Help me choose a place to deposit! Forum

[Ludo!]

I appreciate the helpful feedback. Thank you! Just to be clear to anyone who may read this in the future...I'm not interested in Biglaw and while I know many of these schools will indeed make it hard for me to get any sort of legal job, please keep in mind that becoming a Big Bad Attorney is not what I'm interested in. My desire to attend law school and study law stems from the passion to serve in a Disability Rights field/Special Education Advocacy field.

I don't know much about this area but do you actually need a JD to do this? And if so are you sure you can get this job coming from a place like Whittier?

[Bildungsroman]

I'm not planning to have 200k in debt because I will only be borrowing for tuition, not living expenses. Also, I am planning to attend a school that has a loan forgiveness program as well as utilize the benefit of the public service loan forgiveness program through the government. I know it will not eliminate all of my debt, but it will certainly not leave me with 200k in student loans.

Taking out loans for tuition will still leave you well over $100,000 in debt. Also, you should very carefully research the loan repayment assistance programs at these schools, as not all LRAPS are created equal and some suck.

[JoeMo]

I'm not planning to have 200k in debt because I will only be borrowing for tuition, not living expenses. Also, I am planning to attend a school that has a loan forgiveness program as well as utilize the benefit of the public service loan forgiveness program through the government. I know it will not eliminate all of my debt, but it will certainly not leave me with 200k in student loans.

Dude, just don't go. Retake until you get a score high enough to get into a better school. Do you really want to go to a school that admits more than 50% of its applicants? (Whittier)

If you can't get a better score then don't go.

and I called you dude because I can.

[flem]

The stip at Whittier:
Top 5%= full ride
Top 10%= 75%
Top 15%= 50%
Top 20%= 25%

I thought that was reasonable.

--ImageRemoved--

[rad lulz]

.

[JoeMo]

I'm not planning to have 200k in debt because I will only be borrowing for tuition, not living expenses. Also, I am planning to attend a school that has a loan forgiveness program as well as utilize the benefit of the public service loan forgiveness program through the government. I know it will not eliminate all of my debt, but it will certainly not leave me with 200k in student loans.

Taking out loans for tuition will still leave you well over $100,000 in debt. Also, you should very carefully research the loan repayment assistance programs at these schools, as not all LRAPS are created equal and some suck.

I wouldn't take out $100k to attend Whittier unless you're committed penury. Job prospects are shitty.

You and the penury, we get it.

[llachans]

If you absolutely MUST attend this year, your best bets are the schools that have WL'd you or have not made decisions. I like Chicago-Kent and Loyola (CA) more than the rest, but they are all decent options. Chicago-Kent is an amazing school...very underrated. If you want to work in Chicago it's not a bad option at all. Choose it over Loyola-Chicago, which is just a stone's throw away from Northwestern Law. If you go to Loyola-Chicago, you'll bump into NULaw students daily at the McDonald's (Chicago Avenue) near Michigan Avenue - right above the train station - and be reminded daily of the better schools you aren't attending. Then again, that could serve as motivation to kick ass during 1L.

Choose Wayne St. over Michigan St., Choose Southwestern over USF.

Whatever you do OP, just don't listen to this guy.

Seriously...wtf is this?

Kent is an okay option FOR FREE. It isn't a school you should go into 6 figure debt for.
MSU > Wayne
USF >>> Southwestern

[Abrennan]

@ UofM...no worries on the 'dude'- I'm a big UofM fan, so we're good!

I have spoken with a special education attorney in OC who graduated from Whittier in 2006 and he expressed the need for individuals to practice law in this specific area. He and his wife both graduated from Whittier so he obviously favored that school and the specific program there. I have also spoken with other attorneys in this field (as there are not many because it is a growing specialization) and they seem to be finding work. The need is there, just not a lot of big bucks.

[rad lulz]

/

[Samara]

I'm not planning to have 200k in debt because I will only be borrowing for tuition, not living expenses. Also, I am planning to attend a school that has a loan forgiveness program as well as utilize the benefit of the public service loan forgiveness program through the government. I know it will not eliminate all of my debt, but it will certainly not leave me with 200k in student loans.

Taking out loans for tuition will still leave you well over $100,000 in debt. Also, you should very carefully research the loan repayment assistance programs at these schools, as not all LRAPS are created equal and some suck.

I wouldn't take out $100k to attend Whittier unless you're committed penury. Job prospects are shitty.

You and the penury, we get it.

Clearly, rad lulz has penury envy.

[JoeMo]

@ UofM...no worries on the 'dude'- I'm a big UofM fan, so we're good!

I have spoken with a special education attorney in OC who graduated from Whittier in 2006 and he expressed the need for individuals to practice law in this specific area. He and his wife both graduated from Whittier so he obviously favored that school and the specific program there. I have also spoken with other attorneys in this field (as there are not many because it is a growing specialization) and they seem to be finding work. The need is there, just not a lot of big bucks.

Out of the options you have listed MSU is probably your best option should you get accepted and given that you want to practice in MI. Otherwise, all those other options are very bleak and not worth the $. I started out on here as someone that would've gone to any school that would have me. But changed my tune after several people insisted this was the wrong mindset. I had similar thoughts to your own "but I'm an accounting undergrad and want to practice Tax and there aren't that many people that want that and those that do don't have accounting undergrad degrees". Anyhow, I kept justifying it in my head. I'm glad I changed my mind although I didn't have to retake but still you just have to have this "buyer beware" attitude about LS right now. Especially, schools like the ones you mentioned.

Good luck whatever you decide but seriously think it through. That much debt out of those schools is going into a situation where the odds are stacked against you.

[Bildungsroman]

I'm not planning to have 200k in debt because I will only be borrowing for tuition, not living expenses. Also, I am planning to attend a school that has a loan forgiveness program as well as utilize the benefit of the public service loan forgiveness program through the government. I know it will not eliminate all of my debt, but it will certainly not leave me with 200k in student loans.

Taking out loans for tuition will still leave you well over $100,000 in debt. Also, you should very carefully research the loan repayment assistance programs at these schools, as not all LRAPS are created equal and some suck.

I wouldn't take out $100k to attend Whittier unless you're committed penury. Job prospects are shitty.

Well yeah, but sometimes people just blandly think "LOLRAP and IBROFL" in response to total debt load. Sucks to know that even if you're one of the few lucky ones to be remotely employable after a TTT legal education you'll probably make a tiny amount of money and at a lot of shit schools won't even get a lot of LRAP help in the even you miraculously snag a law-related job at all.

[Abrennan]

I just found out yesterday that I was deferred at Chicago-Kent as well. If you are looking at USN's ranking of schools, then I would have to take into consideration their part-time program rankings as well. When you look at that, several of the schools I have applied to bump up quite far...


http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... w-rankings

[skers]

I'm not planning to have 200k in debt because I will only be borrowing for tuition, not living expenses. Also, I am planning to attend a school that has a loan forgiveness program as well as utilize the benefit of the public service loan forgiveness program through the government. I know it will not eliminate all of my debt, but it will certainly not leave me with 200k in student loans.

You have to be able to get a job first to take advantage of those programs.

[JoeMo]

I just found out yesterday that I was deferred at Chicago-Kent as well. If you are looking at USN's ranking of schools, then I would have to take into consideration their part-time program rankings as well. When you look at that, several of the schools I have applied to bump up quite far...


http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... w-rankings

Part-time rankings don't mean anything. They pretty much go in the same order as the regular rankings but list only the schools with the part-time programs. The reason GTown is #1 is because it's the school that's closest to #1 on the regular rankings that actually has a PT program it is not because it's part-time program is similar to Yale's full-time program.

Conclusion: The schools you're thinking of going to are still not worth the price you're willing to pay.

[timbs4339]

I'm not planning to have 200k in debt because I will only be borrowing for tuition, not living expenses. Also, I am planning to attend a school that has a loan forgiveness program as well as utilize the benefit of the public service loan forgiveness program through the government. I know it will not eliminate all of my debt, but it will certainly not leave me with 200k in student loans.

You have to be able to get a job first to take advantage of those programs.

Mostly right with one correction- OP will have to get a public sector job to take advantage of those programs. I do not know what the LRAP at these schools are but it can't be very good (generally these schools cannot afford to subsidize the people who are willing to take low paid public sector jobs because so many people want to take them.) Therefore OP will have to go on the 10 year PSLF government program and hope it still exists after the Republicans are done squeezing all non-defense discretionary spending out of the budget.

OP: Disability/special education non-profit services is a very niche area and there are very few jobs for recent graduates at non-profits. I worked for a disability services organization for a year. They did IDEA work. They regularly received thousands of resumes for unpaid summer intern slots, many of these people had a social work background. It is insanely competitive to get these jobs and there are many students at many schools more highly ranked who want them.

Only attend a law school that will allow you to keep your debt under 50K. Then it is manageable. Retake until you get into a decent school with a good scholly and low stipulations.

Also, if you could tell us what prep company you used perhaps we could be of better help. A lot of test prep companies do not do a very good job and applicants would be much better off self-studying with the help of the LSAT forum on TLS.

[Abrennan]

I utilized Kaplan Test Prep and took the online advantage course. It was extremely helpful. The first time I took the LSAT, I really hadn't studied at all and decided to see where I stood. I scored a 145, the second time I took it was after 2 months of studying and 1 month with Kaplan. My highest practice score was a 152 and on the actual exam I score a 151. To

[JoeMo]

I utilized Kaplan Test Prep and took the online advantage course. It was extremely helpful. The first time I took the LSAT, I really hadn't studied at all and decided to see where I stood. I scored a 145, the second time I took it was after 2 months of studying and 1 month with Kaplan. My highest practice score was a 152 and on the actual exam I score a 151. To

Nope, then you must retake after you study the PowerScore Bibles. Kaplan pretty much sucks. I used Kaplan and although my score was decent, it wasn't what I know I could've gotten if I'd used another method. The people that have studied to get really high scores for the most part have used PowerScore. So use those and retake.

[timbs4339]

I utilized Kaplan Test Prep and took the online advantage course. It was extremely helpful. The first time I took the LSAT, I really hadn't studied at all and decided to see where I stood. I scored a 145, the second time I took it was after 2 months of studying and 1 month with Kaplan. My highest practice score was a 152 and on the actual exam I score a 151. To

Which sections gave you the most trouble. IME Logic Games can definitely be learned with the help of the Power Score bibles and Logical Reasoning is semi-learnable. It's been a while since I have visited the LSAT forum so I'm sure there is much better advice there now.

Kaplan is one of the worst LSAT test prep companies. The money/time there could be better spent on other methods of studying. I self-studied and it cost very little.

[JasonR]

I utilized Kaplan Test Prep and took the online advantage course. It was extremely helpful. The first time I took the LSAT, I really hadn't studied at all and decided to see where I stood. I scored a 145, the second time I took it was after 2 months of studying and 1 month with Kaplan. My highest practice score was a 152 and on the actual exam I score a 151. To

Kaplan is absolutely awful. Study the PS Bibles, or take a course from a company whose methods don't utterly suck. Study up, improve your score, and go somewhere much better and/or somewhere for free.