Top Law Schools

Hey everyone,

I am looking for some advice regarding which school to attend. Small back story is that I have been a paralegal for 6 years and am confident I can make it as an attorney.

Here is my breakdown:
LSAT: 152 (took it three times - yes I studied, took classes, etc. - best I could do)
UGPA: 3.1

Whitter - $2500 Scholarship
La Verne - $5000 Scholarship
Southwestern - Full sticker
Loyola - Full sticker
(If anyone knows how to get some more money out of these schools in terms of the initial scholarship offer, please let me know)

My other option is to attend Glendale Law School or West Los Angeles Law School, which are CBE schools. I can sit for the California bar (no "baby bar") and I would have no debit coming out of school.

My goals are simple and not grandiose in terms of what I want to do with my career. I do NOT want to work at a huge law firm, wouldn't mind the opportunity, but having worked as a paralegal in large and small firms, they are not the place I would like to work. I want to start my own practice doing simple divorces, small PI cases, etc. So I am mostly concerned about the debit I would incur during school.

My question is simply directed towards those who are attending (attended) or graduated from one of the above law schools and your opinions. Should I attend a school like Whitter and come out with some debt, a school like Southwestern and come out $100k plus in debit, or attend a CBE school with no debt.

Simply put, I am not sure about the value of the school attended when the type of law I want to practice in not big firm material.

Any advice would be great. Thanks for your time.

If you want to open up your own shop, you should go for free. But really, if 152 is the very best you can do you probably shouldn't go to law school at all. Those schools are awful, those scholarships are awful, and the stipulations are probably awful as well. But since we likely won't be able to talk you out of going, just try to minimize your debt as much as possible. Southwestern is not even remotely close to being worth six figures of debt.

lakid310 wrote:(If anyone knows how to get some more money out of these schools in terms of the initial scholarship offer, please let me know)

I know how: retake the LSAT. But trust me, those schools aren't worth it even with $$$. Retake or rethink law school.

PRgradBYU wrote:

lakid310 wrote:(If anyone knows how to get some more money out of these schools in terms of the initial scholarship offer, please let me know)

I know how: retake the LSAT. But trust me, those schools aren't worth it even with $$$. Retake or rethink law school.

Yes if 152 is the best score you could get after studying and taking three times, I'd rethink law school. You need a much better score for a decent school, even one that is worth going to for free.

Literally not a single one of these schools is worth attending for free. If you pay money for them, it's just making a bad decision worse. If you are convinced you cannot do better on the LSAT, don't go to law school. Find a different career or keep working as a paralegal.

rickgrimes69 wrote:Literally not a single one of these schools is worth attending for free.

EDIT:

except

ManoftheHour wrote:I'd only consider Loyola WITH a full scholarship, no stips.

Of these, I'd only consider Loyola WITH a full scholarship, no stips. I wouldn't touch the other schools. Other than that, unless you have a job lined up NONE of these are remotely worth it.

You COULD just wait a bit and retake. You can take up to 3 times in 2 years. You could wait a few months for a third retake.

please don't become another sad statistic from one of these scam schools

No. Just no. You have a good job now and no debt. These schools are terrible choices at anything but full tuition/drop out if you don't meet the stips. I'd maybe pay 5K per year for Loyola only if I could work on the side. That's your absolute lowest price point.

First rule of negotiating: the person who is unwilling to walk away from the table usually loses hard.

I know what you're thinking: No, your current firm won't hire you as a lawyer, no, they won't take you back as a paralegal if it doesn't work out. Yes, they will tell you both things three years in advance and will burn you later.

These are not good ideas. Don't go.