GULC '12 Forum

[Lawyer2012]

Tuition bill is online now

One word...OUCH!!!

[poker1928]

Is health insurance supposed to be already charged on the account, and then I guess you get reimbursed when/if you fill out the waiver?

[gilchristh]

Tuition bill is online now

One word...OUCH!!!

Do you think they throw in a free car each semester? 'Cause if so, then this is a bargain!

[AceOfDiamonds]

Tuition bill is online now

One word...OUCH!!!

Do you think they throw in a free car each semester? 'Cause if so, then this is a bargain!

Well, we can all play the "worst case scenario ITE" game...

Everyone, count off in a sequence of threes.
The "1s" all get biglaw and will pay off their debt within a reasonable timeframe.
The "2s" and "3s" can choose between drowning, hanging, firearms, or a life of perpetual despair, consumed fully by a monstrous debt that can never be repaid.

Sounds like a fun game of Russian Roulette...

[gilchristh]

Tuition bill is online now

One word...OUCH!!!

Do you think they throw in a free car each semester? 'Cause if so, then this is a bargain!

Well, we can all play the "worst case scenario ITE" game...

Everyone, count off in a sequence of threes.
The "1s" all get biglaw and will pay off their debt within a reasonable timeframe.
The "2s" and "3s" can choose between drowning, hanging, firearms, or a life of perpetual despair, consumed fully by a monstrous debt that can never be repaid.

Sounds like a fun game of Russian Roulette...

1!!
(...but does it have to be Biglaw? I really don't want the lifestyle, but I would like to pay off my debt...)

[AceOfDiamonds]

1
(...but does it have to be Biglaw? I really don't want the lifestyle, but I would like to pay off my debt...)

Assuming you actually make the top third of a class as competitive as GULC's, you could argue that Biglaw would actually be a step down in workload / hours invested. You might actually be relieved to leave law school and merely have to work eighty hours each week.

[gilchristh]

1
(...but does it have to be Biglaw? I really don't want the lifestyle, but I would like to pay off my debt...)

Assuming you actually make the top third of a class as competitive as GULC's, you could argue that Biglaw would actually be a step down in workload / hours invested. You might actually be relieved to leave law school and merely have to work eighty hours each week.

Eh, I'll be 35 when I graduate with my JD/MBA. Ain't no snowball's chance in hell I'm gonna put in 70-80 hour work weeks in my late 30s. I did that already; I call that phase my 20s.

Plus, I actually enjoy school. I like studying. Ooh ooh! Wait! I have an even better idea! I could not do the Joint Degree, and instead wait until after I finish law school to start my MBA. Then a MPP. Then, who knows, maybe a Ph.D.

Hiding in academia forever FTW!!!
(translation: I <3 deferment.)

[pasteurizedmilk]

1
(...but does it have to be Biglaw? I really don't want the lifestyle, but I would like to pay off my debt...)

Assuming you actually make the top third of a class as competitive as GULC's, you could argue that Biglaw would actually be a step down in workload / hours invested. You might actually be relieved to leave law school and merely have to work eighty hours each week.

I have my doubts top 1/3 is necessary.

[Mark71121]

1
(...but does it have to be Biglaw? I really don't want the lifestyle, but I would like to pay off my debt...)

Assuming you actually make the top third of a class as competitive as GULC's, you could argue that Biglaw would actually be a step down in workload / hours invested. You might actually be relieved to leave law school and merely have to work eighty hours each week.

i didn't find it to be too competitive. the people who gun the hardest tend to be pretty dumb and lack common sense.

1
(...but does it have to be Biglaw? I really don't want the lifestyle, but I would like to pay off my debt...)

Assuming you actually make the top third of a class as competitive as GULC's, you could argue that Biglaw would actually be a step down in workload / hours invested. You might actually be relieved to leave law school and merely have to work eighty hours each week.

I have my doubts top 1/3 is necessary.

top 1/3 is definitely necessary. it probably isn't even sufficient for biglaw right now. i guess i'll find out in a couple of months.

[AceOfDiamonds]

Eh, I'll be 35 when I graduate with my JD/MBA.

Hmm. I wonder exactly what the return value is for putting in an extra year's tuition for an MBA (in addition to the JD.)

And as for the 1/3rd part: I don't personally believe it, but many here on TLS do, so it seemed a credible "worst case scenario" figure to quote.

[gilchristh]

Eh, I'll be 35 when I graduate with my JD/MBA.

Hmm. I wonder exactly what the return value is for putting in an extra year's tuition for an MBA (in addition to the JD.)

Depends on what you want to do with it (well, not you specifically, but...). I'm not going back to school because I want to make more money; I was pretty comfortable at my startup for the past two years. I managed to do pretty darn well with a Humanities (read: "useless") degree from an obsolete (at best) school. I'm going to GULC because I loved the school, the location, and the Curriculum B option... not because it's the best school I got into (it wasn't).

I'm going back to school because I want to do something I'm excited about doing. The JD/MBA isn't the right choice for everyone (in fact, it's wrong for most law students), but it's exactly what I want and need. And I'm really glad I didn't go to law school straight out of undergrad (like everyone I knew suggested). I had no idea what I wanted to do back then. So gunners, consider this my wave of the white flag: you can have the Biglaw. Consider me one less body to jump over. I won't even be graduating with y'all anyway!

Edited to add: Oh yeah... and don't forget about LRAP! We'll have plenty of PI-oriented folks in our gang.

Edited again to clarify my intent: I realized that this post could easily be construed as snarky, when that was not my intent. I think it's great that many of you are coming straight out of undergrad. I just meant that it was a terrible idea for me. And I also meant that since you young whippersnappers will have oodles more energy and determination than I am likely to have upon graduation, you won't get a fight out of me for Biglaw jobs. Everyone wins! Yay!

[pasteurizedmilk]

Eh, I'll be 35 when I graduate with my JD/MBA.

Hmm. I wonder exactly what the return value is for putting in an extra year's tuition for an MBA (in addition to the JD.)

And as for the 1/3rd part: I don't personally believe it, but many here on TLS do, so it seemed a credible "worst case scenario" figure to quote.

I think about 33 - 40 percent of the class will end up in BigLaw, but I don't think this correlates precisely with the top 33 - 40 percent of the class.

Interview skills, career interests, connections, etc. all play a much bigger role than the average TLSer thinks. I think if people really want BigLaw, around the median at GULC is fine, assuming you aren't a tool and you know how to interview.

[GreenHeels]

I am now counting on:

1. The Income-based Repayment Option/Federal Consolidation

2. Total forgiveness of all outstanding balances for Public Employees after 120 payments made anytime after 10/2007.

As long as these come through, I can have a semblance of a life after school.

If not, I'll slave away in the biglaw sweatshops for a bit. Ah, me, the things we do for the things we want.

[gilchristh]

Hey GreenHeels, you planning to do a Joint Degree too?

[poker1928]

Is health insurance supposed to be already charged on the account, and then I guess you get reimbursed when/if you fill out the waiver?

Ended up finding out the answer to my own question in case anyone was curious. Looks like they do in fact initially charge you regardless, and then credit you back once you tell them (and possibly prove?) you have other insurance.

[Lawyer2012]

Tuition bill is online now

One word...OUCH!!!

Do you think they throw in a free car each semester? 'Cause if so, then this is a bargain!

Parking is ANOTHER $7-800 a semester...we'd be lucky if they threw that in!

[AceOfDiamonds]

Edited again to clarify my intent: I realized that this post could easily be construed as snarky, when that was not my intent. I think it's great that many of you are coming straight out of undergrad. I just meant that it was a terrible idea for me. And I also meant that since you young whippersnappers will have oodles more energy and determination than I am likely to have upon graduation, you won't get a fight out of me for Biglaw jobs. Everyone wins! Yay!

I know you didn't intend your comments to be directed just at me, but I would like to clarify that I am, in fact, not coming straight out of undergrad. I've been in the workforce a few years.

Re: Criticism of Gunners: If anything, I've denoted a new term that specifically applies to my situation: I'm a reluctant gunner. My personality type is nothing like the stereotypes thrown about to describe gunners; I'm not a perfectionist, I don't like to work until I drop dead late in the night, I'm not ambitious to a point that could be construed as arrogant. If anything, in fact, I'm the Type B kind of personality who usually enjoys sitting back, relaxing, and who is very averse to stressing out over the small stuff. I'm not competitive. It doesn't run in my blood. I'm very interested in studying law, but not to the extent that I'd want the rest of my life to disappear.

Unfortunately, you throw $200,000+ dollars of debt on my back and show me numbers for legal employment in this economy and circulate the kinds of horror stories I've heard here on TLS, and I guess I might become a gunner of sorts. Since my introduction to TLS, I've purchased my fair share of hornbooks (and before visiting this website, I have to confess, I only planned on reading 'Getting to Maybe' before Law School started.)

You could say that I'm struggling to cope with the paranoid nightmare of falling into the abyss below the median and not finding the right career path ITE.

So I guess what I'm saying is, there are two kinds of people who might fit the oft-maligned 'gunner' stereotype: there's the type who are just naturally 'driven' to working their asses off and flagrantly shoving their 'at all costs' dedication to intellectual exploits in our faces, and then there's the type like me, who are just scared shittless of what's going to happen if we don't bust our asses off to beat the curve. I'd hate to be accused of being a gunner under the former description, because that's not the kind of guy I am, and certainly not the type I'd like to be perceived as. If I'm accused of being a gunner for fitting the latter description, though, then I really can't complain.

[gilchristh]

I know you didn't intend your comments to be directed just at me, but I would like to clarify that I am, in fact, not coming straight out of undergrad. I've been in the workforce a few years.

I actually had a vague suspicion/recollection that you were a few years out.

Re: Criticism of Gunners: If anything, I've denoted a new term that specifically applies to my situation: I'm a reluctant gunner.

I don't blame you for that, and i have to say that in all sincerity, our group has by far been the coolest group I've seen-- on TLS, in person @ Open House, and on Facebook. My comments weren't even intentionally applicable to anyone on here, but rather to any potential gunner lurkers or closeted gunners... a preemptive disclaimer/peace offering, if you will.

[gilchristh]

Tuition bill is online now

One word...OUCH!!!

Do you think they throw in a free car each semester? 'Cause if so, then this is a bargain!

Parking is ANOTHER $7-800 a semester...we'd be lucky if they threw that in!

Personally, I wouldn't mind paying for parking if they threw in a new car every semester, even if it were just a Kia or something practical.

[GreenHeels]

Hey GreenHeels, you planning to do a Joint Degree too?

Indeed, I am. JD/MPP.

[rayiner]

Hey GreenHeels, you planning to do a Joint Degree too?

Indeed, I am. JD/MPP.

What kind of policy are you interested in?

[Jadcia]

I'm looking into the JD/LLM in Tax. It's another semester, since I plan on doing the Paris program it would help fill out that year and put me on track for a May graduation. Glad to hear fellow joint-degree seekers are out there.

[GreenHeels]

Hey GreenHeels, you planning to do a Joint Degree too?

Indeed, I am. JD/MPP.

What kind of policy are you interested in?

One of the best parts is I have not yet attempted to limit my focus. I have always been a jack of trades, with interests all over the map, and so it is not in my character to precommit myself until I try something. Of the concentrations offered at the policy school (8), four tweaked my nose:

Political Strategy
Homeland Security
International Policy and Development
Education, Social, and Family Policy - I've got teachers in the family and some bits rubbed off.

Man, I get excited just reading that back. Policy is gonna be fun after 1L.

[GreenHeels]

Oh, there's also the bit about constructing your own track. That's a possibility after I get some ideas next year.

[jschuyler]

Oh, there's also the bit about constructing your own track. That's a possibility after I get some ideas next year.

Also known as a policybility, yuk yuk