Top Law Schools

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With your top choice's (T14) LRAP, will your total out of pocket be higher or lower than 45k~ (your undergrad loan plus 3 years of interest)?

If you're going to be working for an underfunded environmental non-profit whose attorneys never clear more than 80k/year, feel free to take the T14. If we're talking a CA county's DA/PD office where attorneys make 110+ by year 10, you should probably take the full ride.

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Go ahead and specify the public interest field, sounds like that's pertinent here

lawdylawdy wrote: What do you mean?

I'd rather not specify the public interest field, but it would behoove me to have T14 credentials for the positions I'm seeking. Additionally, I don't expect the salary for said positions to be very high. These are the reasons I feel T14 sticker might be the better option.

LRAP is based off of and limited by your income. If you make over a certain salary, you only get a percentage covered. Based on your school's LRAP program and your expected income, it's basic math to see which is financially better, while factoring in the ability to get the job from both schools.

is a retake + paying like 10k or so off or your loans via sitting out and working an actual viable option here or nah

if nah I would probably cop the full-ride no matter the circumstance

how do you know you'll even get a job in the field you want? Or that you'd like it? $300k hanging over your head for 10 or 25 years for a t14 degree is just not worth it

Can you define regional a little more?

regional as in like UT/UCLA/Emory? Or regional like T2/T3?

What I mean is that at some point, the school's LRAP doesn't cover your IBR/PAYE/etc. payments and you're out of pocket on the remainder. If the T14 you're thinking about is Columbia, which has an 100k/year cap, and the job you're thinking about is a crappy non-profit where you'll never make more than 100k a year for as long as you work there, then the JD is effectively "free" and you should go for LRAP because having your school + IBR pay down your undergrad loans beats you paying down your undergrad loans.

On the other hand, if you're likely to be paying more than 45k in IBR/PAYE/etc. (either because your school's LRAP isn't as good, because you make too much money, or a combination of the two), then you should take the full ride and start paying off the undergrad loans asap.

All of this advice is contingent on you properly understanding what a "strong regional is" (which I feel like you do) and more importantly, you understanding how much benefit a T14 would give you over a strong regional (which I feel like you don't.)

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Do you mind sharing your stats, since you said you were a super splitter, and more about any schools that have accepted you? Also, I'd say you should be careful about taking on a ton of debt based on assumptions. Like earlier posters mentioned, how do you know you'll like the work or even get a job? I knew people who went to law school only interested in one area and that's not what they practice now.

Are there at least some geographic regions where you don't want to practice? Also, it really would be helpful to know the public interest field. You might want to practice in an area where a regional school could give you better prospects because of connections.

I understand the desire for anonymity, but you're not giving anywhere near enough info to help you. You won't tell us the industry (so we don't know if T14 matters) the schools you're looking at, or your stats.

Assuming you are correct that t-14 credentials matter for your goal PI gig, still, you should only feel comfortable going the LRAP route if (a) you have strong backup options in the public interest world rather than gunning for only some unicorn gig (e.g., legal aid if your goal is ACLU) and (b) you have work experience/connections/other reasons to think you will be competitive in the public interest job market, which is very selective/intimidating. Related to this I would confirm relevant t-14 has strong PI career services and/or alumni.

ETA on the other hand if you're talking about somewhere with high CoL and the school doesn't have a good LRAP the t-14 may be better debt and all. Even just paying off CoL loans plus your ug loans in a low-paying PD gig can be rough without LRAP.

LRAP is deceptive; it's harder to qualify and stick through it than you think. There's also the temptation to just do OCI and then you're stuck with a shitload of debt and a job you don't want. Sticker at T14 is still ill advised for PI minded people.

jbagelboy wrote:LRAP is deceptive; it's harder to qualify and stick through it than you think. There's also the temptation to just do OCI and then you're stuck with a shitload of debt and a job you don't want. Sticker at T14 is still ill advised for PI minded people.

Also, if you have any assets, schools will often require that you (basically) spend them entirely before they pony up, which is a plus one for the full ride.