I have a 170 LSAT/3.83 GPA, and okay softs which I know don't matter much/at all (Phi Beta Kappa, female, grew up in extreme poverty...not URM unfortunately). I have my dream schools (Cornell, Texas) but I would ideally like to take out as little debt as possible. Like next to zero debt. I am not aiming for Big Law and would be more than happy with a ~90k health law job somewhere in the not-too-distant future, so I'm not willing to take on hefty loan repayments (on top of the 33K I have from undergrad).
Is graduating without 50k+ debt even possible with law schools in the top-20 range? Are there schools that tend to be more generous?
Help--Target Schools Forum
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pterodactyls
- Posts: 520
- Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2015 5:27 pm
Re: Help--Target Schools
I would definitely still apply to Cornell. You are above both medians for Cornell so you should get some sort of financial aid offer. Probably won't be close to full tuition, but worth applying and seeing. The nice thing about Cornell is that it's relatively cheap to live in Ithaca. Might be one of the lowest COL out of the T14. Berkeley has a matching program (and with other schools, you can potentially use other offers to leverage negotiations), so you would benefit from applying to most of the T14 and seeing what offers you get.
I don't think any T20s offer full tuition plus stipend, except for a few rare cases (Chicago's Ruby, but you have to have very high scores). But, many of them do have some sort of Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP). So if you are making less than $100k/$80k/$65k (exact threshold depends on the school) the school will cover a portion (or sometimes all) of your loan payments. If you have to take out a little more debt, but the school pays it back for you, it ends up being the same difference in the end. Programs vary so check with each school, so look into them. Some schools require that you work in the public sector, some will cover any job that is under the salary threshold.
I don't think any T20s offer full tuition plus stipend, except for a few rare cases (Chicago's Ruby, but you have to have very high scores). But, many of them do have some sort of Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP). So if you are making less than $100k/$80k/$65k (exact threshold depends on the school) the school will cover a portion (or sometimes all) of your loan payments. If you have to take out a little more debt, but the school pays it back for you, it ends up being the same difference in the end. Programs vary so check with each school, so look into them. Some schools require that you work in the public sector, some will cover any job that is under the salary threshold.
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maracuya
- Posts: 134
- Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2015 10:45 pm
Re: Help--Target Schools
Michigan and Northwestern have offered me very generous scholarships. I would say your numbers are definitely in the range to qualify for a good offer as well. Especially with Northwestern's recent endowment, I think they are willing to pull strong candidates in by way of financial assistance. Check out the Michigan spreadsheet for info on what scholarship amounts some people have gotten based on their numbers. I don't think Northwestern's will reflect the same since I don't believe many RD decisions have come out yet.
