern schools I was accepted into. The two we went to were Appalachian Law School in Grundy, VA and Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law in Highland Heights, KY. The trip was longer and harder than I imagined. It was about 4 hours from Knoxville, TN to Grundy, VA but with the snow and we stopped to eat it took us about 5 and half. The trip between Grundy, VA and Highland Heights, KY was the worst because of the roads and the weather the 5 and half hour trip took us around 6 hours. The last trip was by far the easiest, nice interstate the whole way, the 4 hour trip took us right under 4 to complete.

I thought I would share my trip through some pictures.

First we went to Grundy, Va.

This is downtown Grundy taken from the third floor of Walmart. 

The day we drove up it was snowing hard and it snowed all the way through the night. 

The next day the temperature hit 42 so all of the snow melted.

I took this photo after lunch from across the street. 

Grundy was great. I really liked the people. The soul of this school is their people. Every student and faculty member I met was nice and friendly. I sat in on a Civ Pro class. It was completely full and a beautiful open class room. Their were some negatives, to me anyways, but I plan to do an overview of opinions later.

One negative for me was the curvy tight roads but I ams sure I can get used to it. 

----------------

Next we went to Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law in Highland Heights, KY.

The campus was quite large. It is a commuter school but they had on campus housing and lots of places to study or just hang out. They have a university center and a student union. A unique thing about this campus is that they call themselves a modern campus, which basically means all of their buildings are concrete. 

This is the NKU Chase law building. A nice thing is that it is directly beside the Student Union so there are lots of places for students to gather. 

I will add more thoughts on each school later.

If you have any questions about either of these schools feel free to ask.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today my only valentine is John C. Hodges Library. 

I have a date with a test tomorrow and couldn't sacrifice the time in the library to do anything very fun. I did grab lunch with a friend. 

I am visiting Appalachian School of Law and Northern Kentucky University College of Law next week. These will be my first visits so any recommendations will be appreciated. 

That's all for now. Happy Valentine's Day.

Wednesday Wisdom

The trouble with this process, applying to law schools, has got to be the lack of information about it and access to people who know the answers.


Every Wednesday I am going to write out some questions I have had about this process so far. If you know anything regarding these questions please comment or email me. I hope by the following wednesday to be able to answer the questions I asked the week before. I hope that this is helpful. 


1. What should you do if your application is pending or hasn't been touched in months?

My application at UT has been in review since the 20th, far longer, than any of my other applications. My file at IU - Indy has been completed since Dec. 8th and has failed to move any farther along in the process at all. I am afraid to speak up to schools that have not made a decision on my application yet. Thoughts?

2. When or how do I begin to decide which schools to withdraw from?

I have been dreading withdrawing from schools. After receiving my rejection letter from UofL it truly sank in how grateful I am that other schools decided to take a chance on me. It hurts deep in my soul to withdraw when many of these schools have been nothing but accomodating to me. Any recommendations on how to do this, or even literally what needs to be said? The when part of this question puzzles me because I haven't heard from all of my schools but I don't want to hog a seat that someone else might truly want. Anyways, let me know if you have any insight on this.

3. Should you set up a university account before you know if you are going to accept the offer of admission?

I have already set up an account with Memphis, called myMemphis, and Samford, which is simply portal.samford. I felt as though I should because in their letters both wrote that future correspondence about financial aid and other relevant information for the fall would be sent through their own email addresses. I am worried that this might send a signal that I am committing. There isn't any clear info on any blogs I have read that talk about registering to schools sites before committing.

That's it for today, folks. If there are any topics you would like to hear about please let me know.

Average

When I first expressed interest in law school people did not take me seriously. I am fairly average. This blog is centered around that fact. I am not at the top of my class nor am I at the bottom of it. I hope to share my life with any one who cares to listen. 

This process of applying and attending law school is the hardest challenge I have ever undertaken. More now than any time in my life I feel alone.

Goals I have for this blog:

1.  Meet others in this field and going through a similar experience
2.  Chronicle my experience for myself, my family and friends, and others to enjoy
3. Stress Relief

I invite you to interact with me as much as you feel comfortable. 

This is the beginning to my journey. Welcome to it.