Is it ever worth it to delay for several years law school?
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 1:55 am
Hello,
I am a reasonably bright paralegal that is considering attending law school. When I mention this to many people, they say "well go apply." Conventional wisdom says that if you want to be a lawyer, than go apply to Law school right now.
Based on my softs and stats, I would say that I am realistically looking at T30, but unlikely T10, and a real stretch for T6 and no for HYS.
However, I am aware of the following about law school, the legal market and myself:
1. The Legal industry is very pedigree oriented and at some law firms, whether you went to Cornell compared to Harvard has a strong affect on your ability to get hired. In other words, even among t14, the pecking order has a real affect in terms of hiring decisions.
2. With as reported two applicants for every job, law school can be a kind of crapshoot investment.
3. Law school loans are non dischargeable and have very high interest rates!! I played some Blackjack back in the day and a 50/50 shot of having no job and nondischargeable debt in the mid six figures, does not sound like a fun bet.
4. My ability in life to get jobs is strangely hit or miss, in both directions:
It is a long story why, but there have been times when I got jobs that no one could believe I could get which paid great and times when despite trying I couldn't get any job for 4 months.
However, however,
I have the following opportunities:
1. A real life wealthy cousin who is a mega-millionaire with tons of investments and various enterprises (mid 8 figure net worth). He has been real close to my mom since they were kids. My family in general is not wealthy, but we have a token rich entrepreneur. This man has agreed to mentor me and let me play a role in some of his new projects. The compensation will be a combination of salary and a piece of the action. I would say that if everything goes smoothly, I could save about 200,000-400,000 over the course of 3-6 years. ( I Included worst and best case scenarios and subtracted money spent on living and fun.
with that amount of cash, I will have delayed by several years my legal career, but will be able to pay cash for law school. This means that Law school will only involve risk of capital invested, rather than the possibility of a non-dischargeable debt where the principal could easily double in a few years thanks to high compounded interest rates. ( I have heard of some law students owing 500,000!). I could even have some money to tide me over if I don't get a job as a lawyer (which often does happen).
2. My other high level token contact is someone I knew as a child (long story how) who is a brand name state wide politician. I have the chance to work with him in a minor role on a resume building project and to serve on a commitee related to a childhood problem I had.
Note, I am not well connected or a great schmoozer in general, I have an average network and average family, but have a token millionaire in my family and a token high level state politician as a friend.
Working with the cousin for several years could allow me to be able to pay for law school (inc. living expenses in cash) and working with the politician friend over several years could allow me to upgrade my softs, thereby allowing me to have a shot at a better school. My cousin is time flexible about my schedule so I can do both over the next few years.
My questions are the following:
1. Would you ever delay Law school for a multiyear period if it would allow you to either, be able to go to a better law school or be able to obtain a large pot of money to pay cash for law school? If so, what would be an acceptable delay/improvement ratio? For instance, would you be willing to delay law school for 7 years if it meant upgrading from T 30 to HYS and being able to pay for HYS with cash and have 200,000 left over 4 years to upgrade from tier 2 to T14 and to save 100,000 to allow partial payment of law school in cash, 3 years to be able to have 150,000 to pay just the tuition in cash and upgrade from T20 to Columbia, how bout an extra year so that you can time your application to the binding early decision cycle, etc?
2. If I my decision actually is sensible in the long run, how do I explain to potential dates and other's why I am doing what I am doing? If one guy who went into 200,000 in debt to attend a TTT law school walked up to a girl in a bar and said I'm in law school and I walked up and explained freakanomics style why waiting 5 years to gain enough cash and upgrade to a T6 school is a better choice who would do better in the bar?
Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks very much,
Steve
I am a reasonably bright paralegal that is considering attending law school. When I mention this to many people, they say "well go apply." Conventional wisdom says that if you want to be a lawyer, than go apply to Law school right now.
Based on my softs and stats, I would say that I am realistically looking at T30, but unlikely T10, and a real stretch for T6 and no for HYS.
However, I am aware of the following about law school, the legal market and myself:
1. The Legal industry is very pedigree oriented and at some law firms, whether you went to Cornell compared to Harvard has a strong affect on your ability to get hired. In other words, even among t14, the pecking order has a real affect in terms of hiring decisions.
2. With as reported two applicants for every job, law school can be a kind of crapshoot investment.
3. Law school loans are non dischargeable and have very high interest rates!! I played some Blackjack back in the day and a 50/50 shot of having no job and nondischargeable debt in the mid six figures, does not sound like a fun bet.
4. My ability in life to get jobs is strangely hit or miss, in both directions:
It is a long story why, but there have been times when I got jobs that no one could believe I could get which paid great and times when despite trying I couldn't get any job for 4 months.
However, however,
I have the following opportunities:
1. A real life wealthy cousin who is a mega-millionaire with tons of investments and various enterprises (mid 8 figure net worth). He has been real close to my mom since they were kids. My family in general is not wealthy, but we have a token rich entrepreneur. This man has agreed to mentor me and let me play a role in some of his new projects. The compensation will be a combination of salary and a piece of the action. I would say that if everything goes smoothly, I could save about 200,000-400,000 over the course of 3-6 years. ( I Included worst and best case scenarios and subtracted money spent on living and fun.
with that amount of cash, I will have delayed by several years my legal career, but will be able to pay cash for law school. This means that Law school will only involve risk of capital invested, rather than the possibility of a non-dischargeable debt where the principal could easily double in a few years thanks to high compounded interest rates. ( I have heard of some law students owing 500,000!). I could even have some money to tide me over if I don't get a job as a lawyer (which often does happen).
2. My other high level token contact is someone I knew as a child (long story how) who is a brand name state wide politician. I have the chance to work with him in a minor role on a resume building project and to serve on a commitee related to a childhood problem I had.
Note, I am not well connected or a great schmoozer in general, I have an average network and average family, but have a token millionaire in my family and a token high level state politician as a friend.
Working with the cousin for several years could allow me to be able to pay for law school (inc. living expenses in cash) and working with the politician friend over several years could allow me to upgrade my softs, thereby allowing me to have a shot at a better school. My cousin is time flexible about my schedule so I can do both over the next few years.
My questions are the following:
1. Would you ever delay Law school for a multiyear period if it would allow you to either, be able to go to a better law school or be able to obtain a large pot of money to pay cash for law school? If so, what would be an acceptable delay/improvement ratio? For instance, would you be willing to delay law school for 7 years if it meant upgrading from T 30 to HYS and being able to pay for HYS with cash and have 200,000 left over 4 years to upgrade from tier 2 to T14 and to save 100,000 to allow partial payment of law school in cash, 3 years to be able to have 150,000 to pay just the tuition in cash and upgrade from T20 to Columbia, how bout an extra year so that you can time your application to the binding early decision cycle, etc?
2. If I my decision actually is sensible in the long run, how do I explain to potential dates and other's why I am doing what I am doing? If one guy who went into 200,000 in debt to attend a TTT law school walked up to a girl in a bar and said I'm in law school and I walked up and explained freakanomics style why waiting 5 years to gain enough cash and upgrade to a T6 school is a better choice who would do better in the bar?
Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks very much,
Steve
