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[whysoseriousbiglaw]

I get the point behind this advice, but I feel like this paragraph relies on a ton of assumptions about what the OP's life is going to look like in 10 years. It also seems a little overly cautious to make every decision at this point in OP's life based on entirely hypothetical choices about a family that doesn't exist and won't for probably a decade, if ever. That seems a little hamstring-y; life/careers are so non-linear, making choices now based on hypothetical assumptions about where you'll be in a decade seems overly constrictive.

Sure, they are assumptions. I'd argue they are reasonable assumptions.

55.7% of Americans over 18 are married. The vast majority of college graduates get married (at a rate twice that of the high-school only demographic). http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/20 ... -educated/

The median age to get married is 28 for men and 26 for women. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_ ... ted_States The median age for first time mothers/fathers is 30/32 respectively (google it).

So, your claim that OP "probably" won't have a family within the next decade is completely contradicted by the data. Absent any additional info, I can confidently claim he/she will probably get married and will have a first child within the next decade. It's just demographics and statistics.

Telling an OP it's advisable to take this info into consideration isn't "hamstring-y" or "overly cautious". It's simply an acknowledgement of the facts as they stand. And, quite frankly, I view OP's WUSTL option as the hamstring-y, overly cautious choice for someone who has Harvard with some $ as one of the available options.

Fact: Overwhelming evidence that biglaw is terrible. If you take out 300k debt you will probably leave biglaw with a ton of debt given attrition rates and hate your life while in biglaw.
Fact: Law is one of the top 3 unhappiest careers. I'm sure if you take out 300k debt it doesn't help with happiness.

So given all of the above, if OP takes out 300k debt at Harvard, it's likely he will be an unhappy, over-worked, miserable, broke retard.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I get the point behind this advice, but I feel like this paragraph relies on a ton of assumptions about what the OP's life is going to look like in 10 years. It also seems a little overly cautious to make every decision at this point in OP's life based on entirely hypothetical choices about a family that doesn't exist and won't for probably a decade, if ever. That seems a little hamstring-y; life/careers are so non-linear, making choices now based on hypothetical assumptions about where you'll be in a decade seems overly constrictive.

Sure, they are assumptions. I'd argue they are reasonable assumptions.

55.7% of Americans over 18 are married. The vast majority of college graduates get married (at a rate twice that of the high-school only demographic). http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/20 ... -educated/

The median age to get married is 28 for men and 26 for women. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_ ... ted_States The median age for first time mothers/fathers is 30/32 respectively (google it).

So, your claim that OP "probably" won't have a family within the next decade is completely contradicted by the data. Absent any additional info, I can confidently claim he/she will probably get married and will have a first child within the next decade. It's just demographics and statistics.

Telling an OP it's advisable to take this info into consideration isn't "hamstring-y" or "overly cautious". It's simply an acknowledgement of the facts as they stand. And, quite frankly, I view OP's WUSTL option as the hamstring-y, overly cautious choice for someone who has Harvard with some $ as one of the available options.

55.7% is a little over half. Median age means just as many above that age as below. I guess technically that's "probably," but I think of "probably" way more likely than a little over half. Also, statistics are about averages, not about a specific individual.

More to the point, though, even if they have a family, you're making a lot of assumptions about what that family would look like and what the OP's priorities for that family would be.

Or to put this another way: I don't think people should be giving OPs advice based on their family goals/priorities unless that OP specifically mentions those goals/priorities as part of their decision process. There are tons of different ways to combine a career and family and it's governed too much by personal priorities for outsiders to comment without further information.

[ponderingmeerkat]

Your statement: "but the odds of being unemployed go to zero. And his ability to feed/care/protect/provide for his family will be solidified, permanently"
My statement: I know unemployed Harvard/Columbia grads who are shitty lawyers.

Obviously that directly contradicts your statement.

Anyway aren't you a 0L? Just STFU please about biglaw and money - you don't have money or biglaw. Taking out 300k debt or whatever for Harvard law is just fucking stupid and if you're too dumb to realize that, then you deserve to be poor for life.

I'm not saying he should definitely go to WUSTL over Harvard. I personally wouldn't do any of these choices. I'm saying taking out 300k debt for A DEGREE (lol) is just fucking stupid and financially irresponsible. And I say this from the POV of someone who has done biglaw for years and someone who likely has and will have a lot more money than you (and clearly financial sense). If you take out 300k debt for a DEGREE (lol) you are just a fucking retard.

Less cocaine, more Xanax dude. Unnecessarily aggressive.

"I know unemployed Harvard/Columbia grads who are shitty lawyers" is anecdata, pure and simple. There's always the statistical outlier, who cares. Harvard's long-term unemployment rate approaches that of TTTT Law Schools biglaw placement rate. But I don't see you rah-rah-ing every TTTT prospective student who has heard some anecdata about "this one guy he heard about this one time who works for some biglaw firm somewhere". It'd be a bullshit point to raise in support of attending Historical Figure School of Dogbite Law just as it remains a bullshit point to raise against attending Harvard.

I think the rest of your "fucking retard" and "you deserve to be poor for life comments" frame your shittt-tier personality and shittt-tier opinions for me quite nicely.

Meanwhile, I wish the OP the best of luck. Please give some consideration to the flexibility afforded by a more national-tier alumni network, reputation, ect. Good luck!