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Doing this for a friend.

My friend has already graduated undergrad with approximately 35k of debt. They were offered a full ride + 10k stipend at WashU. Obviously this is a decent outcome for someone who isn't biglaw or bust (he isn't) but the undergrad debt seems to complicate things. It's safe to say that he would be in about 60-70k of debt after WashU. Would this be a good investment? Or should he go somewhere further up the rankings? His stats are 3.8x/173.

I don't really understand how the undergrad debt relates to this question. WUSTL full ride + 10k is a great deal under any circumstances. Since he's not big law or bust, WUSTL is an amazing option. And it's not like going to WUSTL means no biglaw; WUSTL's employment stats have been steadily rising in the last few years.

With his stats, he should use WUSTL's offer to negotiate a full scholarship at a T14, and go there, if possible.

Where does the extra 30K in debt come in? Is he thinking an extra 10K per year for living expenses?

acr wrote:I don't really understand how the undergrad debt relates to this question. WUSTL full ride + 10k is a great deal under any circumstances. Since he's not big law or bust, WUSTL is an amazing option. And it's not like going to WUSTL means no biglaw; WUSTL's employment stats have been steadily rising in the last few years.

With his stats, he should use WUSTL's offer to negotiate a full scholarship at a T14, and go there, if possible.

Where does the extra 30K in debt come in? Is he thinking an extra 10K per year for living expenses?

I guess I don't know what the rent situation is like in St. Louis and assumed that 10k wouldn't be enough.

Bonzeye wrote:Doing this for a friend.

My friend has already graduated undergrad with approximately 35k of debt. They were offered a full ride + 10k stipend at WashU. Obviously this is a decent outcome for someone who isn't biglaw or bust (he isn't) but the undergrad debt seems to complicate things. It's safe to say that he would be in about 60-70k of debt after WashU. Would this be a good investment? Or should he go somewhere further up the rankings? His stats are 3.8x/173.

With those stats, he should def try to get a large scholarship at a school like Northwestern/Cornell/Penn. Even with a full ride, It would be a waste to go to WashU.

Why does your "friend" want to go to law school? What will they do if not biglaw?

Yeah, the friend has grades where a t13 should be verrrry cheap and that should be where they end up. A full ride at WUSTL isn't bad but that's usually a good option for someone with a 173 with a below 3.8 gpa.

Does your friend WANT biglaw if it's available? It's one thing not being biglaw or bust, but if they want biglaw, T14 is the easiest way to get there and the debt burden should still be low with those stats.

If your friend wants, say, to be a PD, then the equation changes a bit. Then that full scholarship and stipend might make a lot more sense.

$35k is not enough debt to really factor into a conversation of which law school someone should go to. Besides, that amount of debt already exists at this juncture so to some extent this is the opposite of the sunk cost fallacy (whatever that would be called). Regardless, obtaining a JD from a top-25 school with no debt is a great position to be in.

There is that notorious story about the dude who struggled with C&F because he had too much debt but this was in the half-million plus range, and more relevantly, he had (1) previously missed payments and (2) didn't have a high-paying job lined up and there was concern his precarious financial position would impact his ability to adequately represent clients. If (1) wasn't present, it's unlikely the issue even would have come up altogether and if (2) was present, the issue may well have ended there.

If he's stressed about the 35k in debt, he might be someone who is just extremely debt averse. I turned down T14 scholarships (close to half tuition) for a free ride + stipend at a school similar to WUSTL and don't regret it for a second. Then again, I graduated during the last recession and I don't know if people can quite understand or remember what that was like. All bets were off when it came to getting BigLaw. We are overdue for a recession so someone debt averse should take that into consideration.

They should definitely be able to get partial scholarships at Penn, Mich, Cornell too though.

I chose a T14 with full tuition over WashU with tuition plus 15k a year. After getting a good clerkship and biglaw job, I think I made the right choice. But this is highly personal and I have friends at WashU with the same results I have.