So my plan is to do 4 years of undergrad then go to law school. My parents are saying they want me to go to a UC for undergraduate because I’m in-state and it would be a lot cheaper. Then they could help me pay for law school too.
My parents said they can pay as much as a UC (30k)
I’m probably not going to get any financial aid.
Definitely not going to get any merit aid from top schools.
What if I get into some really good schools for undergraduate like Georgetown, George Washington or Boston College. Should I take these offers and spend 60k a year on these schools and then go to a law school that’ll cost another 60k for 3 years and be in debt?
Or If I get these offers, should I give up these offers and go to a UC for 4-5 years, have my parents pay for it all, then go to graduate school and have them help pay for some of it during that time period also?
Bottom line: Is student debt manageable? Is it really that bad? Is it worth it to go to a top school that I really love which will cost me more money, or should I go to a UC which I don’t particularly love but will save me a lot of money?
Yes, planning on $30k of debt per year for undergrad is a bad idea even if you don’t go to grad school. Planning on $30k per year with another $60 per year of law school is a REALLY bad idea. That’s a lot of debt for ANYONE.
UC’s are terrific. Find one you like and embrace it.
Agree completely with twoinanddone. And put a lot of effort into getting a super GPA (and when the time comes, a really strong LSAT). There is an over supply of lawyers, and the prospects for new lawyers coming out of the lower tiers of law schools are not great. If you hare having to service a serious debt load you will be even more limited in your options.
@allied123 these were your stats in October. Did you retake the ACT and SAT? Higher scores? If not, don’t count your chickens before they hatch with regard to acceptances to Georgetown, GW or BC.
Regardless…if you plan to got to law school, you really don’t want undergrad debt!
You don’t want undergrad debt is your goal is law school. AND…since sooooo many newish law grads have a hard time making strong salaries, borrowing a lot for law school isn’t a great idea, either.
You have the UCs which are fab. No reason why it would take you 5 years to graduate from a UC.
No one is loaning you this type of money as an undergrad who has no job. Your parents have set a budget. IN order for you to borrow more money, they will have to co-sign these loans.
There will be some places where you may not be able to work if you have really high student debt (fear that you could be compromised because of your debt). When applying to law school, only 2 things will matter; LSAT and GPA. In many cases the law school that you graduate from will be more important than the undergrad school that you graduate from. if you want to practice in California, you would be better served going to law school there, where the law school at UC Berkeley is in the top 10 and USC is in the top 20
While this is true, it’s less true if you go to a top 10 law school. You do that with 1) excellent GPA and 2) LSAT above 172. Hint: yes you can start studying now for your LSAT.
Law Schools care less about the name brand of your undergrad institution. Also, UC schools are considered very good schools. No issues there. You’re lucky to have that opportunity.
One more thought: Law is a big umbrella that covers virtually any topic. While in undergrad, feel free to major in whatever you want if your goal is law school: chemistry; pre-health or nursing; theater; art; music; economics; engineering, languages or area studies (German, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic etc.)
Law is a diverse field intellectually. Law Schools want people interested in diverse things.
For example, if you are an art major and you go to law school, you might do IP law. Or you could do a lot of trusts work, because people donate art to museums. Or you could work for an arts organization as part of their business arm.
Regarding borrowing a lot for law school: If you attend a top law school, your chances of getting hired into Big Law are better. One strategy is to do a Big Law job for 2 years to pay off all debts, gain a specialty, and go sideways into a firm or another organization. A second strategy is to attend a law school that offers debt forgiveness if you go into public interest or government work.
Plan well and do your research and you will do just fine.
@thumper1 I merely said “What if”. After all, you never know what you’re going to get…and also, I don’t think you know my EC’s, what was written in my letters of recc. and how my interview went. I’m just posing every hypothetical possible so that when the time comes, I have an idea of where I stand. Never did I say I was expecting to get into those schools.
What if I get into some really good schools for undergraduate like Georgetown, George Washington or Boston College. Should I take these offers and spend 60k a year on these schools and then go to a law school that’ll cost another 60k for 3 years and be in debt?
The bottom line is that you can’t borrow 20K per year on your own. You can borrow 5.5K for freshman year. Add what you’ve earned and saved and what you can earn over the summer, add your parents’ 30K offer and that’s how much money you have for college.
I would go to a UC and have the parents pay for part of law school. Law schools won’t care for admissions purposes whether you went to a UC or the schools you listed; they mostly care about GPA and LSAT. So save the money for law school, and keep your debt as low as you can. Sure, if you go to Big Law you can get your debt paid off pretty quickly, but I’d rather keep my options open and not have the debt.