Sui Generis is suited for work and leisure

In a recent comment, ambimb asked, "So do you think waitlists are a good thing? or would you have preferred a definitive answer from those schools over this waiting game?"

Waitlists suck, but they're essential from the law schools' point of view. I'm quite ambivalent myself about my feelings toward them. On the one hand, getting placed on a waitlist is a minor accomplishment. It's better than rejection, and it might result in acceptance. But the waitlisted applicant has no idea of how (un)likely this outcome may be, or how long he may have to wait before a decision is reached.

On top of that, being waitlisted is worse than acceptance because it's a way of being told that you are not quite good enough. Being rejected is at least a clean cut--it stings, you feel bad, you get over it. But a waitlist hangs over your head until it's resolved, and even if you wind up getting into the school, you know--you were not their top choice. It's the adult equivalent of being the last kid picked in gym class. They only took you because they had to. They simply ran out of options, and they needed somebody to fill the spot.

So a waitlist is a mixed blessing at best and a thinly-veiled insult at worst. If I had an offer of acceptance on one hand and my three waitlists on the other, I'd waste no time in withdrawing my applications from the latter and accepting the former. In the big scheme of things, however, I would rather get in off a waitlist than not at all. At this point, I'm not too proud to come in last place if it means I get to finish the admissions race. In lieu of a better offer, I'll take what I can get.

Short answer, if I end up getting accepted from even one waitlist, then all the waiting was worth it. If not, I'd have rather had "NO"s all around. And in a perfect world, I could actually choose one or the other. As it is, I just have to wait and see.

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law school