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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DC just started 2nd year as a NYC big law associate.  Graduated from a top 5 Law School.  Got a huge merit scholarship for law school coming from a state university.  Debt free thanks to great grades and LSAT scores.  Works in Corporate Finance.  Works hard but deal closings have up and down times and better quality of life generally than litigation.  Enjoys practice group and salary exceeding $250 K.   Worked minimally Thanksgiving weekend.  [/quote]

Top 5 law schools don’t hand out huge merit scholarships.  Name the school. [/quote]

People always say this but they’re wrong. My kid got a Rubenstein Scholarship to UChicago Law, as did at least 10% of his class. Full ride plus $20k annual stipend [/quote]

You might have bothered mentioning that the Rubenstein is only for URM low-income applicants as are most of the law merit scholarships. My kid is applying now. There is no merit at Harvard (my school), yale or stanford and those scholarships offered in the remaining T11 are almost always for URM/low income and not generous.[b] He was told by a former Dean of a T4 that he would have to change skin color [/b]even with a 177, top grades and degrees from Oxbridge, to get merit. It is what it is. So  we are planning - again - for full freight.

FWIW his white friends who got half tuition had to drop down to T40s and T60s, where, like with colleges, some law will trade scholarship monies for a top LSAT score or GPA or Rhodes bragging points[/quote]

I call BS on this. No one told anybody this.[/quote]

[b]+1 Merit scholarships have little to do with URM status.[/b]  Many students from Families that can afford to pay receive them if the stats are high enough. [/quote]

False. That's exactly what the Rubenstein mentioned above is about. Merit money is given only for three reasons: 1) to kure a URM who would otherwise go to a school higher on the T list; 2) to lure an 800 who would otherwise go higher on the T list; 3) to lure a 4.0 who would otherwise go higher. That's why Harvard, Yale and Stanford Law don't offer merit. They don't need to move up the T list. Every year Harvard brags to me re incoming law stats. Currently, the 75th percentile of this year's entering class has a 3.99 or better and a 177 or better (i think Yale is identical but may be at 178). There is no way to go further up. It's only the schools below that offer merit in order to get higher stats students.  it's the same system with undergrad in our nation: top
schools don't offer merit because they don't have to[/quote]
There are very few of these types of scholarships and it's not clear that they're actually much of a benefit over choosing Yale--that's why they have to offer so much money.  If you're a top student at a top school then you'll have the option of doing a couple years of BigLaw, for both the prestige and to pay down your loans, before moving on to other options.  Despite being lambasted on boards like this, BigLaw is a great option to get some experience early in your legal career.  Stay if you like it.   Move on if you don't.

I got no scholarship money and paid off my loans during my first year in BigLaw between my clerkship bonus and big paycheck.  Taking loans for law school isn't a big deal as long as you are positioned to land a BigLaw spot.[/quote]

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