Scholarship Offers From Other Lower Ranked Schools When You Have an Offer from A Higher Ranked School - Which One Should You Select?

           I have a friend at Harvard who wonders if she made the right decision because she now has $200,000 of law school debt and when she was accepted to Harvard, she had scholarship offers for full rides at other law schools.  Did she make the right decision?  I think she did but the correct answer really depends on what an individual is looking for. 

A few things you should keep in mind when deciding.  In my opinion, you will get a similar legal education in most schools and this opinion is based on attending both a second and first tier law school.  At the end of the day the curriculums are similar and there are good and bad professors in every school.  I did not note a significant difference in the instruction or the quality of education in the first and second tier schools that I attended and the students were bright at both schools.  

While the quality of education is similar in a first and second tier school, there will be a significant difference in the opportunities you will be afforded and this could impact your income potential and choices.  For some though, income potential may not be important and some may just want to become lawyers.   For example, when I started law school at Brooklyn Law School, I did not intend to practice law full-time as I had a lucrative banking job.  As such, I was not as interested in a top school.  In fact, when I first applied to law school, I could have attended a school ranked much higher than Brooklyn but I selected Brooklyn as I liked Brooklyn’s public interest program. 

If you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the thing that is important to you is the learning process and the idea of becoming a lawyer, you may not want to shell out over $200,000 when you could get scholarships and pay nothing.  Also, if you are a top student in a second tier school, you will be afforded opportunities.  The problem really occurs when you are not in the top 10 or 15 percent.

I cannot help but think though that if this profession is going to be your future, it is better to have as many opportunities available to you as you can even if this means incurring a bit of debt.  You can always make more money to pay off the debt and graduating from a top school will put you in a position to be able to make lots of money.  In terms of deciding where to go to law school, I personally would not be guided by incurring debt but it is a personal choice that is really up to you.

This summary is one of many law school admission helpful tips in the new bookLaw School Lowdown: Secrets of Success from the Application Process to Landing the First Job – (Barron's Publishing) - Author Ian E. Scott.  You can order Law School Lowdown on Amazon by clicking here.