Graduation = Worst Day of my life. Forum

[TFALAWL]

Graduated from UVA today, and I can unambiguously say it was the worst decision of my life. I had a 4.05/167 and if I had just been patient and retaken the LSAT I could have had H/S/CLS --> If I would have done something unicorny maybe even Yale would have been in play. Now, I just have a boatload of debt and a miserable biglaw job ahead of me. I am depressed and have started taking medication.

If I could go back, I would have done four years in the marines, and kept retaking the LSAT 'til I got the score I wanted. I would've eventually gotten my 173, and HYS would'a been basically free with G.I. Bill

I say this as a tale of cautionary tale to you 0L's out there: really plan things out as much as you can before going law school. This is a profession that disproportionately rewards those who get off to the best start (e.g. Yale/law review/ prior w/e).

As for me, I may as well be posting in the Vale, cuz my personal happiness is about 2/10.

[somethingElse]

Sorry dude/dudette Thanks for sharing. Mods please (edit: don't) sticky.

[bearsfan23]

OP sounds like you need actual mental help. Go see a counselor rather than complain about how your life is so bad because you have a $160k+ job and loans to pay off.

Also, how would having gone to Yale have made things different for you?

[TFALAWL]

OP sounds like you need actual mental help. Go see a counselor rather than complain about how your life is so bad because you have a $160k+ job and loans to pay off.

Also, how would having gone to Yale have made things different for you?

My dream is clerk followed by DOJ. Median at HYS can do that + no debt from law school (G.I. Bill) would've made it affordable.

I don't get why having a "$160k+ job" is so glamorous --> It'll all go towards loans, and when I get kicked out (let's say year 5 and that's GENEROUS) I will still have debt.

This is a separate discussion, but for people who actually want to be lawyers, I fail to see how biglaw is attractive. Moreover, if you just care about money then you shouldn't go to law school anyhow. Again, separate discussion, but WTF would someone want biglaw?

[A. Nony Mouse]

OP sounds like you need actual mental help. Go see a counselor rather than complain about how your life is so bad because you have a $160k+ job and loans to pay off.

Also, how would having gone to Yale have made things different for you?

This seems a little unfair, given the OP has already said they're depressed and taking medication (which I assume they didn't just buy off the street). There probably are objectively worse positions to be in but that doesn't make OP's depression any less real.

[TheSpanishMain]

OP is right about one thing: GI Bill is pretty sweet.

[jnwa]

Graduated from UVA today, and I can unambiguously say it was the worst decision of my life. I had a 4.05/167 and if I had just been patient and retaken the LSAT I could have had H/S/CLS --> If I would have done something unicorny maybe even Yale would have been in play. Now, I just have a boatload of debt and a miserable biglaw job ahead of me. I am depressed and have started taking medication.

If I could go back, I would have done four years in the marines, and kept retaking the LSAT 'til I got the score I wanted. I would've eventually gotten my 173, and HYS would'a been basically free with G.I. Bill

I say this as a tale of cautionary tale to you 0L's out there: really plan things out as much as you can before going law school. This is a profession that disproportionately rewards those who get off to the best start (e.g. Yale/law review/ prior w/e).

As for me, I may as well be posting in the Vale, cuz my personal happiness is about 2/10.

How much debt did you graduate with?

[BigLawer]

OP sounds like you need actual mental help. Go see a counselor rather than complain about how your life is so bad because you have a $160k+ job and loans to pay off.

Also, how would having gone to Yale have made things different for you?

My dream is clerk followed by DOJ. Median at HYS can do that + no debt from law school (G.I. Bill) would've made it affordable.

I don't get why having a "$160k+ job" is so glamorous --> It'll all go towards loans, and when I get kicked out (let's say year 5 and that's GENEROUS) I will still have debt.

This is a separate discussion, but for people who actually want to be lawyers, I fail to see how biglaw is attractive. Moreover, if you just care about money then you shouldn't go to law school anyhow. Again, separate discussion, but WTF would someone want biglaw?

To say it will all go toward loans is a huge overstatement. You are more than able to clerk and go work for the government - loan forgiveness after 10 years. Working biglaw, even with 200k in debt, you will still be able to put away tons of money on a 5-7 year repayment plan as long as you live within your means. You are in a much better situation than those who don't have a job lined up.

[JuliusCaesar]

OP sounds like you need actual mental help. Go see a counselor rather than complain about how your life is so bad because you have a $160k+ job and loans to pay off.

In an alternate world: "Joining the marines was the worst decision of my life. I am taking medication now to cope with what I dealt with. I should've just went to UVA when I had the chance. Etc etc."

[cavalier1138]

Yeah, I don't think this would be the best cautionary tale for these boards. UVA is a great school with great job outcomes. I'm not sure what difference you think HYS would have made here, especially since UVA is known for good clerk and government placement.

[rpupkin]

Yeah, I don't think this would be the best cautionary tale for these boards. UVA is a great school with great job outcomes. I'm not sure what difference you think HYS would have made here, especially since UVA is known for good clerk and government placement.

Well. UVA, like all T14 schools, can get you into clerkships and government if things go the right way for you. But there's no question that HYS (and particularly YS) give you a better shot at that kind of thing.

Having said that, I think that OP (and many others on this board) have an unrealistic view of how easy it is to just "Clerk--->DOJ" right out of law school at HYS. Most HYS grads who end up in DOJ work for a few years at a firm first.

[TFALAWL]

Graduated from UVA today, and I can unambiguously say it was the worst decision of my life. I had a 4.05/167 and if I had just been patient and retaken the LSAT I could have had H/S/CLS --> If I would have done something unicorny maybe even Yale would have been in play. Now, I just have a boatload of debt and a miserable biglaw job ahead of me. I am depressed and have started taking medication.

If I could go back, I would have done four years in the marines, and kept retaking the LSAT 'til I got the score I wanted. I would've eventually gotten my 173, and HYS would'a been basically free with G.I. Bill

I say this as a tale of cautionary tale to you 0L's out there: really plan things out as much as you can before going law school. This is a profession that disproportionately rewards those who get off to the best start (e.g. Yale/law review/ prior w/e).

As for me, I may as well be posting in the Vale, cuz my personal happiness is about 2/10.

How much debt did you graduate with?

This is gonna get me screamed at -- 60k. Look, I know there are people in MUCH worse scenarios. But please try to understand that I am not comparing myself to other people (either better or worse), I'm comparing myself to what I objectively know I could have been. Plus, this is not a "hindsight 20/20" moment, b/c deferring law school for the military was something I was actively considering, but going straight to law school just seemed like the path of least resistance.

And to get done with the whole HYS vs. UVA debate: sure, UVA is fine -- but if I had gotten a better LSAT score I'd be debt free (e.g. two less years of biglaw).


The point of this thread is don't go to law school until you've put up all your chips: clearly, I should have retaken the LSAT, and while I ended up "well" I still feel gyped.

[cavalier1138]

Graduated from UVA today, and I can unambiguously say it was the worst decision of my life. I had a 4.05/167 and if I had just been patient and retaken the LSAT I could have had H/S/CLS --> If I would have done something unicorny maybe even Yale would have been in play. Now, I just have a boatload of debt and a miserable biglaw job ahead of me. I am depressed and have started taking medication.

If I could go back, I would have done four years in the marines, and kept retaking the LSAT 'til I got the score I wanted. I would've eventually gotten my 173, and HYS would'a been basically free with G.I. Bill

I say this as a tale of cautionary tale to you 0L's out there: really plan things out as much as you can before going law school. This is a profession that disproportionately rewards those who get off to the best start (e.g. Yale/law review/ prior w/e).

As for me, I may as well be posting in the Vale, cuz my personal happiness is about 2/10.

How much debt did you graduate with?

This is gonna get me screamed at -- 60k. Look, I know there are people in MUCH worse scenarios. But please try to understand that I am not comparing myself to other people (either better or worse), I'm comparing myself to what I objectively know I could have been. Plus, this is not a "hindsight 20/20" moment, b/c deferring law school for the military was something I was actively considering, but going straight to law school just seemed like the path of least resistance.

And to get done with the whole HYS vs. UVA debate: sure, UVA is fine -- but if I had gotten a better LSAT score I'd be debt free (e.g. two less years of biglaw).


The point of this thread is don't go to law school until you've put up all your chips: clearly, I should have retaken the LSAT, and while I ended up "well" I still feel gyped.

You're right. It's going to get you yelled at.

You just claimed that your life would have been better if you'd served in active combat than if you'd taken on an extremely minor amount of debt (in law school terms) and landed a job that will let you pay that debt off in an unbelievably short period of time. And incidentally, a clerkship/gov't job is entirely possible for you in the future, as many people leap from biglaw to both of those job types.

This is the opposite of what TLS threads generally warn about. You got into a great school with a low COA. You landed a good job that still puts you on track to achieve your ultimate career goals. This is probably the exact same outcome you would have had at HYS, but with a whole lot less debt.

[jnwa]

Graduated from UVA today, and I can unambiguously say it was the worst decision of my life. I had a 4.05/167 and if I had just been patient and retaken the LSAT I could have had H/S/CLS --> If I would have done something unicorny maybe even Yale would have been in play. Now, I just have a boatload of debt and a miserable biglaw job ahead of me. I am depressed and have started taking medication.

If I could go back, I would have done four years in the marines, and kept retaking the LSAT 'til I got the score I wanted. I would've eventually gotten my 173, and HYS would'a been basically free with G.I. Bill

I say this as a tale of cautionary tale to you 0L's out there: really plan things out as much as you can before going law school. This is a profession that disproportionately rewards those who get off to the best start (e.g. Yale/law review/ prior w/e).

As for me, I may as well be posting in the Vale, cuz my personal happiness is about 2/10.

How much debt did you graduate with?

This is gonna get me screamed at -- 60k. Look, I know there are people in MUCH worse scenarios. But please try to understand that I am not comparing myself to other people (either better or worse), I'm comparing myself to what I objectively know I could have been. Plus, this is not a "hindsight 20/20" moment, b/c deferring law school for the military was something I was actively considering, but going straight to law school just seemed like the path of least resistance.

And to get done with the whole HYS vs. UVA debate: sure, UVA is fine -- but if I had gotten a better LSAT score I'd be debt free (e.g. two less years of biglaw).


The point of this thread is don't go to law school until you've put up all your chips: clearly, I should have retaken the LSAT, and while I ended up "well" I still feel gyped.

But you would have spent 4 years in the military "paying off" your law school debt? Is 2 years of biglaw that much worse than 4 years of military service? If anything id say youre in a better spot now. Im taking a Darrow at Mich and will still end up around 60k in total debt.

I get the whole prestige regret thing though. You regret not having a "Harvard Law" degree and thats fine but you made it seem like it was a debt/opportunity thing when it seems like youre relatively the same place career wise except 3 years younger.

[mvp99]

60k? lmao that's just an expensive car you don't get to drive.

[TFALAWL]

Graduated from UVA today, and I can unambiguously say it was the worst decision of my life. I had a 4.05/167 and if I had just been patient and retaken the LSAT I could have had H/S/CLS --> If I would have done something unicorny maybe even Yale would have been in play. Now, I just have a boatload of debt and a miserable biglaw job ahead of me. I am depressed and have started taking medication.

If I could go back, I would have done four years in the marines, and kept retaking the LSAT 'til I got the score I wanted. I would've eventually gotten my 173, and HYS would'a been basically free with G.I. Bill

I say this as a tale of cautionary tale to you 0L's out there: really plan things out as much as you can before going law school. This is a profession that disproportionately rewards those who get off to the best start (e.g. Yale/law review/ prior w/e).

As for me, I may as well be posting in the Vale, cuz my personal happiness is about 2/10.

How much debt did you graduate with?

This is gonna get me screamed at -- 60k. Look, I know there are people in MUCH worse scenarios. But please try to understand that I am not comparing myself to other people (either better or worse), I'm comparing myself to what I objectively know I could have been. Plus, this is not a "hindsight 20/20" moment, b/c deferring law school for the military was something I was actively considering, but going straight to law school just seemed like the path of least resistance.

And to get done with the whole HYS vs. UVA debate: sure, UVA is fine -- but if I had gotten a better LSAT score I'd be debt free (e.g. two less years of biglaw).


The point of this thread is don't go to law school until you've put up all your chips: clearly, I should have retaken the LSAT, and while I ended up "well" I still feel gyped.

You're right. It's going to get you yelled at.

You just claimed that your life would have been better if you'd served in active combat than if you'd taken on an extremely minor amount of debt (in law school terms) and landed a job that will let you pay that debt off in an unbelievably short period of time. And incidentally, a clerkship/gov't job is entirely possible for you in the future, as many people leap from biglaw to both of those job types.

This is the opposite of what TLS threads generally warn about. You got into a great school with a low COA. You landed a good job that still puts you on track to achieve your ultimate career goals. This is probably the exact same outcome you would have had at HYS, but with a whole lot less debt.[/quot
e]


You're right -- in the rational sense. The problem is I have an ego and I keep beating my head for going to a "state school in the South". telling people you went to UVA doesn't exactly raise eyebrows. I know this sounds superficial, but I'd honestly be happier if I had gone to Duke.

[cavalier1138]

You're right -- in the rational sense. The problem is I have an ego and I keep beating my head for going to a "state school in the South". telling people you went to UVA doesn't exactly raise eyebrows. I know this sounds superficial, but I'd honestly be happier if I had gone to Duke.

First of all, you must not be talking to the right people.

And secondly... You. Got. A. Job. Already.

At least you've identified that your ego is the major factor here, and man, is it getting in the way of you looking at this situation with even a hint of rationality.

[Clyde Frog]

Going to be hard to pay off 60k with a well paying biglaw job. Good luck OP

[TFALAWL]

You're right -- in the rational sense. The problem is I have an ego and I keep beating my head for going to a "state school in the South". telling people you went to UVA doesn't exactly raise eyebrows. I know this sounds superficial, but I'd honestly be happier if I had gone to Duke.

First of all, you must not be talking to the right people.

And secondly... You. Got. A. Job. Already.

At least you've identified that your ego is the major factor here, and man, is it getting in the way of you looking at this situation with even a hint of rationality.

I'm from the West Coast, and people either ask 1. is that university of arizona, or 2. is that an online school.

[TFALAWL]

Lets set this straight: it's not a debt thing, it's a prestige thing. UVA has the least prestige out of the T-14 which is something that people coming in need to know.

[mornincounselor]

C'mon man. You went to UVA for free. UVA Law has prestige. Haven't you ever watched Serial?

[do_me_a_favor]

You're right -- in the rational sense. The problem is I have an ego and I keep beating my head for going to a "state school in the South". telling people you went to UVA doesn't exactly raise eyebrows. I know this sounds superficial, but I'd honestly be happier if I had gone to Duke.

First of all, you must not be talking to the right people.

And secondly... You. Got. A. Job. Already.

At least you've identified that your ego is the major factor here, and man, is it getting in the way of you looking at this situation with even a hint of rationality.

I'm from the West Coast, and people either ask 1. is that university of arizona, or 2. is that an online school.

cmon guy are you trolling? that's ridiculous. you tell people "I went to UVA" and they think "UVA" translates to U arizona? are you stoned? University of Virginia an online school? it's a pretty major national university.

you need to be less status minded man

[A. Nony Mouse]

You're right -- in the rational sense. The problem is I have an ego and I keep beating my head for going to a "state school in the South". telling people you went to UVA doesn't exactly raise eyebrows. I know this sounds superficial, but I'd honestly be happier if I had gone to Duke.

I was pretty inclined toward sympathy but this really is about you and your own issues - not about anything structural with people going to law school. It's UVA. It's a T10 law school. It's plenty prestigious. I get that you, personally, regret the choices that you made, for your own personal reasons, and that's totally fair - we all have our own priorities and whatnot. But the OP seemed to couch this as "0Ls don't make the same mistakes I made," as a warning about the general problems with law school, as if your outcome was objectively bad in a way that it would be bad for anyone in your shoes (as opposed to it being bad based on your own personal priorities).

Also if I can go there, one of the classic signs of depression that I have seen is a belief that your life is shit and that you're depressed because your life is shit. (When my husband has a depressive episode it's always about how he's a failure, he's accomplished nothing, he's a loser, he's going to end up penniless in the gutter, etc. He actually has a PhD, a professional masters, a bunch of publications to his name, and has worked full time in his chosen fields for something like 19 of the last 20 years.) So I would respectfully suggest that at the moment, you don't see any value in your accomplishments (degree from an excellent school, biglaw job, minimal debt, potential for a variety of future career paths) *because* you're depressed, not that you're depressed *because* you've failed in any way.

Lets set this straight: it's not a debt thing, it's a prestige thing. UVA has the least prestige out of the T-14 which is something that people coming in need to know.

No they don't, because 1) this is a subjective evaluation that means nothing (I grew up on the east coast where people all think of Berkeley and Michigan as random state schools equivalent to UMass or UNH; who cares??), and 2) many people make their choices based on factors other than minor differences in prestige between the tippiest-top of law schools across the country.

[TFALAWL]

You're right -- in the rational sense. The problem is I have an ego and I keep beating my head for going to a "state school in the South". telling people you went to UVA doesn't exactly raise eyebrows. I know this sounds superficial, but I'd honestly be happier if I had gone to Duke.

First of all, you must not be talking to the right people.

And secondly... You. Got. A. Job. Already.

At least you've identified that your ego is the major factor here, and man, is it getting in the way of you looking at this situation with even a hint of rationality.

I'm from the West Coast, and people either ask 1. is that university of arizona, or 2. is that an online school.

cmon guy are you trolling? that's ridiculous. you tell people "I went to UVA" and they think "UVA" translates to U arizona? are you stoned? University of Virginia an online school? it's a pretty major national university.

you need to be less status minded man

You are correct I need to be less status minded: I should probably spend time at a yoga studio instead of TLS. But seriously, you'd be amazed at how stupid most people are -- I am not trolling with the "online school" or "arizona" comments. UVA has a strong east coast brand, but a very west coast one. And if you've ever studied abroad, nobody outside the U.S. has heard of it (c.f. UCLA for whatever reason)

[somethingElse]

Actually meditation would be a great option for you (I'm not picking on you though; it would be for anyone, really). But especially since you are depressed.