postgraduate admissions = class warfare 101

here is an itemized list of things i have spent money on so far in the grad school/law school game, in no particular order:

1. GRE -- $115 (required)
2. LSAT -- $108 (required)
3. LSAT -- $108
4. LSDAS -- $99 (required)
5. LSDAS second report -- $10 (required)
6. harvard application fee -- $80 (required)
7. yale application fee -- $85 (required)
8. michigan application fee -- $60 (required)
9. berkeley application fee -- $60 (required)
10. san diego application fee -- $60 (required)
11. nyu application fee -- $60 (required)
12. penn application fee -- $60 (required)
13. LSACD online applications -- $54
14. postage and copies -- ~$15 (required)

add that up in your head (if you can). it comes to $974. that is well over half of my monthly income. it is well over twice my monthly rent. and it's wrong. you will say, "but amelia, you could have gotten a fee waiver if you weren't such a lazy bastard." and you will be right. on the other hand, i don't much appreciate that the penalty for being (absolutely or relatively or whatever) poor is that you have to know, absolutely, what you're doing, several months before anyone else does. applying for a fee waiver means finding tax returns and pay stubs and writing embarrassing little essays about why you don't have any money for this and why the school should take pity on you. i did that for college admissions, and i hated it. this time around, despite my best efforts, i was so unsure of my plans that i didn't even have the opportunity.

the scariest part is knowing that i may have dropped a thousand bucks for nothing. there aren't any safety schools because (a) i'm not interested in safety schools, really and (b) i couldn't afford it even if i were. oh well...i guess i just wait until march, now.