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I applied late in the cycle so I am still waiting to hear back from most places I applied. I'm a splitter several years out of undergrad with strong softs so I applied to a wide range of schools. One of my safety applications, a TTT in an area of the country I have no real ties to, is offering a full ride with no stipulations on keeping the scholarship. None. They emphasized the no stipulations thing.

While I am of course waiting to hear back from the rest of the schools before I make any decision, the fact that the money has absolutely no stipulations whatsoever makes it very attractive financially, but I am not sure if a TTT in a market I don't know is stupid, even without any debt. I don't know how seriously I should be looking at this offer right now.

My goal is not biglaw, but government. If I am honest with myself I am not 100% sure I would be okay with government work outside of large metropolitan cities. I was in municipal government early in my career and transitioned to federal, in DC, and would prefer to stay on that level and that kind of city.

On the bright side, perhaps the no stipulations thing is indication I have a good chance elsewhere despite applying late in cycle?

What are your #s? Getting a DC city like position is definitely going to be challenging but little debt is nice. What does LST say about the jobs prospects?
Edit: LST not LSAT

What are your numbers? What is the school?

any decent school won't have scholarship stips

Entirely depends on how your other offers shape up, and how high the opportunity cost of going to law school is going to be for you. I wouldn't expect this to be a very defensible choice to make though.

Mack.Hambleton wrote:any decent school won't have scholarship stips

Yep. no stips should not be something a school is marketing and that should be a red flag for you. It should be a given that there are not serious stipulations -- it shouldn't be something you need to leverage in order to distinguish yourself from your peers.

I decided to take a couple of years off, and I reapplied last year only to schools that I had a good chance at getting full rides at. I got full rides with no stips at WVU, Drexel, and Villanova. My numbers weren't necessarily great either.

The Dark Shepard wrote:What are your numbers? What is the school?

AquafiNa wrote:What are your #s? Getting a DC city like position is definitely going to be challenging but little debt is nice. What does LST say about the jobs prospects?
Edit: LST not LSAT

I'm sorry I don't want to share my numbers, even if it's helpful-- not until i get more responses anyway. ( I will say I took the LSAT once, and I *do* have room for improvement, so retaking is not out of the question.)

Employment numbers for this school are in the 45-50% range according to LST and but unlike other schools with employment in that range and underemployment is sub 20% ( Not saying its great but better than underemployment at 40%)

I mention the no stips particularly because its a school that is known for harsh stips, and being a trap.

6778628 wrote:Entirely depends on how your other offers shape up, and how high the opportunity cost of going to law school is going to be for you. I wouldn't expect this to be a very defensible choice to make though.

I am leaning this way as well. I guess I will have to see what happens over the next few weeks.

I wish I had all my options in front of me at once

Are you in the federal government now? That's a huge opportunity cost. Giving up a job to go to a school where only half of the grads get jobs seems like a bad plan. And it isn't like law school is super fun, either. Everyone I know who went to law school hated it.

In order to receive feedback in this forum, please provide all of the following:

-The schools you are considering
-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. COA = cost of tuition + fees + books + cost of living (COL) + accumulated interest - scholarships.
-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
-Your general career goals
-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
-How many times you have taken the LSAT

MangoCinnamon wrote:

The Dark Shepard wrote:What are your numbers? What is the school?

AquafiNa wrote:What are your #s? Getting a DC city like position is definitely going to be challenging but little debt is nice. What does LST say about the jobs prospects?
Edit: LST not LSAT

I'm sorry I don't want to share my numbers, even if it's helpful-- not until i get more responses anyway. ( I will say I took the LSAT once, and I *do* have room for improvement, so retaking is not out of the question.)

Employment numbers for this school are in the 45-50% range according to LST and but unlike other schools with employment in that range and underemployment is sub 20% ( Not saying its great but better than underemployment at 40%)

I mention the no stips particularly because its a school that is known for harsh stips, and being a trap.

6778628 wrote:Entirely depends on how your other offers shape up, and how high the opportunity cost of going to law school is going to be for you. I wouldn't expect this to be a very defensible choice to make though.

I am leaning this way as well. I guess I will have to see what happens over the next few weeks.

I wish I had all my options in front of me at once

Without your #s it's hard to give good advice. At least what's your GPA? I think TCR is to sit out this cycle and study LSAT especially because you said you could do better (even more so given your goals of DC/major market.) A coin flip at having a job even debt free is not a good idea. You don't want to get in a situation where you've given up 3 years of training with nothing to show. Use the LSAT board and crush that June LSAT.

You should also remember that going to a given law school signals a number of things about you. 0L, but it seems to me that a lot of legal jobs are about making important, complex decisions after doing careful research (or advising clients about same.) Looking like you picked your law school out of a hat might not inspire confidence.

That said, I get the impression that for some government work it is more of a checkbox, especially if you already have a job, but I don't know if taking 3 years off from your government job will keep you in that same advantaged position. So in that case you'd be better off at a local night program.

landshoes wrote:Are you in the federal government now?

If the answer to this is "yes", I would take GWU/George Mason part time programs at sticker over whatever deal you have now.

zombie mcavoy wrote:

Mack.Hambleton wrote:any decent school won't have scholarship stips

Yep. no stips should not be something a school is marketing and that should be a red flag for you. It should be a given that there are not serious stipulations -- it shouldn't be something you need to leverage in order to distinguish yourself from your peers.

NYU and Chicago both emphasized that there are no stipulations on their scholarships offers to me.

Auxilio wrote:

zombie mcavoy wrote:

Mack.Hambleton wrote:any decent school won't have scholarship stips

Yep. no stips should not be something a school is marketing and that should be a red flag for you. It should be a given that there are not serious stipulations -- it shouldn't be something you need to leverage in order to distinguish yourself from your peers.

NYU and Chicago both emphasized that there are no stipulations on their scholarships offers to me.

And both are run of the mill state schools

Helps prove McAvoy's point

Don't go to TTT w/ hopes of being a special snowflake... expect to work very hard, do activities you don't really want to do (ie., moot court/trial/law review), and still face the possibility of being unemployed. Also, don't let the $$$ w/ no stips be the controlling factor. You have a huge opportunity cost. You will never get 3 years of your life back or the $ you could've made during that time, and the school name will be on your resume forever.

If your dream is local PD work, then I'd say you're probably good w/ going to TTT - however, I would never under any circumstances (other than being uninformed) go to a TTT or suggest someone else to go.

I think you should raise your LSAT significantly, and if you can't, then don't go to law school. It's an extremely risky investment, especially at a rando TTT