Top Law Schools

I am very opposed to taking on debt for law school for a variety of reasons. I expect that I would be competitive for entry at any T14 school, but not for a full tuition merit scholarship at any of them (GPA 3.85, LSAT 170). How likely am I to find a T100 school that will offer me a spot for free? Is it simply a matter of sliding far enough down the list to stand out, or harder than that?

You have good numbers, you should be going to a t13 for a relatively cheap price.

As mentioned, you should get some decent scholarship offers at a top school.

You can definitely get a full ride (not to be confused with no debt, because you'll still have COL to cover) in the T20. But what do you want to do with your degree? Financially and career-wise, there are a lot of situations where taking on <$100k of debt to go to a T13 makes way more sense than taking a full ride at your state flagship.

cavalier1138 wrote:As mentioned, you should get some decent scholarship offers at a top school.

You can definitely get a full ride (not to be confused with no debt, because you'll still have COL to cover) in the T20. But what do you want to do with your degree? Financially and career-wise, there are a lot of situations where taking on <$100k of debt to go to a T13 makes way more sense than taking a full ride at your state flagship.

cavalier is right. OP, I can empathize with your desire to avoid taking on debt, because I'm also extremely debt-averse. But the fact is, it's much better to have a great job and manageable debt than no job and no debt - and the latter is exactly what you'd be at serious risk of if you were to attend a T2, as you propose.

With your numbers you should be applying across the T13 and T20. (If there are any you've left out, you should apply now - it's far from too late, early December's still quite early in the cycle.) You should get some very good offers, including full rides in the T20 and possibly even in the lower T13. Come back to TLS for more specific input once you have offers to choose from.

gamecocklaw wrote:I am very opposed to taking on debt for law school for a variety of reasons. I expect that I would be competitive for entry at any T14 school, but not for a full tuition merit scholarship at any of them (GPA 3.85, LSAT 170). How likely am I to find a T100 school that will offer me a spot for free? Is it simply a matter of sliding far enough down the list to stand out, or harder than that?

The issue wth sliding down the list and going to a school on a full scholarship is that employment prospects drop dramatically outside the T13. If you want to be something like a local public defender, that’s one thing; if you want big law or something other position, you need to consider the likely prospects from median at a school. Top schools place more people in jobs, and in more competitive jobs, than those down the list.

Please don’t make the mistake of assuming that schools down the list are not as competitive and therefore easier to do well. I’m not saying you made that assumption,but other people have and it’s not true. Schools grade against a fixed curve and classes are usually graded off of one fir exam.
You are much better off going for better employment statistics at a decent price. You should be able to find a happy balance of employment and debt.

Google ABA 509 (name of school). And go to the second page on the right hand side to see the percentage of folks at each school on a full ride. If it’s a public school remember thise numbers may be effected by in state v out of state tuition numbers.