Basically, I’m trying to weigh my options between a lower-ranked law school that would be extremely affordable versus a much higher ranked and more expensive law school.
I was recently accepted to a top 20 law school. I could be offered a scholarship still, but with my LSAT and the high cost I doubt it would make a dent at all.
I have also been accepted to an in-state law school ranked in the 60’s. With the scholarship they offered me, I could pay only $8000 for my entire law education.
I really have no idea which is the better option–I want to be practical and choose the cheap one, but lately I’ve just been hammered with info that if I don’t go to a top 20 it’s somehow “not worth it.” Any advice? Especially from recent law grads?
Questions that need to be answered off the top of my head: Which top 60 school? Do you want to work in the region where that school is? What are the stipulations on your scholarship? Is it $8k including living expenses or is that a tuition figure? Are you graduating school or working now? Do you have any first-hand experience with law? What is your LSAT/GPA? Which top 20 school is it?
I will say: if you want to be in DC, then get a scholarship to American or GW. Do NOT pay $50,000 a year for tuition for GW, plus living expenses, and end up in over $200,000 worth of debt. The only schools you should pay that kind of money for are Harvard and any other school with guaranteed loan repayment.
If you insist on going this year, go to Georgia. Spend your summer in DC, or at an Atlanta firm with a DC office. Do NOT spend an extra $150,000+ to get DC connections. If
I get what you all are saying with retaking the LSAT. Unfortunately I just think I’ve tapped out with doing better on it (I did months of prep, private tutor, etc). I guess I just don’t believe with enough prep anyone can get that 180, and I don’t believe I can. I know it’s unusual to have a GPA like mine with that LSAT, but frankly I’m a hard worker and this particular standardized test just owns me.
@memento77: Retaking is the unquestionably right answer. Plug your numbers in [url=<a href=“http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-Full-Time-Programs.htm%5Dhere%5B/url”>http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-Full-Time-Programs.htm]here[/url]. Then add a few points to the LSAT and see what happens. A few months of study could net you tens of thousands in scholarship cash, possibly making those months the highest paid of your life.
In which field are you currently working? You really need to get some first-hand experience with law. It’s rarely like how people expect. Before throwing years of your life at a career, you should find out what the day-to-day is really like. It may be that your field offers you connections or opens up avenues in law, which is why I ask.
Do NOT pay full tuition to go to GW. Unless you are absolutely determined to work on Wall Street (which it doesn’t sound like you are), you can get interviews in Washington and get jobs there after graduating from any decent law school, as long as you do well. If you are in the top 5-10% of your class, you will get interviews just about anywhere. In fact, you can actually be more marketable if you are in the top of a decent law school compared to the middle/bottom of a top tier. It is a myth that you have to go to a top ranked law school to have a successful career, and that includes in Washington. I worked there and have many friends who worked there both in private practice and in the government and they went to all sorts of law schools. If you end up with massive loans, you will be limiting your options for the rest of your life. If money is no object, or you know you will be able to get hired at a top firm and will actually like it, then GW is a reasonable option. Otherwise, think long and hard, and don’t get too caught up in prestige.
A year of so ago there was a poster on CC who went to GW for law school and strongly recommended against taking on the debt to attend there.
This is a no brainer: Georgia State. When I was at a BigLaw, I interviewed a 3L who actually brought with her a USN&WR list to show me that GW was in the top 25. I didn’t recommend her for hire. To me, the schools are on the same level. Save yourself a lot of debt and enjoy practicing law. Good luck!
Strongly suggest the nearly free option. I faced a similar situation when I applied to law school about 10 years ago and have always regretted picking the top 20-ish school, especially when I look at my debt statements. I tell people now to only consider paying top dollar for HYS, and otherwise find a solid cheap school in the region where you want to work and live. Outside of the Big Law recruiting pipeline that focuses on a handful of elite law schools, I’ve found that where I went to law school hasn’t had any bearing on my employment opportunities. If you want into that Big Law recruiting pipeline, GW probably won’t cut it anyways.
Your scholarship to Georgia State doesn’t pay living expenses, so you’re probably at least 60k in the hole.
If you really, really don’t want to retake, I’d go to Georgia State. I’m pretty sure GW’s recent employment stats have been dismal - far too risky to pay $300k (with interest) for bad job prospects. Plus, even if you “win” in law school and get biglaw, you’re still losing. At least with less debt you have a lot more options about what types of jobs you can take, rather than being forced into biglaw to pay off loans.
If I went to law school now, I wouldn’t even pay full sticker for Yale, Harvard, or Stanford. There’s just too many contingencies on debt repayment assistance, and having debt is like having an albatross around your neck for YEARS. I don’t think most people who take on that debt for law school understand this.
The ideal situation for going to law school is you get a decent scholarship to a T-14 or your parents pay. Those are probably the only situations in which I would go to law school now.
I think the key to your comment is “decent law school.” Georgia State is a regional school and I’m not sure that it has any reputation outside of the southeast. Have you honestly heard of a single person who works in a DC law firm or in an executive branch government legal job who went to Georgia State? I haven’t. I’m sure there are some, but maybe you could count them on two hands. What the OP is really betting on is whether he/she is good enough to be in the top half of the class at GWU or in the top 4 or 5 students at Georgia State to get a job in DC. I think to maximize the opportunity to work in BigLaw or in DC, you have to go to GWU, however, given the money issues, it’s probably also the greatest risk of ending up broke as well. Maybe the OP just has to set the sights lower–since Atlanta or some smaller city in Georgia might be nearly as good to the OP as DC, abandon the idea of being a DC lawyer because the risk/cost is too great. One question, is the OP a URM? Is the OP a Georgia resident?
spayurpets - DC is not like most other markets. You will find students from all different law schools there, even “regional” ones. Almost everyone in DC is from somewhere else, and you can find alums from all kinds of law schools there. I am an example of that, as is one of my closest friends from my years working in DC. And Georgia State, being ranked #64, is certainly a “decent” law school.
Georgia State boasts an impressive [41%[/url] unemployment rate. Only 15% of those who do find employment are in jobs paying enough to afford the student loans required to go to Georgia State. Georgia State is not a “decent” school. Georgia State is a catastrophe from which few escape unscathed. It is better not to go to law school than to go to Georgia State.
George Washington has been accurately described as a classic [url=<a href=“http://insidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2012/02/trap-schools.html%5Dtrap”>http://insidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2012/02/trap-schools.html]trap school](http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/gsu/2013/). Its employment numbers are better than Georgia State, but its no accident that it has to employ [url=<a href=“http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/gw/2013/%5D15%%5B/url”>http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/gw/2013/]15%[/url] of its grads itself. It’s also one of the most expensive schools, clocking in at an impressive [url=<a href=“http://www.law.gwu.edu/Admissions/financial_aid/Pages/StandardCostofAttendance.aspx%5D$78,000%5B/url”>http://www.law.gwu.edu/Admissions/financial_aid/Pages/StandardCostofAttendance.aspx]$78,000[/url] cost of attendance per year (plus an increase of 3% per year, of course).
Going to either of these schools is incredibly foolish. The right answer–the only answer–is retaking the LSAT. Anyone advising otherwise is insane, ignorant, or on one of the schools’ payroll.
^ I am pretty sure that most posters here graduated 20+ years ago and have no idea what the job market looks like. This is why millenials are screwed - because the boomers keep giving terrible education advice.
lawschoolnumbers.com is a good website to look at for more realistic employment stats.