Top Law Schools

Hi all,

I come before you a much-humbled HYS student who may be striking out at OCI for complicated reasons. Moving forward, I'm contemplating applying for JAG for 2L summer. I've been thinking about JAG for a long time, and this may be what finally pushes me into making this commitment.

A few questions:

1.) How difficult is it to get JAG?
2.) How difficult is it to get full employment with JAG after the 2L summer?
3.) Given that I will likely graduate with 150k of student debt, will I be able to live frugally as a JAG without going bankrupt?

Thanks.

Tip: Use the search function. There are several threads here on JAG.

To your questions:
1. Extremely. Somewhere on the order of 5% of applicants are selected, and strength of school, inasmuch as it is a factor at all, is not a huge one.
2. Much, much easier. Probably >50%. Getting that internship, on the other hand...
3. Yes, but more to the point, you'll qualify for a very small IBR payment, with the entire debt being forgiven if you stay in for ten years. Also, only your salary counts toward the IBR calculation, not your housing/food allowances. JAG's live just fine.

Thanks for the tip on the search function--for some reason, I didn't even think to search before making this post.

Anonymous User wrote:Hi all,

I come before you a much-humbled HYS student who may be striking out at OCI for complicated reasons. Moving forward, I'm contemplating applying for JAG for 2L summer. I've been thinking about JAG for a long time, and this may be what finally pushes me into making this commitment.

A few questions:

1.) How difficult is it to get JAG?
2.) How difficult is it to get full employment with JAG after the 2L summer?
3.) Given that I will likely graduate with 150k of student debt, will I be able to live frugally as a JAG without going bankrupt?

Thanks.

Yes, you can live frugally as a junior officer. You'll receive a tax-free housing allowance (BAH) and wear the same relatively inexpensive clothes to work every day. You will live near work and will not have an expensive commute either in gas or public transport fees. Anything else you are asked to do in the way of travel, deployment, etc. will be reimbursed above your salary. You will receive free (albeit sometimes mediocre, especially the dentistry in my experience) health care with no co-pay or co-insurance. You will have the option of contributing to TSP, which is equivalent to a very good company-match 401k. You will be promoted pretty quickly if you do your job. Because of these benefits, once you're a Captain after a few years, your standard of living could not be replicated in the private sector off of less than about $80-90k per year, maybe even more.

JAG isn't easy to get into ITE, but if you're HYS and not a complete tool, I think you'd have a good shot. From what I understand, all the summer positions, all of the JAG positions in any capacity, are designed for permanent placement after graduation. Maybe that's just what I was told because I'm prior service USMC.

One or more of the branches might be running student loan deals right now, too. Speak to all of them.

OP Here: Been browsing with the search function. One question I have that I haven't been able to answer:

I see that at least the Navy asks for LSAT score with its application. How big a deal is this criterion for acceptance? I have a 179 on the LSAT, but are they only asking that as a formality? What are the factors that make a candidate worthy of acceptance?

I'm currently an Air Force JAG waiting to start training in March. I was surprised at how little information there was about the process and I was mostly in the dark through the whole thing. I have a blog where I put a lot of information for prospective JAGs that I would have liked to have. Check it out. http://air-force-jag-journey.blogspot.com/