Choking on the Law

Posted on October 14, 2012 by David Randall

.org–the and law-school application mothership’s website–has been unreachable all morning. I’ve been trying without success to log on since 6 am to submit a recommendation. It’s a small inconvenience to me; I’ll rely on Plan B, the U.S. Postal Service. I imagine, though, it is deeply frustrating for thousands of anxious law-school applicants. I’m curious about the cause–overload from those hoping to get their score for last Saturday’s exam? Or from those canceling their score?

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  • Dave Lu

    Professor Randall,

    I hope all these students who are applying to law school today realize the high costs of receiving a legal education. Many students do not realize the reality of the legal job market  today and the loans that they will have once they graduate from law school.

    On the bright side, I am glad to be connected to you on LinkedIn. I was a former student of yours from 2006 to 2007. As a recent law school grad (2011), I would gladly talk to any of your students who are interested in law school and give them another point of view.

    Hope all is well.  I was not able to make it to my 5 year reunion at BU but would love to speak to you again when I am in Boston.

    Best,
    David Lu

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=729511792 Dylan J. Kaplan

      In response to Mr. David Lu 

      Mr. Lu,

      My name is Dylan Kaplan and I am currently a junior in the School of Management at B.U. I currently take the Business Law class with Professor Randall and I enjoy the material.  I have begun the process of LSAT prep, personal statements, recommendations etc. Having knowledge of the law and  understanding how the law works covers many, if not all , aspects of our society. The pursuit of this knowledge is a noble one and, regardless of money or career prospects, is one that you should be proud of. I recognize the amount of dollars I will pay to receive my undergraduate education. I recognize the loans that I will pay ( and you are paying) for graduate studies. However, I see the law environment as the best place for positive change to occur, and so you should take advantage of this, regardless of money. The field is not  great in terms of starting salary or benefits, but if someone was choosing a career just for these reasons,  they will never find a job they will enjoy. 

      Dylan J. Kaplan -LA 245
      732-691-6780

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/UY6Q5HDX7GO4BBRRQME7XEWJTU Arielle

    This link might help (it shows the different web browsers error messages and what it means and how to try and fix it.)
    http://windows.microsoft.com/is-IS/windows-vista/Get-help-with-website-error-messages-HTTP-errors

    If it is “net congestion” as I suggested, your best option is to wait until there is less traffic on that specific server and try again later.
    - Arielle Assayag, LA245

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/UY6Q5HDX7GO4BBRRQME7XEWJTU Arielle

    It is most likely from too many people trying to reach the same server. In IT terms, it is referred to as “net congestion.” It’s really common for websites that require people to sign into personal accounts which requires processing time for each account. When you try to access the website, what does the web browser say? There are different error messages that tell you exactly what the problem is but this specific situation really seems just like an overload on the server. It is very common on websites such as ticket master, stub hub, etc… when they first release the tickets to popular concert/event.
    - Arielle Assayag, LA245

  • zdranove

    I think it was likely caused by the thousands of students trying to log in at once to get their score. You know how people can be, refreshing the page until their score pops up. It can cause the site to crash.