<p>I am thinking that after one earns a J.D., taking time off to pay the loans and then resuming the Ph.D or starting a low-demand job should not problem.</p>
<p>I could very well be wrong. If so, I need to start thinking about how I am going to pay off those loans, unless... I attain a scholarship... or something generous... or meet a philanthropist sympathetic to my cause... all of which are very unlikely.</p>
<p>Well, given the $150,000 (at least) of debt, it'll take a solid seven to ten years to pay it all back. Don't forget that once you tack on interest, the value of the loan increases. It costs well over $20,000 in loan payments just to pay that off. Consider that, even with a well-paying job (i.e. $125,000/year), at least half will go to taxes; of the remaining portion, about 1/3 will go to basic living expenses (you'll find out that those are more expensive than you thought - first of all, your clothes budget will go through the roof when you have to wear tailored suits every day; you'll also be working so much that you have to pay people to do things for you). Once you're done making the loan payments, there isn't much left over. </p>
<p>I'm old enough to start to think about how old you would be if you did that... let's say you went to law school right out of college. You graduate at age 25. You work to pay down your loans for seven years. You are then about to make partner - do you ditch the great-paying career? You're in your early/mid-30s. You probably want to buy a house, drive a car that isn't 10 years old, and don't want to live like a student for the next six years as you get your Ph.D.. Now, for some people, it's a fine life. For others, not being done with schooling until the age of 40 is too much. Do the math - there's no real way to get out of it, unless you take on a staggering amount of debt. </p>
<p>Granted, you'll be 40 no matter what, and you may as well be 40 and doing what you love rather than be 40 and doing what you like. It's just a long, long road there.</p>
<p>I personally have no desire to marry or have children; however, I can understand that many people want that. For women (and, new research suggests, for men as well) there is a definite time line if you want to have kids. Try to figure out, before you commit yourself to a decade of post-college education, where your big life plans fit into alll this. </p>
<p>(Then again, you could go to HLS, marry an ambitious person with a killer job, and have them support you while you pursue the Ph.D. Problem solved. ;) )</p>
<p><a href="Then%20again,%20you%20could%20go%20to%20HLS,%20marry%20an%20ambitious%20person%20with%20a%20killer%20job,%20and%20have%20them%20support%20you%20while%20you%20pursue%20the%20Ph.D.%20Problem%20solved.">quote</a>
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</p>
<p>Hot damn! I know someone who is doing this!</p>
<p><em>keeps eyes open</em></p>
<p>Seriously, though, I want to eschew practicing as much as possible and stick to academia. I am sure that since the salary for academic positions in law, at least starting out, is lower than that of working for a big firm, it will take me even longer to pay off loans; however, I was thinking that I could acquire that low paying job, do it while I earn my Ph.D, and pay off my loans at the same time. Sure, it will require material and personal sacrifices, but I do not want a car or a house. Just give me a bookshelf, a roof, a matress, public transportation, and a job that I love, and I will be content:)</p>
<p>What about an MIT cheerleader?</p>
<p>
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What about an MIT cheerleader?
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<p>Oh man. </p>
<p>They are way out of my league!</p>
<p>Supply and demand. The male/female ratio at MIT is still a bit in favour of men, so women can be picky. You fail to see, however, that not all women want men who spend their Saturday nights either re-wiring their dorm rooms for robotic sensors or drinking to excess and then staggering over the Mass Ave bridge. </p>
<p>I guess you'll just have to find a nice young lady at Middlebury. I would try to help you out and scope out DC women, but 1) I've met only men; and 2) they all seem to be horrifically cranky. Eh.</p>
<p>Nah, I will take my chances at Harvard;)</p>
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You fail to see, however, that not all women want men who spend their Saturday nights either re-wiring their dorm rooms for robotic sensors or drinking to excess and then staggering over the Mass Ave bridge.
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</p>
<p>I can recite the first 200 digits of Pi! Will that help?</p>
<p>While you are in DC, go to Bridge Street Books. It is just where M street changes into Pennsylvania Avenue, across from the CVS. They have a great selection of books and the shop is owned by the most charming poet.</p>
<p>Also, go to the Tombs! It is directly in front of the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown. Go on Friday nights, and I guarantee that you will find some great brutes. Hahaha.</p>
<p>For how long will you be in DC?</p>
<p>Awww you guys are just too cute:D</p>
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It is just where M street changes into Pennsylvania Avenue,
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Oh, s---, that's what happens to M St? Why do these people make it a grid, then have the streets disappear and reappear? Did L'Enfant reincarnate as Houdini? Really, people, if it's a grid, then it should be in blocks with parallel and perpendicular streets. Those five-way intersections make me crazy. Don't even get me started on how some of the streets turn into one-way-in-the-opposite-direction and then you have to make a big loop before you can catch it again.</p>
<p>Try dealing with that when it's 10 pm, you've been driving for eight hours, and have no clue where you are going because your friend, whom you're meeting, doesn't even know where the place is but just threw an address at you. So you catch the street about 15 blocks up, follow it, and it turns into "Do Not Enter." AAGGGHHHH!!!</p>
<p>Okay, maybe I should invest in a map of DC. </p>
<p>I've heard that the Tombs is great, but not into hanging around college bars. </p>
<p>I don't know when I'm leaving DC. Sometime around the end of July? Probably earlier if I get tired of chucking witnesses to my escapades into the Potomac.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Oh, s---, that's what happens to M St? Why do these people make it a grid, then have the streets disappear and reappear? Did L'Enfant reincarnate as Houdini? Really, people, if it's a grid, then it should be in blocks with parallel and perpendicular streets. Those five-way intersections make me crazy. Don't even get me started on how some of the streets turn into one-way-in-the-opposite-direction and then you have to make a big loop before you can catch it again.
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</p>
<p>Hahahahahhahahahahahahahahahaha.</p>
<p>DC is easy:D</p>
<p>And if you want to know any good Indian restaurants, I can tell you about them. But yeah, M Street is full of great places.</p>
<p>DC should not be that hard to get accustomed to, if you just use the Metro. The Metro is, I hear, the best subway system in the nation (puts the T to shame:P), and it goes to most places in DC... except Georgetown. Hahaha.</p>
<p>How do you like the escalators that go down into the Metro? Freaky, huh?</p>
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I've heard that the Tombs is great, but not into hanging around college bars.
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<p>Well, that is the thing. Many, many people apart from Hoyas go to the Tombs. Georgetown, the area, is one of the liveliest in DC, and there are definitely great places on M-Street.</p>
<p>I don't have any problem Metro-ing or walking around DC - figured that out in a day, flat. </p>
<p>The T has a few advantages over the Metro - mainly, the flat fare. I'm really tired of guessing about how much my fare is going to cost, putting money on the Smartcard (that I had to get for one freakin day of parking at a Metro in Md.), having ten different little slips of paper, all with 85 cents on them... yeah, flat fares are great. </p>
<p>Then again, the Metro runs until 3 am. It does go a lot of places, but there aren't any near me (North Capitol). Yeah, you Georgetown folks are scared of the Metro and the degenerates who ride it. ;)</p>
<p>As for driving - need to drive to Trader Joe's, and the time I lost NJ, I had been in my home state and was driving back to DC when a friend from another time zone called. Yeah, no choice but to drive. That, and I had no idea where I was going, so I needed to drive there, because I didn't know what Metro it was near. Also, I prefer to drive than to Metro at night.</p>
<p>Wait a minute.. I believe you can insert the little slips of paper into the machines and load more money into them.</p>
<p>Yeah, you can, but it's still annoying as hell when you have like three of them. I finally consolidated them. It's also annoying as hell when you don't have enough on any one card to get out. Would a flat-rate system really be that difficult? :)</p>
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Would a flat-rate system really be that difficult?
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<p>I agree completely. In fact, I like Boston more than Washington. Oh well, Washington has its charm. We have the second-highest rat population in the nation; and no, it is not the politicians.</p>
<p>Highest cockroach population. I've never seen so many in my life as I see just walking around at night. </p>
<p>Good Indian places? Do you only know ones in Georgetown, or do you know of others?</p>
<p>"We have the second-highest rat population in the nation; and no, it is not the politicians."</p>
<p>The first one, if you simply add "paid" after highest:D...that'd be the politicians</p>
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Good Indian places? Do you only know ones in Georgetown, or do you know of others?
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<p>I know three really good places: </p>
<p>Here is a list, in order of price:
*Bombay Club (Delectable, but also very expensive)
<a href="http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=internal&addtohistory=&latitude=AiI8HSHfUrc%3d&longitude=oB4fpKFwt%2fo%3d&name=Bombay%20Club%20Restaurant&country=US&address=815%20Connecticut%20Ave%20NW%20%23%20302&city=Washington&state=DC&zipcode=20006&phone=202%2d659%2d3727&spurl=0&&q=Bombay%20Club&qc=%28All%29%20Restaurants%5B/url%5D">http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=internal&addtohistory=&latitude=AiI8HSHfUrc%3d&longitude=oB4fpKFwt%2fo%3d&name=Bombay%20Club%20Restaurant&country=US&address=815%20Connecticut%20Ave%20NW%20%23%20302&city=Washington&state=DC&zipcode=20006&phone=202%2d659%2d3727&spurl=0&&q=Bombay%20Club&qc=%28All%29%20Restaurants</a></p>
<p>*Bombay Palace (The food is decent, but I like the other two because of location and "restaurant aesthetics")
<a href="http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=Bombay+Palace&address=2020+K+St+Nw&city=Washington&state=DC&zipcode=20006%5B/url%5D">http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&cat=Bombay+Palace&address=2020+K+St+Nw&city=Washington&state=DC&zipcode=20006</a></p>
<p><em>The Taj (Excellent food. The price varies. It can get expensive, but I once took a friend there and the total was $24. The restaurant is classy. It looks expensive, but one need not spend so much to have a good time. I highly recommend this one, by the way. It is not *in</em> Georgetown, but it is on the way)</p>
<p>Also, this is not an Indian restaurant, but visit Dumbarton Oaks Park. I am not much of a "park person," but my friend took me there and it was breathtaking and beautiful. Admission is $7.</p>
<p>Edit: Also try to visit Dupont Circle. They do not call it the "Fruity Loop" for nothing:D</p>
<p>PHD/JD programs take around 9 years to complete, right?</p>
<p>I've been to/through Dupont. Was there last night, in fact, for a late happy hour (or second happy hour, rather - which is good, because I had an excuse to escape the mad-sketch happy hour situation I had been in). </p>
<p>Thanks for the list of Indian places. :) I'll check them out.</p>