Sunday, July 19, 2009

Warner Huntington III: You got into Harvard Law? Elle: What? Like, it's hard?

Well the summer PBAP at Campbell is all over! I finished my finals almost two weeks ago. This past Friday I received a very exciting phone call... my acceptance to Campbell Law!!! I was very nervous about participating in the program to begin with because I have heard that it is very competitive and very difficult. In the end they only accepted 6 people and I think we started with 31 and finished with 28 (Don't hold me to those numbers!). Normally the school accepts 25-33% of the program participants, but if my math is correct, this year they accepted 20%. So, it is a very competitive and highly demanding program, but worth it for anyone who really wants the opportunity to go to Campbell or wants to be better prepared to attend law school elsewhere. And yes, we did have someone who paid 3k to participate in the PBAP and had no intentions of going to Campbell! Wish I had that kind of money laying around for a summer prep course! :)

I heard a rumor right before we took our final exam that the fall 1L class was already over-enrolled and that our chances were pretty slim. Thankfully, I ignored the comment long enough to finish my last final, but it turns out that the rumor is true. The Fall 1L class is way over-enrolled and although they normally accept students from PBAP who do not make the 84 in both classes, this year they were unable to extend those offers.

I consider myself very lucky to have made it this year and I can't for the life of me figure out how I was able to pull it off. There were so many amazingly smart people in the PBAP program who all studied very hard. I hope that I will see them next year!

To give a little insight into the PBAP program, it was 7 weeks of classes and then 2 finals. We took Public Land Use and Personal Property. Campbell advertises the program as an "academic boot camp" and I must say that I agree! I spent anywhere from 5-8 hours studying during the day, and close to finals, I think I spent somewhere in the range of 12-14 hours a day studying! I can definitely see why PBAP students have a really good chance of being at or near the top of the class. I feel much more prepared heading into the Fall semester. I think I have worked out all the kinks in my outlines and my briefing skills have been fine tuned.

This has been one of the best weeks of my life not only because of the good news from Campbell, but also because my Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits have come through!! Even more exciting, I have qualified for the GI Bill Yellow Ribbon Program limited to only a few people at the law school and my tuition is completely covered! I no longer have to stress about excessive student loans!

I will be sending my letter of withdrawal to Central on Monday, so hopefully another eager, waitlisted applicant will get a chance to start law school this Fall. I now have a long summer ahead of me because I will not start until mid-September... I am planning my trip to Hawaii!

I will post again when something exciting happens pertaining to law school. Most likely when I get my summer reading list! haha