Is graduating at 29 to old? Forum

[TheSpanishMain]

This is going to vary so much per person, and any individual's opinion on it is going to be influenced so heavily by their own anecdotal experience, that making global statements about it is really, really silly.

[bizzybone1313]

I think a lot of people are missing the point as to why graduating at a late age from law school is a bad idea. Like this other guy said, it all depends on the person. But in my eyes, I think delaying my entry back to grad. skool was a bad idea for the following reasons:

#1- Assuming one attends a good school, you are costing yourself a lot of money in terms of what you could have earned in the stock market from your earnings as an attorney. Most people that graduate from good schools make more money after getting a law degree than in the job they were working in before law school.

#2- If you are a woman, it delays the time from when you can start having a family and kids if that is what you wish to do. If you graduate at 29, you still have to do your 2-3 years of Big Law or whatever and then lateral somewhere else to where you could more realistically have time to raise a family. Or maybe having a kid during law school would be a great idea.

#3- You find out a young age if you have what it takes to get into an elite law school. You either knock the LSAT out of the park or you don't. This is best done straight out of or during undergrad. There is nothing worse than wasting time doing something you would rather not do as a career.

#4- Graduating law school at age 29 delays your first house purchase. I always wanted to own a home before being 30, but because I delayed my entry into law school, this isn't going to be possible.

#5- A person has only so many prime earning years in their work life before age discrimination, bad health or other factors make working difficult. One might as well earn the most amount possible in these prime working years. A law degree from a T-14 school opens up this door of possibility.

#6- Etc. I forgot the other reasons why having an extended gap between undergrad and grad skool. is a bad idea. I am sure there are about a half dozen other reasons.

[bearsfan23]

I think a lot of people are missing the point as to why graduating at a late age from law school is a bad idea. Like this other guy said, it all depends on the person. But in my eyes, I think delaying my entry back to grad. skool was a bad idea for the following reasons:

#1- Assuming one attends a good school, you are costing yourself a lot of money in terms of what you could have earned in the stock market from your earnings as an attorney. Most people that graduate from good schools make more money after getting a law degree than in the job they were working in before law school.

#2- If you are a woman, it delays the time from when you can start having a family and kids if that is what you wish to do. If you graduate at 29, you still have to do your 2-3 years of Big Law or whatever and then lateral somewhere else to where you could more realistically have time to raise a family. Or maybe having a kid during law school would be a great idea.

#3- You find out a young age if you have what it takes to get into an elite law school. You either knock the LSAT out of the park or you don't. This is best done straight out of or during undergrad. There is nothing worse than wasting time doing something you would rather not do as a career.

#4- Graduating law school at age 29 delays your first house purchase. I always wanted to own a home before being 30, but because I delayed my entry into law school, this isn't going to be possible.

#5- A person has only so many prime earning years in their work life before age discrimination, bad health or other factors make working difficult. One might as well earn the most amount possible in these prime working years. A law degree from a T-14 school opens up this door of possibility.

#6- Etc. I forgot the other reasons why having an extended gap between undergrad and grad skool. is a bad idea.

This is terrible advice. If you honestly think graduating at 29 vs 26 or 27 is a big deal and a bad decision, I mean it's impossible to try to reason with a person like that so I'm not even gonna try. That's the type of reasoning I did when I originally thought I was gonna go straight through to LS and looking back on it, I realize how dumb it was. "A person has only so many prime earning years in their work life before age discrimination, bad health or other factors make working difficult" - Yeah so 2 or 3 years is really gonna be a big deal there, are you serious?


Taking a few years off before law school if probably the best decision I've ever made. Not only for the perspective its given me, but the work experience I've had - everyone has told me - will make a huge difference come OCI.

If you have the opportunity to do something cool/awesome/meaningful for a few years prior to LS, DO IT. The experience and being able to talk about will be a million times more helpful than a couple of years in age difference. If you're just planning on living in your parents basement and playing XBox for 2 years - I wouldn't recommend that obviously

[bizzybone1313]

I think a lot of people are missing the point as to why graduating at a late age from law school is a bad idea. Like this other guy said, it all depends on the person. But in my eyes, I think delaying my entry back to grad. skool was a bad idea for the following reasons:

#1- Assuming one attends a good school, you are costing yourself a lot of money in terms of what you could have earned in the stock market from your earnings as an attorney. Most people that graduate from good schools make more money after getting a law degree than in the job they were working in before law school.

#2- If you are a woman, it delays the time from when you can start having a family and kids if that is what you wish to do. If you graduate at 29, you still have to do your 2-3 years of Big Law or whatever and then lateral somewhere else to where you could more realistically have time to raise a family. Or maybe having a kid during law school would be a great idea.

#3- You find out a young age if you have what it takes to get into an elite law school. You either knock the LSAT out of the park or you don't. This is best done straight out of or during undergrad. There is nothing worse than wasting time doing something you would rather not do as a career.

#4- Graduating law school at age 29 delays your first house purchase. I always wanted to own a home before being 30, but because I delayed my entry into law school, this isn't going to be possible.

#5- A person has only so many prime earning years in their work life before age discrimination, bad health or other factors make working difficult. One might as well earn the most amount possible in these prime working years. A law degree from a T-14 school opens up this door of possibility.

#6- Etc. I forgot the other reasons why having an extended gap between undergrad and grad skool. is a bad idea.

This is terrible advice. If you honestly think graduating at 29 vs 26 or 27 is a big deal and a bad decision, I mean it's impossible to try to reason with a person like that so I'm not even gonna try. That's the type of reasoning I did when I originally thought I was gonna go straight through to LS and looking back on it, I realize how dumb it was. "A person has only so many prime earning years in their work life before age discrimination, bad health or other factors make working difficult" - Yeah so 2 or 3 years is really gonna be a big deal there, are you serious?


Taking a few years off before law school if probably the best decision I've ever made. Not only for the perspective its given me, but the work experience I've had - everyone has told me - will make a huge difference come OCI.

If you have the opportunity to do something cool/awesome/meaningful for a few years prior to LS, DO IT. The experience and being able to talk about will be a million times more helpful than a couple of years in age difference. If you're just planning on living in your parents basement and playing XBox for 2 years - I wouldn't recommend that obviously

Reasons 1 through 4 are the most important reasons. I found working in another career a waste of time. Maybe I will feel different in a few years. One of the only reasons I benefitted from delaying law school is that applications have tanked, which increases my chances of getting into a good school. But, of course, the question that everyone should be asking: Are we making a huge mistake going to law school in the first place? Are we the chumps that are making a life ruining decision?

[A. Nony Mouse]

I think a lot of people are missing the point as to why graduating at a late age from law school is a bad idea. Like this other guy said, it all depends on the person. But in my eyes, I think delaying my entry back to grad. skool was a bad idea for the following reasons:

#1- Assuming one attends a good school, you are costing yourself a lot of money in terms of what you could have earned in the stock market from your earnings as an attorney. Most people that graduate from good schools make more money after getting a law degree than in the job they were working in before law school.

#2- If you are a woman, it delays the time from when you can start having a family and kids if that is what you wish to do. If you graduate at 29, you still have to do your 2-3 years of Big Law or whatever and then lateral somewhere else to where you could more realistically have time to raise a family. Or maybe having a kid during law school would be a great idea.

#3- You find out a young age if you have what it takes to get into an elite law school. You either knock the LSAT out of the park or you don't. This is best done straight out of or during undergrad. There is nothing worse than wasting time doing something you would rather not do as a career.

#4- Graduating law school at age 29 delays your first house purchase. I always wanted to own a home before being 30, but because I delayed my entry into law school, this isn't going to be possible.

#5- A person has only so many prime earning years in their work life before age discrimination, bad health or other factors make working difficult. One might as well earn the most amount possible in these prime working years. A law degree from a T-14 school opens up this door of possibility.

#6- Etc. I forgot the other reasons why having an extended gap between undergrad and grad skool. is a bad idea. I am sure there are about a half dozen other reasons.

This whole (wrong) wall of text is based on the premise that graduating at 29 means you're graduating at a "late age."

[typ3]

I think a lot of people are missing the point as to why graduating at a late age from law school is a bad idea. Like this other guy said, it all depends on the person. But in my eyes, I think delaying my entry back to grad. skool was a bad idea for the following reasons:

#1- Assuming one attends a good school, you are costing yourself a lot of money in terms of what you could have earned in the stock market from your earnings as an attorney. Most people that graduate from good schools make more money after getting a law degree than in the job they were working in before law school.

#2- If you are a woman, it delays the time from when you can start having a family and kids if that is what you wish to do. If you graduate at 29, you still have to do your 2-3 years of Big Law or whatever and then lateral somewhere else to where you could more realistically have time to raise a family. Or maybe having a kid during law school would be a great idea.

#3- You find out a young age if you have what it takes to get into an elite law school. You either knock the LSAT out of the park or you don't. This is best done straight out of or during undergrad. There is nothing worse than wasting time doing something you would rather not do as a career.

#4- Graduating law school at age 29 delays your first house purchase. I always wanted to own a home before being 30, but because I delayed my entry into law school, this isn't going to be possible.

#5- A person has only so many prime earning years in their work life before age discrimination, bad health or other factors make working difficult. One might as well earn the most amount possible in these prime working years. A law degree from a T-14 school opens up this door of possibility.

#6- Etc. I forgot the other reasons why having an extended gap between undergrad and grad skool. is a bad idea. I am sure there are about a half dozen other reasons.

This whole (wrong) wall of text is based on the premise that graduating at 29 means you're graduating at a "late age."

I don't know how 29 isn't a late age when people in your peer group begin building net worth as early as 14 in some states.

FWIW a lot of places in my home market hire 18/19 year olds and they make 50-60k starting in a semi-skilled blue collar jobs. Someone working straight from 18/19 is going to be light years a head of the K-JD 29 year old. Considering they have 10 years of earnings while the K-JD is going to have 7 years of school / semi work with a large debt burden to purchase a commodity rather than an asset.

Bizzybone is giving financial literacy advice, the other argument people are making is that 29 is not too old to work. No it's not. But 29 is getting close to being too old to build considerable net worth before you become too old to work. There is one caveat that the person at 29 begins to become successful at investing / building their own assets / businesses.

[elterrible78]

I think a lot of people are missing the point as to why graduating at a late age from law school is a bad idea. Like this other guy said, it all depends on the person. But in my eyes, I think delaying my entry back to grad. skool was a bad idea for the following reasons:

#1- Assuming one attends a good school, you are costing yourself a lot of money in terms of what you could have earned in the stock market from your earnings as an attorney. Most people that graduate from good schools make more money after getting a law degree than in the job they were working in before law school.

#2- If you are a woman, it delays the time from when you can start having a family and kids if that is what you wish to do. If you graduate at 29, you still have to do your 2-3 years of Big Law or whatever and then lateral somewhere else to where you could more realistically have time to raise a family. Or maybe having a kid during law school would be a great idea.

#3- You find out a young age if you have what it takes to get into an elite law school. You either knock the LSAT out of the park or you don't. This is best done straight out of or during undergrad. There is nothing worse than wasting time doing something you would rather not do as a career.

#4- Graduating law school at age 29 delays your first house purchase. I always wanted to own a home before being 30, but because I delayed my entry into law school, this isn't going to be possible.

#5- A person has only so many prime earning years in their work life before age discrimination, bad health or other factors make working difficult. One might as well earn the most amount possible in these prime working years. A law degree from a T-14 school opens up this door of possibility.

#6- Etc. I forgot the other reasons why having an extended gap between undergrad and grad skool. is a bad idea. I am sure there are about a half dozen other reasons.

You are one of the absolute worst posters in the history of this site. Every "argument" I've ever seen you make is based solely on the premise that you think you're right.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I don't know how 29 isn't a late age when people in your peer group begin building net worth as early as 14 in some states.

FWIW a lot of places in my home market hire 18/19 year olds and they make 50-60k starting in a semi-skilled blue collar jobs. Someone working straight from 18/19 is going to be light years a head of the K-JD 29 year old. Considering they have 10 years of earnings while the K-JD is going to have 7 years of school / semi work with a large debt burden to purchase a commodity rather than an asset.

Because life isn't a fucking race or zero-sum game. Who cares what other people are making?

[midwest17]

the K-JD 29 year old

Huh?

[typ3]

I don't know how 29 isn't a late age when people in your peer group begin building net worth as early as 14 in some states.

FWIW a lot of places in my home market hire 18/19 year olds and they make 50-60k starting in a semi-skilled blue collar jobs. Someone working straight from 18/19 is going to be light years a head of the K-JD 29 year old. Considering they have 10 years of earnings while the K-JD is going to have 7 years of school / semi work with a large debt burden to purchase a commodity rather than an asset.

Because life isn't a fucking race or zero-sum game. Who cares what other people are making?

No one is saying that you need to build net worth for prestige etc. You need to build net worth because of inflation and health care at old age.

One of my parents passed away last year at 63 due to cancer and their medical bills in less than 6 mos from diagnosis to death cost over $5m.

Without insurance the average person is f***ed. With an insurance cap you're fucked.

Half of building net worth is just to hedge against the unknowns in life and to keep from getting completely railroaded when you're older and left on the street when you are unable to work and no one will hire you.

There is a long history in the world of old people being left homeless and destitute. Unless you have net worth, kids who will take care of you, or family, most people are f****ed at an older age.

How many elderly citizens are up shit crick because of the lost their pensions due to corporate raiding or bankruptcies?

I think the erroneous assumption people keep making on this forum is that people seek $ or assets to go straight models and bottles, put a lion on a rari, etc. Most people are just looking to keep from falling into the soup so to speak at some point in their lives.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I don't know how 29 isn't a late age when people in your peer group begin building net worth as early as 14 in some states.

FWIW a lot of places in my home market hire 18/19 year olds and they make 50-60k starting in a semi-skilled blue collar jobs. Someone working straight from 18/19 is going to be light years a head of the K-JD 29 year old. Considering they have 10 years of earnings while the K-JD is going to have 7 years of school / semi work with a large debt burden to purchase a commodity rather than an asset.

Because life isn't a fucking race or zero-sum game. Who cares what other people are making?

No one is saying that you need to build net worth for prestige etc. You need to build net worth because of inflation and health care at old age.

One of my parents passed away last year at 63 due to cancer and their medical bills in less than 6 mos from diagnosis to death cost over $5m.

Without insurance the average person is f***ed. With an insurance cap you're fucked.

Half of building net worth is just to hedge against the unknowns in life and to keep from getting completely railroaded when you're older and left on the street when you are unable to work and no one will hire you.

There is a long history in the world of old people being left homeless and destitute. Unless you have net worth, kids who will take care of you, or family, most people are f****ed at an older age.

How many elderly citizens are up shit crick because of the lost their pensions due to corporate raiding or bankruptcies?

But this is totally different from saying you're graduating too late at 29 because other people have had 10 years of earnings already.

[kalvano]

It seems the only answer if you aren't making $100K a year before you turn 25 is to skip law school and go straight to cooking purple meth.

[pocket herc]

18-19 yr olds are just tripping over jobs making 50-60k? Bullshit. Also, a lot of people do not want to work blue collar jobs, it isn't just about the money. If it is for you, that's great, not judging, but people actually might have differing values. Also what's with this beta and clique theory crap? Grow up. Lastly, regarding Bizzybone, his posts are often frustrating because he can't imagine the perspective of someone who isn't Bizzybone.

[cotiger]

I think a lot of people are missing the point as to why graduating at a late age from law school is a bad idea. Like this other guy said, it all depends on the person. But in my eyes, I think delaying my entry back to grad. skool was a bad idea for the following reasons:

You are one of the absolute worst posters in the history of this site. Every "argument" I've ever seen you make is based solely on the premise that you think you're right.

I don't know how 29 isn't a late age when people in your peer group begin building net worth as early as 14 in some states.

FWIW a lot of places in my home market hire 18/19 year olds and they make 50-60k starting in a semi-skilled blue collar jobs. Someone working straight from 18/19 is going to be light years a head of the K-JD 29 year old. Considering they have 10 years of earnings while the K-JD is going to have 7 years of school / semi work with a large debt burden to purchase a commodity rather than an asset.

Because life isn't a fucking race or zero-sum game. Who cares what other people are making?

[Actingmeg1]

Because life isn't a fucking race or zero-sum game. Who cares what other people are making?

Thank you! I'm going to be a bit older that 29 when I graduate. But I wouldn't trade my life experience for chance at more money!

[bizzybone1313]

I think a lot of people are missing the point as to why graduating at a late age from law school is a bad idea. Like this other guy said, it all depends on the person. But in my eyes, I think delaying my entry back to grad. skool was a bad idea for the following reasons:

#1- Assuming one attends a good school, you are costing yourself a lot of money in terms of what you could have earned in the stock market from your earnings as an attorney. Most people that graduate from good schools make more money after getting a law degree than in the job they were working in before law school.

#2- If you are a woman, it delays the time from when you can start having a family and kids if that is what you wish to do. If you graduate at 29, you still have to do your 2-3 years of Big Law or whatever and then lateral somewhere else to where you could more realistically have time to raise a family. Or maybe having a kid during law school would be a great idea.

#3- You find out a young age if you have what it takes to get into an elite law school. You either knock the LSAT out of the park or you don't. This is best done straight out of or during undergrad. There is nothing worse than wasting time doing something you would rather not do as a career.

#4- Graduating law school at age 29 delays your first house purchase. I always wanted to own a home before being 30, but because I delayed my entry into law school, this isn't going to be possible.

#5- A person has only so many prime earning years in their work life before age discrimination, bad health or other factors make working difficult. One might as well earn the most amount possible in these prime working years. A law degree from a T-14 school opens up this door of possibility.

#6- Etc. I forgot the other reasons why having an extended gap between undergrad and grad skool. is a bad idea. I am sure there are about a half dozen other reasons.

You are one of the absolute worst posters in the history of this site. Every "argument" I've ever seen you make is based solely on the premise that you think you're right.

It is not based on the premise that I am right. I just happen to go against a lot of the groupthink of TLS. I have never seen such a bubble of groupthink anywhere as I do on this website. At least most of the time the groupthink is on point on TLS. But in this case, I don't really think it is. The responses to OP's original question were so predictable. About 90% of you were going to say, "Oh yeah, you can graduate from law school at a late age. No biggie. It is a great idea."

Don't attack me. Attack my argument. It is either a weak argument or a good one. I happen to think it is an above average one.

Like this other guy said, my argument is based in terms of money lost. I calculate in my head all the money I have lost all of the time. If I had gone K-JD, I would be buying a house right about now at historically low interest rates. Instead, I will get to buy one in about 5 years and pay a much higher interest rate.

I simply refuse to join the choir that a lot of you succumb to about 95% of the time.

[bizzybone1313]

I don't know how 29 isn't a late age when people in your peer group begin building net worth as early as 14 in some states.

FWIW a lot of places in my home market hire 18/19 year olds and they make 50-60k starting in a semi-skilled blue collar jobs. Someone working straight from 18/19 is going to be light years a head of the K-JD 29 year old. Considering they have 10 years of earnings while the K-JD is going to have 7 years of school / semi work with a large debt burden to purchase a commodity rather than an asset.

Because life isn't a fucking race or zero-sum game. Who cares what other people are making?

No one is saying that you need to build net worth for prestige etc. You need to build net worth because of inflation and health care at old age.

One of my parents passed away last year at 63 due to cancer and their medical bills in less than 6 mos from diagnosis to death cost over $5m.

Without insurance the average person is f***ed. With an insurance cap you're fucked.

Half of building net worth is just to hedge against the unknowns in life and to keep from getting completely railroaded when you're older and left on the street when you are unable to work and no one will hire you.

There is a long history in the world of old people being left homeless and destitute. Unless you have net worth, kids who will take care of you, or family, most people are f****ed at an older age.

How many elderly citizens are up shit crick because of the lost their pensions due to corporate raiding or bankruptcies?

I think the erroneous assumption people keep making on this forum is that people seek $ or assets to go straight models and bottles, put a lion on a rari, etc. Most people are just looking to keep from falling into the soup so to speak at some point in their lives.

That's right. That's exactly right.

[bizzybone1313]

18-19 yr olds are just tripping over jobs making 50-60k? Bullshit. Also, a lot of people do not want to work blue collar jobs, it isn't just about the money. If it is for you, that's great, not judging, but people actually might have differing values. Also what's with this beta and clique theory crap? Grow up. Lastly, regarding Bizzybone, his posts are often frustrating because he can't imagine the perspective of someone who isn't Bizzybone.

I will try to soften my language up a little bit, so everyone doesn't get their feelings hurt. At the end of the day, I don't really care what other people do in terms of their life decisions. I simply provide examples from my own life that hopefully help someone in some way. I do sincerely 100% regret not being a K-JD or at the very most taking only a year or two off between undergrad and LS.

[typ3]

I think maybe the correct answer to the OP should read:

Graduating at 29 from law school in this legal market / economy with debt is too old for it to be a wise financial & career decision.s

Even without debt, the degree is likely not worth the effort and stress.

[cotiger]

It is not based on the premise that I am right. I just happen to go against a lot of the groupthink of TLS. I have never seen such a bubble of groupthink anywhere as I do on this website. At least most of the time the groupthink is on point on TLS. But in this case, I don't really think it is. The responses to OP's original question were so predictable. About 90% of you were going to say, "Oh yeah, you can graduate from law school at a late age. No biggie. It is a great idea."

Don't attack me. Attack my argument. It is either a weak argument or a good one. I happen to think it is an above average one.

Like this other guy said, my argument is based in terms of money lost. I calculate in my head all the money I have lost all of the time. If I had gone K-JD, I would be buying a house right about now at historically low interest rates. Instead, I will get to buy one in about 5 years and pay a much higher interest rate.

I simply refuse to join the choir that a lot of you succumb to about 95% of the time.

If you had gone K-JD, you might have found out that you in no way had any desire to practice law and would be significantly in debt with a less than useless degree. In your case, you ended up liking law, but you also had a longer time to reflect on who you were as a person and what your goals were, leading to a more personally informed decision to spend that time and money.

[Stringer Bell]

Planning to get rich picking stocks = planning to graduate in the top 5% of your law school class.

[twenty]

It's silly to say that everyone should take time off after undergrad before they go to law school, and is equally silly to say that no one should. That said, many people, if not most people, should take time off because they are thinking about attending law school for stupid reasons.

If you're under the impression that you'll for sure get biglaw, that 250k debt is chump change, that you want to go to law school to advance your political career, or because you don't like your current work, you have no business applying to law school, let alone going. Basically, all Bizzy's reasons.

[bizzybone1313]

Planning to get rich picking stocks = planning to graduate in the top 5% of your law school class.

In 2009, I was this {} close to pulling the trigger on Ford stock. I would be balling if I had had the balls to pull the trigger on it. But Ford was close to going bankrupt at the time. At least I bought CAT and made a lot of money on that. To you peeps in Big Law, I would look into UYG. That is making me a killing right now.

[typ3]

Planning to get rich picking stocks = planning to graduate in the top 5% of your law school class.

Lots of people make money investing and through public equities.

What do you plan on doing with your money when you retire? Not invest it and watch it evaporate due to inflation?

[A. Nony Mouse]

I think maybe the correct answer to the OP should read:

Some people are uncomfortable with Graduating at 29 from law school in this legal market / economy with debt because they believe that is too old for it to be a wise financial & career decision.s

Even without debt, the degree is likely not worth the effort and stress.