Law School Visits: George Washington

I liked GW more than I expected I would.   The class size is too big for my taste, but the D.C. area is awesome and offers a lot of employment opportunities for law students/grads.  The campus is surprisingly quite pretty, and the class I sat in on (once again, con law) proved the school’s academic rigor.  But I wasn’t hooked.  Our tour guide only briefly touched upon things that the students do for fun, and there wasn’t much that was really special.

So, here it is, the big pronouncement: I’m going to UVA law! I just submitted my housing application

Law School Visits: William & Mary

Williamsburg is a beautiful town, and I do like the law school.  It has a neat Bill of Rights program, and the students were friendly.  I sat in on an interesting constitutional law class on affirmative action.  W&M has a few drawbacks- I noticed it doesn’t have as much communal space, compared to the prominent commons areas at other schools.  But overall it’s not a bad place to spend three years.

In spite of that, it wasn’t enough to sway me from UVA.  I can’t articulate an exact reason why.  UVA just has so many opportunities, and I feel that the loan debt will be worth it.  I haven’t made the final decision yet.  Tomorrow I’m going to check out George Washington, and after that I’ll take a few days just to let it marinate.

Update: Duke Law has contacted me with the news that I’m on the waitlist.  I’m just going to pass on that.  There’s no sense changing my plans mid-summer when I can go somewhere just as good on regular admission.

Law School Visits: Duke

Duke is great.  The facilities are beautiful, including a brand-new law library.  The quality of education is on par with UVA, and their clinics and journals are also comparable.  Housing in Durham is easy to come by.  I don’t know how to choose between Duke and UVA.  Thing is, I may not have to- Duke has yet to let me know if I’m in or not.  I went to the admissions office to ask personally, and they confirmed that they’ve received my complete application, but there’s no decision.  A few schools want enrollment deposits in early April, so if Duke doesn’t get in touch with me soon, they’re out by default. 

That’s not necessarily a bad thing.  At this point, UVA is still my top choice.  I do worry that maybe the fact that I saw UVA first has influenced me too much.  Dad relates that when he and Mom were looking for a house many years ago, they kept comparing everything the realtor showed them to that old fixer-upper they’d seen first- which they ended up buying.  UVA is far from being a fixer-upper, of course.  Nothing’s in stone, though.  Tomorrow I’m going to visit William and Mary, which is also high on my list, and they’re the only school to offer me a scholarship.  I’ll keep you posted.

Law School Visits: Washington and Lee

I’ve decided to take W&L off my list.  But it does have a lot of things going for it, in case you’re considering law school.  The best trait is the honor system; people regularly leave their laptops unattended.  Try that at UMiami.  And of course, it’s very strong academically.  There’s a death penalty clinic, which is pretty awesome.

As for why I decided not to go: I’m fine with small towns, but Lexington is tiny.  There is seriously nothing to do.  (The tour guides put a positive spin on it.  “There are no distractions.” “We just got our third bar, so we can sort of bar-hop now.”)   Also, there are few journals, and no child advocacy activities at all.  Not even an extracurricular student group.  I couldn’t help but compare it to UVA, which has an active student org and a clinic devoted to children.  Most important, I just didn’t have that gut feeling of “Oh, I can totally see myself here.”

Law School Visits: UVA

It’s spring break and I’m spending it touring law schools.  First stop: the admitted students weekend at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.  I was very impressed and can definitely see myself going there.  I’m not a definite, but it’s very high on my list.

Everyone was so friendly.  I was really happy to see that the stereotypical cut-throat environment was completely absent.  They play as hard as they work.  Softball is very popular, with each section having its own team.  Student organizations are very active, and I’m especially excited that I can become a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) through the child advocacy club.

Academically, it’s undoubtedly the best school I’ve gotten into.  More than 15 clinics are offered, including a Supreme Court litigation clinic in which students file petitions for certiorari (three of which have actually been granted) and an innocence project.   I met the head of the family resource clinic, who shared how students restored food stamp coverage to a mentally ill client.  In another session, I asked a con law professor if there was a particular judicial philosophy popular among the faculty (read: please warn me about the liberal sissies and right-wing nutjobs).  He said that there’s a variety of opinions, but that the professors will push you in so many directions that you’ll think they don’t have a judicial philosophy at all.  Good answer.

They had a lot to say about clerkships, and the private recruiting is also strong.  Tuition is steep, but I can take out a student loan.  They offer some loan forgiveness if I go into public service work.

Dad and I going to look at housing tomorrow.  Next stop: Washington and Lee.  I’ll keep you posted!

Sebelius and Darwin

Two news items today.  First, Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius is being strongly considered for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services.  According to PoliticalBase, she has experience dealing with health insurance companies, a big plus if Obama is planning drastic health care reform (although I don’t think he’ll get it).  She is also strongly pro-abortion and anti-capital punishment, a combination which, though common, never ceases to amaze me.

Second, Thursday is the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birthday, which has set off a flurry of evolution vs creationism articles over the last few weeks.  The Justice Party position is that evolution should be taught in schools, simply because an understanding of evolutionary theory is necessary for some career fields- and after all, isn’t the point of school to prepare children for careers?  (My best friend since childhood, who is studying archaeology, thanks me for including this in the platform.)

Of course, there’s another layer to the debate, and that is whether or not intelligent design or creationism may be taught.  I personally don’t care.  Our country, and even our educational system, has much bigger issues to deal with.  I will say this: when I took AP biology, we learned “use-disuse” theory.  (This is essentially the idea that you use it or lose it; the classic example is that giraffes got their long necks by stretching a lot.)  The point wasn’t to get students to believe that use-disuse was true, it was just to make us utilize our critical thinking skills.  So the “teach the controversy” idea isn’t without precedent.

State-by-State Teen Birth Rates Released

The latest report indicates that Mississippi has the highest teen birth rate in the nation, while New Hampshire boasts the lowest.  New England birth rates are generally lower than those of Southern states, but the nation as a whole saw an increase from previous years.  This has, of course, prompted comprehensive sex-ed proponents to blame abstinence-only programs, and vice versa.

I have no doubt that sex ed is a factor.  What everyone seems to be missing here, however, is that these are teen BIRTH rates, not teen pregnancy rates.  We therefore have to factor in programs that may decrease abortion and miscarriage rates among pregnant teens.  When you take pro-life pregnancy centers and clinics into account, the numbers make a lot of sense.  Pregnancy centers are most common in rural areas, while abortion businesses target urban neighborhoods.

Until the teen pregnancy rates are released, nobody will be able to tell whether the increased birthrate is due to lack of contraception, or intervention after conception has occured.  My theory is that it’s a combination of both.

Just one last thought, on this quote:

A variety of factors influence teen pregnancy rates, including culture, poverty and racial demographics. For those and other reasons, kids in mostly white New England likely would delay child birth, said David Landry, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based organization which supports abortion rights and gathers research on sexual and reproductive health.

“It’s more costly for youth in the Northeast to have a teen birth than for youth in the South, in terms of opportunities they’ll miss,” he said.

First, they came right out and said that it’s an abortion rights organization!  There’s a refreshing breeze of honesty.  Second, the whole “missed opportunities” thing strikes me as ridiculous.  As if anyone would say to herself “Oh well, I’m stuck in this dirty redneck town, I guess I’ve got nothing to lose.  How about we go have some unprotected intercourse?  Whaddaya say, Billy Jo?”