Top Law Schools

I have a friend (no really, she's a real person it's not me) who has a 3.6 and is testing around 157. She's been studying for about 2 months and wants to sit in Oct and apply this cycle. She is hoping to go to a school with a good ADR program. She wants to ED at OSU.

I am trying to convenience her to pull up her LSAT into the high 160s and go high T14 (maybe with $ if her score is high enough) but she has her heart set on OSU.

Please help me convince her she is wrong.

We're going to meet for coffee this weekend.

I would recommend having less pressure on pulling the score up that much. You could be a lot more convincing by saying that she should not limit herself to an ED at any one school. You could also explain how certain levels of improvement in the LSAT would translate into more good options. She has to make her choice, but you could show her why committing to that choice from the onset is not wise.

If she waits and pulls up her score she could still go to OSU if she wants but she will get more money. She shouldnt ED so she can negotiate. Higher score = serious money

Tell her to join TLS

Mack.Hambleton wrote:Tell her to join TLS

First thing I said.

Friends don't let friends apply ed. Or with a ~157

Clemenceau wrote:Friends don't let friends apply ed. Or with a ~157

+1

iaiava wrote:I have a friend (no really, she's a real person it's not me) who has a 3.6 and is testing around 157. She's been studying for about 2 months and wants to sit in Oct and apply this cycle. She is hoping to go to a school with a good ADR program. She wants to ED at OSU.

I am trying to convenience her to pull up her LSAT into the high 160s and go high T14 (maybe with $ if her score is high enough) but she has her heart set on OSU.

Please help me convince her she is wrong.

We're going to meet for coffee this weekend.

ask her if she has seen the LST (law school transparency) report for OSU. If she has, let her live her life. OSU is a pretty good school.

If anyone knows an OSU alum, specifically that is practicing in a major city outside of Ohio please PM me, advised that she at least consult someone who's done it before.

First, direct her to OSU's LST report: http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/osu/2014/

Then explain to your friend that EDing will cause her to get $0 in scholarship money because she will have no leverage with which to negotiate a scholarship offer from OSU. That means $178,002 of debt at repayment ($2,017/mo. on a 10-year repayment plan) if she is a resident or $230,854 ($2,626/mo. on a 10-year repayment plan) if she is a non-resident. See http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/osu/costs/2014/.

That level of debt *might* be manageable if she can snag BigLaw, but such an outcome is unlikely coming from OSU: only 17.6% of the class gets BigLaw. Instead, the more likely outcome is that she is employed with a mid-five figure salary. Among those employed (73.3% of the class), the median salary is $65,000. See http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/osu/sals/2013/.

Ask her if she will be happy with her lifestyle making $65,000/year, which comes down to something like $3,800/mo. after taxes, while paying back around $2,000/mo. in student loans. In other words, will she be comfortable living on $1,800/mo. to pay rent, buy food, buy clothes, make car payments, fill the gas tank, pay for entertainment, etc.? The answer should be a resounding "no."

And that's not even taking into account the risk that she ends up unemployed---a risk that is very real.

Shouldn't go to OSU without a scholarship. Shouldn't go to OSU if you want to work anywhere other than Ohio. Shouldn't go to OSU if making six figures out of law school is what you're looking for.