Top Law Schools

Question: For all graduates of law school in the past 5 years, was law school worth to you and why?

Background: From my recent research and stories by law students/ grads, they spent (hundreds of) thousands of dollar going to law school and have had horrible times finding employment that is worth the debt they incurred. I was blessed to come out of Undergrad w/ no debt and can build a successful career in HR if I stay on my current path. With tuition costs increasing annually, I want to know what your ROI are before I miss an awesome opportunity or take on a lifetime of debt. Please help!!

Salaries for law school graduates have a bi-modal distribution. About 20% of graduates will make $190,000 or so. Most others will make between $50-70k. There is very little in between. The same goes for law school scholarships. Some people get generous scholarship, but most wind up in crushing six-figure debt.

Most law school students have no business being in law school. It's sad, but true. The vast majority wind up poorly compensated, ruined with debt, or both. Even if you aren't focused on salaries, highly desirable positions working in the government or public interest groups tend to be filled by graduates from top schools that could have easily taken that $190k job, and have school-funded LRAP programs erasing their debt over time.

For better or worse, this forum is not representative of law school graduates in general. The forum is littered with people that will actively discourage you from applying to schools with anything less than a 95th percentile LSAT score (167-168). Part of the reason you see that fanaticism is because (1) it is something you can prepare for and control, and (2) it is highly predictive of your scholarship and admission prospects -- which in turn leads to a "good" ROI in the form of low debt and good jobs.''

I think law school was well worth it (financially, intellectually, etc.), but I don't think those results are typical.

The law is a cruel, all consuming mistress. If you (1) have a viable career right now that you are happy with and (2) are couching your decision on whether to go to law school on ROI, I would say don't do it. You aren't going to be happy, even if you do get that 190k biglaw job.

Take a look at the below thread to get an idea of how desperate people are to get out of the law.
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=302995

Now, to answer your question it was not worth it financially for me personally. Law school was 180k. I missed out on almost 240k of income while I was in law school. Put that together, and you have yourself a nice house in most parts of the country, or a nice retirement nest egg. I spent 400k so i can have the privilege of fielding random email questions late into the night and constantly having my weekends get blown up.