diegoforlan10 wrote:To everyone who was accepted off the waitlist:
Please take some time to seriously consider whether attending this school at full price is a smart decision. The Cost of Attendance (CoA) for the Washington College of Law is a staggering $70,204 for the full-time program and $55,832 for the part-time program, per year. (http://www.wcl.american.edu/finaid/cost.cfm).
This is the cost to attend a school that is eclipsed by two other powerhouses in the very same city, Georgetown and George Washington and another Top-14 school nearby (UVA). In addition, American shares its market with peer schools such as the University of Maryland and George Mason, both of which are significantly cheaper than American.
Upon graduating that JD degree you paid $200,000 for (and thats a conservative estimate) will place you in a DC market flooded with recent graduates from much more competitive schools in one of the worst job markets the legal "industry" has seen in years.
When I first decided I wanted to go to law school, American was my first choice. I always liked the school and I love the city. However, there is no way this school is worth attending without any scholarship. I know I'm going to sound like the typical TLS broken-record, but if this is the best school you can get into, please consider taking a year off to prepare for and re-take the LSAT. If you can push 163+ you're in at American with money, AND also have likely to get money from better schools with better job prospects. TLS is full of materials and guides on how to ace the LSAT. I believe anyone who prepares properly can break 160 without much trouble. Also, applications to law schools have been going down steadily and there is no reason to suggest this trend won't continue next year so you will be competing against a less-accomplished applicant pool.
I hope I haven't offended anyone ITT. Congrats on making into American. I only want to make you consider if attending at full-price is really something you want to burden yourself with. $200,000+ in debt is no small thing to shake off, especially with American's bleak job prospects.
Curious - are you a current student there, what made you decide to post this warning?