Apparently this is the board to discuss law school and being a lawyer

Attorney here. As noted above, the legal profession in the US is already grossly overpopulated, so I would recommend against law school for anyone who wasn't totally passionate about it. But then, that's not the advice you asked for.

If you're determined to go to law school, my advice would be to go to the cheapest one that admits you. With legal salaries down, student debt can be crippling for people who go to private law schools.

I'd still urge you to search the Web for "law school bubble" or similar terms so you can understand just how bad the job situation can be.

A friend of mine advises people determined to go to law school to go full time their first year and exert maximum effort. If you are in the top 25% of your class at the end of the first year, continue. If not, quit and cut your losses. The jobs and lifestyle traditionally associated with lawyers increasingly go only to those who graduate at the top of their class.

i've been hearing about this for such a long time, all the way back in the late 90s when somethingawful used to have "you don't really want to be a lawyer" threads, but the average person with a jd seems to be relatively well off even if they end up in a small town making $60k a year

i think this is sort of a meme and is only correct when it comes to people who are gunning for $500k a year partner positions at top tier white shoe firms or whatever

That's how I feel.
I just want to live in my smallish city and make a livable wage. I don't need 200k in a megacity

Can you give us some more info. Where did you study and what kind of law did you go into?

Bamp

The problem is that if you have $120k+ in student debt, you will barely be able to feed yourself with a $60k per year job.

Unless you can get into an Ivy League school, or get a large scholarship to a lesser school, don't bother studying law.

there are all kinds of loan forgiveness programs for law students if you're willing to work for the federal government for a few years

i don't want to say going to law school is a safe bet but the people who constantly and vehemently recommend against it are not always painting the most accurate picture of it either

I always picture them as the drop out losers who couldn't hack it or those who put forth minimal effort and got mad that everything wasn't handed to them

My sister went to a third-rate law school and the market was super oversaturated and she wasn't able to find a job doing immigration law like she had wanted to. This was despite excellent grades and being on the law review and publishing a few articles and tons of student pro bono work. She still landed a cushy job working for a big oil company for over $100k starting but it wasn't what she actually wanted to do and she still wishes she had studied something else and wants to go back to school even now like 7 years after graduating.

So I would say don't do it unless you're so totally committed to the idea that you're not going to take anyone else's advice against it anyway. And make sure you get into a school with some name recognition. It's going to be really hard and there's a very good chance you won't be as successful as you wanted. I hope you're not studying some easy blow-off bullshit as an undergrad and thinking law school will be just like college.

I'll take 100k any day

Even if your job was some boring bullshit and not what you went to school and worked so hard for? Sure it's more than enough money to live comfortably, but job satisfaction is probably worth a lot too.

Almost everyone on earth does a job unrelated to what they studied.
If you do, you're the exception

I went the Washington College of Law (American University) in DC. Law school is fine if you don't let it stress you out. It's really more of a stress test and an endurance test and a kind of freaky political atmosphere (if you're that kind of animal, it's good for networking) than something that will prepare you for the bar or the practice of law.

I passed the California Bar, a three-day marathon that most people fail. For that you have to attend a bar exam course or be really diligent with self-study (I did the self-study).

The job market is terrible, even for top schools. If you want to be hired quickly for a job that doesn't suck, you'd better know someone that either owns or manages or is prominent in a firm. Or be good at self-promotion and aggressive/determined enough to make it on your own.

You can make 100k without spending a ton of money on law school, or even having a degree

Yeah, but I want to do criminal prosecution. That's my dream job

How'd you like AU? I applied there for International Affairs. I hear the campus is in the suburbs which is nice being from that area in California.

What about mid sized cities, like the Salt Lake Cities and Indianapolises of the country? Big cities but not huge.
Is the market as bad and competitive as NYC or DC or Chicago and the like?

I am currenttly in Law School in Brazil. It's alright.

All of them. This is true everywhere.

Eh, boring for a 100k is a dream for most of the population. The student debt sucks shit, but you're in a good spot. That and well, most of us don't get what we wanted, even the rich and famous don't. Life is about seeing the good in what you got and what you might have if you put in the work for it.

Good on your sister to keep thinking about doing something better.

Gross

Recently offered a full-tuition scholarship to the law program over at the University of Denver. I’ve also been offered scholarships that would cover about 2/3 of the tuition at numerous other law programs, in addition to being accepted to one top 25 school, thus far.

Feel free to ask me anything

How long did it take u to get a job after graduation?

yeah.
My daddy is rich so debt won't be a huge problem for me

please share how

to be honest it seems like for the difficulty required to be a sucessful lawyer and to get into law school, if you're purely motivated by money, then med school is a wayyyy better investment.
-both 8 years time(undergrad+actual program)]
-med school has residency after which pays shit but there's no guarantee you'll be a hotshot getting paid the big bucks str8 out of law school either
-med school has tons of brainlets who just work hard, easier competition than law school IMO
-unless you think you can be some hotshot partner, then the pay distribution for doctors is more equitable(even pediatricians make like 150k$, how much do shit-tier lawyers make?)
-bonus points if you're a minority, or even a half-minority(best possible scenario). i have a friend whose half white half latino, his latino parents are wealthy immigrants from venezuela lmao. claims 'latino' on all his applications.

I have an ancestor that is a French Hugeonot.
French is a Latin descended language.
Can I mark myself as "Hispanic or Latino"? By 1 drop rule I am

What is your GPA? What is your undergrad major? LSAT score?
How did you prep for the LSAT?

haha m8 unfortunately within the definition prescribed in the US, you're not latino. it only applies to New Worlders of Iberian descent/Iberoamerican nationality

I live in South Carolina.
Most white people have a distant black ancestor, and are around .2% black. If I take a DNA test and get any black ancestors, can I mark black?

>GPA
3.6

>undergrad major
Philosophy & polysci with a minor in ethics and a specialization in pre-law

>LSAT score
155

Admittedly, I should have studied more. I only studied for about a month, and only read one prep-book called PowerScore.

Protip: AVOID ANYTHING KAPLAN-RELATED. They are a garbage LSAT prep company.

Protip 2: if writing a diversity statement (you do not have to be a minority to write these), write primarily about a struggle that you have managed to overcome. Admissions officers love these.

Also, apply to a ton of law programs. Email the head admissions dean of each program and ask for a fee waiver. Most will give you one just to increase their applicant pool. I applied to over 20 schools.

Decent GPA, but that LSAT is pretty low don't you think?

law school fag here, AMA

I dropped out of law school

American Law School is shit tier compared to the schools around it, dont waste your time or money going there

Yup, it definitely is. But it seems like the majority of law schools are deprioritizing the importance of the LSAT. Also, I work full time and attend school full time, so I didn’t have much available time to study for it.

What school did you go to?

Meh my GPA was shit. Under 3. My LSAT was 168. I got into a top 40 school with a 1/2 scholarship. GPA doesnt mean shit if you can rock the LSAT.

Don't, take out a trade instead

>t. Pipe Welding Student

Donald Trump University

Dublin Institute of Technology (yes, it's an "IT" but it has a fully fledged law dept).
I only went into law because my parents pressured me into it. I dropped out because my girlfriend tried to kill herself, I got really depressed and flunked all my exams

In banking on that more than anything. I suck at math, that's just my reality, and struggling through math classes really hurt my GPA.
But if I can rock the LSAT then I'll be able to offset that.

And my personal statement essay is gonna rock, since I've got loads of life experience doing crazy shit.

Not a burger so I study law at the University because in Germany we have a different system.

Apart from that :

We have this "bubble" too (in Germany you need to graduate in the top 15-20% to become a judge or state attorney) but you still find a cushy high paying office job even if you graduate badly. We don't have student debts though, so I can't say if I would have done it in Murica.

>155, studying for a month, trying to give advice on anything

I got a 156 first practice test I ever took. Whatever you do, immediately assume this brainlet is wrong about everything.

Btw, got a 168 after studying for 2 months.

Jist be a paralegal they make jist as much as oversaturated law student market

I've got 3 years left of undergrad and I devote time every week to LSAT prep.
If you can get a 168 from 2 months, I think I'll be fine with 2 years of study

also a lawschoolfag here - i have a 3/4 scholarship at a decent (top 50) school. had a 165 LSAT and a 3.7 GPA from a decent undergrad.

i would echo the lawyer above who said either go to a really good school (top 10-ish) or a worse school with a full or substantial scholarship. everyone at T10 schools gets jobs that pay $$$. the top 1/3 at worse schools get the same-paying jobs, but the bottom 2/3rds there are fucked.

i went to law school because i liked being in school, knew i could get $$$ at a decent place, and figured i would do well. i am exactly who they tell NOT to go to school - slightly listless post-grads who don't know else would be better. it has worked out so far for me, though (i am a bit of an oddity in that i work full time and attend night classes, and my degree will take me one extra year but save me any debt)

the classes are pretty fun if you like reading, some of the people in my classes are insufferable, though it's a small minority