I recently received an acceptance letter from Loyola Law in Los Angeles, and they have offered me a full three-year scholarship. While I’m ecstatic about the offer, I’m also pretty sure that I’m going to be accepted in to schools that are ranked a bit higher (albeit without any scholarship). Am I better off taking the free ride at Loyola, or do I take on the burden of an additional $80,000 in debt to graduate from a “better” school?
Don’t pay much attention to rankings. Some of the criteria are things that just won’t affect you. But consider all your options anyway, learn everything you can about the programs and then decide if the difference is too big for the scholarship to overcome.
Depends on where you want to end up. If you want to stay in LA, Loyola should work. If you want maximum flexibility in what city you want to pursue your career, go to the highest ranked school you can get into.
I don’t know about the US, but in Canada you have to do your bar exam in the province in which you want to practise, but that may or may not have an impact on your choice of school.
Ultimately, it’s a matter of priorities.
It depends how much better the other schools are. If they’re in the top 10, there will probably be enough networking and cachet to make it worth the cost, especially as you’ll in all probability be able to find a job that will let you pay your loans off with relative ease. But if they’re not, I’d take the scholarship.
Some people on the message boards at www.vault.com can be very helpful in making that kind of decision, though you’ll have to sort through a bunch of idiots.
If you are going to practice in SoCal and no other Cali school accepts you, go with Loyola, it has a pretty good rep.
If you get into a place like USC or Boalt, shoulder the debt and go for it. Not only are they great schools, but SC alums are cliquie and you might score a job on the basis of your alma mater.
YMMV, of course.
And hey, who cares about more student loan debt? In the 7 years since my husband graduated from law school, we’ve gotten his loan debt all the way down to $51K…
Grrrr…
I faced this decision a few years back, and I chose the more expensive much more prestigious law school over the sure scholarship school. It is a tough call, but IMHO, it matters most what you want to do or are most likely to do after law school. Consider:
- Government (policy) or big law firm ($) - go with the high-ranked school.
- For most other types of legal work, go with the cheaper school.
- If you are sure where you want to practice, look for a good law school in the area.
- If you are not sure geographically where you want to be, look for a more prestigious school. They generally have contacts and ties on a national level.
My experience? I went to a top 5 Ivy League law school, and joined a big law firm. Hated the law firm, but was paid a tremendous amount. When I finally had enough, I moved back to my home state to practice public interest/criminal law. The law school I went to gave me great experiences, but I am in a lot of debt. If I hadn’t gone there, I never would have been considered for my first job. In my present situation, not going to the local school is kind of a disadvantage. Many, if not most, of the lawyers in my area went to the same school and have a network and shared experiences that I’m excluded from. But the biggest difference is the debt load.
Short answer - depends.
Well, I think I want to do entertainment law (although that’s not 100% definite) I was told that if I want to do entertaiment law, I should definitely go to school in either L.A. or New York. The two top schools I applied to (Georgetown and George Washington) are both in D.C., not L.A., and I’m not even sure if I’ll here from them or not before I need to give a decision to Loyola (they need my response by April 1).
Since you want to practice entertainment law, Loyola seems like the best choice, given the other schools you applied for and the fact that it would be a free ride.
I am six years post-Bar. I went to a private local law school in a night program. Given that I was working 45-55 hours a week during law school, my academic performance was not stellar. However, I wanted to go to law school to support my career and for self-actualization purposes. It did land me in the Army JAG Corps, so I’m grateful for that… My best friend also graduated Summa from the same law school, and has had a string of really good jobs. It pays to be a big fish in a small pond.
I’ve noticed that more & more people are runnning away from the practice of law after 5-10 years. If that was to happen for you, it would be nice not having the debt load. Although, in the grand scheme of things, you won’t go wrong with either decision.
First of all, congrats on your acceptance to Loyola. That’s a fine school.
I agree with most of what’s been said so far.
First, wait and see where else you get in. Until you have the acceptance letters from other schools, deciding where else you want to go is academic.
Second, a more highly ranked school will give you more flexibility, particularly geographic flexibility.
Third, carrying a huge debt load is a drag, but it is manageable. Even with a large load, you are talking about paying about an extra grand a month. That sounds like a lot, but if the law degree increases your earning power by 20 grand a year, then the cost is worth it. Some acccountant type will be along shortly to correct my math, but the point still stands: law school is an investment, and you should think about law school debt like a business loan.
Fourth, I am no expert on entertainment law, but I am skeptical about the statement that you need to go to law school in New York or LA to practice entertainment law. From what I know the things that help someone get into entertainment law are (1) being an excellent lawyer (either graduating from an excellent school or being an excellent student at a good school), (2) being willing to do lots of crappy scut work (lots of folks want to do entertainment law so firms and partners have no problem finding people who want to help them), and (3) connections in the entertainment industry that can help bring business to the firm.
To sum up,
I would say
- be happy you got into Loyola.
- see where else you get in.
- Think hard about what you want. If you want more flexibility, I would say suck it up, go into debt, and get a degree from a more prestigious school.
Mrs D and I are both lawyers. Both of us are somewhat cynical about many aspects of the legal profession, as well as law school’s efficacy in training you to participate in that profession. Perhaps what we are proudest about our accomplishments in law school is that we graduated without any debt. Teaching and research assistantships, part-time jobs, etc. As such, we were able to buy our first home within a year of graduating. While many of our contemporaries were paying the equivalent of our house payments to service student debt. Moreover, we were free to select jobs we wished, based on how theyy would suit our desired (somewhat modest) lifestyle, rather than feeling we had to whore ourselves to the highest bidder to retire our debt and maintain a luxurious standard of living.
What makes your decision tough is that it involves both factors you can control, and ones you can’t. No matter what school you go to and how well you do, it won’t guarantee you a job. Not in a particular field, not in a particular location, and not for a particular salary. Never having been to law school before, you really don’t know if you will be able or willing to compete at the top of the class or not. The lower your class rank, even from a highly rated school, the narrower your options. And - even if you graduate at the top of your class from a great school, there is no guarantee that you will get the job you want.
I would highly recommend the law school option that incurred the least debt. Maybe I’m too pessimistic, but I tend to try to protect myself against worst possible scenarios. Whether you go to Loyola or Harvard, you might find yourself near the bottom of your class, disillusioned with the practice of law, or unable to get the job you desire due to economic or other forces beyond your control. But, there is one significant factor you can control - not ending up at that point three years later with considerable debt.
Of course, my POV is at odds with much of current American attitude which encourages leveraging and piling on consumer debt.