Tuition - How much is too much? Forum

[Grizz]

But dood, he's gonna finish in the top 10-15%. You gotta keep that in mind. He's not planning to get bad grades.

Wow man, seriously? Way to be a doucher.

You're the one predicting (even assuming) top 10% grades, not me.

What's wrong with that?

Math.

[fatduck]

Then you're gonna get a bunch of terrible advice.

There's more to the practice of law than an LSAT score. I am aware that my score gets frowned upon around here (although 71% of the population would say I did a pretty damn good job on it) but the retake discussion is a different conversation entirely.

Yeah but your LSAT score determines where you can go to law school, which is very important for where you can get a job later bro

There's more to the practice of law than a job. Practicing law.

[General Tso]

I went to Ole Miss too (for UG). top 10-15% doesn't mean much at Ole Miss law, unfortunately. Some TLS sources say that only the top TEN students overall got to participate in OCI this past fall.

It may not seem like it now, but it'd be a better financial decision to sit on your bum for another year, try to get your score up and get into a better school with $$$. If you truly got a 157 with no prep, you could probably score in the high 160s at least. With your GPA, you'd be looking at full scholarships to T1 schools.

think long-term....besides, the legal job market is not going to get worse, it can only get better (or stay the same). there's a chance that every year you delay, your job prospects become greater.

[romothesavior]

You're the one predicting (even assuming) top 10% grades, not me.

What's wrong with that?

Do you know how hard it is to be in the top 10% at a school of people of similar intelligence, similar work ethic, and similar motivation?

And don't give me this "I'm really smart and really hard working" bit, because many, many people have thought the same thing going in and have gotten burned.

[LoyalRebel]

Wow man, seriously? Way to be a doucher.

You're the one predicting (even assuming) top 10% grades, not me.

What's wrong with that?

Math.

Says the guy who predicted Tony Romo to be the "savior".

[JazzOne]

Wow man, seriously? Way to be a doucher.

You're the one predicting (even assuming) top 10% grades, not me.

What's wrong with that?

Math.

lol

[romothesavior]

What's wrong with that?

Math.

Says the guy who predicted Tony Romo to be the "savior".

Check you poster names.

[Knock]

You're the one predicting (even assuming) top 10% grades, not me.

What's wrong with that?

Math.

Says the guy who predicted Tony Romo to be the "savior".

[General Tso]

these guys are just yanking your chain...don't get too involved in the flame war

I think you should take a Powerscore or Testmasters class near your parents house and retake the LSAT.

[JazzOne]

I always knew rad law was a closet Romo.

[paulinaporizkova]

Says the guy who predicted Tony Romo to be the "savior".

--ImageRemoved--

[romothesavior]

these guys are just yanking your chain...don't get too involved in the flame war

I think you should take a Powerscore or Testmasters class near your parents house and retake the LSAT.

I don't yank chains.

Tso is right. Re-take the LSAT. And for Christ's sake, learn a little something about law school and the economy while you're at it.

[paulinaporizkova]

I always knew rad law was a closet Romo.

good one

[2011Law]

Didn't read all of this thread, but my advice is the same as everyone's (I assume). Study and retake.

When you're graduating from a t14 in 2015 instead of a TT in 2014, you'll thank the posters in this thread.

[jeremysen]

If that 60k a year figure is accurate for a median grad from SMU, I definitely won't forking out the tuition for it.

These stats aren't really published anywhere. But yeah, Biglaw is 120k-160k if you're really lucky/have connections/top of the class. Midlaw ranges from 50k to 100k, and small law...

Check nalp.org or http://www.infirmation.com/shared/insider/payscale.tcl for quantified info.

If you want a better picture, you should also ask SMU 3Ls who are aware of their peers' employment offers.

edit:
To comment on midlaw, it varies from city to city. A real good midlaw job would be 75k+

[AboveTheLawSchool]

OP why are you assuming a higher LSAT is unrealistic? You said yourself you didn't study for it. The LSAT is not like the ACT in that studying doesn't matter.

[jeremysen]

think long-term....besides, the legal job market is not going to get worse, it can only get better (or stay the same). there's a chance that every year you delay, your job prospects become greater.

famous last words

[LoyalRebel]

It's amazing how immature some of you people are.

[AboveTheLawSchool]

It's amazing how immature some of you people are.

Honestly, everyone here is trying to help.

[2011Law]

OP why are you assuming a higher LSAT is unrealistic? You said yourself you didn't study for it. The LSAT is not like the ACT in that studying doesn't matter.

Also, what if you are wrong about being in the top 10% How ****ed will you be then?

Didn't read that he thought the LSAT was not learnable. OP, it is. I jumped about 20 points. Others here have done the same.

[Zeus]

No offense friend, but I would have to place Ole Miss as one of the worst law schools in the nation. In my opinion it is lucky to be third tier rather than fourth. At Ole Miss Law connections matter more than anything. If you don't have significant connections, you're job prospects are bleak. Even with them, you'd be better off almost anywhere else. Also-and this is a big one for me- who would want to be around a group of people with a false superiority complex for 3 years anyway? Ole Miss students think they are quite special, although they are below average at best.

[romothesavior]

It's amazing how immature some of you people are.

Honestly, everyone here is trying to help.

+1. OP, we want to help. It is just hard to help someone who assumes they will be top 10% and says things like this:

I am going to law school so I can obtain a JD and be licensed to practice law. I fully anticipate being very successful because I am intelligent, very hard working, and I know how to make it on my own. Just because I probably won't be hired by some mega firm in a highrise in New York doesn't mean I can't be successful. I have confidence in my ability and I don't 200k in loans to tell me I can do this.

You need to talk to some people who are actually in law school, learn a little about the job market and the difficulty of doing really well in law school, and fully understand the risks and stresses of law school. And definitely re-take, because going into a lot of debt for the schools you just mentioned is a recipe for financial disaster.

Good luck.

[LoyalRebel]

OP why are you assuming a higher LSAT is unrealistic? You said yourself you didn't study for it. The LSAT is not like the ACT in that studying doesn't matter.

Also, what if you are wrong about being in the top 10% How ****ed will you be then?

The idea here is to create a niche. Accounting undergrad, full time tax accounting internship, pretty full resume (honors, tutoring jobs, loads of work experience, etc), probably some good legal internships with tax attorneys, and maybe some more tax work while I'm in school.

As far as grades, I'm in the top 10% of competitive undergrad program (by national standards, even). Maybe not top 10% (but maybe so, who knows), but I don't think top 20-25% is unrealistic.

[Knock]

The Rise and Fall of a Law Student
1. Takes LSAT, does not study despite the test being the most important test they will ever take (save for maybe the bar, but that's debatable), gets 155
2. Looks into schools; YAY! There are some that will take me!
3. Finds TLS, is told how terrible the market and their school of choice is, accuses everyone of being an elitist, and blames jobless grads for "not networking/working hard enough"
4. Rationalizes their choice of law school:
(a)"I don't want to go into biglaw. I want to go into PI" (stupidly assumes that PI gigs are plentiful and easy to get, and that no tier 1 students want them)
(b)"Where you go to school doesn't matter, it is all about NETWORKING!"
(c)"I will work super duper hard!"
(d)"It is all just the economy, but it will get better!"
5. Crosses fingers that their 180k, 3-year investment at a TTT will pan out

*fast forward three years*

Oh shit...

Looks like we got a classic 1-2-3-4c-tenative 5

[JazzOne]

OP why are you assuming a higher LSAT is unrealistic? You said yourself you didn't study for it. The LSAT is not like the ACT in that studying doesn't matter.

Also, what if you are wrong about being in the top 10% How ****ed will you be then?

The idea here is to create a niche. Accounting undergrad, full time tax accounting internship, pretty full resume (honors, tutoring jobs, loads of work experience, etc), probably some good legal internships with tax attorneys, and maybe some more tax work while I'm in school.

As far as grades, I'm in the top 10% of competitive undergrad program (by national standards, even). Maybe not top 10% (but maybe so, who knows), but I don't think top 20-25% is unrealistic.

There's about a 75-80% chance that it is unrealistic.