Reply to Taking on Debt for Law School

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Taking on Debt for Law School"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Only go to one of the v best law schools OR  get a full ride to a school in a city you'd like to practice (or specific area focus you are interested in) in AND make sure you want to BE A LAWYER not - I love (fill in the blank) !  I'll be a (fill in the blank) lawyer.  Doesn't work like that -figure out what a lawyer does - talk to a bunch of them.  Highly recommend working before law school.  ---lawyer from a family of lawyers.[/quote]

Finally. Both correct and concise. Lawyerly, you might say.

I’m a youngish biglaw partner living about the best dream version of law practice imaginable. But I come from a poor background and had immense debt. This guy has it right: T5 or debt free, otherwise do something else. I was neither of those, but managed to dance through the raindrops. I wouldn’t recommend it. [b]I view my career as the fulcrum that gives my kids the freedom and comfort to try and do actual creative, exciting, valuable work. And I’m very happy with that given my starting point. But if my son has immense comfort and worldliness and the best schools and safety to fail, yet chooses to be a lawyer? I’d be disappointed.[/b] [/quote]

Ha, I feel the same way!

I agree with the posters who say only take on debt for a top school and even then, don't take on more than the starting salary in your target job.  I won't say it has to be at a certain # in the rankings because some of that is regional.  It might be worth taking on debt to go to the #2 school in your target city even if that school isn't T14 nationally (i.e. GW here).  The questions are what proportion of grads get high paying jobs in the market where you want to work and are you willing to work in one of those high paying jobs knowing what that demands.  Why does your kid want to go to law school?  If it's to argue con law cases in the Supreme Court, then better go to a top 5 school and lead the class.  If it's to work for a non-profit or in government, shoot for a school with excellent loan forgiveness programs or one that will be low debt.  Encourage your kid to talk to lawyers about what they do to see if the field feels right and figure out where kid's aspirations fit.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics