Forum Index
»
Off-Topic
What kind of grades do you need in law school these days?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| She will not get a biglaw job. At all. |
Anonymous
Agreed. But she might still do just fine. I'm 5 years out of law school and everyone I know is making a lot more than $50K. Even the ones who had to take low-paying jobs at first have worked their way up to at least $100-150K at small/medium firms or government jobs. Outside of biglaw, once you have work experience your grades don't matter much. And this is in one of the worst legal job markets in history. |
Anonymous
| MD is in the first tier and has graduates all over biglaw. my past biglaw jobs interviewed at MD regularly. the cut-off was pretty high (top 10%), but still, we hired from there in fairly large #s. |
Anonymous
| Right, but with those grades and MD, she is not going to get biglaw. This is the kind of magical thinking that leads so many students into law school and racking up debt, assuming they will be in that top 10% and get the biglaw job, but then don't. |
Anonymous
|
true, but a lot of people back their way into biglaw. maybe that is not the case in this economy, but I worked in biglaw for ten years despite having crappy grades at a mediocre law school. It just wasn't my first job out of law school.
some go to the govt first, some get specialized experience, some get a ll.m. that actually helps, etc. again, probably those examples are fewer in this economy, but not impossible if that is your goal. I am out of biglaw now, practicing as a partner at a smaller firm working for the clients I took with me from my biglaw job. so sort-of a win-win. maybe i was lucky. |
Anonymous
|
Doesn't sound like she's a real go-getter so not sure why she'd want to give her life away for big law. It's probably not her intent at all. Lots of JDs working in DC who aren't in big law. They aren't making big law bucks but they make a fine living. I work with a ton of them in health policy.
Sounds like her family will help pay off loans any way, if they are helping her now. Really, there are people out there doing a lot worse. |
Anonymous
Yes but with smaller classes being hired each year, if at all, those numbers are shrinking. She should not realistically consider biglaw unless she distinguishes herself in another way (like a kickass clerkship, which she may not be likely to get with current grades) or has some great connections, especially if she not able to get a summer associate gig there. Government jobs are more secure and typically require fewer hours, something she may appreciate as she gets older. She could always try to lateral in to a large firm or go in-house somewhere after she has more experience (when grades and schools matter less) if private practice is her goal. |
Anonymous
| Why do we assume everyone wants Biglaw? She may not. I'm quite happy working in a public interest job with a loan repayment program, and when I had kids it was easy to scale back my hours. Do you even know what she wants to do? |
Anonymous
Maybe she doesn't want a biglaw job. At all. |
Anonymous
That's the question, isn't it? |
Anonymous
OP's concern is that she won't make enough money to pay the loans back, or, if she does, that she won't make enough to live on, and then OP will be left to bail her out. Without getting into the question of why OP feels she would be stuck in the situation, I think the reason people assume BigLaw is because her debt load sounds high for somebody who doesn't want BigLaw. I did it the opposite way - poorly ranked school but extremely high grades plus a connection, so I have worked in BigLaw for a long time now. The vagaries of the hiring process can be stunning: we get people from "name" schools who can't figure out how to research the simplest question, and we get superstars from those schools and from no-name schools, too, but that second group is reuqired to have stratospheric grades. The deck is stacked in favor of the top five or ten law schools. When I went to law school, I had not even heard of BigLaw and didn't care where I went, so I ended up where I am almost by accident. I worry a lot about all of the people who think they are guaranteed to make $160K walking out the door because they read about the salaries on Above The Law. There is very little in the way of information about the rest of the legal market, and that concerns me. I read these stories about these kids who borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it is really sad. One off day when you are interviewing because you have a cold, and you're done. It is scary. |
Anonymous
|
OP - I'm sorry, but I don't think you're concerned at all....I think you're jealous and nosey. I am not one to ever call anyone out on anything on DCUM - but the moment I read your post, jealousy is the first thing that came to mind.
|
Anonymous
|
I can't believe all the snarky and uncalled for comments on this thread. As someone who has over $100k in law school debt, I understand why the OP is concerned for her cousin. It is a lot to pay back if you are making $50k a year in this area. And then when I read the response about being asked to buy the cousin a couch, I totally understand. The most helpful poster is the one who said that you need to put your foot down and draw some boundaries about money. This young woman has unfortunately gotten herself into a bad situation -- not one that is catastrophic or can't be resolved over the course of many years, but not a great way to start off your working life, 6 figures in the hole. I understand it because I was her, except I went to a more expensive school (though I had no debt from undergrad). It was a huge financial mistake, and because of that I won't be able to give my kids all the financial/material things I wish I could. It is sad that she has done this to herself, but it is not your responsibility to help her out and it is completely inappropriate for your aunt to ask you to do so.
|