Very Generous $$$ @ T14 - Getting Cold Feet Forum

[NOWAYDUDE]

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[Nebby]

It appears that the drop in applicants and the subsequent drop in admissions criteria has abated and will gradually go back up, so you might do a little harm to scholarship chances if you wait another year. If you know you want to be a lawyer, then I would go. You're already going to have little debt, so I don't exactly understand why that's such a worry.

[NOWAYDUDE]

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[Nebby]

It appears that the drop in applicants and the subsequent drop in admissions criteria has abated and will gradually go back up, so you might do a little harm to scholarship chances if you wait another year. If you know you want to be a lawyer, then I would go. You're already going to have little debt, so I don't exactly understand why that's such a worry.

Thanks for the response. Yes, I understand it would make all the sense in the world for me to attend this year. I'm just incredibly debt-averse, insomuch that I turned down $ from CCN for $$$ from MVPB. I just hate the idea of taking out ANY money to cover my three years of expenses.

Also, it may be more of a mental block - not sure if I'm ready to commit 100% of my energy and time to LS after working for two years. Personally, I'd love to defer school, quit my job, then kick back and travel for the next year. Alas, I'm not sure if that's the right choice I should be making. Also, considering that I have no idea what will happen to my scholarship if I do decide to defer.

I would ask them about scholarship offers and deferment. If they keep the scholarship offer for deferred students, then you have less to lose. And your decision to turn down $ for $$$ isn't that crazy of a decision. I think that graduating with less than 50k debt, which is likely the most you'd have, is not a super bad outcome.

Do you have any idea of what you environment you want to work in? (BigLaw, government, nonprofit, etc.) Or are you open to everything? All the T14s have LRAPs, so your decision to not do BigLaw and your minute debt-load will make any opportunity exceptionally manageable.

[NOWAYDUDE]

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[AOT]

It appears that the drop in applicants and the subsequent drop in admissions criteria has abated and will gradually go back up, so you might do a little harm to scholarship chances if you wait another year. If you know you want to be a lawyer, then I would go. You're already going to have little debt, so I don't exactly understand why that's such a worry.

Thanks for the response. Yes, I understand it would make all the sense in the world for me to attend this year. I'm just incredibly debt-averse, insomuch that I turned down $ from CCN for $$$ from MVPB. I just hate the idea of taking out ANY money to cover my three years of expenses.

Also, it may be more of a mental block - not sure if I'm ready to commit 100% of my energy and time to LS after working for two years. Personally, I'd love to defer school, quit my job, then kick back and travel for the next year. Alas, I'm not sure if that's the right choice I should be making. Also, considering that I have no idea what will happen to my scholarship if I do decide to defer.

I would ask them about scholarship offers and deferment. If they keep the scholarship offer for deferred students, then you have less to lose. And your decision to turn down $ for $$$ isn't that crazy of a decision. I think that graduating with less than 50k debt, which is likely the most you'd have, is not a super bad outcome.

Do you have any idea of what you environment you want to work in? (BigLaw, government, nonprofit, etc.) Or are you open to everything? All the T14s have LRAPs, so your decision to not do BigLaw and your minute debt-load will make any opportunity exceptionally manageable.

How have you calculated this? Genuine question, because I've been working on my LS budget for next year, and just living costs have come out to way more

[TasmanianToucan]

If you want to be a lawyer you're in a good position to become a lawyer. So... do you want to become a lawyer, or not?

[silenttimer]

My best advice to stop the cold feet is to stop reading this forum and all law schools related news.

[NOWAYDUDE]

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[Nebby]

It appears that the drop in applicants and the subsequent drop in admissions criteria has abated and will gradually go back up, so you might do a little harm to scholarship chances if you wait another year. If you know you want to be a lawyer, then I would go. You're already going to have little debt, so I don't exactly understand why that's such a worry.

Thanks for the response. Yes, I understand it would make all the sense in the world for me to attend this year. I'm just incredibly debt-averse, insomuch that I turned down $ from CCN for $$$ from MVPB. I just hate the idea of taking out ANY money to cover my three years of expenses.

Also, it may be more of a mental block - not sure if I'm ready to commit 100% of my energy and time to LS after working for two years. Personally, I'd love to defer school, quit my job, then kick back and travel for the next year. Alas, I'm not sure if that's the right choice I should be making. Also, considering that I have no idea what will happen to my scholarship if I do decide to defer.

I would ask them about scholarship offers and deferment. If they keep the scholarship offer for deferred students, then you have less to lose. And your decision to turn down $ for $$$ isn't that crazy of a decision. I think that graduating with less than 50k debt, which is likely the most you'd have, is not a super bad outcome.

Do you have any idea of what you environment you want to work in? (BigLaw, government, nonprofit, etc.) Or are you open to everything? All the T14s have LRAPs, so your decision to not do BigLaw and your minute debt-load will make any opportunity exceptionally manageable.

How have you calculated this? Genuine question, because I've been working on my LS budget for next year, and just living costs have come out to way more

I mean, it depends on which of the MVBP the OP got into. COL at M and V is less than B and P.

[Paul Campos]

If the OP is paying for tuition minus $120K plus 36 months of living expenses, funded exclusively by student loans, that's probably going to be about $125K in debt, not less than $50K. Tuition at these places is going to average in the mid to high 50s over the next three years, so that's going to be around $50K to $55K in tuition alone after discounts. Throw in another $20K per year in living expenses (a bit high for M or V but definitely low for B and P). Then interest and fees. Subtract $10K for summer money dedicated to loan payments if you want to be optimistic.

All this just underlines how ridiculous the price structure of this business has become for people who actually have to pay for it themselves.

[Pulsar]

If asking to defer and keep the scholarship doesn't work, then you should probably go this year. No guarantee that the school would re-award a bunch of cash if they feel you're unreliable/weren't excited about them the first time.

You can always take off for a trip/have some fun this summer. But if you know law school is what you want to do, then at some point you just gotta go for it. It would be different if you didn't know you wanted to be a lawyer, but since you do, why wait? Replacing a year of your corporate job with a year of presumably-higher lawyer salary will also be good for your finances in the long run.

[jbagelboy]

I mean, law school/law kinda suck much of the time, but if you're gonna pull the trigger and go, you might as well go now. There's little perceivable benefit to waiting unless you decide not to become an attorney altogether (which is a perfectly valid choice).

[071816]

can you tell us a bit more about your dead end corporate job?

[CanadianWolf]

Why do you want to be a lawyer ?

What would you do during the next year if you don't go to law school ?

Have you considered graduate school in any other field ?

[starry eyed]

It appears that the drop in applicants and the subsequent drop in admissions criteria has abated and will gradually go back up, so you might do a little harm to scholarship chances if you wait another year. If you know you want to be a lawyer, then I would go. You're already going to have little debt, so I don't exactly understand why that's such a worry.

thank you. i have been saying this for a while now.

[Nebby]

can you tell us a bit more about your dead end corporate job?

Also, what is your favorite hand moisturizer?

[pancakes3]

We should sticky this thread for whenever people assert that TLS auto-replies "retake"

[Johann]

I only read your OP. If your job sucks and it's a dead end, just go now. There are decent law careers out there outside of biglaw. Biglaw does suck though. With your scholarship, you should go.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Enroll this year. Quit your job now. Take the summer off and travel. If you're thinking of reasons you can't quit your job now, ignore them. Quit.