The World That Made New Orleans both delights and instructs.
So does John Pizer’s The Idea of World Literature. I recommend it to anyone, but especially to those in or interfacing with an English Department.
I am also reading the Princeton Review. The website has a calculator which conjugates your GPA and test scores to determine whether it is worth your applying to various schools.
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The issue, of course, is not getting into schools but paying for the first year. The second year takes care of itself. But if you had income or assets the year before the first year, you will have a problem getting the loan money you need.
If you were to apply to schools in AY 2010-2011, to start in Fall 2011, you should apparently divest yourself of all assets and quit your job effective 31 December 2009. Throughout 2010 you should be a volunteer in exchange for room and board, so that the tax return you file in early 2011 will show no income. That way you improve your chances of getting enough loan money to actually enroll in school.
Notice that you must begin planning two to three years ahead.
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If you have insight into the financial aid labyrinth, please comment.
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I think I see what I should have done the year I most seriously applied to law schools, and then found I was not awarded enough money to actually go. I should have stayed where I was, gotten an office job, and pounded an LSAT prep course. That would not have solved all of the problems suggested above, but it would have been a good start – and I could have remained in a city and arranged my life so as to remain in these.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
***ADELANTE*** I am finally publishing this comment (below) so as not to lose it, it’s too good, and sitting in my queue or anywhere else it is going to get lost. I HOPE it’s OK – it’s pretty well buried in the site by now … ?
Latest is that sabbatical taught me I can live in this place so long as I don’t have to deal with my university / my department. I didn’t know it wasn’t the town, too.
That means going to law school locally is feasible. I am thinking of LAND WORK (aka gas abstracting) as the way to finance it. GOOD.
News of me is I am enjoying the sabbatical massively and doing great research and don’t want to quit … although if I were going to my Building I’d feel really differently.
For the Caribbean dissertation, what you want and need is a Fulbright and you can get one. –Z at profacero@gmail.com
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This comment, a response to your request about insight into the financial aid labyrinth, is private and not intended for publication.
I think your plan of starting at a local, less than top tier law school in order to keep costs down is a good one. This is what I did when I went to law school at the end of the seventies, and I am pretty sure that my degree from a less than first rate institution did not have any negative impact on my subsequent career.
I financed the degree entirely with low interest student loans, which I was able to repay in full during the first ten years of my practice. You seem to suggest in your post that some sort of other financial aid might be available if you can qualify; if this is so, I would advise you to go for it.
I’m a bit mystified by your comment that the second year takes care of itself — but perhaps you are referring to the need to show no income on the second year financial aid forms. With respect to financing the second and third years, you might want to consider the impact of a really good summer job in between years two and three.
When I was a law student (and I am pretty sure the system has not changed) each class member received a numerical rating based on her GPA. Those in the top 10-15% have access to summer jobs at “big firms”; the salaries and perks for these positions were astronomical in the 80’s and you could earn enough over the summer to cover a large part of the tuition for the following year. Working in one of these big firms might not be something you are interested in on a permanent basis, but the end might justify the means here. Competition for these sort of jobs is one reason why the first year of law school is so cutthroat.
I also like your idea of thinking about more prestigious schools for your LL.M.
We seem to be living in parallel universes, as I have just begun a doctoral program in cultural studies. Although I was able to fund my MA with a teaching/research assistantship and have since published a couple of articles which I believe to have made an important contribution in my field, my current institution does not offer TA positions and I am having to fund the first year from my savings, counting on eventually finding some sort of teaching job (could be part time, non-tenure track but must be in the Caribbean) and/or grants while I am writing my dissertation. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Your site is one of my daily pleasures. Wishing you great success with your plan.
Adelante, I’d like to publish your comment but you say not to, so …
Yes, second year taking care of itself, I mean loans are easier to get and there are sometimes good summer jobs even after the first year … and there are more scholarships. I’ve gotten into second tier schools before with funding, i.e. tuition reduction, but not enough loan money to make up the difference, pay for the move, etc. You have to have savings and I can’t save enough working as a professor. This is the problem. And I know I should go to school locally but I WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE SO BADLY, my claustrophobia is really bad and and gets worse inside Baton Rouge where the cheap schools are. I want to get to better universities than those just for the sake of being in an intellectual environment and a more competitive one, and not to have it be so hot and sleepy all the time, and to have the courses and clinics I am interested in for the career I want – and the study abroad programs etc. So: hmmmm. But these are interesting tips. In my comment to the other post, where you actually “posted” your comment, I have some funding suggestions for you. Gracias adelante!
On a related thread I said I didn’t want to go to law school here because I wanted to get out of state (the 2 cheap law schools are in BR) … but on the other hand, if I can’t live in SF I want to live in NO so maybe I should think in terms of this yoga.
And also – being on sabbatical makes me realize it isn’t *really* the location that so bothers me – more key is the vibe there has been at the university for so long.
Check out Heart on the college application and financial aid nightmare:
http://www.womensspace.org/phpBB2/2009/01/16/the-american-college-system-and-the-marginalization-of-disadvantaged-young-women-and-men-but-this-is-womens-space/
This is the other key advice on financial aid:
http://bitternsweet.wordpress.com/2008/01/25/debt-and-the-academic-life/