Campbell Law, should I attend. Forum

[THSmith]

I know it is kind of late to be asking this question, but before I sign my life away...Should I go to Campbell Law?

Brief story. Graduated from undergrad (poli-sci major) with a 3.0 GPA. 151 LSAT on my second try (did not improve by much, just 3 points). I applied to UNC, and I did not get in (but I was not expecting to.

It would be full tuition.

I would love to hear any recommendations from alums or current students.

[stego]

No, definitely not. Campbell's job placement is extremely questionable if you have a full ride. At sticker it's ludicrous.

Retake or don't go.

What are your goals for law? If you go to Campbell you'll probably be hanging a shingle (i.e., trying to start a solo firm).

[hairbear7]

No, definitely not. Campbell's job placement is extremely questionable if you have a full ride. At sticker it's ludicrous.

Please listen to this.

[THSmith]

are either of the above posters alum or current students, know someone who is? I hear the doom and gloom about law school and the legal job market, but hearing a real story would be helpful. just saying "don't go..it's a bad idea" doesn't really help me make an informed choice.

[hairbear7]

responded to your PM

[shump92]

are either of the above posters alum or current students, know someone who is? I hear the doom and gloom about law school and the legal job market, but hearing a real story would be helpful. just saying "don't go..it's a bad idea" doesn't really help me make an informed choice.

I doubt it. But the responses you are going to get here flow off this logic. Right or wrong, prestige of law school has a HUGE impact on job placement. Students at a more prestigious school have better job prospects in their respective class percentiles to students at less prestigious schools. So someone at median of HYS is better off than someone with median at Vandy. Law school is very expensive at sticker. Most law students are very serious so getting into top 5, 10, 20 percent is not a given. Therefore, students should be very cautious about going to less prestigious schools.

But the TCR is only one view. You don't have to listen to it or agree with it but that's what most posters are going to tell you.

[rinkrat19]

are either of the above posters alum or current students, know someone who is? I hear the doom and gloom about law school and the legal job market, but hearing a real story would be helpful. just saying "don't go..it's a bad idea" doesn't really help me make an informed choice.

One person's real story is an anecdote. What everyone else is telling you is based on the school's own data.

[stego]

I am a 0L. There is a poster named JDcumlaude who went to Campbbell and couldn't get a job. He stalks threads that mention Campbell so he'll probably show up.

92 out of 154 Campbell Law 2014 graduates got a full-time long-term bar passage required job. That's 59.7%. Do you want to pay sticker for three years for a 40% chance of not getting a job as a lawyer?

[Ron Howard]

I did not attend Campbell, but I do know of someone who went there. They are not employed as an attorney. That is just an anecdote, of course, but it is in line with the data. And here the data--pointed out by a previous poster--cannot be in any meaningful way explained away by self selection. Campbell is not a T14 school. Not even close. If it were and you were asking if you should attend at sticker most people here would still probably advise you not to attend. Here, I implore you not to attend. The risk is far to high, and the potential award far too low.

[THSmith]

Thank you guys so much for the feedback. I am posting this really late, so I will probably bump mid-day tomorrow just to get a few more points of view.

[Mack.Hambleton]

No one in the world should attend Campbell law

It should be shut down

[hairbear7]

just to get a few more points of view.

No one in the world should attend Campbell law

It should be shut down

[moejoe193]

There are only a few schools where paying full tuition is not a terrible choice.

Campbell is not one of them.

[THSmith]

Thanks for all the input, does anybody else have experience with Campbell?

[thesealocust]

No one in the world should attend Campbell law

It should be shut down

+1

[TheSpanishMain]

I know you're really hoping the answer is yes, but trust me, it's not. It's a really terrible idea, especially at sticker.

Like, life ruiningly terrible.

[Johann]

if your salary is under 30k now and you dont really have any opportunity for promotion your downside risk is extremely mitigated due to repayment programs today like PAYE. I wouldn't expect anything great to come from campbell law, and you'll pay 10% of your salary for the next 20 years to loans, and law sucks in general, but there are worse jobs out there. Just something you have to weigh the pros and cons of individually. I basically did what you did and I regret it because I hate law. I dont regret the debt though or anything like that.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

No one in the world should attend Campbell law

It should be shut down

+1

even if your salary is under 30k now your expected salary from Cambell is not above 40k and it will take three years and 100k+ in debt.

[Johann]

well why not take 3 years of "not working" and an added credential. basically low risk. also 100k debt on a 40k salary under PAYE is 0 debt you have to repay if you put 5500 in an IRA every year for the tax deduction. you actually have to consider real world scenarios like how much debt is being paid back instead of just numbers that exist in theory but arent real at all.

[TheSpanishMain]

Isn't PAYEs future looking uncertain though? Or is that PSLF?

[THSmith]

So I am guessing he consensus is for me to at least try taking the LSAT again. Does anyone have any information about the legal job market in NC? Specifically Doc review (I am trying to know what my worse case scenario would be after graduating).

[052220152]

retake until you can get into a t14 or UNC with a big scholly (if NC is where you want to work). if you cant do that then dont go. you dont want to do doc review

[mornincounselor]

Post removed.

[AReasonableMan]

This board always advises against paying full tuition, particularly for schools with poor job staristics. However, it tends to lump all of the schools with poor job stats together without appreciating the differences between them.

Another poster mentioned the difficulty of being in the top 5-10 percent of the class. While this will be difficult, it's important to note that this isn't a school where 5-10 percent does well. There are a handful of schools with such a poor reputation that even graduating summa cum laude cuts you off from over 90 percent of legal jobs. Campbell is one of them. Placing with a small law firm, and working 70 hour weeks for 35k/year with limited growth potential is a great outcome from this school. Even if you were first in your class, the reputation is so poor you'd be cut off from transferring to any school you could get in with a 165 or better LSAT. Even if you were ok taking a 1:10 bet, Campbell doesn't give you the 1:10 bet that other schools do. Truthfully, it isn't even 1:100. You are disqualifying yourself from day one.

[deadpanic]

So I am guessing he consensus is for me to at least try taking the LSAT again. Does anyone have any information about the legal job market in NC? Specifically Doc review (I am trying to know what my worse case scenario would be after graduating).

The NC market is completely awful: an abundance of lawyers and not many jobs. The thing is, doc review is not even the worst case scenario from Campbell. There is a good chance it will not be any legal job at all. And then other non-legal jobs will not hire you because they think you will bolt as soon as a legal job opens.

Doc review is also unpredictable. The jobs are sporadic and not steady.