Where are we going to law school?

So everyone is wondering where are we going to law school? Back in January I applied to BYU, University of Hawaii, University of Utah, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, and a safety school (St. Thomas) in Minnesota. It took about a month to hear back from St. Thomas, Hawaii, and Wisconsin with acceptances. I even got scholarships from St. Thomas (1/2 tuition) and Wisconsin (1/6 tuition). About a week later I got a call from Dean Aguilar at U of U congratulating me on my acceptance. BYU took about another month to tell me I was and the waiting list and U of Minn said I was on the deferred list about the time I heard from BYU.

Last week, BYU told me in a nice letter that I wasn't good enough and Minnesota said I had been moved from the deferred list to the waiting list. We decided that Wisconsin wasn't where we were supposed to be and so our choices were down to Hawaii or Utah with the far-off reach of Minnesota.

Hawaii - As Melanie and Kevin can attest, we have thought about moving to Hawaii on a number of occasions, we even started to get bids to move our stuff. It would be great to live next to family, share Sunday dinners together and live in Hawaii. Plus the tuition is reasonable. On the down side, the cottage is only 350 sq-ft and school for kids costs $16,000 plus. Also, Wendy and I still feel we will eventually end up in Hawaii. As far as the law school goes, Hawaii is ranked 82, but it's the best of the small laws schools. It also has good programs, just not a good patent program.

Utah - Utah has a good patent program and is ranked 30 better than Hawaii (ranked 51, BYU is 46 btw). It also felt right until we visited it last Friday night--we couldn't get inside of the law school, but the outside seemed dirty and run down. There is also the problem of residency. I can get half off tuition if I qualify for a resident, but to become a resident, one needs to have a Utah license for at least 90 day in addition to the other requirements.

Minnesota - It costs about the same as out-of-state tuition as Utah, but is a better ranked law school (ranked 22) and has an excellent patent program. Everything would be expensive, including rent and cost of living. Plus I don't know if I can calculate a cost for living in the arctic!

So last Saturday morning we woke up just as confused as to where to go--we were still probably leaning towards Hawaii. Later that day we went to the temple and both Wendy and I received the same impression...... Utah! So Hawaii is out. Minnesota is still a possibility. Maybe the Lord doesn't want our stuff being shipped in a container to Hawaii when Minnesota says we've been accepted?

So acting on our impression, I went to become a Utah resident. As of 2 days ago, I am a "proud" owner of a Utah license. (I passed the open book test all by myself.) They even let me keep my Hawaii license. So the application for residency is in and it could be up to two months before we hear the verdict. Lets all hope and pray that I get it.

And while I was writing this entry, I got an email from the dean at Utah offering me a "Technology Merit Scholarship" which is supposed to pay for a $3,000 laptop and also a non-resident fee waiver of $6,753 and a $2,657 fall tuition waiver--about $12,000 altogether. While this scholarship is great news, it's only a one-time deal. If it did get residency, I wouldn't get the $6,753 part of the scholarship.

Anyways, that's how it goes with law school. We'll keep you posted.