Top Law Schools

Hi guys! Longtime lurker, first time poster.

I am looking for honest feedback here, so please be as brutal as you feel you need to be.

I took the LSAT last year and got a 176 with a 3.75 GPA after having been out of undergrad for 5 years to start my own company. I've so far not bitten the bullet and applied to law school because I am afraid that my grades will not qualify me for the types of scholarships I feel I would need in order to outweigh the costs of attendance. In a perfect world I would get a full ride but that's not happening

For the record, I am looking at attending NYU, Columbia or Cornell but am okay with blanketing all the T-14s with applications. My goal would be to end up in a big firm, but I'm still not sure that even an associate salary would make up for the scholarship deficit I would need to cover in loans. I see the costs of attendance for some of these schools and I'm just like, "Holy shit!"

And so I come to you: knowing what you know now and gauging the market (there is NEVER any guarantee for a job), what would you say to someone who is looking at applying to the T-14s and hopefully making it into NYC BigLaw? I would ideally like to graduate with < 90k in loans, but it's probably impossible. I don't want to be saddled down with an extra 100k to pay back while simultaneously living in a high CoL area, so I am trying to be smart about this. I realize my GPA and LSAT are high-ish but there are so many applicants like me, and so many of them who are better. Arrogance is totally not my game.

It feels like I should just give up and focus my efforts on growing my business instead, but I know that if I didn't give it the best shot I could to get into law school I would regret it forever. So what say you? Are loans really that much of a problem? Do you regret going to law school? Should I put off applying for a few years, save up and then apply knowing that I can pay down a chunk of my loans while I'm in school? Thanks!

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If you want to be a lawyer, go to law school. You have numbers where you could get a full ride in t14. just pay for living expenses. If you go to a low COL area you could get out with very few loans. But talk to a couple lawyers and make sure you want to be one first.

Thanks. I've been looking obsessively at Law School Numbers and it seems like people with grades very similar to mine aren't getting almost full rides. Or are they just not reporting it? It's conflicting information.

Look, applying to law school doesn't automatically saddle you with >100k in debt. Why don't just you apply and see what you end up getting? Seems like a better use of time than trying to guess how much scholarship money you'll be awarded.

You will likely get fee waivers from most/all schools. There's no bullet to bite here. Whip up a PS, have your transcripts sent and scrounge up a couple of LORs. Then you can apply to the T14 with the click of a button. It's pretty simple. You could have applied to law school in the time it took you to make this thread, tbh.

FWIW, I had identical stats when applying and ended up getting a half-tuition named scholarship to both of Columbia and NYU. I was a K-JD, so your chances at significant $ are pretty high.

Why do you want to go to law school?

Loans are not really that much of a problem, and with your numbers you could go to a few T14s with less than 100k debt. All the T14 will get you to NYC biglaw

One thing everybody has to take into account is that OP is 5 years out of law school. I might be better off with taking on loans due to me being one year out of college, simply due to the fact that I am younger and have more time to pay them off.

Theoretically speaking, the more years out of law school you are the less worth it it becomes to go to law school, no? Since you have less years of being a lawyer to offset the costs.

Thelaw23 wrote:Theoretically speaking, the more years out of law school you are the less worth it it becomes to go to law school, no? Since you have less years of being a lawyer to offset the costs.

If we all died by age 40, sure, that would make sense.

But no, five years (or even ten years) is not enough of a difference to say that someone has now passed the optimal window for paying off law school debt.

chickenpotpie wrote:Hi guys! Longtime lurker, first time poster.

I am looking for honest feedback here, so please be as brutal as you feel you need to be.

I took the LSAT last year and got a 176 with a 3.75 GPA after having been out of undergrad for 5 years to start my own company. I've so far not bitten the bullet and applied to law school because I am afraid that my grades will not qualify me for the types of scholarships I feel I would need in order to outweigh the costs of attendance. In a perfect world I would get a full ride but that's not happening

For the record, I am looking at attending NYU, Columbia or Cornell but am okay with blanketing all the T-14s with applications. My goal would be to end up in a big firm, but I'm still not sure that even an associate salary would make up for the scholarship deficit I would need to cover in loans. I see the costs of attendance for some of these schools and I'm just like, "Holy shit!"

And so I come to you: knowing what you know now and gauging the market (there is NEVER any guarantee for a job), what would you say to someone who is looking at applying to the T-14s and hopefully making it into NYC BigLaw? I would ideally like to graduate with < 90k in loans, but it's probably impossible. I don't want to be saddled down with an extra 100k to pay back while simultaneously living in a high CoL area, so I am trying to be smart about this. I realize my GPA and LSAT are high-ish but there are so many applicants like me, and so many of them who are better. Arrogance is totally not my game.

It feels like I should just give up and focus my efforts on growing my business instead, but I know that if I didn't give it the best shot I could to get into law school I would regret it forever. So what say you? Are loans really that much of a problem? Do you regret going to law school? Should I put off applying for a few years, save up and then apply knowing that I can pay down a chunk of my loans while I'm in school? Thanks!

You will get into CLS with a scholarship. Congratulations.

Dang good shot at Harvard too.

If you are going to attend, go now.

Yes, being an attorney appears to be pretty damn awful and most of my peers agree. Perhaps you like it? Difficult to say...

Voyager wrote:

chickenpotpie wrote:Hi guys! Longtime lurker, first time poster.

I am looking for honest feedback here, so please be as brutal as you feel you need to be.

I took the LSAT last year and got a 176 with a 3.75 GPA after having been out of undergrad for 5 years to start my own company. I've so far not bitten the bullet and applied to law school because I am afraid that my grades will not qualify me for the types of scholarships I feel I would need in order to outweigh the costs of attendance. In a perfect world I would get a full ride but that's not happening

For the record, I am looking at attending NYU, Columbia or Cornell but am okay with blanketing all the T-14s with applications. My goal would be to end up in a big firm, but I'm still not sure that even an associate salary would make up for the scholarship deficit I would need to cover in loans. I see the costs of attendance for some of these schools and I'm just like, "Holy shit!"

And so I come to you: knowing what you know now and gauging the market (there is NEVER any guarantee for a job), what would you say to someone who is looking at applying to the T-14s and hopefully making it into NYC BigLaw? I would ideally like to graduate with < 90k in loans, but it's probably impossible. I don't want to be saddled down with an extra 100k to pay back while simultaneously living in a high CoL area, so I am trying to be smart about this. I realize my GPA and LSAT are high-ish but there are so many applicants like me, and so many of them who are better. Arrogance is totally not my game.

It feels like I should just give up and focus my efforts on growing my business instead, but I know that if I didn't give it the best shot I could to get into law school I would regret it forever. So what say you? Are loans really that much of a problem? Do you regret going to law school? Should I put off applying for a few years, save up and then apply knowing that I can pay down a chunk of my loans while I'm in school? Thanks!

You will get into CLS with a scholarship. Congratulations.

Dang good shot at Harvard too.

If you are going to attend, go now.

Yes, being an attorney appears to be pretty damn awful and most of my peers agree. Perhaps you like it? Difficult to say...

OP could get into Cornell with a full ride and has an outside shot at a full ride at NYU and CLS as well. HLS would mean a ton of debt which the OP intends to avoid.

jbagelboy wrote:

Voyager wrote:

chickenpotpie wrote:Hi guys! Longtime lurker, first time poster.

I am looking for honest feedback here, so please be as brutal as you feel you need to be.

I took the LSAT last year and got a 176 with a 3.75 GPA after having been out of undergrad for 5 years to start my own company. I've so far not bitten the bullet and applied to law school because I am afraid that my grades will not qualify me for the types of scholarships I feel I would need in order to outweigh the costs of attendance. In a perfect world I would get a full ride but that's not happening

For the record, I am looking at attending NYU, Columbia or Cornell but am okay with blanketing all the T-14s with applications. My goal would be to end up in a big firm, but I'm still not sure that even an associate salary would make up for the scholarship deficit I would need to cover in loans. I see the costs of attendance for some of these schools and I'm just like, "Holy shit!"

And so I come to you: knowing what you know now and gauging the market (there is NEVER any guarantee for a job), what would you say to someone who is looking at applying to the T-14s and hopefully making it into NYC BigLaw? I would ideally like to graduate with < 90k in loans, but it's probably impossible. I don't want to be saddled down with an extra 100k to pay back while simultaneously living in a high CoL area, so I am trying to be smart about this. I realize my GPA and LSAT are high-ish but there are so many applicants like me, and so many of them who are better. Arrogance is totally not my game.

It feels like I should just give up and focus my efforts on growing my business instead, but I know that if I didn't give it the best shot I could to get into law school I would regret it forever. So what say you? Are loans really that much of a problem? Do you regret going to law school? Should I put off applying for a few years, save up and then apply knowing that I can pay down a chunk of my loans while I'm in school? Thanks!

You will get into CLS with a scholarship. Congratulations.

Dang good shot at Harvard too.

If you are going to attend, go now.

Yes, being an attorney appears to be pretty damn awful and most of my peers agree. Perhaps you like it? Difficult to say...

OP could get into Cornell with a full ride and has an outside shot at a full ride at NYU and CLS as well. HLS would mean a ton of debt which the OP intends to avoid.

Still, getting into H would probably help OP get from almost a full to a full at all the new york schools, right?

guybourdin wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:

Voyager wrote:

chickenpotpie wrote:Hi guys! Longtime lurker, first time poster.

I am looking for honest feedback here, so please be as brutal as you feel you need to be.

I took the LSAT last year and got a 176 with a 3.75 GPA after having been out of undergrad for 5 years to start my own company. I've so far not bitten the bullet and applied to law school because I am afraid that my grades will not qualify me for the types of scholarships I feel I would need in order to outweigh the costs of attendance. In a perfect world I would get a full ride but that's not happening

For the record, I am looking at attending NYU, Columbia or Cornell but am okay with blanketing all the T-14s with applications. My goal would be to end up in a big firm, but I'm still not sure that even an associate salary would make up for the scholarship deficit I would need to cover in loans. I see the costs of attendance for some of these schools and I'm just like, "Holy shit!"

And so I come to you: knowing what you know now and gauging the market (there is NEVER any guarantee for a job), what would you say to someone who is looking at applying to the T-14s and hopefully making it into NYC BigLaw? I would ideally like to graduate with < 90k in loans, but it's probably impossible. I don't want to be saddled down with an extra 100k to pay back while simultaneously living in a high CoL area, so I am trying to be smart about this. I realize my GPA and LSAT are high-ish but there are so many applicants like me, and so many of them who are better. Arrogance is totally not my game.

It feels like I should just give up and focus my efforts on growing my business instead, but I know that if I didn't give it the best shot I could to get into law school I would regret it forever. So what say you? Are loans really that much of a problem? Do you regret going to law school? Should I put off applying for a few years, save up and then apply knowing that I can pay down a chunk of my loans while I'm in school? Thanks!

You will get into CLS with a scholarship. Congratulations.

Dang good shot at Harvard too.

If you are going to attend, go now.

Yes, being an attorney appears to be pretty damn awful and most of my peers agree. Perhaps you like it? Difficult to say...

OP could get into Cornell with a full ride and has an outside shot at a full ride at NYU and CLS as well. HLS would mean a ton of debt which the OP intends to avoid.

Still, getting into H would probably help OP get from almost a full to a full at all the new york schools, right?

it doesn't really work that way no. the average full tuition scholarship recipient at a T6 is far more qualified (numerically) than the average harvard admit