Clee

Hey Everybody,

So as you may have noticed my life has been going fairly smoothly lately: nothing too terrible school wise, hearing back from law schools etc, well this week I got a reality check. My professors decided that the fourth week looked perfect for scheduling their paper assignments and quizes. I had four papers due within two days of each other plus a quiz. I’m finishing up the last paper now and luckily had enough discipline and foresight to start on the papers a few days in advance so I didn’t have to burn the midnight oil. Even though it could have been much worse, it was definitely a plunge into the deep end of academia.

Aside from the upswing in school work, my elbow decided to act up this week. It has kinda been bothering me for the last week or two but was pretty manageable, but on Tuesday it started hurting while I was lifting so I cut my workout short. I checked with my Dad (not that he’s a doctor) and he said that it sounded like tennis elbow, which basically means one of the muscles in my arm is rubbing against the bone and getting inflamed. He suggested I buy a brace for my arm and ice it. I bought the brace yesterday and it seems to have helped, at least my arm doesn’t hurt when I twist it or anything like it did before. However, when I tried to lift again today, it started acting up after only a couple sets, so it looks like I’ll be relegated to just doing cardio for a while. At least the brace looks cool and I’m getting lots of compliments.

I haven’t heard from anymore law schools though I’m only waiting on two  more. It is probably time that I start really thinking about where I want to go, but it is difficult to devote any time to it with all this other stuff going on. Luckily, my fraternity put on a fellowhip event yesterday where we watched the Goonys. For those of you who don’t know what the Goonys is, its basically the best movie of all time and your childhoods where not complete because you didn’t see it. It was really great to just hangout with my bros and relax for a couple of hours. College tip: Always make time for some breaks; they save your sanity.

Though this week has been more stressful, it still has not been unbearable. Professors are really understanding and if I had explained my situation and asked for an extension, I more than likely would have gotten one. Professors, while still holding you to a high academic standard, understand that sometimes you can have too much on your plate. Overall, Truman is just an understanding place.

Until next time…

Clee

Hey Everybody,

Things are going fairly good. In the last three days, I’ve heard back from 3 law schools (2 accepted, 1 waitlist) so basically now I have a bunch of options which is both awesome and terrifying all at the same time. See if I only got into one place well that’s the place I’m going, now I have to weigh all my options which probably will culminate in a good old pro con list. Oh well, I guess if that’s the price I have to pay I have it pretty good.

Classes are picking up quickly and this weekend promises to be a busy one with papers, reading, and quiz studying. I’m starting to really enjoy my Comparative Cultures class. Its a really interesting anthropology class where we are going to study war and how different cultures affect the likelihood of different societies of going to war. The only drawback is that its in Barnett and I have a class in Baldwin right before it. For those of you who don’t know, that’s basically as far apart as you can get on Truman’s campus. It takes right about 10 minutes to walk between them which is all the time we have between classes, but luckily my professor understands and doesn’t hassle me when I get in a couple minutes late.

Nothing else is very new. I’ve been chilling with friends, enjoying the mystery that is Kirksville weather (I wore a jacket all day), and plugging away at the rec (still tons of motivated people there). Overall, life is pretty good. I’m not under a lot of stress like some of my friends waiting for grad schools to get back to me, way to go law school! But I’m still motivated which is great because I know that as graduation approaches my committment will slip and it would not be good if I already was over the semester. Its shaping up to be a good last semester.

Clee

Hey everybody,

So winter has arrived in force in Kirksville. Before this week, it had been pretty nice with just a couple of cold days followed by some warm ones but now winter ain’t playing. Usually I have to debate whether putting on my stocking cap and gloves is worth the effort of getting them out of my pockets; not today. I made sure I was completely suited up before going anywhere near outside.

Aside from the cold, the new semester is going fairly well. I got approval to take a class pass-fail which should hopefully relieve some stress.  Pass-Fail just means that you don’t receive a letter grade for the class so it won’t affect your GPA; all you have to do is pass and you will earn the number of credits it is worth. Of course you can’t take this for any required courses (modes, majors, minors), but it is still a great resource if you need some more credits to graduate and want to take an interesting class without a bunch of pressure.

Even though classes are taking up a significant amount of time, I have still been able to find time to fit in some other musts. I’m certainly spending enough time with the roommates, just overall chilling. Apparently we’ve started a quote board for our last semester which will probably have to be taken down before any of our parents get here for graduation. The fraternity is going great but its definitely weird not holding a position. It is really enjoyable to just go to my meetings without having to worry about anything but I still miss it a little bit. Also I’ve been hitting the rec on a daily basis. Now this is not a New Years resolution type thing, I’ve been going to the rec on a semi-regular basis for most of college and was really good about it last semester, but the whole new year business has definitely given me a nudge to kick it up a notch. Unfortunately/fortunately New Years has also motivated a bunch of previous rec absentees to come work out as well. Its great people want to get/stay in shape, but a part of me definitely misses the ability to go around and do whatever I want without having to wait or worry about what other people are doing. I’m sure a few people will lose their motivation and the rec will go back to normal, but right now its packed.

That basically sums it up: class, friends, fraternity, gym (oh and also work). This last semester is going to be a busy one but I am dedicated to packing in as much as I can!

Clee

Hey everyone,

I hope ya’ll had a good holiday because I certainly had an eventful one. During last semester’s finals week, I found out that I’ve been accepted to the Nebraska School of Law! Yay for having at least something to do after graduation! I really would like to go to school in the DC area, but Nebraska is also a good school and the fact that they offered me good money definitely is a tick in their pro column. I went and visited over Christmas break with my parents which was great because they care about my decisions and not so great because now they hound me about what I’m thinking all the time. The Law School looked awesome and I could see myself studying there; the only problem is that its so close to home after I’ve gone away to college. Truman has given me some great independence and I don’t really want to give that up by going back home for Law School.

I asked for a trip to DC for Christmas so I could check out law schools and hang with some of my friends that I made when I interned there over the summer. So the week before school started back up, I jumped a plane (this time without parents). The trip was crazy but overall awesome. I ran into some big problems with the rental car agency but thankfully I got it straightened out so I could visit William and Mary. The day after I metroed around DC taking in George Washington University and American University. They were all great but I really liked William and Mary and GW. So if I end up getting into them my major choices will be either in the heart of DC, a little outside of DC, or back home.

Going through this law school process just reminds of the process I went through to get to Truman. It also reminds me that I soon will be leaving this place. The sentimentality hasn’t hit me yet but I still have 3 full months before graduation. There are definitely some things that I will miss about Truman and Kirksville, but I’m also ready to move on to the next phase in my life. Truman has given me the tools I need to be successful in law school and beyond and for that I am thankful. I’m sure my posts will get more and more sentimental as graduation looms so I think I’ll just stop here for now.

Major take away- I GOT INTO A LAW SCHOOL!

Hey guys,

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and adjusting back to every day life hasn’t been too difficult. Personally, I wasn’t too excited about going back to the grind after all the great food and family time but now there is only 1.5 weeks until Christmas break! And then my last semester at Truman /:).

This last year I have served on my fraternity’s Executive Board as the Brother at Large. It was a great experience that really helped me exercise my leadership skills. Plus it really helped me stay involved in the Chapter. We held elections over the last few weeks to select who would take over the positions and as a senior I was ineligible to run. One of my little’s actually won (yay) but it still stunk that I was now too old to run for something. Then last night we had our transition ceremony where the old officers step down and the new are reinstated. This was when it really hit home how close to graduation and leaving Truman I have come.

I don’t know what next semester will entail for me. So much of my time was devoted to my position and just in general doing fraternity related things like taking littles (I have 4!) It is going to be so weird just to be an average Brother again. I’m sure I’ll have a ton of fun with my family and hopefully will get some new members that I can spoil as a grand big but it won’t be the same.

It seems like I just rushed but its actually been 5 semesters. Over half of my college career has been wrapped up in that organization and the thought of leaving it and the University is freaking me out a little bit. Granted, I am ready to move on to the next stage in my life, but I didn’t think everything was going to fly by quite as quickly as it did. Oh well I guess I’ll just have to make the most out of my last semester here!

Clee

So over the weekend my fraternity had its induction. I took a little this semester (my 4th) and had spent the semester helping him learn about the fraternity and really get acclimated to all the new things he was experiencing. It is a super rewarding process and I definitely recommend it. Not only are you helping out a new member of your organization, but it also keeps you really involved and busy (mostly with fun stuff). While I could go on and on about all of my littles and how awesome of a big I am, the big takeaway is how important it is to get involved during college.

My freshman year I did not join any organizations just because I wanted to test the waters and make sure I had the class thing figured out. By sophomore year, I was going stir crazy and really needed to join something that would take up my time. Truman has so many options in student organizations (greek, service, scholarship, dance, theater, etc…) it was difficult for me to find something I was interested in. These organizations give students the opportunity to meet and interact with people they would otherwise never meet. My friends up to that point were mostly people that had lived in my freshman dorm and while that is fine and I am still friends with a lot of them, it is important to expand your horizons.  Organizations give you the opportunity to take on leadership roles and gain valuable experience that is applicable to the professional world. Of course students should come to college for the classes and the education, but I have found that some of the most rewarding experiences have come from being a member of my organization.

That being said, it is important to not overextend yourself. College is supposed to be enjoyable, so taking on too many extracurriculars, not only hurts your class performance but can also stress you out so you aren’t even having fun in those organizations. Personally, I picked one major organization to devote my time to, but I have friends that are involved in two or three, any more than that and you are just asking for trouble. Campus organizations give you so many things: friends, leadership experience, scholastic assistance etc… and going through school without them isn’t really getting the full college experience.

Hey guys,

So sometime last week I really hit law school panic mode. There is no real due date for submission but I figured it was time for me to start getting all of my applications ready. I found out it wasn’t nearly as scary as applying to undergrad because the website you use is centralized so basically all the dumb information like your name, address, parent information, and other stuff that you have to write for each and every application saves and then transfers to all of your other applications. Basically its awesome and saved me so much time. Even though this was all well and good , I still needed to line up my letters of recommendations and knock out my personal statement.

Not to brag or anything, but I pride myself on being a pretty good writer so I figured it would take me about an hour to write up a personal statement and then another couple of times to revise it to where I wanted it. Turns out writing about yourself is pretty hard. Even after I got through the first draft, I kept changing major things within my essay. I made an appointment with the Career Center so they could help me with it but in the mean time I asked one of my professors if he would look it over for me. He was super helpful! All of his thoughts made complete sense and really strengthened my statement. When I took it to the Career Center, they only had a couple of minor suggestions to improve it and that definitely would not have been the case if he hadn’t looked it over.

The other thing I needed to do was ask a couple of people to write me letters of recommendation. This can be a pretty scary prospect, but luckily Truman faculty are so friendly its difficult to not foster some tight relationships. I was able to line up two professors who know me well and will write great letters of rec. I also talked to my supervisor from my summer internship and he is going to write one for me. The beginning of the law school process is terrifying but Truman has definitely more than prepared me to handle it.

Piece of advice: Always make a good impression and don’t be afraid to connect with your professors; they are great people and really want to help you succeed.

Hey guys,

I hope you all had a good Halloween because mine was awesome! Actually Halloween day was only so-so because I had class and chapter and didn’t dress up, but my Halloween weekend was really great. It started on Thursday when my roommate and I went to Dukum as lumberjacks (fake mustaches and everything). There we got to see the Cardinals pull off an amazing win in game six. I didn’t particularly care since I am from Nebraska, but it was a good game none the less. Friday, I went to a friends Halloween party, again as the lumberjack, though a lot of people guessed Luigi because of my green suspenders. I had a lot of fun there but my best night was Saturday.

Most of my family (the people I am closely related to via bigs and littles in my fraternity) got together and decided to go to our semi-formal dressed as Pimps and Prostitutes. I was a little bit bummed because my newest little and I drove around for an hour looking for some good bling and couldn’t find any. Obviously we waited too long and all the dollar stores had been looted. But I was very successful at the city missions and got a real sweet shirt and pants for like $3. The icing on my costume was a fur coat my roommate had (Idk why), but it really made me look like a pimp. Semi-formal was at the Journal Printing Building, which is a great venue in Kirksville that different organizations can rent for their different events. Its located right on the square so it is within walking distance of campus. Sadly I didn’t win best costume (it was my roommate and his family that dressed up like the guys from Hangover), but I had a great time dancing and snacking on Halloween candy.

Halloween is always pretty big at Truman and a good excuse to push homework aside for a little while. I really enjoyed mine and luckily didn’t have too much work to neglect. I am starting to put the final touches on my Law school apps and I registered to retake the LSAT in December so I do have plenty to keep me busy, but this weekend was a great reprieve.

Hey guys,

Sorry in advance as I will probably be talking about Law School Apps and just Law School in general again in the future since it seems it has taken over my life. Luckily Truman has already tested my time management skills so these apps haven’t stressed me out near as much as some of my friends that are going to grad school from other universities. Between school, work, my fraternity, and just relaxing, I have had to juggle my time well. This life skill is probably one of the biggest things I will take away from Truman (outside of class work) that will help me throughout my life.

Back to Law School, yesterday I got my LSAT score back and it wasn’t quite as good as I was hoping for. I’m not sure if it is good enough for me to get into the law school (UVA) that I really want to get into (too be fair UVA is a top ten school so I was kinda shooting for the stars). I was really down for a little bit, but luckily I’m so busy I have had time to lay in bed and eat a bunch of ice cream or anything. Actually the more I’ve thought about it, the more ok I’m getting. I know Truman has provided me with a top notch education and helped me get an awesome internship so my other application materials should definitely push UVA to think twice. Plus, I can always retake the LSAT in December if I really want to up my score.

Aside from this little LSAT disappointment, life is good. I’ve finished the first draft of my personal statement and set up an appointment at the career center so they can help me make it as awesome as possible. Classes are cruising along fine and I’ve knocked out a couple of papers that I’ve been needing to get done. Also, I’m super excited for Halloween though I am currently agonizing between being a lumberjack or a pimp and if this is the toughest decision on my plate, things can’t be too bad.

Hey guys,

Last week was midterm break so after class got out on Wednesday, I hit the road back to Nebraska. Seeing my parents was great, especially since I was interning in  D.C. all summer, but unfortunately I was sick so I didn’t get to hang with any old high school friends. I booked it back Sunday and sometime during the drive I was magically cured. I’m not sure if my body knew I was heading back home to my apartment or that it knew that I no longer had time to be sick, but in any case, all better.

Since I was gone, Fall finally settled into Kirksville. I’m glad I brought my jacket and down blanket and no more open windows, but Fall definitely looks good on Truman. All the leaves are obviously changing and falling, making the quad and awesome place to hangout (plus the bare trees let you see the squirrels way easier). Also, it seems the brick and ivy look so much more collegiate during the Fall (again probably the leaves).

Classes are going well and I’m enjoying the semi-lull right after midterm break, but I know it is going to ramp up soon. The only other big thing on my plate is applying to Law Schools, but I’m sure I will be telling ya’ll about that soon enough.

Clee