Law School Discussion

Out of curiosity.  I'm still trying to decide between NYU vs. WUSTL with good money.

I figured it up and I'm going to be paying almost 20K more per year, for 10 years, after graduating if I go to NYU. 

If I graduate with decent grades at WUSTL it seems I'll be in line for about the same quality of job (if I go the firm round about 160k as of now).  If I don't graduate in the top third I assume I'll still be able to get a midlaw job at about  130k.

Now lets say after taxes I keep about 60% of my gross pay, that would make a big firm job worth about 96k and a mid-law firm about 78k. 

Subtracting the extra 20k NYU will cost me for the first 10 years after law school and the best case coming out of NYU would be 76k, while at WUSTL the best case would be 96k, and if I didn't get in the top third then 78k.

Throw in the fact that the mid-law job is likely to be in a city with a much lower standard of living and it appears that, based solely on going into a law firm, the options would be better for me coming out of WUSTL than NYU when taking into account loan payments.

If you see anything wrong with this let me know, remember I am talking only about a firm job and only about money, I realize there are many other reasons why one school may be better than another and I am taking them all into account.



Now the real question I have for you all, unless you see some error I made above, is will the NYU degree help me after the first job?  Will having an NYU degree make it easier to become a judge, partner in a law firm, or lead to more raises?

Tax System explained in beer...

 Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.  If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this

             The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

             The fifth would pay $1.

             The sixth would pay $3.

             The seventh would pay $7.

             The eighth would pay $12.

             The ninth would pay $18.

             The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

             So, that's what they decided to do.

 The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20."  Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

 The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.  But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

 They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

  And so The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

            The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

            The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

            The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

            The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).

            The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

  Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to

drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare

their savings.

  "I only got a dollar out of the $ 20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"

  "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

  "That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when

I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

   "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything

at all. The system exploits the poor!"

  The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

  The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

  And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, this is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

            David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.

            Professor of Economics

            University of Georgia

  For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

granted I know that everyone is like "if you get into a top school take it regardless..." but its hard to stomache the fact that I can go to a school like WashU with a decent scholarship and I may turn it down in order to go to NYU or comparable and have to pay for everything with loans.

how possible is it to get schools to offer more scholarships? I've heard some about this but does it happen a lot or what?

 posted the same thing twice and it won't let me delete it