U of Idaho for free: yea or nay? Forum

[NeighborGuy]

Been poring over the doom and gloom threads for the law job market. I'm 0L, and starting to question whether this is a good idea.

First question: the debt issue seems to be a huge reason why people are arguing against law school in general. What if my GI Bill will cover nearly the whole shebang, including housing allowance? How many people think it still wouldn't be worth it to get into U of Idaho for free? Pretty much anywhere else and I'm going to take on debt.

Second question: the biggest reason why I want to do law school is to career "transition". I'm 24, and basically didn't stay long enough in any one job while in the military to get good at anything, and my undergrad degree (which was also free) is in General Business, so my career options right now are officially: McDonalds. Would I be better off going another direction entirely, seeing as I can get trained for no cost right now? If so, I could sure use some suggestions from people who know better than me what's going on here.

[JOThompson]

I was in a similar position. My history degree wasn't opening any remotely lucrative career doors. I was pretty much relegated to retail work. There simply aren't enough legal jobs to go around now, so it's a particularly risky time to start school. I'd only advise going to law school in this economy if 1.) You can go to a school in the T20 range (some argue that T10 or even T30 should be the cutoff) or 2.) you can attend a regional school for little or no cost. You may have to lower your standards about pay, location, and type of work.

This was my reasoning: I could continue making $15k a year working full time while being treated like crap, or take out $60k of loans in hopes of someday acquiring a job that pays at least $35k on the low end.

If you can utilize the GI Bill, you should look at higher ranked schools that aren't so geographically limited. The cost of living allowance should scale up with the COL in your particular city.

[Danteshek]

Don't go. It's not a very good school and the opportunities are minimal. A poster here went there last year on scholarship and regretted that decision. Fortunately he was able to transfer.

[OGR3]

If you want to practice in Idaho or eastern Washington, it wouldn't be a bad choice, provided you can handle 3 years in Moscow.

I would strongly suggest a visit, Moscow is pretty much the most boring place on earth.

[Journeybound]

Go check out A'nold's posts in the Transfer forum. He was dying to get out of there last year, even though he had a significant scholarship. He's now at UWashington.

[vanwinkle]

OP didn't need to be anonymous; also, moved to appropriate forum.

[JakeL]

I say Yay as long as you are comfortable with staying in Idaho or E. Washington. It's not like you are going to be any worse off if you aren't paying for anything. If you kill in school you might even be able to clerk for a judge or do something that would open more doors.