Ranking Over Money

spayurpets
Thu, 28 Jan 2016 19:18:25 +0000

I love the analysis @juillet but really your conclusion really boils down to that no one should go to any law school below the top 20 if they have to pay for it. I just don’t think that’s right. First of all, you’re overestimating how much salary it takes to support a $150,000 legal education. Borrowing it all is unusual and an extreme case, but even if that’s the case, the student repayment would be something like $800-1000 per month. I think most sensible people could support that on a $75,000 salary, and don’t need the $150,000 starting salaries you premised your analysis on. And if you can’t find that prestige job in Boston on DC, you can live in Richmond or Roanoke or Albany or Worcester and be a pillar of the local legal community. Going to BC or W&L are very good options for most everyone and have a greater chance of giving someone a lucrative and fulfilling career than not going to law school at all. The odds are in your favor that you will get a good job, get paid well as a lawyer and will be better off. It’s just that the odds of that happening have decreased over where they were a decade ago, from, say, 88% to 70%. Heck, I’d take those odds over going into some entry marketing job out of college with $40k in existing student debt.