Rank Order List Advice

On her blog, Marissa Nicole has discussed oh she and her husband have used their parents as a resource when creating their list. I think this is wonderful, but Mr. and I didn't opt to involve our parents much in the decision making. Part of this is because I already basically know the advice.

My parents are academic types. They actually met at a university that has a top tier law school, a top 10 business school, and one of the best music programs in the country. My dad was in law school, and my mom was in the music school. Through my college search when I was in high school, I learned that, in my father's opinion, it's not just about the name, but matching the offerings of the program with your own needs. I was in a rather unique program at NYU studying the entertainment industry - an industry that in the US only really exists in NYC and LA. When I considered switching my major to accounting, my dad said I should transfer back to an in-state school because his alma mater was just as good for less than half the price.
In short, my parents advice would be to go where he can get the best training. They'd love for us to be at the program closest to them, but not at the expense of his training.

Neither of my in-laws finished college, but my mother-in-law's father had a PhD from Princeton and moved the family frequently for work. She gets that the best opportunities aren't always in the same place, but she'd love for us to move closer to them and start giving her grandchildren.

So, who have we actually gone to for advice? Mr. has gone to various orthopedic surgeons in the area. For his independent study project requirement, an article on a specific orthopedic procedure, he's being overseen by a Spine attending with whom he has worked before. They have been in contact at least weekly since the fall. He received the specific advice that operating experience is paramount in determining rank order.

As for me, I've been talking to my boss a lot. I know it's often best to play your cards close to your chest, but I respect my boss too much to not keep her in the loop with everything. I plan to go to law school starting Fall 2011, and expect to be a slightly above average but not stellar applicant. My boss has advised to go to law school in cities where BigLaw exists if I want to do BigLaw. On our list, that would be New York, Chicago, or DC. (Ideally for her, we'd stay in New York, and I'd go to Fordham at night, continuing to work for her during the day.) While there are better schools in other cities on our list, they tend to train attorneys to work in those states, and the big firms don't necessarily look at mid-top-tier programs in smaller cities rural areas. I'm taking that to mean I will need to be aggressive in my job search, which I'm planning on being anyway.

In general, a lot of people have a lot of advice, but we've focused in to figure out what's legit and what we really want. I'm pretty happy with our list. I think it does well to look out for our oft conflicting interests. Should be interesting to see how it all plays out!


01 day until ROL is due
06 days until my LSAT score is back
20 days until Black Monday
23 days until Match Day!

The Rank Order List

It is one month until Match Day... one short month since it's February to March, so if you prefer to count things in weeks it's 4 of those or 28 days. I'm getting butterflies just thinking about it!

Before Mr. can match anywhere, though, he has to submit his Rank Order List ("ROL"). As many of you know, this is the list of every program he wouldn't mind matching at of those where he interviewed. As I know not matching would be devastating to him, I've advised he rank all of them. Realistically, I imagine he'll match in his top 10, but you can't assume anything.

Mr. has had his #1 choice for a while, but lately we've been tweaking. Two days ago, he bumped what had been his #8 to #5. While this did bump one of my ideal cities down a spot, it also bumped my least favorite city down. Furthermore, I recently (as in, 14 hours ago) learned that my best friend is moving to the city we just moved to #5, so that makes it a very appealing move.

We've had to do a lot of balancing preferences. Mr., in support of my plans to pursue law, has lowered a program in loves in a city without a law school, and I've been less adamant about having to live in a big big city so that Mr. can rank programs that offer more operating experience. There are programs in less than ideal cities up there and programs with less OR time up there, but we've tried to work on ranking higher programs that have something in it for both of us.

I think our top 10 is now set. I like it; he likes it. In order for the Match to work properly, though, you must prefer each program over the next on the list. So, when Mr. showed me a printout of the current list, I asked if he could switch 11 and 12. While 11 does have slightly better weather and is closer to my family, it only has a 4th tier law school. 12 has a 2nd tier law school and is closer to cities with big firms. So, I think he is going to make the switch.

For more information on how the matching algorithm works, visit the NRMP website.


06 days until the ROL is due
11 days until I get my LSAT score
25 days until Black Monday
28 days until The Match!

Planning for the Unknown Part II

Mr. has chosen his #1 program and has notified them. But, he interviewed at 20 programs in 13 different cities, and we have to be prepared to end up at any of them.

If we move, we'll have 2 1/2 months to find a place to live, plan our move, and find a job for me. Except, On-Campus-Recruiting has begun, and fashion retail executive training programs are accepting applications now.

So, what can I do?

• Start checking out job prospects in the cities where Mr. interviewed.
• Apply to jobs where applicable... I just submitted an application today (wish me luck!)
• Research the real estate markets in the cities, keeping Mr.'s future salary for that city in mind.

...wait, where was I? I just found a luxury gated apartment complex in Mr.'s #1 city that looks amazing. Is it Match Day yet??


10 days until the ROL is due
15 days until I get my LSAT score
29 days until Black Monday
32 days until the Match!!

The Other Side of the LSAT

Mr. has finished his interviews. I've finished fashion school. And now, I've taken the LSAT.

Last August, when I signed up for the LSAT, I opted to take it at NYU Law School because I know how to get there. Instead of having to worry about the trek from the outer borough in the wee hours of the morning sans cell phone, I instead chose to stay at a nearby hotel/dorm (yes, it is both a hotel and a dorm). Despite the warnings of a snowmageddan that shut down many test sites in the Mid-Atlantic region including some in Northern New Jersey, Staten Island and Brooklyn, I arrived safely at my destination on Friday before any precipitation accumulated, subsequently looking ridiculous in my rain boots. I went out for Mexican with a friend for dinner in the neighborhood and was in bed by 10:00pm. All was going according to plan.

Then, just before 4 am, I woke up to a woman screaming bloody murder outside my window. So, I jumped up and dialed 911. It took me a while to give the dispatcher my location as I didn't know the address and couldn't remember the second cross street, but once I did, she asked me to look out the window. The bottom of the window started at roughly 5' off the floor, so I got up on the bed and peaked out. Sure enough, there was already an FDNY ambulance out there. This should have been apparent as red lights were faintly flashing through the blinds, but hey, it was 4am and a woman was screaming! This dispatcher was nice about it, though. Better too many people call than none, right?

Anyway, since I already had quite a few hours of sleep by that time, it took a good hour before I could doze off again. Luckily, since I know the woman got help, the drama wasn't distracting during my exam. Even with the best plans, though, things can go awry. I'm really curious what happened. Hopefully everything worked out.

The test was okay. There was one truly awful section, which I'm hoping was the experimental section. My practice exam scores had a 17-point range and all felt more or less the same. So, I really have no idea what to expect but am preparing myself for a score on the lower side.

Anyway, my weekend didn't end with the exam. I got out a little before 3:00pm (it's a 3 1/2 hour test, and I arrived at 8:30...), so I met up with a sorority sister who lives farther downtown for a bite to eat. She had waited for me to get out of the test to eat, so we chowed down on Uno's deep dish pizza in order to span the calorie count of two meals. We then returned to her apartment to get ready for a charity event our former chapter was throwing while watching Glee on DVD.

I should mention that we got no more than a light dusting of snow in NYC that was gone by the time we left for the charity event. If I had been scheduled to take the LSAT in Staten Island, Brooklyn, or Northern New Jersey, I would've been extremely annoyed.

Though not snowing, it was freezing out. Thankfully, attendance at the charity event didn't appear to suffer because of the weather. They had an excellent turnout and raised a ton of money.

I left the party early to get home at a reasonable time, saying hi to Mr. briefly on my way to bed.

8 hours later, I woke up and went to church. After church I was going to pick up my Peyton Manning jersey from my friend's apartment, but when she wasn't home, I killed time at my office instead, and thankfully found that my email box was not over flowing from my Friday off. I then went downtown to a meeting, stopping by to pick up snacks for the Super Bowl Party later, and left the meeting early to finally pick up the jersey. It was 5:45 when I arrived at my friend's apartment and nearly 6 by the time I left. Since she lives in West Midtown and I was heading to the Upper East Side... and it was really cold out and I didn't want to miss the kickoff, I splurged on a cab, arriving at 6:25. Whew.

The game was disappointing, and so were the commercials. It was kind of a let down after a crazy weekend, but the party was fun. Plus, I don't see the point of getting upset over sports. Excited? Sure! It's fun to be happy when your team wins. But upset? Meh. Not worth it.


Coming up...
04 days until my birthday
16 days until the Rank Order List is due
21 days until I get my LSAT score
35 days until Black Monday
38 days until The Match