Top Law Schools

So, I am a female URM non traditional student, with several years of work experience and a masters. I am getting divergent advice from two people I respect very much.

One of my mentors from graduate school, an attorney in my field of work, suggested i just do as well as I possibly can on the LSAT and prioritize getting scholarships or a full-ride and then go to to the best school I possibly can out of that batch, so that I can practice whatever I want with little to no debt. She really advocated against paying for law school and to avoid it at all costs. Sounds pretty solid. She is a female URM went to school for free at a strong regional and is pretty well known professionally. Lives comfortably.

I told my friend's mother who is an attorney and was a career switcher 20 years ago that I am applying to law schools. She freaked out about the idea of seriously considering lower ranked schools on the basis of to trying to go for free and said the best strategy is to go to the best school you could possibly go to regardless of cost, and that paying full sticker for better rankings pays off in the end. She is a female URM with admittedly bad LSAT and had turned away money, went to the best she got into which was the same relatively strong regional, but got dinged at top tiers. She "got lucky" and worked at Big Law for a few years then " her luck ran out" (i'm really not sure what that means) so she went into private practice. Lives comfortably.

Now, I am a bit confused because I know there is a truth to both of these, namely do well on the LSAT and go to the best school you can-- but at my age I am not really looking forward to accumulating a ton of debt. My best friend who is an attorney, says I am getting "old economy steve" advice from the mom, and that the first plan is much better, and the best plan is not to go to law school at all .

All I know at this point is I should probably retake my LSAT for better chances in the top tier( LSAT is strong but has room to be stronger) But barring admission into HYS, is it really financially smart to turn away a full ride at a strong regional?

Providing your LSAT/GPA will make it much easier to give good advice.

It really depends on the 1. schools in question and the 2.amount of money.

1. Whats the point of taking a full ride to a crappy school with no job prospects. Sure you didn't pay, but you wasted 3 years.
2. Even if you get a $30k a year scholly, you still gonna be like $150k in debt, at that level big law is a needed, so the chances of getting big law are more important.

canadianbrother wrote:It really depends on the 1. schools in question and the 2.amount of money.

1. Whats the point of taking a full ride to a crappy school with no job prospects. Sure you didn't pay, but you wasted 3 years.
2. Even if you get a $30k a year scholly, you still gonna be like $150k in debt, at that level big law is a needed, so the chances of getting big law are more important.

This is exactly right. They both could be right or wrong depending on the schools and money in question. Come back with an LSAT score, and we can steer you in the right direction.

the second person sounds out of touch. there might not be one school in the country truly worth sticker at this point (if you can get into yale for example you could probably go to columbia for 100k less which will probably give you abt the same opportunities)

remember that you could pay all of your tuition with a minimum wage summer job not two generations ago; 20 years is a long fucking time in this landscape

the answer to your q will rely on your lsat, career goals, and preferred market

generally speaking though go to the best school for best price that places you into the best market

Another thing to consider is the reach of the schools you are considering. Taking a full-ride to Fordham can pay off, because big firms will recruit there for NYC jobs. Taking a full-ride to a Tier 3 school with very poor exmissions can you leave you unemployable.