Law School

[shinerbock]

The most important advice for people interested in law school (IMO, of course):


-Be smart when deciding where to go, or whether to go. If you can get into a top 20 school, then sure, take the leap, take the big loans if necessary, and go ahead and do it.

-If you're looking at top 25-50 schools, just be smart. If you can go to the 35th best school at in state rates, and the job prospects are strong, don't go to the 30th best school with similar prospects at 3x the cost.

-If you're looking at schools in the 50-100 range, be careful. You want to go to the best school you can, for the cheapest amount. In this range jobs will be a little harder to come by. Pay attention to location. The 50th best law school located 250 miles from the nearest major city may mean nothing compared to a school ranked 65 in a major metro area, if that school has a strong reputation there.

-If your realistic range is 100-200, be EXTREMELY careful. Try for scholarships, and consider financial info carefully. Again, consider area. If you are in a situation where you're looking at 100-150k of debt for one of these lower tier schools, I simply wouldn't recommend going unless:
A) You have a guaranteed job coming out, or have substantial personal wealth.
B) You want to be a lawyer, regardless of the cost or how much you end up making.
C) You're 99.99% positive you can finish in the top 15% of your class (be realistic).

[unspokenone25]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

The most important advice for people interested in law school (IMO, of course):


-Be smart when deciding where to go, or whether to go. If you can get into a top 20 school, then sure, take the leap, take the big loans if necessary, and go ahead and do it.

-If you're looking at top 25-50 schools, just be smart. If you can go to the 35th best school at in state rates, and the job prospects are strong, don't go to the 30th best school with similar prospects at 3x the cost.

-If you're looking at schools in the 50-100 range, be careful. You want to go to the best school you can, for the cheapest amount. In this range jobs will be a little harder to come by. Pay attention to location. The 50th best law school located 250 miles from the nearest major city may mean nothing compared to a school ranked 65 in a major metro area, if that school has a strong reputation there.

-If your realistic range is 100-200, be EXTREMELY careful. Try for scholarships, and consider financial info carefully. Again, consider area. If you are in a situation where you're looking at 100-150k of debt for one of these lower tier schools, I simply wouldn't recommend going unless:
A) You have a guaranteed job coming out, or have substantial personal wealth.
B) You want to be a lawyer, regardless of the cost or how much you end up making.
C) You're 99.99% positive you can finish in the top 15% of your class (be realistic).

I concur with this advice.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by unspokenone25

I concur with this advice.

I do as well. The only thing I would add is this: If you have a pretty sure idea where you want to settle/practice, you might take that into account by picking a school in that state. Even if it's not Yale or Harvard, going to a "local" law school might lead to more open doors and connections if lots of the lawyers where you want to end up are also alumni of that school.

[GeekyPenguin]

shinerbock gave good advice here. I went to a tier-3 school for free but I have classmates who paid the full 30k and don't have jobs. Yikes!

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

The most important advice for people interested in law school (IMO, of course):


-Be smart when deciding where to go, or whether to go. If you can get into a top 20 school, then sure, take the leap, take the big loans if necessary, and go ahead and do it.

-If you're looking at top 25-50 schools, just be smart. If you can go to the 35th best school at in state rates, and the job prospects are strong, don't go to the 30th best school with similar prospects at 3x the cost.

-If you're looking at schools in the 50-100 range, be careful. You want to go to the best school you can, for the cheapest amount. In this range jobs will be a little harder to come by. Pay attention to location. The 50th best law school located 250 miles from the nearest major city may mean nothing compared to a school ranked 65 in a major metro area, if that school has a strong reputation there.

-If your realistic range is 100-200, be EXTREMELY careful. Try for scholarships, and consider financial info carefully. Again, consider area. If you are in a situation where you're looking at 100-150k of debt for one of these lower tier schools, I simply wouldn't recommend going unless:
A) You have a guaranteed job coming out, or have substantial personal wealth.
B) You want to be a lawyer, regardless of the cost or how much you end up making.
C) You're 99.99% positive you can finish in the top 15% of your class (be realistic).

Great advice. I got into a higher ranked school, but I wanted to continue to work in New England, and in-state tuition was a HUGE bargain, so I ended up at a state school at the back of the top 50. I know that if I continue to do well, I can get a job in CT or Boston, so it worked out ok. Where I wanted to practice was a huge part of my decision-making process.

When it comes to local rankings, I keep referring back to Suffolk Law in Boston. It's not ranked all that highly, but if you want a big-firm (or well-respected small firm) job in Boston, most of them hire Suffolk grads. It has a pretty solid faculty, and does a really good job of networking in the Boston legal community. Quinnipiac in CT gets a lot of their students into good judicial clerkships because they expose their students to the process early, and have a good relationship with the state appellate and federal courts. There are examples like that all over the country; like Shiner said, you just have to be careful.

[KSigkid]

For those currently studying for the bar; if you're on Facebook, there's a "Bar Exam Lolcats" group that's pretty funny.

Good luck to those of you studying for the bar!

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

For those currently studying for the bar; if you're on Facebook, there's a "Bar Exam Lolcats" group that's pretty funny.

Good luck to those of you studying for the bar!

Thanks, I needed another distraction.