nickenai

Am I just thinking wishfully here, or could there be a top 20, even top 10 school that has a decent number of middle class students?

It's not that I'm looking for a school where there are no rich kids (or think that would be possible), but I'm genuinely worried that I'll end up unable to find a group of friends because I won't be able to discuss similar experiences, afford to go out to eat with them, etc. I'd prefer first/second-hand attestation. Letting me know which schools are 100% out of the question is also helpful.

Thanks!

nickenai

Obviously, the title should say "school" ugh. Sorry about that. (Any mods that can help?)

jonri

What do you mean by "middle class?" It means different things to different people.

There aren't a heck of a lot of folks from working class backgrounds at top law schools. But frankly, I don't think you'll find many of them at any full-time law school. Part time is a different story.

There are lots of what I consider middle class students though. You'll also find that a lot of parents are unwilling to contribute to the cost of law school for their kids, so there are students who grew up in affluent suburbia eating with you in the law school cafeteria. There will be many more who will be cooking for themselves at home.

My own kid went to a top private college and a top private law school. My kid's comment was that there was much less ostenatious spending in law school than in undergrad. I think part of this is that these are serious students. There are also students who are older, who have been working for quite a while, and, in some cases, have kids. Lots of the students have whopping loans for undergrad degrees as well as law school and they aren't about to max out on their credit cards.

Moreover, law school is just a whole lot less social experience than college. At most law schools, the majority of folks don't live in the dorms. The biggest difference between the have and have nots is probably the kind of apartment they rent. And if you're not fairly good friends or you have a social leader in your section, you're never going to see their apartment anyway.

So, quite seriously, I wouldn't worry about it. It's just not an issue.

sallyawp

I agree with most of what jonri said. I apologize in advance if this post rambles a bit.

While I did, in fact, find law school to be just about as social as undergrad (and I am someone who went out A LOT during both experiences), and while I was as broke as a law student gets and I come from a working class family, I rarely, if ever, felt that there was some kind of class distinction among my classmates. Yes, most of my classmates came from upper middle class or wealthy families, but other than some having really nice cars or really nice apartments, I never really found any issues.

Now, at my law school, a big night out usually consisted of a bar night with maybe dinner with a few friends at a diner beforehand. There were fancy, expensive restaurants where I went to law school, but rarely did anyone from my law school go out to dinner there (or, if they did on a rare occasion, they certainly didn't mention it). Our law school sponsored kegs in the law school courtyard every Friday after classes (so, yes, there was a lot of drinking going on, though it also created an atmosphere where everyone just hung out together on nice autumn and spring days, regardless of who was or was not drinking), so everyone tended to be fairly social. That said, those of my classmates with families and kids did often stop by for a few minutes and then head home, as I would expect.

A majority of my classmates had worked full-time for at least a few years, a good number were married with families and most lived off campus in apartments. Therefore, the paradigm was just different than undergrad -- most ate dinner at home (although once I lived off campus at college, I often ate dinner at home, too). Most of my classmates either ate breakfast at home or picked up something quick on the way to school (like a bagel), and almost everyone ate lunch either in the law school cafeteria, with food brought from home or purchased from the cheap trucks that lined the streets around the law school.

If you are concerned that you won't have anything to discuss with classmates from different backgrounds, than you may have a problem. Particularly in law schools with classes smaller than 300 (which is many of them), the law schools strive to have diverse classes with students from different backgrounds and with different life experiences. I always considered the differences among my classmates to be one of the most interesting things I experienced at law school, and it made for some very engaging discussions and debates in and out of the classroom.

Moreover, I wouldn't worry too much.