To be honest, I think this is the best you can do if you want a professional-type career. Getting consulting jobs out of law school is doable, especially from SLS. Unlike banking, consulting cares more about your analytical ability than anything else, WE is a plus for them, but given that they hire tons of liberal arts grads from elite schools all the time solely for performing well on their case study method (seriously in college I knew multiple theater majors who got jobs at MBB), this is like a second chance to get that. Consulting wants JD's because they value diverse backgrounds and approaches to problem-solving, they wouldn't be recruiting at law schools if this were not the case. Also, if you spend the time between now and law school prepping for the GMAT, you can take that and potentially apply for a JD/MBA at SLS (I'm assuming you can do decently on that given that you did well enough on the LSAT to get into Stanford. I may be wrong if you are absolutely terrible at math, but most people can learn enough math for the GMAT and if you ARE that bad at math, you probably should just settle for law). Also, you should start prepping for case study interviews sooner rather than later so by the time the hiring process starts you have that skill down cold.

That said, given that you have very little WE, I don't think that consulting offers a radically different lifestyle than law. Both require grueling hours and a lot of repetitive work (at least in the early stages). It sounds to me like you just want a professional job, which law can offer just as well as consulting. Similarly most people aren't consultants at MBB or big law lawyers for their entire lives. Either path can get you a corporate job if that is what you realize you want to do (its definitely easier from consulting, but not terribly hard from law). Most people aren't going to LOVE their jobs anyways.

I will say to those who think no one should go to law school without actually wanting to be a lawyer, they are mostly right, but in this case, where the person only has a liberal arts BA and merely wants to launch into a professional career after years of medical problems, law school makes sense. Getting a professional degree from a top school is probably the only way he is going to be able to do that at this point and it gives him a chance to start over and scrub the past. Since he would never get into as good of a business school as a law school and he's going to Stanford with financial aid, this decision is probably the best way to meet his goals. I also don't think an interest in practicing law is a prerequisite to doing well in law school. It certainly helps, but law school is still far more academic than it is practical, so if you attack it with the same gusto you attacked your BA with (once again, SLS is hard to get w/o that) you should be fine. The material is interesting enough and the main thing forcing most students to work hard is that its a means to an end. Just because for most people that is a legal career, doesn't mean that getting a job at MBB or getting into the joint JD/MBA program at Stanford can't light a similar fire under your ass. Anything can be interesting provided you have something to motivate you.

TL;dr: Getting MBB from SLS is totally doable, provided you prepare for the case study interviews and commit to the process. Consulting is the one business area where WE is not a huge requirement. Look into maybe doing a joint degree once you are at SLS (this will be easier if you kill first quarter, even with their modified P/F system). Be open to a career in the law, you might not think its great now, but for most people the pros and cons are similar to those for consulting and it doesn't close off a corporate career in the future. In your specific situation (medical issues, no WE, 28 years old, liberal arts degree, wants professional career, in at SLS probably with financial aid) law school is not a mistake, even if you don't really want to practice law. 99.9% of the time going to law school w/o wanting to practice law would be a mistake, but you are that special snowflake where going to law school makes sense and is probably the most efficient way to pursue your career goals at this point.

The idea that significant numbers of people go from SLS into something other than law is wrong.

2010 SLS NALP report:

174 graduates

3 went into "business" (this category would include all the kinds of jobs -- "consulting and policy" -- the OP is interested in).

The vast majority of the class (85%) either went big law or clerked, which is usually a prelude to big law. Almost all the rest became government or PI lawyers (also things the OP seems to have little interest in, although they don't seem to cause as much revulsion for him/her as the idea of big law). Big law is exactly what the OP doesn't want to do, and it's by far the most likely thing the OP will end up doing. What qualifications will the OP have three years from now to get into high-level consulting or policy work that he/she doesn't have now? Will he/she have any relevant work experience? No, because summering for a big law firm is not relevant work experience for those kinds of of jobs. He/she will have a JD but a JD, even from SLS, is almost never by itself a sufficient credential for highly competitive non-law jobs.

This is just the TLS myth that there's something magical about a YSH degree. The only "magical" thing about it is that it's the best degree you can get for getting jobs that require law degrees. That a tiny handful of people go on to do other things straight out of law school is a reflection of those graduates' backgrounds before they went to law school, not that SLS sprinkled magic pixie dust on them.

So I don't know what the OP should do, but I do know that going to law school while planning not to practice law never makes sense, unless you're going to law school for non-career related reasons.

Don't you think most YSH grads self-select into law jobs?

Going to law school - even HYS - with the intention of getting into consulting is dumb.

I actually think going to Stanford would (could) be the right move for OP, but if - only if - he's willing to grind it out for 3-4 years in BigLaw before developing enough connections and/or WE to lateral into a different sector.

If OP really wants consulting, especially at the MBB level, he's never going to get access to the recruiters at this point unless he gets a professional degree from a top school. They don't recruit people with no WE off the street and rarely recruit laterally. They like to be able to take someone fresh from a degree (bachelors or graduate) program and mold them. They recruit at the top law schools just like big law firms do, and their main criterion for hiring is analytical ability as demonstrated by their rigorous interview process. Since he can't get into a good MBA program (or at least one where MBB and their ilk recruit) going to a top school like Stanford is pretty much the only way he can gain access to the recruiting process. Since he's going to get financial aid (based on his age and income) it's not going to be a terribly financially burdensome position. It seems like he actually has a shot at getting this type of job and also, it doesn't seem as though he is completely closed off to the idea of practicing law. So long as he is willing to do so, he will get a big law job if consulting doesn't work out. The goal of working towards getting a consulting job should be no less compelling with regards to his law school performance than big law (in fact at SLS, it might be even more of a motivator, since pretty much everyone with a pulse gets big law there if they want it).

Given my career goals, should I choose Stanford or Harvard?

Got into Harvard off the waitlist with $28K in need-based aid for the first year.
At Stanford, I received $35K in aid for the first year. Because the cost difference is so small and I do not have a geographic preference, I want to choose the school that will best position me for a future in business/consulting.

Need to decide by tomorrow.

If not flame go dude. If subtle brag, still go. If innocent and genuine, still go. You're in at Stanford Law and it sounds like you don't even have a regular job otherwise. This is a no-brainer in my opinion. But on the other hand if your condition is going to be exacerbated by the stress or if the health stuff is super serious and still ongoing, then maybe going isn't the best plan.

I vote Stanford for quality of life reasons, to some extent placement reasons, and for financial aid reasons. But really it may come down to whether you would rather be in Boston or Cali for the next 3 years, and Harvard does have still have a bit of an edge on overall prestige (i.e. overall lay prestige).

I just sent in my seat deposit to a law school on Monday and am beginning to get cold feet.

A) Stanford

Are you kidding me.

Given my career goals, should I choose Stanford or Harvard?

Got into Harvard off the waitlist with $28K in need-based aid for the first year.
At Stanford, I received $35K in aid for the first year. Because the cost difference is so small and I do not have a geographic preference, I want to choose the school that will best position me for a future in business/consulting.

Need to decide by tomorrow.