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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If the top of the class at ND can land a biglaw job or a good clerkship, why take on the debt?[/quote]

[b]Bc you may wind up in their bottom or middle not the top.[/b]

Law school isn't like undergrad where if you work hard and spend a lot of time writing papers you can do well. There is one exam for each course, that's it, and the class is curved so only a certain small percentage can get a good grade.[/quote]

This could happen at Harvard too and is, in fact, more likely to happen there because of the stiffness of the competition.  Middle of the pack or bottom of the class at Harvard is having a very hard time landing big law nowadays.  At least if he was middle or bottom at Notre Dame, he would not have crushing debt to deal with.[/quote]

I have an extremely hard time believing that any Harvard grad is unable to find a firm law job if they want that. It may not be Cravath, but they will find something in a firm with a starting salary north of $125,000. [/quote]

PP here. Typos due to autocorrect. I should also add that Elie Mystal has written a lot about his experience as a Harvard Law graduate who landed big law and is still in a terrible financial situation bc he could not stay long enough. OP, if you and your husband fall into the law school trap, you have no one to blame but yourselves.

Stupidity like this is how year after year of students keeps getting into trouble with loans. How is it that people like you still do not realize how much the legal market has changed since 2008? From the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times, numerous publications are doing a great job of spreading the word and yet people refuse to get it. I, personally, know four people who were middle of the pack at Harvard with full debt who are currently living with their parents because they could only find jobs paying ~80k and they have ~250k in debt.  Even a 125k job won't put a dent in that kind of debt. When you and that kind of debt, it is big law or bust as far as your financial future goes. It is better not to get into that kind of got in the first place, then to gamble that you'll be one of the very very rare few who will lend that increasingly difficult big law job.[/quote][/quote]

Sure, there may be a few outliers, but I think it has more to do with them than the market (at least as far as the very top schools go). I know one classmate at my Ivy who could not find a firm job even when graduating before the crash - but this was attributable to her own personal issues.

I don't dispute that there is risk involved in taking out a $200,000 loan for Harvard - but as far as risks in higher education go, it's still minimal, presuming you are a mentally stable person with a minimum level of social skills.

Also, if you're really only making 80k with $200,000 in debt, then I think you start to qualify for federal income-based repayment, which would be about $500/month. Yes that's a big bill, but doable if you live modestly in most cities.

Not saying that this is a desirable outcome - but it is a safety net for those rare HLS grads who for some reason can't find a regular firm job. [/quote]

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