The Official BLSD "What Are My Chances?/Where Should I Apply?" Thread

[bigs5068]

best thing to look at is lawschoolnumbers.com you really get an idea of what the school requires.

[bafanahoy]

Hello everyone, I'm new here.  I'm an AA female and just received my LSAT score: 158 75th percentile. I was praying for at least a 160 but didn't quite make it.  My question is: should I re-take in October?  I'll be abroad and so I'll have to take it out of the country and to be frank I'm so delirious, defeated, and sick of looking at the test.  Additionally I was practicing at around 150-156 so I should be happy w 158, right? My dream is to go to Georgetown (my alma mater) but am wondering if I am being delirious. LSAC GPA 3.4  Thanks so much for your help!

[bigs5068]

If you really studied as hard as you could then that is probably the best you can do. You could keep retaking the LSAT over and over spend another years of life focusing on it why not just go to law school and become a lawyer. The rankings etc don't matter that much if you are a good lawyer people will figure it out no matter what school you go to. 

[bafanahoy]

Thanks for your help and putting things into perspective

[A.]

The rankings etc don't matter that much if you are a good lawyer people will figure it out no matter what school you go to.

Um, do you not read Above the Law?  This kind of thinking is why so many lawyers end up unemployed and in thousands of dollars of debt. 

Bafanahoy, you're probably not getting into GULC with those numbers.  But if your score is at the upper end of where you were testing, then I'm not sure it's worth retaking unless you can take a course or something to raise your proficiency.  And if you don't go to a t14 or a top state/regional school in the region where you want to practice, make sure you're not paying anyone to go where you ultimately attend.

[bigs5068]

Go to law school if you want to be a lawyer and you will go in debt. It is a risk you should know that, but people on the internet will just say don't go to law school unless you go into T/14, but that is bull****. I work know with plenty of people who did not go to elite schools who do well you can get a J.D., M.B.A, M.D., RN, Teaching Certificate, Police Officer Certificate, etc there is a risk and it is hard to get any career started. 

If you put in the work it will generally work out, but possibly not. You can go work as bank teller for 40 years and never take a risk and be fine as well.  Use your common sense when going to law school and know nothing will come easy, but nothing in life does.

[A.]

but people on the internet will just say don't go to law school unless you go into T/14, but that is bull****.

That's not what I said.  I said:

And if you don't go to a t14 or a top state/regional school in the region where you want to practice, make sure you're not paying anyone to go where you ultimately attend.

I agree that not everyone has to go to a t14.  But if you don't go to one, then the risk of assuming tens of thousands of dollars of debt is worth it only if you go to a top state/regional school in the region where you want to practice.  In this economy, I advise no one to take on significant debt to go to law school outside of those parameters.

[bigs5068]

The economy will improve as it always has. This is not the first time America has had a rescission and all industries have significant ups & downs, but the beauty of having a degree is it lasts for your entire life. In 10 years the economy will probably be fine again and in 20 years it will be a huge rescission that is just the way it goes. If you have a J.D. you will be a lawyer in the good times and the bad so if you want to be a lawyer go to law school.   

Good school or not if it is ABA approved and you pass the bar you will be a lawyer. At that point it will be up to you to figure it out. Of course it will be harder going to a lower ranked school to get a start, but you can certainly do it.

[A.]

::shrugs:: your life

[Jamie Stringer]

This chart should be required for analysis pre-law school:



For those who aren't going to T14 schools or top regional schools and plan to pay for the entirety of their education in student loans, just look to see what salary it is you will likely make. Note: it's not going to be the right-most peak. If you intend to take out all school expenses in loans, assuming that is $100K (which is low) and that the interest rate is 6.8% (which is low because GradPLUS loans are at what, 8.5%), then your loan repayment each month is almost $1151 for a 10 year repayment plan. If you're only making $50K per year, your lifestyle would be untenable on that repayment plan as your take home pay in a state like California would be about $3033 per month. That also doesn't take into account things like rent, transportation costs, medical insurance, food, etc., not to mention putting money away into a regular savings and retirement savings vehicle.

Moral of the story is that you could be one of those miracle cases that makes a good living from a lower ranked school that makes it possible to pay off all your student loans quite easily. But, it doesn't make sense to gamble with your future in the hopes that you will be the exception to the rule.