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8B The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 24, 2007
WenedyOcoer24 007 h icia 6Diy 5
the psychology of sex
Reena Liberman is an Ann Arbor sex therapist certified by the American
Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists. Here,
she speaks candidly about the psychology of hanky panky.
Inhibitions that limit your sexual pleasure have many origins. They include concerns about privacy, inexperience, belief systems,
sex education, misinformation, unrealistic expectations about arousal and orgasm, body image and sexual history. Self-
consciousness about one's performance, also known as spectatoring, can be distracting to the point of preventing arousal.
Thej dg
Sarah Zearfoss has read every application to the Univer-
sity Law School since March 2001, when she became of
assistant dean for admissions.
A 1992 Law School alum, Zearfoss said she was too anxious to
sleep for four months after taking on the demanding position. At
first, she didn't quite know what her job required. Today she's
figured it out, and even if she does find time to sleep, she spends
many of her waking hours tirelessly poring over applications -
employing a work ethic she credits to her Michigan education.
Here, Zearfoss breaks down the path of an application, advises
potential applicants on what not to do and explains why the Law
School will survive the affirmative action ban.
. This great guy I know heard my LSAT score and said, "I'll bet you
have a chance of getting into Michigan." Being on the East Coast, I
didn't even know what Michigan was.
" Once we receive an application, it gets put in its own file. The read-
ers in the office get a stack of files each week, and after they make
comments on each application, I take them home. I can make a quick
decision on about one-fourth of the applications. But the vast majority
of applications take longer. It's sort of like shopping; I need to come
back to it, think about it.
* Students panic when they hear that my decision on their application
can take between five minutes and several weeks. But I've looked at
40,000 applications. I'm really good at picking out the top ones.
" There are so many weird applications. One guy wrote around the
edge of the application, "you are the only school for me." And appli-
cants love to send in gimmicks. For example, we'll get a basketball and
the implication is, "the ball's in your court." My staff gets really frus-
trated because basketballs are pretty hard to file away.
" The dean of admissions at Bryn Mawr
College wrote a personal note on my
acceptance letter. I remember feeling so
good about that. I write a little note on
each law school acceptance because I'm
invested by the time I'm ready to make an
offer. I can't stop now because everyone
,nV~t xknows I do it.
. The number of applications we've
received so far this year from black students
is exactly the same number it was one year
r rago today.
. In the coming years there
will be fewer minority stu-
dents at this school. But
Prop 2 won't have the same
dramatic effect it did at
Berkeley and UCLA. This
is because Michigan is
one of the few schools
that uses the LSAT as
is intended - as a
guideline, not a cut
oft.
A TIP FOR DEVELOPING YOUR Rustication (ruhs-ti-key-shuhn): Architectural
masonry featuring large squares of rough stone
COCKTAIL PARTY VERNACULAR with deep-set mortar or finished edges.
ANSWERS, Page 10B