We Have News

I can't even express enough how satisfying this is to share with the world. Seriously, folks. [ If you don't want the whole story and just want the news, skip to the bottom. But I'm typing the whole story.  'Cause I'm like that.]

Okay so almost TWO YEARS ago...maybe more like a year and a half ago, Sam and I talked and we figured out that going back to school was probably what Sam was going to need to do. It was a bit daunting, as we were loving neither of us being in school and having to do homework at night. But we made the commitment. And it was a serious commitment. He'd study and attend this LSAT prep class for about 24 hours a week, and that was on top of his normal 40 hours per week job. But he really didn't want to tell people about it because we'd told people 'Oh, this is what Sam's going to do for a career' in the past with a few different careers that didn't end up working out. This time, he really didn't want to share anything with ANYONE (minus me, duh) until the LSAT (the test you take, that law schools use along with GPA to determine if they want you to attend there) was taken, applications were completed, and we even had an acceptance letter in hand.

I'm going to be selfish and just plug this in: that was super duper hard for me. You know this! I overshare! I prefer to overshare, usually! Having to keep quiet was a chore. I wanted to complain to friends about how difficult it was that Sam was so busy, but couldn't much unless I wanted to spoil everything. So I gave vague hints, here and there. I think I mentioned Sam was taking a class 'for work' at one point. (Kind of true. I'm the master of half-truths. Gotta work on this, Sam gave this awesome lesson on Honesty in church the other day and it's been on my mind.)

I'm tangenting.

Sam studied a lot, and finally took the LSAT in June of last year, 2015. Unfortunately, he did way worse than all his practice tests made us expect he would do. So he decided to take it again in October.

If you don't know, it's offered four times a year: February, June, September or October, and December. The law school application process usually begins October-Novemberish for the NEXT fall, and cut offs vary but are usually February-early Marchish.

So it'd still be possible for him to take it again even if he wanted, but after a certain point it starts to just look bad. It almost cements in that you can't perform well, if you take it as many as three times with poor scores each time.

So we knew this October test would probably be his last. And, super bummer, the same thing happened. With all the practice tests he'd taken (one a week, the test takes like 3-4 hours) he'd steadily improved even further from the June test, but again the test that actually counted, the real one, he did much worse than he would've liked.

This time I, at least, didn't mind it as much though. We'd talked about so many different possible places we'd go, but I knew it was going to have a big impact on our family, wherever we went. So after the June test, rather than praying for him to do as well as he's capable of, I prayed instead that we would be lead to where we needed to go, for the good not only of Sam's employment future as an attorney, but the good of our family.  In large part through his LSAT test score.

So when we got the October score back,we compiled a list of reasonable possibilities for law schools he could attend within the Intermountain West. Originally we had University of Wyoming (Sam's very last choice), University of Denver, University of Colorado, University of Arizona, UNLV, BYU, University of Utah, and University of Oregon. On there.

Sam applied to most of these just about as soon as applications started being accepted, with the exception of University of Oregon. With almost all law schools, you can just apply pretty much all at once through this website they use called LSAC. But the Oregon application required an additional essay.  Such a silly thing to keep him from applying, but basically we didn't feel like we had our hearts set on Oregon and he was feeling pretty sick of the process/burned out, so the Oregon application wasn't really completed.

A few we heard from via email right away: he got into Wyoming, University of Denver, and got wait listed at University of Colorado. He got rejected at Arizona.

Both Wyoming and Colorado had reasons we didn't think they were really viable, though, after we gave it further consideration, so for a while then we just felt like we were still waiting. December, January, February came and went. I'd had it in my mind we'd know from schools by the end of February, so I had to readjust to be more patient. I gave myself a new expected 'knowing' date of mid-June, to make it easier.

Then BYU sent a rejection letter, which was discouraging but not a surprise. So we thought really, our viable options were U of U, University of Colorado and UNLV. For some reason, I always really felt like we were going to go to UNLV.

Then we got a 'wait-listed' letter from U of U, which I thought was encouraging and Sam felt neutral about. Not a rejection, but more waiting.

And then UNLV sent a rejection letter, and this was more of a blow. Not even wait listed there! We'd thought that one was more likely.

At this point I finally understood Sam's desire not to share this with people, in the chance it didn't work out. I'd never honestly considered it a possibility that nothing would work. But Denver was way too expensive, and Wyoming's ranked so poorly Sam felt like it'd be hard to find work afterward. So really, we were just HOPING University of Utah or University of Colorado would work out.

Then we realized that even though University of Colorado isn't in Denver, it's still in Boulder, which is close to Denver and really quite expensive to live in, too. So it was still possible but didn't seem as appealing anymore, after we figured that out. (Which was partly disappointing, the idea of moving to Colorado seemed awesome for a good while.)

[Start here, if you skipped ahead]

So. Early April, Sam was thinking about possibilities, and looked it up and discovered University of Oregon had a super late cut-off date for applications. Whereas most had been a month or more earlier, Oregon's isn't until July.

He figured he had nothing to lose, and finally wrote the essay Oregon required in addition to the normal application materials most law schools do.

And about a week later, they wrote back not only accepting him, but offering him a partial scholarship. Whaaa!!! Cool! We also discovered we'd have to pay out-of-state tuition there all three years, though, and the scholarship brought it to about the cost University of Utah would be as a Utah resident with no scholarship.

So...honestly, we're still waiting. I don't think he'll attend University of Colorado even if they choose to let him in, but University of Utah is still his preferred choice between University of Oregon and it. Mainly because of employment, University of Utah has more work opportunities while a student and (possibly) after graduation.

But we were told they accept most people that they're going to from the wait list in late April, early May...and it's May 14th, and we've heard nothing.

So there's a slim chance he'll attend University of Utah if they get back to us within a month or so, but otherwise...we'll be moving to Eugene, Oregon, the second week in August. Start driving August 8th. Less than three months! Ahhhh!!!!!

We're excited, nervous, sad to leave somewhere we love...lots of feelin's. That'll probably be another post for another day.

But Sam's going to law school! And I don't have to keep it a secret anymore! Hurray!!!