Am I Silly For Considering WUSTL? Forum

[Tls2016]

I actually think WUSTL makes sense if he wants it more than he wants NY biglaw.

I just thought the glorification of midlaw was funny.

I was concerned about no jobs or not enough but I don't know the market.

[RedGiant]

I very almost went to WUSTL, but the reason I didn't was because I was not OK with ending up in St. Louis, Indy, KC, etc.

You have every reason to go to WUSTL. It's a lovely city and a really nice community. If I were you (and not from a coast, with no ties to the MidWest), I'd go there in a heartbeat.

I am a little bit older, but I can tell you that prestige isn't everything. It's OK to turn down a higher ranked school for a VERY SOLID, well regarded school like WUSTL, if it's where you want to be. I spent a lot of my twenties in prestigious jobs all over the world (NY, London, etc.) and honestly, a decade later, I wish I had built a life where I wanted to be ultimately. You have this opportunity, and I encourage you not to discount the fact that you know where you want to be and what you want to do and have been given money to do it.

$45K in debt when you are young is very doable. You can make payments on that and still lead a great life. That amount of debt will not strangle you. Don't discount the fact that you could work during 2L or 3L (there's time, I promise) and cut that down a bit if you want. And you might get a paid summer gig one or both summers too, which helps put a dent in debt.

If you have more questions about WUSTL, PM TLS User RomotheSavior. He's an alum that graduated in 2012 and pretty much ran the WUSTL Boards (and much of TLS from the 2009-2012 period, and he's a wonderful and honest guy. Haven't spoken with him in a while, but he ended up in Indy, biglaw and was very excited.

[kcdc1]

no. im a lawyer. the regret of law school for lawyers in big firms is over 80%. the regret for lawyers not in biglaw is probably close to the same 60-75, and so many end up leaving law. start working now and make some money. revisit law if its something you know what it entails.

Falsely assumes people in other fields like their jobs.

[PeanutsNJam]

I'm kinda dying at pnj's paean to STL biglaw.

What part of no facetime requirement, 1800 billables, and early responsibility do you not understand?

NO facetime requirement dude. None. And not a cog in sight.

(PNJ- wait until your SA and you jump on the elevator Monday morning and the junior associate tells you that they pulled an all nighter the night before. What big lawyers say while recruiting or even in informational interviews and stuff doesn't always align with reality)

Wait, he wrote all that and he doesn't even work at a law firm?
OP should just take the Butler if he wants a job as a lawyer or doesn't get better offers. There aren't that many jobs in the Midwest.

I'm not discounting the possibility that I was blatantly lied to by recruiting attorneys, but I mean stl midlaw firms are structured differently. NALP is down right now, but if you take Husch Blackwell for example, there are maybe 3 associates per partner tops. It's a completely different business model from NYC firms, where a few partners share in the profits, and they take in 100 SAs every year, knowing at best 2 make partner 15 years later and 75% of them leave in 3 years.

The difference is that you work in stl biglaw to stay, and you go to fancy presftigious firms to lateral out to other things. I'm not trying to say that in the aggregate, stl biglaw is better, since if you take it you're somewhat stuck, but the much better work-life balance and higher disposable income are like, actual facts. I'm just saying a lot of the grips about NYC biglaw apply to a much lesser degree to stl biglaw. I think if you don't have big fed dreams or some other unicorn goals like private equity or lateral into some risk management type deal, and you don't have a desire to live in a huge city, stl biglaw might be better.

Obviously it's not 9-5 and pina coladas on the weekends, but it's also not 6am-12am 6 days a week.

Like I said, I might change my tune after my SA, but the numbers add up.

All things considered, $$$ at NU would suit your needs much better than either option, as other posters have pointed out. Chicago would also be better than Columbia if you want St. Louis.

[Johann]

no. im a lawyer. the regret of law school for lawyers in big firms is over 80%. the regret for lawyers not in biglaw is probably close to the same 60-75, and so many end up leaving law. start working now and make some money. revisit law if its something you know what it entails.

Falsely assumes people in other fields like their jobs.

lawyer wins most unhappy job every year. its an objectively terrible job even compared to other jobs.

[BigZuck]

I'm kinda dying at pnj's paean to STL biglaw.

What part of no facetime requirement, 1800 billables, and early responsibility do you not understand?

NO facetime requirement dude. None. And not a cog in sight.

(PNJ- wait until your SA and you jump on the elevator Monday morning and the junior associate tells you that they pulled an all nighter the night before. What big lawyers say while recruiting or even in informational interviews and stuff doesn't always align with reality)

Wait, he wrote all that and he doesn't even work at a law firm?
OP should just take the Butler if he wants a job as a lawyer or doesn't get better offers. There aren't that many jobs in the Midwest.

I'm not discounting the possibility that I was blatantly lied to by recruiting attorneys, but I mean stl midlaw firms are structured differently. NALP is down right now, but if you take Husch Blackwell for example, there are maybe 3 associates per partner tops. It's a completely different business model from NYC firms, where a few partners share in the profits, and they take in 100 SAs every year, knowing at best 2 make partner 15 years later and 75% of them leave in 3 years.

The difference is that you work in stl biglaw to stay, and you go to fancy presftigious firms to lateral out to other things. I'm not trying to say that in the aggregate, stl biglaw is better, since if you take it you're somewhat stuck, but the much better work-life balance and higher disposable income are like, actual facts. I'm just saying a lot of the grips about NYC biglaw apply to a much lesser degree to stl biglaw. I think if you don't have big fed dreams or some other unicorn goals like private equity or lateral into some risk management type deal, and you don't have a desire to live in a huge city, stl biglaw might be better.

Obviously it's not 9-5 and pina coladas on the weekends, but it's also not 6am-12am 6 days a week.

Like I said, I might change my tune after my SA, but the numbers add up.

All things considered, $$$ at NU would suit your needs much better than either option, as other posters have pointed out. Chicago would also be better than Columbia if you want St. Louis.

I think the higher disposable income is an actual fact (assuming these firms are paying like 120, I'm not sure what they pay) but I'd be leery of the much better work-life balance being an actual fact. Like most things I'm guessing "it depends." Mostly I'm saying just wait until you start working. I saw stuff as a summer and heard of stuff from friends in the secondary market I worked in that ran counter to the usual "Hey, we ain't NYC!" pitch. And that was just as a SA, I'm sure things are even more stark when you're an actual real life attorney.

A law student explaining what big law is like is like a 0L explaining what law school is like IMO.

[kcdc1]

lawyer wins most unhappy job every year. its an objectively terrible job even compared to other jobs.

Is this true? Would be curious to see results. CareerBliss.com does not have lawyer in top 10 unhappiest for either 2012 or 2015, which are the only results I found in a few minutes of Googling. Turns out being a security guard sucks tho.