Hi everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read this and any advice that you can give in advance. I really, really appreciate it!
I feel like I am in a bit of a dilemma right now about whether to attend law school or not. A little bit of background about myself, I am currently a senior Political Science student at large public research university located in the Midwest. I currently have a 3.9 cumulative GPA and will be graduating this coming December. (So I have one semester left after the current semester) My plans have been that I wanted to attend law school once I had finished my undergrad and eventually wanted to work in business/corporate law.
I have been told by my advisor that based on my GPA and assuming that I get a really good score on the LSAT, I could be looking at a possible full ride from the law school that is part of the university that I am currently attending. I know that the law school is definitely not a top tier law school (I think that it is ranked around #50-#75) but it would be at little to no cost and I would have NO student loans between my undergrad and law school. At the same time though, I have heard that the only way to get a decent job after graduating would be by attending a top tier school. For top tier schools, I have looked at applying to University of Michigan, Georgetown, and University of Chicago to name a few. What really scares me about the prospect of attending one of these schools is that not only the cost is much higher, but the likelihood of getting scholarships, let alone a full ride, is A LOT lower. This really scares me because I have read about so many horror stories about people not being able to find a job after graduating (even from top tier schools) and having hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans. On the other side, I have also heard of people landing their dream job and getting burned out within a few years when they realize then that law is not for them.
I feel that I am now having second thoughts about law school because of all of these factors and I honestly don’t know what to do at this point. I have not prepared for the LSAT as much as I would have liked to at this point because I have been procrastinating since I feel like I do not know what I want to do. I do not want to waste the time to prepare for the LSAT if I don’t end up attending law school, nor don’t I want my parents to waste the money on prep classes that they said that they would pay for because they support my dream, or what I thought was my dream, of attending law school and want me to do the best that I can. At the same time though, I will be graduating with a degree in Political Science, which I know that I really can’t do anything with.
Thank you again for taking the time to read this. I really appreciate any help or advice the you can give!
You had me at full ride. You don’t need to go to a top 20 school. No debt would mean you could take virtually any lawyer job and be comfortable. A top student at a large Midwest law school will do fine locally in getting jobs. My only question would be what GPA is required to keep the full ride. Don’t COUNT on being able to be in top 10 of your class etc.
@TempeMom Thank you for your response, I appreciate it! I am not exactly sure what the conditions would be of the scholarship if I were to get it. I would think that there would be some kind of conditions because I know that they would not just give money away with no restrictions attached to it. I guess I may be putting the cart before the horse because I have not yet applied and am only going on the information that my advisor has told me in that I have the GPA to get such a scholarship if I get a good enough LSAT score. I guess the idea of attending a lower tier school (I think it is ranked around #50-#75) even with a scholarship scares me when I keep hearing that you need to graduate from a top tier school to get a job decent job. At the same time though, so do the horror stories of people attending top tier schools with tons or student loans and still not being able to find a decent job.
Every major city has lawyer jobs. As long as you aren’t looking to be a national big firm lawyer it would be fine. In fact, as a lawyer, the ONLY people I would recommend go to law school now is those who can get out without debt.
with that GPA, and a good LSAT, you will receive plenty of financial offers from the T20, including those in the midwest.
Study your butt off. Merit money from a T14 is like tax free income. The best use of your personal time, ever.
Perhaps, but let’s be realistic: the BLS reports that US law schools graduate 2x as many students are there are jobs available. Today. Add to the fact that the midwest is not booming (save for Dakota.)
Study as hard as possible for the LSAT and take it only after a few months of intensive studying.
Examine your university's law school's placement statistics very carefully. If you're only guessing what its ranking is, then clearly your examination of your options is very preliminary. With a 3.9 GPA and a good LSAT score, you should be at the top of your class there, but don't take a high law school class ranking for granted.
Once you have both your actual LSAT score and detailed information about those placement statistics, come back and ask this question again. In the meantime, don't rule out any school.
@TempeMom Thank you again for your reply! I truly appreciate your advice, input, and taking the time to read my post and replete it!
@bluebayou Thank you as well for your reply, I truly appreciate your input! What you stated about there being 2x as many law school students that graduate each year than there are jobs is what really scares me. It is this statistic that I feel is really making me rethink whether law school is truly worth it. Even if I were to get a really decent scholarship, whether at the lower tier school at my current university or at a top tier school, and have limited debt when I graduate, if I can’t get a job I am still stuck. Graduating with no debt is a better situation than having over $100k in student loans, but if I can’t find a job because there are 2x as any graduates than there are jobs then what?
This is why I feel like I am in a dilemma. I know that I want to go to law school and want to work in the area of corporate/business law BUT is it ultimately worth it because of the lack luster job prospects? At the same time though, I will be graduating with a BA in Political Science which I know I really can’t do anything with.
(If it makes a difference with where law jobs are/are not booming in the Midwest, I am from the eastern part of the Midwest to be specific near a somewhat big city (4+ million in population INCLUDING surrounding suburbs). The lower tier law school that I have been mentioning is located in the area where I am from. I know that I ultimately would like to stay in this area after I graduate.)
@HappyAlumnus Thank you as well for your reply, I truly appreciate your input! I did a bit a research to find out exactly where my university’s law school was ranked. According to the 2015 rankings from U.S. News, it is currently tied with 5 other schools at the #87 ranking, so I was a bit off in my original guess.
At this point, I am definitely not trying to rule out any possible law schools. I am more so just trying to figure out whether law school is actually worth it because there are 2x as many law school graduates each year than their are jobs. This stat is what is making me rethink going to law school.
@abbiewsu: thanks! I see that your school is ranked at about the level of Brooklyn Law School. Someone with good grades from Brooklyn Law School (i.e., near the top of the class) would do fine getting a job at most large NYC firms, so I would assume that you’d also be fine at that level.
@HappyAlumnus: Brooklyn Law School has an employment rate of [56.5%[/url]. That’s for any legal job, remember, not good ones. That means that your odds of going to Brooklyn and becoming a lawyer are only 6% better than your odds of going to Vegas and throwing $300k down on black. To big firms, Brooklyn sends 11% of its class. @abbiewsu would have a shot at those jobs, sure, but there is a 90% failure rate. I generally don’t advise my clients to take those kinds of risks and I don’t see why they’d be more advisable here.
The ONLY answer is ~T20+merit scholarship; that means high LSAT. For great midwest odds, look to Michigan & Northwestern with money, of course. Or, WashU/Minnesota/Notre Dame for (near?) free.
Get to work. If you really, really want to go to LS, study really hard for the LSAT.
'Nuff said.
(I bolded your goals because business hires pedigree. The % of grads from MichiganLS /NULS who go into corporate/business is many times greater than the % from ~T100. Your odds are just better at a higher ranked school.
First, you might want to take a step back and try to determine if you actually want to be a corporate lawyer, or if you actually want to be more involved in business outright, e.g. as a manager, developer, executive, entrepreneur etc. Because if the latter law school probably not the best choice. While law schools do a very good job of marketing law degrees as diverse degrees to solicit the business of young people eager to take a step forward towards a professional career but not sure what they actually want to do, once you have a law degree you will most likely be pigeonholed as someone who must either work for a law firm, for the government, or in a legal position for private entity subordinate to the institutional decision-makers. As I’m sure you’ve heard, very few people are actually satisfied in legal careers.
That said, if you do decide to go to law school, unless you can go to HYS, find the best regional school that you can attend for free or new free. If you are happy with your university and where you live, it sounds like it would fit the bill. But of course apply to other schools and take the LSAT – the LSAT exam and law school admission process are laughably minimal compared to pretty much every other field of graduate study.
@Demosthenes: I know! As I state in my post, someone near the top of the class from Brooklyn Law School or the like would be able to go to a large law firm. Please read my post; I’m not stating that any level of BLS or the like would be advisable.
Do you love the law? Do you enjoy reading arcane subject mater and equally enjoy writing about such maters? If so be be a lawyer, and a free ride would be the way to go. Also business/corporate law for a new associate is primarily document review, 60 hours a week, most of it billable. GL
You have absolutely no dilemma, IMO, until you take the LSAT. Report back when you have all facts regarding your credentials; otherwise, as any trial lawyer will tell you, you’re asking for speculative hypotheticals.
@HappyAlumnus: When I see someone say “Someone with good grades from Brooklyn Law School (i.e., near the top of the class) would do fine getting a job at most large NYC firms,” it looks to me as though you’re advising it. Missing are words like “but you are not likely to be at the top so going would be a bad idea.”
Also, @abbieswu, be sure to actually go out and talk to law students and lawyers in person; don’t just rely on the Internet or Internet data in your decision.
I’d be even stronger: absent any data about the class, the odds are ~95% against you being in the top quintile and thus, being attractive to high paying jobs, or even many PD jobs.
Also missing is three words, ‘New York City’, which is the largest market for lawyers in the world. Sure, perhaps the top handful of students at Georgia State Law (rec: “best in class”) might be able to interview with Big Law, but quite a few more will interview from BLS. (There are a few BLS alums floating with good jobs in NYC.) Another example is Fordham, which places well above its ranking weight. If Fordham was any place else, it would not have even close to the success placing grads.
