<p>Go where you can go for the least cost, while at the same time have a moderately satisfying social life and more importantly can excel academically.</p>
<p>For my undergrad (you can see where that was), the following are all true:
I did not pay a penny, in fact I have $5000 in a bank account that is nothing but scholarship overflow. This includes all costs, including tuition room + board.
I was in a major (mass communication) that I enjoyed and excelled at.
I went to an amazing sports school, which being a big sports fan was a nice bonus.
I stood out and had fantastic relationships with professors, culminating in one of the most complimentary LORs I’ve ever seen.
Graduating in 3 years</p>
<p>And I cruised into a T14 law school. (You can easily see which one if you look at my post history)</p>
<p>Absolutely true story:
My father’s friend has a daughter who is attending Harvard. She is majoring in government or something like that. When my father was talking to him, he said his daughter’s career prospects were fairly bleek as she did not build the credentials (not to mention the 200K+ they spent) to be admitted at a potentially lucrative graduate school, while the prospects for someone with a Bachelor’s in gov’t does not have too many options.</p>
<p>It feels like I played the game and won.</p>
<p>This post applies to people who are sure they want to go to law school. From the OP’s career goals, getting a JD from a school that has a public interest loan forgiveness program seems to be ideal.</p>
<p>“A demanding, prestigious undergraduate school on your resume means more than which law school you graduated from, provided you have an impessive law school record (Law Review, high GPA, clinics/internships in area of interest).”</p>
<p>Are you talking about specifically for what the OP wants (government job, etc.) or in general? The former, I can’t say, but if its the latter is so egregiously wrong that I have to question whether you have any idea what you are talking about.</p>
<p>As for the loan forgiveness programs people are talking about: Going to a higher ranked law school is essential for two reasons 1. Only “good” law schools have this option 2. Your chances of getting into the position you want is much higher with a T14 JD than without.</p>
<p>If “success” is measured in $$$ - yes, you can be just as “successful” going to a much “lesser” school, and you may end up with more money if you don’t pay full tuition at Swarthmore. </p>
<p>I would not recommend taking $200,000 in loans to attend any college. But if your parents can afford and are willing to send you to Swarthmore… you should go. It can truly be a life-changing experience.</p>
<p>I come down on the side of limiting your debt…preferably to no debt. There are numerous stories about students buried in debt and not able to get out from underneath it for years…it can ruin your life. Too many people in general have taken on too much debt, not just students. I think the decision to take on debt is one of the most important decision a student has to make. You’re very fortunate that your parents are willing to pay and that you have a path that allows you to graduate as an undergraduate and possible with advanced degrees debt free.</p>
<p>If you do decide to go to law school, which undergraduate school you attended is not as important as many might believe. Look at the list of the 261 undergraduate institutions represented by all students enrolled in the JD program at Harvard Law School for the 2010-2011 school year. </p>
<p>I suggest you read the following NYT magazine article about law school. It’s an eye opening assessment of reality vs. perception and students who’ve gone into debt.</p>
It is true that your undergrad institution does not determine your Law School admission (this is a little murkier with YLS and SLS, but still generally correct). But the quality of educational experience can be vastly different at different colleges. </p>
<p>Yes, you can get a degree that will allow you to pursue your career pass anywhere, but the journey is at least as important as the destination, as it affects what kind of person you become at the end. </p>
<p>Again, I agree that taking on a lot of debt for undergrad is unwise. But if your family can afford to send you to the school that fits you best, go for it. See it as an investment. You don’t know today if/when/where you will go to grad school. Again, if you decide on law school path eventually, top law schools have excellent loan forgiveness programs, and PhD programs that are worth attending are fully funded.</p>
<p>In your situation, I would find it hard to turn down Swarthmore. You said it is your first-choice school, and your parents are able and willing to pay for it. And it clearly has some significant advantages and differences from the other schools you mention.</p>
<p>FYI, Swarthmore’s Educational Studies major is required to be a “special major” with another academic department, so it is not considered less rigorous (in fact, it requires more credits/commitment) than normal majors.</p>
<p>You know my bias already, but I will add that you shouldn’t consider anywhere near 200k in debt for law school EXCEPT for Yale and Harvard (I believe those are the two with generous loan-forgiveness public interest programs). And if you want to work in government education policy anyway, I don’t think that law school is the best way to go. For more concrete advice, try emailing some of the Swarthmore Ed professors.</p>
<p>Also: one of the McCabes from my year was not admitted to any other school of Swarthmore’s caliber except for Northwestern (they applied to several Ivies and was waitlisted). Due to the geographic limitations, the scholarship often goes to “normal” rather than “super-amazing” people. You never know, the stars might line up.</p>
<p>Keilexandra, you are so nice! Honestly, though, I totally blew my interview and made myself sound like an idiot. If I was even considered an alternate I would be beyond ecstatic. I almost wish Swat had asked where else I had applied because I didn’t even apply to any other schools that were even close to Swarthmore’s caliber. Swat was my uber, uber high reach. </p>
<p>I’m definitely going to email a professor or two today because all the advice I’m hearing is deterring me from considering law school. </p>
<p>I just wouldn’t stress about this until you have all the options on the table. If Swat gives you a scholarship, this will be a very easy decision. So do your best to put the questions aside until you have all the data.</p>
<p>OP- relax. I have never met a 17 year old who even had a clue what law school, policy, or any of these things actually entailed. And as smart as you are- I’m betting you are similarly clueless. (not clueless about life, but clueless about the differences in career preparation.) There are people working in the Ed reform space who are former teachers. There are people working in the Ed policy space who have PhD’s in political science. There are people on the Hill writing legislation about school funding who are lawyers, and people who work at think tanks researching education and curriculum design in in the UK and why it’s different from that in France who have master’s degrees in history. And people who direct millions of dollars of grants from private foundations to fund innovative schools or create new programs to train principals who have MBA’s. And people who negotiate with teacher’s unions who have degrees in labor relations. And people doing important things for education policy like you can’t imagine who have degrees in modern dance or comparative literature.</p>
<p>So just relax. Figure out which school is offering you the very best academic experience/fit/affordability and go there. Grad school will still be there once you actually figure out what you’re interested in. And if I had $100 for every high school senior who told me they needed to save their money for law school (and who never ended up going to law school) I’d be pretty affluent right now. But not as affluent as if I had $100 for everyone I know (both young and old) who told me they went to law school because they thought it would be great preparation for something other than practicing law, only to discover two important things:</p>
<p>1- they hate practicing law
2- they are not prepared for these other careers (or at least not better prepared than the folks who are already doing them sans the law degree.)</p>
<p>^Do consider the financial implications, and the benefits of having extra money to spare (e.g. for summer programs, or not working). But, don’t assume that if you spend the money on undergrad, you’ll have to take on huge debt for postgrad. It should be 200k minus net cost vs. 0, not vs. -200k.</p>