<p>Looking at the costs at a lot of these private schools it's hard to imagine not building up $150,000 in debt. Students at the very top schools still risk not finding work that can help them manage that debt load. I have an alright GPA and alright LSAT, 3.68 and 167 respectively. The only schools that seem manageable to me would be California public universities, which leaves me with UCB, UCLA, Hastings, and UC Davis. My stats are a bit too low for Berkeley. I have a shot at UCLA, but is it even worth it to attend Hastings or Davis? I mean even with resident tuition it is still going to be a massive debt load, and finding employment out of those schools may not be worth the debt. I am thinking I may just go UCLA or bust on law school. </p>
<p>To make the question more general, at what point should a student, who will bear the entire cost of law school alone, draw the line for attending law school?</p>
<p>It's just I served five years in the army to pay for Berkeley undergrad, my GI bill is almost used up, and I might not even make it out of undergrad without any debt now. Meanwhile, one of the dumbest people I've ever met had his rich parents pay around $200k for a low ranked private undergrad that he had to attend because he was too stupid to even get into a state college. Ugggh, had to vent.</p>
<p>You first need to ask yourself what type of law do you want to practice…big law, fed gov or your own shingle? Why do you want to go to law school?</p>
<p>If you want to work very hard ie lots of hours, 1800 billable hours per year, then big law. My recent grad knew from the begining that big law was out, “I like to have my weekends” so we knew goverment jobs were the aim.</p>
<p>Take the tier 1 schools and look at all of them not just those in CA. Many of the 25-50 ranks schools offer $$ for students with your stats. Also If you could get a T1 degree with $50K of debt is that better that $150K. L A W S C H O O L N U M B E R S. C O M will list admitted students and their offers it a tool use it. </p>
<p>You can take the bar in any state after graduation that is what BarBri is for.</p>
<p>You don’t want the house you never live in…$150K-200K in student law debt and hating law to pay it off.</p>
<p>IMO UCLA would definitely be worth it with in-state tuition. Regionally UCLA could place as well and possibly better than the bottom of the T14, and there are many respected firms and positions available in Los Angeles and the surrounding Southern California region. </p>
<p>Below LA though, the other UC’s begin to become less appealing. </p>
<p>Your numbers are certainly UCLA worthy. My suggestion to you would be to turn in your application and apply there (among your other schools), and if you don’t get in take a year off to do something meaningful that could strengthen your application. </p>
<p>However, my own personal belief is that 5 years of military experience + Cal undergrad + 167/3.7 should be more than enough for UCLA. If I were you I wouldn’t shy away from applying to a few more schools in the bottom of the T14, along with Boalt and Northwestern. </p>
<p>Try networking with professors at your school and seeing if any of them have relations with anyone in the law school who might be able to help you out; in reality it never hurts to apply. Boalt is much more holistic than many of the other schools in the T14, and I feel as though they might view your military experience favorably. I believe NU would have a similar positive view on your military experience. </p>
<p>Personally I don’t feel as though the other schools you mentioned will be worth the debt. </p>
<p>Apply to your financial safties and then the 25-50 or even higher schools and hope for merit. </p>
<p>Seems many on CC think you have to go to a T-14 to do well. Not the case. How many lawyers graduate above T-14? Most!!! And they are employable!</p>
<p>^ Employable in the past does not equate to being employable in the current job market. The opinions of many who say that only going to a top law school is worth it have become much more polarized by the current job market.</p>
<p>hmmm, lawschoolnumbers is a great site. Never realized that so many people were receiving that kind of free aid. I think I should shoot for UCLA and maybe a couple higher ranked schools, but I definitely should research 25-50 schools and send out some strategic applications and hope for some aid. If I could get out of a 25-50 with just $50k debt it could be worth it. UCLA still seems ideal. Maybe I should do early decision.</p>
<p>If you’re concerned about running out of money, you might want to consider joining the National Guard or the Coast Guard to get more financial aid benefits.</p>
<p>I will speak to Zona, small classes 155-160 per year. In my recent grads class including 7 former military, they also like older students that are changing careers. They give lots of merit aid. But really hard to change to in-state for tuition. I would say that 25% are from CA and are taking the Bar there. OCI and lots of CA jobs including big law.</p>
<p>With your stats you could look at 64-75K in merit aid. Cost of living in Tucson is cheap. You can rent a place near campus for 500 a month. And of course there is lots to do and go to class in flip flops and shorts. My grad refers to law school “the best 3 years of hell in your life”.</p>