How much student loan debt is too much? How do you anons deal with debt for grad school, and just general grad school financing.I went full ride to a private university in the northeast, and am looking into law schools. There is one school (T-30) I'd like to attend but it will be $98,000 a year, the top 25% make $215,000 base (supposedly), and 13-15% a year place into BigLaw.On the flip side I got a full ride to a T-100 school, and half off at a T-50 school. Both are okay, much harder to place into BigLaw though and neither are where I'd like to practice (Caliwali) but are close.WWYD?Also general grad school financing and whether its worth it. Plus any lawyers (or law students) ITT who can share their opinions. Thanks.
depends on your expected salary honestly. average medical school debt sounds insane until you realize they're pretty set so it makes sense.law school is tricky dude. prestige does matter a lot, i'm not in law; but if you dont have prestige then you might get stuck in low salary hell and you find out why lawyers have the worst job satisfication, highest alcoholism and depression rates.
>>62360235Anything over 10k student loan debt is too much
Grad school and laywer svhool absolutly not worth in this daand age unless youre a bore wife married to a richfag or youre family is rich and you still got to "figure things out"Laywers will get super cucked by ai that they are pulling so much bullshit right now to gatekeep the profession like all masters level grad level professions.Youre better off going back to school for a nursing degree
>>62360262Yeah. I kind of figured that and my parents shared the same. I had hoped for something closer to T-14, but my LSAT was only 169 and my GPA fell from a 3.78 sophomore year to a 3.53 junior year because I was working 36-48 hrs a week doing EMS to pay for rent during school. I was able to finish a year early from undergad which helped admissions but I got no aid and Trump cut the Grad+ loans so the cap out federally is $50,000 a year.I am planning on honestly taking the $98,000 a year and hope to do well enough to earn some scholarship at the more prestigious school. $50,000 of it at 8% (Fed unsubsidized) and the remaining $40,000 at 9.5% (fml). I can also reassess and transfer but if I transfer there is no OCI.>>62360277I have zero undergraduate debt, but I would like to attend law school and preferably pursue litigation. I initially wanted to do prosecutorial work but I probably cannot afford to do so, and the schools where I have significant aid (>$15,000 a year COA) are all T-100 and I (and the legal field it seems) care about prestige sadly.>>62360311I feel this way in terms of cost, especially because had I not had significant scholarship for undergrad it would be unaffordable. But it has always been this way in America and the law lobby is the biggest in the country (at least according to Trump).I am an EMT and considered going to do medicine but I could not afford medical school, and nursing is a soulless job. If you ever worked it you would know that it is not worth the stable money.I have had people bite me, piss on me, fight me, shit on me, etc .., I want to work a job where I make six figures and can support my wife, and I can wear a suit to work.I guess I should add I STAND to inherit ~$5 mln in properties, but my boomer parents are leaning towards donating them because you must raise yourself up by your bootstraps (even though that is a portion of the properties they INHERITED), but that is an aside.
>>62360341why would you not be able to afford medical school?
>>62360235I don't know, my parents paid for my college and grad school, maybe you should have had parents who saved for yours too.
>>62360384If I did it, I would pursue emergency medicine. Four years of medical school and another seven years of residency. I likely will be given no inheritance if I am successful, and if I were a doctor I would be successful, therefor I would have to service the debt entirely on my own terms.I also do not think I'd want to be a student for that long, and I am finishing undergrad a year ahead of schedule, if I wanted to finish pre-med requirements I'd either have to do a Post-Bacc pre-med program, likely not self administered for linkages, which would run me from $50,000 to $80,000 for a year, and then go to medical school.I feel that as a lawyer I can make more and pay off the debt sooner, and I would be less of a slave to insurance.I also really got sick of trying to help people who quite simply do not want to be helped, or just are terrible people honestly. Trying to resuscitate an elderly woman who looks like a mummy while her kid swipes TikTok with fake nails paid for by the social security she gets from "keeping her mother alive" kind of made me sick of this shit. Plus all the insurance companies making bank off of keeping people sick.So it was more than just not being able to afford it, but that was a big part of it.
>>62360424My parents are worth a substantial sum, but that is mostly inherited from their parents, and one set is still alive which controls some of the trusts.That being said, they will not pay and believe that I am privileged enough to put myself through it all. They also plan to donate most of what they inherit, or so they have led me to believe.Honestly, I do not really care. It is my life and I need to make my own decisions to guarantee my success, it is not their burden. While I would not do the same for my children, it is their decision.
>>62360428>I would pursue emergency medicine.what do you think of them having the highest burnout rate?
>>62360453It is understandable, you are in school for a very long time, and a resident for a very long time.It is one of, if not the most stressful non-surgery positions, and you are constantly dealing with shit. You are also required to know and be able to deal with the most, because anything can come up.I think that seeing people die frequently, especially the very high acuity or young patients can get to you, and my experience working on an ambulance made me honestly hate (some) people, I couldn't imagine it for so long.
>>62360465>I think that seeing people die frequently, especially the very high acuity or young patients can get to you, and my experience working on an ambulance made me honestly hate (some) people, I couldn't imagine it for so long.grim, they deserve their high pay honestly.
>>62360480I guess. I saw a few people die when I was working for $15 an hour without overtime. Surreal to go from that to hearing a liberal feminist teacher talk about microagressions in the same 12 hour window.It's life. I also think the EMS stuff made me appreciate my own more. Some people are very disadvantaged, especially growing up in the ghettos where I was working (Top 3 murder rate city in the US). But it not an excuse to absolve yourself control in your own life.
>>62360235I just asked my parents for money.
>>62360341>I want to work a job where I make six figures and can support my wife, and I can wear a suit to work.thanks for your service, I salute you
>>62360235>>62360428First of all, don't go to medical school. Trust me, I speak from experience. Unless your parents are wealthy, it's not worth it. You're basically saying "yeah, I want to spend the best years of my life with no money struggling to get by, working 60-80 hour weeks nonstop, so that maybe by the time I'm in my late 30s or early 40s I can start feeling well-off" - and since you'd need to do a post-bacc and such, that timeline gets pushed even further back. From this moment, right now, you would be looking at 15+ years to break even vs just getting a job with whatever degree you have now. Your baseline lack of understanding of residency (EM is 3-4 years, not 7) also tells me you probably don't know what you'd be getting yourself into.Second of all, the answer of whether or not the expensive law school is worth it depends on your family background - similar to medical school, but for different reasons. You have a small chance to make it into a big firm, and a bigger chance to not. If your family has money, the failed path isn't as big of a deal as it would be if you have little to no financial support behind you. Your description of inheritance-but-I-might-not-get-it makes this confusing to me, but honestly I'm mostly talking about family income and liquid assets anyway. And the bootstrap mindset often doesn't extend to when a kid is in real trouble financially - but maybe it doesn't. You need to decide for yourself if you'd be just a little fucked or really fucked if you racked up half a million dollars in debt and failed to get into that big law firm.
Did you major in prelaw op?On scholarship?LolJust get a teachers cert and teach like the rest of the librul artsLol
>>62360614:D>>62360716I have no interest in medical school, and yeah my info is off as most of it was going from memory. An anon just asked why I thought I could not afford it.My parents would choose to not help me if I was heavily in debt and floundering. That being said, I will not be in that position. It is a low likelihood to go to a big firm, but if you don't think it will occur, it won't.I would not plan anything on receiving a cent from my family. It is just if it is worth it and I have to decide that I guess.Thanks for the post.>>62360771No I majored in economics. Pre-law was not a major at the school I attended, and I would not have done it.
>>62360786Id definitly start applying to economics jobs then
>>62360235I did full tuituion private for undergrad, and full tuition private for law school. Seriously consider going to some "lower ranked" law schools if they're well funded, have actual success in some sort of niche, and are actually ABA accredited, but don't do anything stupid like going somewhere unaccredited. Even at my school the average debt post-grad is like $200k. Living costs plus multiple study abroads still brought me to ~$60k in debt by the end, especially because Xoomer parents wanted me to "take on responsibility">much harder to place into BigLaw thoughReally it's just more class-ranking dependent, but I will say also that at these lower ranked schools you will be a big fish in a small pond and can more easily end up able to throw a "top X% in class" on your resume, which can and does get you biglaw interviews.>13-15% a year place into BigLawHuh I didn't realize the rate was that low at a T-30. I also got nonscholarship admission to a school ranked ~30, but looked at the employment stats midcareer and saw it was virtually identical between the two schools and decided it probably didn't matter that much. I figure if I had bothered studying for the LSAT and got in somewhere truly top ranked it would have been maybe worth taking on the debt to go somewhere T10, but idk about ~30. Seems kind of pointless to take on ~200k in debt just to be like "I went to W&M law." since it's already out of the really high tier anyways.>>62360262It's definitely not much better to make 200k (salaried, so no hour cap and insane hours) with a 200k load in high-interest loans than 100-150k in-house with 1/4 of the debt (and sane hours).>>62360277Yes.>>62360311>they are pulling so much bullshit right now to gatekeep the professiontrue, my cope is my job is govt. and can't legally use AI.
>>62360428>I am finishing undergrad a year ahead of scheduleYou are literally me but at the crossroads I was at 3 years ago. All I can say is that for sure, doing bar prep right now, I wanna fucking kms, but it's pretty cool that I got a JD from a respectable-enough school basically for free. You seem like a more independent and industrious person than I was, so don't just go to law school just because you're not sure what else to do, but don't undervalue how good of an offer a full tuition post-grad degree is and end up passing it up just from indecision.
>>62360235I somehow got them to let me pay like 20 bucks a month a few years back. No idea how much I still owe and it'll definitely never be paid, but everyone seems satisfied with the situation
>>62360341>I initially wanted to do prosecutorial work but I probably cannot afford to do soWhy? Even the "low-paying" counties in my state still reach like $150k salary after a couple years (plus govt employee benefits, in cheaper areas COL-wise) and in the expensive areas they get paid way more. Also just so you know a ton of people just do a couple years of prosecution/public defense and then move into something else if they want to.I'll say the "bad job market" thing for lawyers is a bit overhyped because people are so fixated on biglaw. Work hard, do your summer internships and make some connections, and see what you can get an in on. It's not like the lawyers that don't go to a T14 don't look out for each other or hire alumni lol. I sent out one application for my post-bar, got one interview, and got one offer, which I accepted. In a state with a "bad job market" from a T100. Maybe you won't be Chief Justice, but you'll be perfectly employable.
>>62360786I do not have a high opinion of "pre-law" "majors"
>>62361052Economics requires a masters or for you to be on a PhD track for good jobs. I could try to go for banking, which I was considering as I got an offer for a French bank because my French was passing, but I had little interest. Economics is not something I am great at or want to pursue beyond the point I had.>>62361107In terms of a government gig, I actually wanted to do JAG but it just seems to not be the greatest decision. My post-grad debt would be significant, so it is a big decision. I made the mistake of not applying to lower ranked schools, I kind of aimed at my targets and reaches, with one safety I received a good scholarship at.>>62361143It is this or OCS for me, and I lean a lot more towards law. I enjoyed my legal externship, and we'll see how it turns out. This weekend I need to decide, and not having significant debt would be a huge plus.Good luck on the bar anon.
I graduated with 460k in debt and 15 years later I'm now 610k in debt. Don't make this mistake kek
Hi
>>62361165Everyone wins.>>62361181I need to look into it more. I interned in a major U.S. city where the prosecutors made about $90k starting, so it definitely depends. I know the west coast pays fairly well.
>>62361230Yeah.... I just don't know if the school is worth it. Well, obviously no school is worth that (especially T30), but the networking, enjoyment of location, and whether I'd succeed there are worth it.>>62361232Hi.
>>62361222JAG pay actually isn't bad when you account for locality pay, which can be as much as if not more than the base salary (besides all the other army benefits) so it can all easily add up to double the base salary at first, and much of that is tax-free. But just so you know they care a lot less about what law school you go to so if you go full tuition I would definitely consider it. I was told after an information interview that I would get it when I was sitting at upper-chunk GPA and going to a T100. Sports from college and other similar stuff helped though.>It is this or OCS for me, and I lean a lot more towards law. It obviously requires the opportunity cost of becoming a fucking attorney but technically JAG start a rank higher.>>62361230Yeah I would uhh honestly advise against taking on the full cost tuition more strongly than I said in my earlier posts. Full-tuition scholarship for a T100 is a great deal though.>>62361233Yeah you would do just fine for yourself. Plus being a prosecutor is a blast because you get to roll up in court as the big bad guys in your black suits, prosecuting n sheit. It's actually kind of funny how PDs and DAs have polar opposite vibes in terms of suit choices lol, speaking from experience.
>>62361460I will keep this all in mind, thank you anon.I am heavily leaning towards the private university despite the cost because it is pretty and a place I want to live, plus connections.It is also a bet on my own success I guess, and I think I could manage the debt. But it is a lot to think about and I should decide by Monday.Have a great day anon.
>>62360235why do mutts get themselves into debt BEFORE even becoming an working adult?Borrow your parent>but le poorthen don't go to college, you don't need a piece of paper to get jobs
>>62362234My parents are wealthy, as I mentioned ITT; but they will not assist me.I must finance it myself. I am okay with that, but I am just debating on how much risk to take.
>>62360235It's a simple math equation. Look at the amount of school debt vs "guaranteed" salary once you start working. What will the monthly debt repayments be and can you live comfortably for 5 to 15 years while making those payments?I took out $140k in student loans to fund my pharmacy school education. It was totally worth it because of my starting salary. I lived well below my means and invested while paying back the loans - only took 2 years for me to pay the full $178k.
>>62360235>Loannever had one
Figure it out yourself rich boy.
>>62360235>How much student loan debt is too much? How do you anons deal with debt for grad school, and just general grad school financing.I cannot emphasize this enough - GET AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, you never have to pay it back
