Visiting Villanova

I had my first event this past Monday at Villanova University outside Philly. I road up the night before with my family after Dusty's wedding. It was a good trip, reminded me of our traveling days when I was younger, the car packed to the gills with bags, pillows, and snacks, with people all buried in the midst of it all. :) We stopped at a Red Lobster for dinner, and I had a good visit with my Mom while I drove part of the way, getting to hear more about their time in Hawaii. We didn't get into Philly until about 10pm. They almost spent the nite with me at the hotel, but Dad opted to finish the trip instead.

Thankfully my event was not until 7:30pm the next day so I was able to get myself organized and exercise before heading out to Villanova. I got there early in the afternoon so I had time to figure out where I was going. With 4 hours to kill, I went and introduced myself briefly to the Pre-Law Advisor on campus, visited the bookstore, and walked around campus. Its a pretty campus, with many stone buildings and a few churches on campus. I believe they are a Catholic school. There is a new building going up for their law school, which didn't even cross my mind to visit. I spent quite a bit of time in the library working on my future travels.

I had pizza ordered for the event and went over a little early to set up. With the help of one of the pre-law society students I manged to get my laptop set up for the powerpoint presentation and waited for the pizza to arrive. I had 10 students show up, which meant I had way too much pizza! I guess I should of figured that most would have already eaten by then. The students weren't too disappointed when they got to take some home.

This was actually the first time I gave the presentation. I think it went pretty well. I assured them that it was my goal to be finished in time for Monday Night Football, since it was Eagles vs. Cowboys. :) I started out with an introduction to myself and about Regent Law, and then began my presentation - THE PERSONAL STATEMENT: "The Silent Interview", which is some helpful tips on writing a personal statement for law school and other insights into the admissions process.

The students seemed pretty attentive, and I tried to keep it lively enough, interjecting some humor and personal stories of my experience. Most of the students seem to respect the fact that Regent is a faith-based school, and I assure them that they are getting just as good an education if not better as anywhere else - especially when it comes to experience the unique and encouraging atmosphere of Regent. They had a couple questions afterwards regarding the LSAT and my experience the first year of law school. I then had them fill out a card with their contact info if they were interested in recieving information about Regent and asked them to rate my presentation from 1-5 (bad to good), and to include any comments or suggestions. I averaged about a 4. The President of the Pre-law Society welcomed us back any time.

Overall, I feel like it all went pretty well. I had to glance up at the slides each time to see where we were going. I wasn't too nervous and as I get more familiar with the presentation it will go smoother. At times it seemed a little repetitative too. Flying to Manchester, New Hampshire next for a Graduate School Fair. Should be fun!

The Adventure continues...