Detailed T14 Success Stories w/Salary Info. Forum

[ksimon2007]

If you consider $160,000 "just getting by," then I honestly don't think law school is for you. I'd instead suggest getting into another field, such as plastic surgery, being DeSean Jackson, or inheritance receipt.

[HITeacher2]

As far as law being the wrong profession to substantially riase your income, you clearly went to elite undergrad or have some sort of connections. Outside of medicine, law is the only field where someone from a modest background who went to an average school can work hard and quickly have access to a six figure salary. These ibanking, consulting, private equity etc. positions that you are probably considering a better avenue to high salaries are essentially cut off to those who didn't figure out at 18 that they needed to go to Yale. Top MBA programs and these elite financial companies won't accept someone who hasn't had elite WE; which generally requires that you were hired straight out of undergrad--which means you needed to go to an elite school to be recruited.

Voyager is proof that you can go to law school and still end up in consulting. But lets set that aside for a second.

I go to an elite business school (HBS) and can verify that, while the majority of my classmates have pretty prestigious work experience, not all of us do. I don't consider my work experience that prestigious (TFA) but I didn't need it, I got into HBS out of undergrad and deferred. My work experience was being an RA and being a VP in student government. I have classmates who worked in places like BestBuy, Target, Pepsi, Hasbro, Boeing and went to state schools. Not to mention all the people here from non-profits. I know enough people at Stanford and Wharton to know that this isn't just a Harvard trend, it's across schools, many students without elite backgrounds attend and consulting firms and banks slobber all over us to give us high-paying jobs.

The reason that top b-schools are made up of so many people with elite WE is because of attitudes like yours. People who work at elite firms (McKinsey, Goldman, etc) feel like they're entitled to get into HBS or Wharton because of their WE and they apply.
Here's some proof: http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2010/ ... rejection/
People from other backgrounds feel like they'll never get in and don't apply. If they applied, they would have had a shot at getting in - admissions offices don't respect brand-name work experience nearly as much as you think they do. Admissions office people care about WHAT you did, not what firm you did it in, and bankers have a MUCH higher hurdle to jump over to get in because they're all so similar. This is offset by how the brand-name firm people just get a lot of help on their applications from all their brand-name firm friends who know what they're doing. Nevertheless, to say that " Top MBA programs and these elite financial companies won't accept someone who hasn't had elite WE" perpetuates the same ignorance that keeps this cycle going.

[gwlaw2012]

I missed your point? I quote you:

"if am willing to work harder to make more money, and someone else would rather have a less stressful life with less money"

If that's not what you meant, then you need to work on your communications skills, you're not doing it right.

And I'm "dumb"? That's the only argument you have against my critique of your stupid-ass comments? That I am personally stupid? You argue like a child and your beliefs -- such as poor people choose to not have opportunities -- are fucking retarded.

i still don't understand why people felt the need to write these long-winded self-righteous screeds about the per capita income of bangladesh. like, holy shit, if am willing to work harder to make more money, and someone else would rather have a less stressful life with less money, i don't see an issue. if 80k makes you happy, fantastic! if that number is 8 million, also great! why the fuck do we care this much about others' subjective perceptions of an optimal lifestyle?

to. each. his (or her). own.

If you think just about anyone in Bangladesh wouldn't LOVE to go to school and work as a lawyer making $160k and that YOU are somehow working harder in life, you just don't get it.

Try to get some empthay and understanding of humanism before you go to law school.

you missed my point. also, you seem dumb.

also, i am already in law school. ok i think i am just going to talk to you like a child. tsk tsk, jumping to conclusions is NOT very lawyerly!

[lolschool2011]

The thread lives! And someday we might actually get a few T-14 success stories posted... one can dream. Unfortunately, it looks like the de facto minimum "successful" salary amount has been set at 160k, but I'd like to propose less if you intend to practice in cities without NFL teams. Call it 120k for an even 10k/month, pre-tax.

[Anonymous User]

what happened to this thread.

I was wondering the same thing.

It was a dumb thread idea from the beginning. Everyone knows there are successful T14 people.. look at partners at any major firm or the entire federal government.

I just spent 2 days arguing with someone claiming all lawyers start of with a salary of 50,000+ no matter what school they graduate from, and that working in a big law is the worst move one can make after graduation because it pays the least.

[lolschool2011]

The thread lives! And someday we might actually get a few T-14 success stories posted... one can dream. Unfortunately, it looks like the de facto minimum "successful" salary amount has been set at 160k, but I'd like to propose less if you intend to practice in cities without NFL teams. Call it 120k for an even 10k/month, pre-tax.

Bump?