Surprisingly Successful Senior Year

The past few weeks have been overwhelming, but in a good kind of way!
 
1. My pre-law fraternity had a really successful fall rush - the largest turnout we've seen in over four years - and we've taken in some great new members that I'm super excited about. My PAD family will be growing a lot this quarter! I'm ecstatic to see that all my hard work over the past few months paid off.
 
2. I was invited to the Student Conference on U.S. Affairs (SCUSA). It's a very prestigious conference held at West Point every year, and the UC Davis International Relations Program is paying to send me there next week. Impromptu New York trip! I've been going crazy over the past couple of weeks trying to figure out travel, clothes, and my schedule (since I'm missing three days of class and almost a week of work), but it seems like everything is starting to come together. I'm both thrilled and nervous to be flying out next Tuesday night!

3. Law school apps. Oh my goodness, law school apps. I'm not even close to having a finished personal statement yet - oops - so I really need to get that taken care of soon, preferably before my October LSAT score comes out next Wednesday. However, this application season is off to a fantastic start because of all of the fee waivers I've been blessed with. As of today, I have fee waivers from UPenn, Michigan, Duke (priority track!), Northwestern, Georgetown, and UCLA among other schools. After I get my October score back, I'll likely have a few more trickle in and will then email schools to request a waiver.

I went to my school's Law School Info Day last Thursday and had great conversations with a lot of admissions staff. I walked out with six different business cards and email addresses, but somehow no new fee waivers! Oh well. With Penn, Duke, Michigan, and Georgetown, who needs waivers from other schools? (Just kidding. I would love more fee waivers. Even with all of the waived fees, I'll still probably spend over $1000 on law school applications!)
 
4. Classes and honors theses are also rather overwhelming, and not necessarily in a good way. I dropped my Ancient History class so I'm down to 19 units right now. Cognitive Neuroscience is a struggle and I'm not at all pleased with my performance on the first midterm. I'm doing really well in my U.S. History class though - I got an A on my first paper even though I wrote the paper at the absolute last minute. Next week's midterm for that class should hopefully go well! Advanced Arabic is a struggle but I'm learning a lot, and I'm debating going onto ARB 122 next quarter so that I don't have to stop learning the language. We'll see!

My honors theses are making my life a struggle. It'll be extremely tough to finish my IR thesis, PSC thesis, and get law school apps in this quarter. Hopefully I keep my sanity!

LSAT = Conquered

Okay, the title is overly optimistic. But I'm at least confident that my score didn't drop from June. ;)

Some highlights from today:
1. I started off with my strongest section, nailed it, then spent the next few sections freaking out that it had been experimental. Luckily it was real.
2. While in line to check in, I definitely tried to recruit someone to join Phi Alpha Delta. A Public Relations Chair does not take time off for such a silly excuse as the Law School Admission Test!
3. After I finished the writing sample (almost 20 minutes early, although I'm still satisfied with the argument I made), I wrote some pre-law haikus to pass the time. Here's what I can remember of them.

A 170

Is all I need for UPenn

But will I get it?

 

Duke, Georgetown, Stanford

Where will I go to next fall?

Where will I get in?

  

Phi Alpha Delta

Professional, fraternal

Is the one for me!

 

Tick, tock goes the clock

As I hurry through my test

Oh no! Time is up!

Disclaimer: I know they're really, really bad. Hopefully that doesn't diminish your entertainment. And I wrote this on my scratch paper, not on the actual writing sample! I don't know if law schools would have approved.

I don't get to rest after finishing the test and showcasing my poetic talents - I actually have to leave for work in about 20 minutes. But hopefully I can enjoy myself tonight before my fraternity's rush starts next week!

The Week From Hell

I thought I'd take a quick break from LSAT studying and PR stuff (let's be real, emailing potential rushees is a break for me nowadays) to say hi.

I'm alive. Barely. I'm pretty much working myself into the ground right now. I'm always either at work, in class, studying for the LSAT, lab managing, working on the pilot for my PSC honors thesis, scheduling meetings for my IR honors thesis, or doing PR stuff. I love how casually I just wrote that - "doing PR stuff." Public relations for my fraternity is kind of a nightmare right now. Coordinating tabling, chalking, flyering, and presentations for about 30 people is no fun, and I keep sending mass emails to members when I know the people I'm most concerned about won't even read them. I'm spending 25 hours a week just on public relations right now, and that's after I delegated to some of the other committee chairs. I'm trying not to be exhausted and miserable, but the perpetual bags under my eyes don't lie. And on top of this, I'm trying to make sure I'm in the right state of mind for Saturday's LSAT (read: not brain-dead).

But on the positive side...
1. I'm not sick right now! *knock on wood*
2. I found out that I got Tour Guide of the Month for May 2013, which I find funny since May is an absolute blur to me so I honestly can't remember giving any tours.
3. As of Saturday, I'm done with the LSAT for good.
4. Rush is next week, so I'm almost done with publicity. Maybe I can actually get some sleep soon...