Re: the bolded - we have that info. Big law market firms offer the highest salaries, higher than anything else you identify (I'm leaving out stuff like DINKs because if you have outside money none of this really matters). Of course individual circumstances differ, but speaking generically, biglaw is at the top of the salary pile (I'm including those few elite boutiques that pay more in the category of biglaw because of what they look for and their work conditions). And all else being equal, something that lets you pay off a massive debt sooner rather than later is preferable.JazzyMac wrote:I didn't answer it initially because you crapped on it with your comment. Non's initial comment was "it's the only job that will pay off sticker realistically", which is definitely not the case. Logically speaking and splitting hairs, any job can pay off school. THEN, Nony added, "in the same timeframe", which again I could disagree with, but with not having salaries of Big Law in comparison to say, government jobs, private sectors, military, DINK-ers (double income, no kids), living low-key with public transportation, etc., etc. Assumably when Nony asked the question, he had all those answers, which I can't tell you.
But common sense says that since only a percentage of folks even work big law, in comparison to those who go to top law schools, then there are a lot of people paying off their schools in some form or fashion, and yet not working big law. How many? I couldn't tell ya.
Of course there are people who pay sticker at top schools (and not top schools), and who don't go into biglaw. There are LRAPs and PSLF if you go into public interest. That doesn't alter the fact that economically, if you take out loans to pay sticker for a top school, the highest paying job will let you pay off that debt the quickest, and that this is what most people with massive debt want to do. So many people at top schools aim for biglaw. Also, the best LRAP programs are associated with the top schools, which goes back to getting a higher LSAT and going to a t14 school.
And no one tells anyone they have to go into biglaw if they don't want to. But people here do tell applicants willing to pay sticker than biglaw offers the best chance of paying off that debt. And people use biglaw placement as a proxy for access to other jobs because placement into biglaw usually correlates with placement into other competitive jobs. Beyond that it depends on someone's goals. As already said, no one is going to tell the person set on a state government job in Colorado that they have to go to a T14. They might point out that paying off sticker (even not at the t14) on a $55k/year government job is a lot harder than paying it off on a $160k/yr job, though.
