<p>I plan on applying to law school for the 2011-2012 academic year, but given the current state of our job market, I want to make a wise choice that will yield a heavy return. Lately I have been hearing this phrase "the legal market is too saturated" which has put my dreams of applying to law school on hiatus. Is there any truth to this?</p>
<p>My question is simple, although I'm aiming for the best - is going to a non top 50 school worth it in todays economy? My aim is definetly tier 1, but is 180K worth of debt a smart choice if for some reason I didnt get into a top 50 or tier 1 school?? </p>
<p>My ultimate goal is to enter into bankruptcy litigation and work with a a firm rather than go into private practice. </p>
<p>You don’t need a top 50 school by any stretch of the imagination. Many affordable regional schools have a really strong name brand in the area. If you go to your state’s flagship law school you can probably land a decent job (probably $60K-$70K a year) in the area. Also, your debt will be much less - probably under $100K.</p>
<p>“Top 50” isn’t a relevant category at all. Outside of the T14, schools are highly regional, so whether it makes sense to attend depends on where you want to work and what kind of money the school gives you.</p>
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<p>Well, not if your state is California, Michigan, Virginia or Illinois, and perhaps some other states, where even the in-state tuition at the flagship state school is comparable to private schools. Even at other state schools, you could end up with $100K in debt if you had to borrow all of the money you spent on tuition and living expenses. And in many cases, even a $60-70K job is far from guaranteed.</p>
<p>hey i dont think top 50 will matter, you should try to go to school in a big legal market(more opportunity) like for example i might be going to the University of Houston for law school while they are not in the top 50 or 14, Houston is a large legal market, and their school is respected their. or like SMU is respected in dallas or UT respected throughout texas</p>
<p>If you’re not careful, you just might enter into bankruptcy. Then you’ll need to hire one of those fancy suits with a top 50 degree to provide the litigation part.</p>
<p>The legal market is saturated in the sense that there are a lot of law schools churning out law school graduates. That, combined with the economic recession, is making it harder for lawyers – especially ones that don’t come from top schools like Harvard that get heavy recruitment – to find the kinds of jobs that they would like to use in paying off their law school debt. Many businesses are even replacing their lawyers with paralegals, who can do much of the same work but don’t ask for the same salaries. That’s not to say that going to law school is a bad idea; you just have to make sure that the debt load remains reasonable; pretty much all law schools are expensive, so you won’t save much by going to George Mason Law instead of Harvard Law (it might actually be more expensive since it’s harder to get tuition forgiveness). </p>
<p>Try to do some research in your area. Is there a large market for lawyers or legal services? You want to be able to pay off that debt as quickly as you can because $180k in debt + undergrad can completely warp your career and lifestyle choices for at least a decade.</p>
<p>Yea, I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep well knowing I’m in 180K debt. Plus I heard many states including Texas will revoke your practicing license if you are unable to keep up with student loan repayment (though this is the worse case scenario and I hope it will never come to this). Double edged sword if you will.</p>
<p>Yea, SMU is a pretty good school plus Texas (Austin, Dallas, Houston) have a strong legal market. However I want to focus on practicing more in the east, preferably VA, MD, MA, or PA. </p>
<p>Thanks Gardna, it is a scary reality. I just need to get the ‘mental green light.’ Unlike undergrad, you can’t make a costly mistake with grad school.</p>
<p>I see all this hooply about going to a T14 law school or bust. Nothing can be further from the truth. There are plenty of regional law schools that have great reputations and produce a number of top notch lawyers. Even better, these programs might have concentrations that are nationally ranked.</p>
<p>Example: I attended University of Miami Law School. Although it isn’t ranked overall in the top 50, it did have a strong regional reputation. In additon, their tax program was rated in the top 10 in the country. University of Florida also has a very strong tax program. George Washington University has a well known and well connected program in Intellectual Property. You should always check out the strong programs offered by regional schools.</p>
<p>They also produce a number of contract attorneys and unemployed people with massive debt.</p>
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<p>These rankings don’t mean anything. They say absolutely nothing about a school’s ability to place students in a particular field. Interviews for summer associate or intern positions take place right after 1L year, by which point a student will have taken maybe one elective, which probably wouldn’t be in a field like tax or healthcare law. Even after graduation, employers are going to care far more about your school’s rank and your grades/law review participation than a specialty ranking they’re probably not even aware of.</p>
<p>While I believe that T14 or T5 is still the goal for most law students, I would like to ask how would you rate the job and personal life prospects for the following students:</p>
<p>1) T4 with GPA of 3.6 ($180 K debt)
2) T11 with GPA of 3.75 ($100 K debt)
2) T25 with a GPA of 3.95 ($20 K debt)</p>