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Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:49 pm
by Giddy-Up
May 2011 graduate of a T2 in Chicago.

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:54 pm
by xyzbca
Giddy-Up wrote:May 2011 graduate of a T2 in Chicago.
Job?

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:55 pm
by Giddy-Up
Job?
JAG

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:01 pm
by JustE
Did you go in with a full ride? If not, what did you do? Writing competitions, external scholarships, live in your car, work?

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:05 pm
by arthasdk
So...how'd you do it? Scholarship $$?

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:06 pm
by Giddy-Up
egirarde wrote:Did you go in with a full ride? If not, what did you do? Writing competitions, external scholarships, live in your car, work?
First year I went full time with a full ride. Paid living expenses with savings. After the first year, I switched to the evening program and worked during the day. The school let me keep the full scholarship even though I switched divisions.

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 1:16 pm
by JustE
Giddy-Up wrote:
egirarde wrote:Did you go in with a full ride? If not, what did you do? Writing competitions, external scholarships, live in your car, work?
First year I went full time with a full ride. Paid living expenses with savings. After the first year, I switched to the evening program and worked during the day. The school let me keep the full scholarship even though I switched divisions.
If you could do it again, would you take a T14 with debt over T2 with no debt?

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 4:43 pm
by shock259
Which branch? Which program did you apply to? What was your class rank? Do you have any military experience/ties?

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 5:59 pm
by LoyalRebel
Um, doesn't the military pay for law school for JAG officers??

If so, I'm thoroughly unimpressed.

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 6:00 pm
by MTal
LoyalRebel wrote:Um, doesn't the military pay for law school for JAG officers??
No. In the vast majority of cases it doesn't. You are an idiot.

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 10:54 pm
by Giddy-Up
Yes, doing it all over again I would go the T2 route. I only got into the very bottom of the T14. Fortunately I did well in law school, so my options were pretty wide open. Certainly if I was closer to median, perhaps I would feel differently but I may have been equally screwed even at a lower T14 at median. As a non-trad with a family to support, the debt scared me a lot more. If I had lost my scholarship at the end of the 1st year I like to think I would have made the right decision and thrown in the towel. Certainly there are times when I wonder "what if" For instance, I never participated in OCI or the Loyola Patent Fair. Overall I am happy with my lot.

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:53 am
by JustE
Giddy-Up wrote:Yes, doing it all over again I would go the T2 route. I only got into the very bottom of the T14. Fortunately I did well in law school, so my options were pretty wide open. Certainly if I was closer to median, perhaps I would feel differently but I may have been equally screwed even at a lower T14 at median. As a non-trad with a family to support, the debt scared me a lot more. If I had lost my scholarship at the end of the 1st year I like to think I would have made the right decision and thrown in the towel. Certainly there are times when I wonder "what if" For instance, I never participated in OCI or the Loyola Patent Fair. Overall I am happy with my lot.
Hmmm... Thanks for the perspective.

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:21 pm
by TheFactor
MTal wrote:
LoyalRebel wrote:Um, doesn't the military pay for law school for JAG officers??
No. In the vast majority of cases it doesn't. You are an idiot.
lol at you calling anyone an idiot

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:23 pm
by MTal
TheFactor wrote:
MTal wrote:
LoyalRebel wrote:Um, doesn't the military pay for law school for JAG officers??
No. In the vast majority of cases it doesn't. You are an idiot.
lol at you calling anyone an idiot
What makes you say that?

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:32 pm
by MrPapagiorgio
MTal wrote:
TheFactor wrote:
MTal wrote:
LoyalRebel wrote:Um, doesn't the military pay for law school for JAG officers??
No. In the vast majority of cases it doesn't. You are an idiot.
lol at you calling anyone an idiot
What makes you say that?
IBTMTal talks about how much smarter he is than the rest of us for dropping out of law school and how much better of a life he has than the rest of us because of it.

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:36 pm
by TheFactor
Why go to law school when you could be a manager at American Eagle?

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 1:39 pm
by MTal
TheFactor wrote:Why go to law school when you could be a manager at American Eagle?
.....duhh???

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 4:07 pm
by Blindmelon
Giddy-Up wrote:May 2011 graduate of a T2 in Chicago.
Graduating without debt isn't really a science. Scholarship + making 31,000k as an SA + having a decent amount of savings = no debt when you graduate.

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 4:11 pm
by Ernert
Blindmelon wrote:
Giddy-Up wrote:May 2011 graduate of a T2 in Chicago.
Graduating without debt isn't really a science. Scholarship + making 31,000k as an SA + having a decent amount of savings = no debt when you graduate.
31,000,000? Should be enough to cover COL.

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 4:24 pm
by Jack Smirks
Giddy-Up wrote:May 2011 graduate of a T2 in Chicago.
Where did you finish in your class? What were your options like?

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 4:51 pm
by Giddy-Up
Where did you finish in your class? What were your options like?
I finished #3 in my class. It is hard to say what my options were. I did not participate in OCI or the Patent Law fair since I was already working a legal job that I enjoyed. I like to think my options were pretty good, I had good law grades, an undergrad and Masters in Mechanical Engineering and relatively strong pre-law work experience. The biggest negative for biglaw would have probably been my age. I did not start law school until I was 30, with a family to support, which probably explains my heightened aversion to debt.

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 5:03 pm
by Jack Smirks
Thank you for the reply. Did you attempt to transfer after 1L? Do you feel like working FT and going to law school PT helped you in interviews and job searching? Were you able to do journal or any other extracurriculars with your demanding schedule?

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 5:16 pm
by $1.99
damn MTal, i thought i told you to move along in your life. you are no longer an applicant nor a student. you failed and you have no said your messages loud enough. just because you failed, it does not give you the right to trash every thread here.

Re: Graduated Law School Debt Free - Taking Questions

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 5:40 pm
by Giddy-Up
Jack Smirks wrote:Thank you for the reply. Did you attempt to transfer after 1L? Do you feel like working FT and going to law school PT helped you in interviews and job searching? Were you able to do journal or any other extracurriculars with your demanding schedule?
I did not attempt to transfer. My goal was to minimize debt. At the time I landed my job, I was attending law school full time and did not apply to any other positions. I think my employment status had little to no bearing on my JAG selection. I did participate in Law Review, but only at the lowest level, I did not seek a position on the board.