Yahtzee

...or, "How a $130 Test Changed My Life".

So, I'm pretty sure that most people who read this blog know most of the story already, if not the entire thing, but I really feel the need to put up an actual post about the ridiculously insane past two weeks.

Every once in a while, life turns into a big game of Yahtzee. I'm not talking about breaking up with a significant other, or getting a new job. I'm talking about quietly sitting on a table, when suddenly someone scoops you up, shakes you around in a giant blue cup, and dumps you back out onto the table in an entirely different configuration than you were just in. (Hopefully metaphorically, but I suppose anything is possible.)

On the morning of Thursday, July 3rd, at around 10 a.m., I finalized the last piece of administrative stuff that I needed to do to arrange my move to Philly and attend Temple Law. The student loans and scholarships were lined up. Registration was complete. An apartment and roommate were found. The moving truck was reserved. Specific plans were entirely in place.

At around 2:00, I got the piece of news I referenced in my last post--my new LSAT score. In that post I said I wasn't sure if it would help with UCLA. Again, I have proven that I should not pursue work as a psychic.

After a few annoying meetings at work, at around 4:00 I sent an email to the Dean of Admissions at UCLA to let them know about my updated score. At about 5:30, I got an email back from him stating that they would review my file and be in touch. At about 7:30 that evening, I was on the phone with said Dean of Admissions, doing a phone interview. At about 8:45 that evening, I was back on the phone, receiving an offer of admission to UCLA, a scant 5 1/2 hours after getting my new LSAT score.

To be brutally honest, it was not an automatic decision for me. Here I had on one hand a path that was already all figured out, sorted out, arranged: a known entity which with I had been coming to terms for several months now. On the other hand, this entirely unknown path was suddenly plunked down in front of me: a much bigger move; much farther from my friends and family, and from the city that will always be home, regardless of whether I ever live here again; a much different culture and way of life; heck, even a much different climate.

Over the course of a few days, I began to swim through the mix of emotions that surrounded this decision. Not just the scary differences, but also the exciting ones. Being so much closer to LT. Going to a very highly ranked school. Going to a school with so much specialization and support for public interest work. And, I began to realize that the primary thing guiding my initial reaction was fear of the unknown. If this had happened even a few weeks earlier, before I had found an apartment in Philly, it would've been a no-brainer.

I began to think back to my original desire to go out there. The differences and unknowns were part of the attraction, the desire to experience something new. They weren't bad, they were good! And yes, I remembered the painful disappointment LT and I felt when we first learned that I had been waitlisted even at Loyola Marymount, and would most likely be staying east. LT was with me when I opened that envelope from Loyola. We didn't even make it into my apartment for a while, we just sat in the hallway hugging each other.

So I decided to accept UCLA's offer, and that is where I am headed. It is a decision with which I have become progressively more comfortable, and as plans and arrangements have begun to solidify, the fear surrounding it is slowly but surely fading, leaving the genuine excitement I would have felt if this had been the path I had been on all along.

Is that drippy saccharine sweet or what? Well hang on, now here is where the story just starts to get gaudy.

The one downside to UCLA was cost. Temple was going to be pretty cheap, both because it is a cheaper school, and because I received a partial scholarship. UCLA was going to be more. Not prohibitively more, but considerably more.

That is, until LAST Thursday, July 10th (Thursday is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week), when I once again found myself on the phone with the Dean of Admissions at UCLA. This time I was being offered a giant bucket of merit scholarship money, in ADDITION to a much more modest need-based financial aid award. As a result, UCLA will probably cost less than Temple when all is said and done.

Seriously? This is the kind of crap that people write stories about. I mean, not specifically, because a story--even a short one--about emails and phone calls for law school admissions doesn't make for terribly gripping leisure reading. But you know what I mean. It is unreal.

So there you have it. I don't have everything exactly all lined up yet, but through some series of events my act is going to California to attend UCLA School of Law. Way back when I first started piecing together my plan of law school action, this was the ideal scenario I had envisioned. As events unfolded I got used to life with a different reality, so you'll have to forgive me if I'm still a little stunned that all the sudden, out of the blue, it actually happened.

And to top it all off, last Friday the Dean of Admissions at University of Virginia, ranked 10th in the country and which had also placed me on the waitlist, called and offered me a spot. I do have to wonder how many people who are offered a spot off the UVa waitlist actually turn them down.