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Hi everyone!

I am trying to decide whether SMU is a good option for me. I'll be entering this fall and need some feedback.

I was accepted into SMU with a 15k/year scholarship, so including room and board, I'm looking at about 33-35k/year. I'm a Texas resident and plan to stay in the Dallas area after I graduate. At the moment I'm an intern with in-house lawyers and I really enjoy it, so I don't care so much for BigLaw.

My biggest worry is whether SMU will be worth it financially. I might have to take some loans, perhaps about 30-40k, which I'm dreading. However, is that a reasonable amount to pay for law school, considering that I'm not too picky about where I end up practicing law?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

Thank you

mm24246 wrote:Hi everyone!

I am trying to decide whether SMU is a good option for me. I'll be entering this fall and need some feedback.

I was accepted into SMU with a 15k/year scholarship, so including room and board, I'm looking at about 33-35k/year. I'm a Texas resident and plan to stay in the Dallas area after I graduate. At the moment I'm an intern with in-house lawyers and I really enjoy it, so I don't care so much for BigLaw.

My biggest worry is whether SMU will be worth it financially. I might have to take some loans, perhaps about 30-40k, which I'm dreading. However, is that a reasonable amount to pay for law school, considering that I'm not too picky about where I end up practicing law?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

Thank you

Probably not. Assume median and answer your own question.

Are you living with family or somehow paying nothing for living expenses? 15k a year brings tuition down to about 33-35k, but if you're debt financing living expenses on top of that the cost is too high.

SMU isn't a bad school for your goals but it's too expensive at 150k+, whether financed through savings or loans. Fortunately for you they love the LSAT at SMU, so start studying for a June retake and get the scholarship bumped up.

Tiago Splitter wrote:Are you living with family or somehow paying nothing for living expenses? 15k a year brings tuition down to about 33-35k, but if you're debt financing living expenses on top of that the cost is too high.

SMU isn't a bad school for your goals but it's too expensive at 150k+, whether financed through savings or loans. Fortunately for you they love the LSAT at SMU, so start studying for a June retake and get the scholarship bumped up.

I'm worried about a retake. I've already taken the LSAT twice, and the first time I got a 151, second time a 156. I was steady at about 160 during PLSATs, but I just get nervous on test day.

If I do 160+ on a June retake and notify SMU, would they really consider giving me more money? Do I have to talk to them about it first?

Also, I really wanted to live on campus, but I guess if it gets too expensive I can always live at home with my parents where I don't pay rent

There is nothing to lose with a retake. If you score lower, they won't care. If you score higher, they might offer you more money. Sounds like you have a good enough GPA that a retake could get you into a better school like UT. Study for this last take harder than anything you've studied for in your entire life and don't be afraid to sit out a year if SMU won't bump up their offer.

Agree that you need to sit for another LSAT in order to increase your SMU scholarship award or to reapply next cycle with a higher LSAT score.