Finding a job always has been and always will be hard. This does not apply to law school alone.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/millions-of-workers-zero-jobs-1322006105-slideshow/;_ylt=AlAuRM6pvV2RSGBEpSirbebNt.d_;_ylu=X3oDMTRkcWFsNzQ1BG1pdANQb2xpdGljcyBGZWF0dXJlZCBMZWZ0IFJhaWwEcGtnA2RkZDNhNzlhLWJkMTUtMzhlZC05OTFiLWY4NzVkNzAyYjI0NQRwb3MDMwRzZWMDTWVkaWFGZWF0dXJlZExpc3QEdmVyA2QzNGRjZDE4LTE1NjUtMTFlMS1iMTE4LTNiN2JhMzAxNGFhYg--;_ylg=X3oDMTNoYXVxYXFkBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDODY2NGFhOGMtMDljMS0zODY3LWFjYjItYjczNjg3NzI4NDkzBHBzdGNhdANwb2xpdGljc3xkZXN0aW5hdGlvbjIwMTIEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

Just some photos, but it was on Yahoo first page. It sucks to find a job whether your an architect, nurse, pilot, lawyer, cop, firefighter, it is freaking hard. Going to architecture school, flight school, nursing school none of it is cheap. Don't choose your profession based on the "supposed" money your going to make, because odds you will struggle choose the profession you will enjoy. I guarantee you at some point in your life you will get a job. Then you likely never post on lawschooldiscussion again. The economy is not great for lawyers or anybody right now, but this is the not first time there has been an economic downturn. Money will be around again then s*** will hit the fan again. I am sure both of you will be literally be shocked and the world would be if by the year 2021 you have not worked a single day. It sucks and I know for a fact I will be in the same situation in a few months if I pass the bar.

I know one person that failed the bar 3 times. They found a job in the meantime and finally passed, but it was a long hard road. Be thankful you have passed the bar it is a big accomplishment and you are a lot better off than many people that didn't pass. Have patience and I would be bet a lot of money that in 10 years you will have at least worked one day in a legal job. Hopefully I am right and I agree with a lot of your points law school is a long, expensive, and difficult road with no guarantee of a job at the end of it. If you go to law school expecting anything to be handed to go to school for anything then you will be waiting around for a long time. Finding a job sucks.

I really think law schools or any school should make you earn how much your borrowing before they let you enroll in school. I don't know how many undergrad-straight to law school or some other grad school I have met and things do not work out for awhile. School is nothing like the real world and you should have to work at least a year or two before going into any form of grad school. I would strongly agree if they imposed that requirement on incoming students.

Yea I suppose cost of living is really high though. So that is one of the major drawbacks to going to school in the Bay Area or any major market like NYC, DC and so on. The debt grows real fast and even if you get a job cost of living is not cheap. I have a huge scholarship at my school and my debt from cost of living just for rent and so on it pretty damn high.

There are some cheaper state schools if you can establish residency in them. I remember really considering Florida International University. It is only 10k a year or something and in Miami, which isn't as expensive and if you want warmer weather well that is a good place to go.

I have loved my law school experience so far and I was pretty cautious with money and so on, but could have done some things differently regarding educational cost and so on. I looked my bill and 100k in debt would be 180k if not for the scholarships and that is a LOT of money especially considering it will be growing at 8% interest, which is 8k a year in interest alone. Big numbers a little intimidating and it is going to suck to pay back, but again glad I choose the path I have enjoyed pretty much everything about law school.

I think some of the schools you had listed like Texas Tech is only 15k per yer for tuition and 13k for living expenses so 28K.

Santa Clara 38K tuition 21K cost of living so 59K per year.

By the time you are done you would have 86k in debt from Tech or 180k from Santa Clara. Then the interest accumulations on 180k v 86k is significant.

However, if the Bay Area is where you want to be then by all means come to Santa Clara, but if you really don't have a geographic preference then look at costs. The most important things when choosing a school are Cost & Location. 

If you know where you want to end living or at least think you have a strong idea then go to school in that region. On the flip side if you could not possibly see yourself living in Texas then don't go to Texas Tech. 3 years is a long time to spend somewhere and odds are you will end up living where you go to school. I know there are exceptions, but the majority of people stay where they started. Often you will get a girlfriend/boyfriend while at school, makefriends, all that stuff you build over three years and it will  hard to leave. So choose your location carefully because odds are that is where you will end up living for a long time.

Then of course cost as you can see the difference between Tech and Santa Clara 100k in savings is significant especially when you calculate the interest that applies. Kind of a long rant, but it is important to really consider all these things.

When I was applying I was applying all over the country not really thinking about location, cost, and so on. I thankfully made the right choice based on where I wanted to live, but I almost went far far away and I continually think of what a big mistake that would have been. Three years of law school is a long long time and it is a life changing experience for better or worse and living in a city your happy with is very important. Anyways, I will stop my likely incoherent rant here. Good luck on your applications and so on.

If you have really have no standards about where to live and work then I would say establish residency in South or North Dakota then go to school there. I believe it is under 10k per year for tuition and the cost of living is minimal. You could get an ABA degree for under 50k and the South Dakota is allegedly one of the easiest to bars pass. Every JAG person I interviewed with said they just took the South Dakota Bar because all you need for JAG is to be licensed in one state. It is just 150 MC questions (I think) and your good to go. If you want a cheap law school degree, bar passage, etc then the Dakotas are the place to go. They are ABA approved schools and like any other ABA school they will teach you the law. North Dakota or South Dakota or not Harvard, but there are certainly on par with a majority of other schools that are far more expensive.

I would consider the location first and foremost. If you want to be in Phoneix then go to Phoneix, Charlotte go to Charlotte, Michigan-Cooley.

Secondly what are the terms on these scholarship offers? Most schools if not all schools that offer merit based scholarships require you to maintain a 3.0 or maintain some percetnage in the class. Most 0L's presume they will get a 3.0 or be in the top 35%, because they are special, but everyone at any ABA school is smart and hardworking and on the first day of school 100% of students think they will be in the top 10%, but 90% are wrong. This also goes to the 3.0 requirement, which almost every student at an ABA school thinks they will get. However, law school grading is NOTHING like undergrad. Usually only 35% of first year law studetns can have a 3.0 or higher based on the curve. Even if everyone does an amazing job only 35% can have a 3.0. So there is a 65% chance in that situation you will lose your scholarship nothing personal just the reality of it. So check the conditions on the scholarship that makes a HUGE difference. It can save you 20-30k which is a lot of money.

Another thing to consider is going to a state school that offers way lower tuition. A school like Florida International University is WAY cheaper than any of those schools mentioned only 12k a year so even without a scholarship you are paying way less. If you really want to save you can go to North Dakota or South Dakota I believe it is only 6-7k and cost of living is minimal so you could get out debt free and I woudl say Cooley, Florida Coastal, and the schools you have listed are on par with North Dakota, South Dakota, Florida International Unviersity, and CUNY in New York is a very cheap school as well. They are all ABA approved and you basically are getting the same thing, but you can get it MUCH cheaper from a state school and looking at your selections it doesn't seem like you have any geographic limitations.

Hopefully that is somewhat helpful.

The GED won't make any difference I don't think schools care much about your high school. As far as the W's again most schools don't care about that either. Your status as an African American or URM gives you a big leg up over most applicants. I with URM status a 3.15 and 153 you have a shot at many schools and will likely be offered scholarship money at some. With a 3.15 153 Harvard, Yale are not in the running, but many ABA schools would likely be happy to have you.

The best place to look for potential law school admissions is lawschoolnumbers.com. You can see what numbers got in where and whether they were a URM or not. You can also get a feel for how much scholarship money you might get.

Another way thing that is good to do if your applying next cycle is sign up for an LSAC Forum. I went to one of these and wrote my LSAC number down at almost every schools table and got 15 fee waivers, which saved me 1,000 or so bucks in application fees. I also think it is a slight plus when applying if you stopped by their booth. A minimal boost granted, but it might do something and more importantly you will have money on fee waivers.

I think you have a great shot of getting into A law school not sure where, but if you get everything together I am willing to bet you will end up a J.D. good luck.