<p>In the process of looking at the forum postings, even old ones, Something I don't see farily often, is basically, living costs during law school. I have found some stuff on immediately after law school, but not during. </p>
<p>So thats something I wonder a bit. I've traveled through many of these cities, but haven't lived in any of them, and I'm looking at basically, the works: Harvard, Yale, Cornell, NYU and Columbia, Boalt, etc. </p>
<p>While there's some factors in location that influence me, like, the fact that I've never liked NYC one bit, or that I'd probably go insane if I had to live in a town as small as Ithaca, or that I absolutely love the DC and Boston areas, etc. I'm still planning to apply to all those, since they are also good law schools and I'm aware I might not get in my preferred ones.</p>
<p>Basically, what's the type of living costs one is looking at in such situations, and considering I might live with my partner during that time period? I'm hoping especially for people who are either currently in one of those law schools or living or having lived recently in those metro areas, who could give a good rundown of the costs. </p>
<p>Also, I guess that its a good thread for people to search for later on. :)</p>
<p>it’s a very good thing to consider. I ended up deciding between Michigan and NYU, and had I picked NYU I could imagine having an additional $35,000 or more in debt just based on the cost of living in New York.</p>
<p>As a data point, I paid $450 a month plus utilities for my room in a 2br apartment in Ann Arbor. This was a good deal for being in a reasonably nice place, close to the law school. I could have saved more money on rent by living on the outskirts of town, but this way I didn’t own a car. Groceries and recreation (restaurant meals, movie tickets, etc.) are slightly cheaper in Michigan than coastal cities.</p>
<p>Obviously, there are lots of perks to living in a big city, but going to law school in one will definitely cost you. I was glad to go to school in a smaller town and then spend summers in cities, and move to one after I graduated.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Boalt, but of the ones you mentioned, Columbia and Harvard will cost you the most. NYC is obviously expensive, but Boston is up there too. In comparison to what stacy posted, a 2br apartment in Cambridge will cost you anywhere between 1700-2200 depending on location, condition of the buliding, etc.</p>
<p>phew, okay, so if we were to part form a $1700 apartment, if we were to follow the famous golden rule about how you don’t spend more than a third of your income on rent, the total combined necessary income would be 1,700 x 3 = 5,100 dollars. I know the one third rule is more of a “in a perfect world”, but it often gives one a rough idea of how much you need to live confortably. </p>
<p>Coming from a city where I’ve haggled with real estate agents over 750 a month for a three bedroom, two bathroom condo with balcony, these numbers border on the traumatic.</p>
<p>yovimi, the $1700 mentioned above was for a 2-br, so it becomes a lot more reasonable if you have a partner or roommate paying half.</p>
<p>and if you work at a big law firm, you could make close to $15,000 a month to start, so paying off the debt incurred during law school isn’t a big deal (subject to complicating factors like undergrad loans, a family to support, the desire to leave big firm life quickly, fewer biglaw jobs being available these days, etc). Firms in cities with $750 a month 3-bedroom apartments don’t, as a general rule, have firms that pay that well.</p>
<p>Yeah, I was aware of it being a 2 br, its afterwards that I sort of divide it in half to figure out fully. I’m also aware that salaries are lower in that type of city (San Juan, Puerto Rico, for anyone who’s curious), its more of pricetag shock, heh. </p>
<p>A factor I’m going to have to see is partly based on the fact that I really am not too interested in the biglaw firms. I might do it partly to kill out the debt for a while, but I really would have very little to no intention of sticking around in it for too long. I’m more of a political animal, used to working full time in political campaigns and political parties (which ironically generally has the same level of sleep deprivation as BIGLAW, heh), etc. So I’ll probably gravitate more to a political career path. </p>
<p>Of course, the complication on that, is that since thats not the type of positions that pay obscenely high salaries (especially not on offstart) paying off debt could become much harder. My only mitigating factor there is that I have zero undergrad loan debt (paying resident tuition, paid out of pocket by parents).</p>