Top law schools: are they worth it?

<p>Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, even some lower ones like texas or boston. Would they be worth it? I'm currently a freshman at the u of Oklahoma as a music performance major. Ive been thinking about going to law school for a little while now, and of course I'm in no position to make any decisions anywhere in the near future. Staying in state at Oklahoma for law seems very appealing as the cost would be much less than out of state privates. However, I'm thinking that if I really want a top job after graduation or if I want to move out of Oklahoma, firms just won't care about students from a measly midwestern state college. . . Any thoughts?</p>

<p>Of course, even if I got admitted to a top school, neither my mother or I have credit. I'm not sure if there would even be a way to get enough loans to pay for 3 years of law school with no/bad cedit. :o Luckily I will be leaving undergrad with hopefully little or no debt. (Under $3,000 if any) The thought of 70 or $80000 in debt just freaks me out.</p>

<p>I'm not really sure what I'm asking right now. Hopefully I made some sense and can get some thoughts. Thanks!</p>

<p>hmmm as a music performance major...not sure how you would do on the lsat...</p>

<p>i've never heard of a music performance major going to law school...</p>

<p>I know of music performance majors who have gone to law school - to top law schools in fact. I spoke with a partner with a major firm a few months ago who not only was a music major undergrad, but had an MM in vocal performance also. It's still a numbers game - grades and LSAT. I have worked with several attorneys who majored in either music or theater and they were top candidates - very polished and very hard working.</p>

<p>agreed with cartera--there are several people at my (top 10) law school who majored in music performance (there was a trombonist in my section, and I have a friend here who started as an opera major at Julliard and transferred to another school to focus on musical theater).</p>

<p>as for where to go, the conventional wisdom is that for big firm jobs, the best bet is to go to a top-14 school. if you can't get in, then the second-best option is to go to the best possible school in the city/region in which you'd like to practice. If you wanted to stay in Oklahoma, then going to law school there could be as good as going almost anywhere else, but if you want to leave you will probably want to look into other options. Which options those are depend on what LSAT score and GPA you get.</p>

<p>...So, I compete against music performance majors with RAW numbers??</p>

<p>God, I hate my major (Philo). :(</p>

<p>Perhaps you should take a couple of advanced music theory classes before complaining. Philosophy might look like a piece of cake.</p>

<p>^Carte45// I probably will fail on them. An epic fail, perhaps. </p>

<p>All I know is that music performance major itself has WAY higher GPA as a whole than any other major. Correct me if I am wrong on this. :b</p>

<p>Just for the record, anda, most economics and political science majors make the same complaint about philosophy. Most science majors complain about economics and polisci; most engineering majors complain about sciences.</p>

<p>Music might be easier than philosophy, but it's not as if you're all the way on the other end of the spectrum either.</p>

<p>I have no data on this and it obviously depends on the school and the kids. Many music majors take the same general education classes as kids in any other major so they take math, English, lab science, history, psychology and even philosophy. The conservatories are different of course. The equalizer should be the LSAT - if music majors are finding success getting into the top law schools, they are obviously well prepared for the LSAT.</p>

<p>Well, at least, Polic sci major does enjoy higher avg GPA than Philo-at least in my school. I get your point, but you do know where my complain comes from and you also know it is not that unreasonable.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Just for the record, anda, most economics and political science majors make the same complaint about philosophy. Most science majors complain about economics and polisci; most engineering majors complain about sciences.</p>

<p>Music might be easier than philosophy, but it's not as if you're all the way on the other end of the spectrum either.

[/quote]
Engineering > <em>.</em></p>

<p>It really is comparing apples to oranges since talent is involved. Many, music majors could major in a lot of other things and be successful. They are the hardest working kids around, multi-task with ease and have developed commitment and discipline that many of their peers cannot touch. Those are likely the ones who go to top law schools.</p>

<p>As for being a music major, I can see how it is viewed to be "easier" than other majors since it doesn't require as many "intellectual" skills as many majors and I definitely respect that opinion. However, being a music major DOES entail dedication and lots of hard work. I find myself practicing 4-5 hours daily on top of 30+ hours a week of classes and rehearsals.</p>

<p>so music: somewhat easy, but hard work</p>

<p>As for performing on the LSAT, I think that with preparation I should be able to do just fine. I made a 35 on the ACT so I am pretty confident in my test taking and logic skills. As for making it in to a T14 law school I realize that there are many other factors besides LSAT score and GPA so it can sometimes be a crapshoot.</p>

<p>Right now I'm just pondering different situations. Never hurts to think ahead. The only thing that bothers me is the concept of having $90,000+ of law school debt. . .</p>

<p>That's a lot of debt. As a legal recruiter, I can tell you that those graduating this year are not in a great place - even grads from the top schools with jobs in biglaw are being asked to delay their start dates until January. Firms are dissolving on an almost daily basis and hundreds of lawyers are being laid off. The good news is that, when things turn around, the firms will be thinly staffed and will need to hire quickly. People practicing in labor, health care and technology are in demand.</p>

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<p>Actually, there really aren’t many other factors besides your LSAT score and GPA. Law school admissions is fairly predictable based on your numbers alone.</p>

<p>Music majors- at least vocal performance majors- take a lot of language classes and they are NOT easy. They also take many other arts/sciences classes. At Rice the GPAs of music majors were not higher at all than other disciplines.</p>