Considering Law School

Graduate School Law School
1

I am currently an undergrad freshman majoring in finance, and also considering double majoring with philosophy. I’ve been looking into different fields in finance and business overall, but don’t really know what I want to do specifically. I have also been considering law school recently, but my biggest concern is cost/debt. I go to a school that meets need and basically covers my tuition right now, and I’ll graduate with no debt.

I know law schools don’t meet need like this. Even top law schools are mostly paid for by loans, and any place where I might get merit money will be much riskier in terms of placement afterwards. I was mostly wondering how cost works for law school. Do most end up paying full cost? I’ve read that the median starting salary for a lawyer now is only like $60000. Considering the median starting salary for my school’s business school is $60,000(probably a little higher for finance) and I’ll be without debt, law school sounds like way too much risk without enough reward, even if I get into a T14 level school.

Does law school seem unrealistic in my situation? If I do decide I want to do law, what is the “conventional” route? Do most people go straight from undergrad, or after working? Cost is pretty much the only reason I have not seriously considered law school yet, and I want to figure out if I’m being reasonable.

2

Three law schools offer need-based aid: HYS. Nearly all others offer merit money, which can be significant. To earn good merit money, you need numbers (GPA+LSA) to be above a school’s medians. To earn a full tuition discount, you will need numbers above a school’s 75th percentile.

btw: lawyer salaries are bimodal: those that go into Big Law start at $180k; the next big hump is ~$65k. Few start in the $90-100k range.

3

It’s actually pretty easy to get merit scholarships to most law schools, depending on your LSAT and GPA. For example, if you score like 160 and have a 3.5 GPA, you can still get a full scholarship or a significant one to a lower-ranked school. If you score 166+ and have good grades, you can get scholarships to a decently-ranked school. If you score in the very top, you can get full rides to a lot of highly-ranked schools (Wash U is one of them, for example).

Most students come straight out of undergrad or have 2-3 years of work experience. The median age is usually around 24.