When to go LRAP or when to take the money and run Forum

(Rankings, Profiles, Tuition, Student Life, . . . )
Post Reply
LaudSAT

New
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2017 12:42 pm

When to go LRAP or when to take the money and run

Post by LaudSAT » Thu Jan 25, 2018 12:29 pm

Hi again,

I posted a similar topic and got very little response perhaps due to the amount of detail in the post. If you are curious about more details about my specific scenario read here:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=285487 .

Basically, I want to know where you all would draw the line with taking a full scholarship over taking advantage of LRAP at a T10 for someone 100% interested in a PI track.

I see the 3 big downfalls of LRAP being:

1. PSLF getting canceled
2. Not getting LRAP elegible employment
3. Less flexibility in employment opportunities

The biggest concern nowadays with law school in general is obviously employment. This is where I feel the T10 school is the safer choice, even with sticker price, if one is committed to LRAP as it can be seen as a back door scholarship with pretty high security of getting a job. Also, most T10 schools would simply go back to their old LRAPs if PSLF were cancelled and we weren’t somehow grandfathered in to the program, so that also becomes less of a concern.

So the question is at what point would you say these benefits are outweighed by the freedom that comes from full tuition scholarships? Obviously you don’t want to attend a TTT but let’s say something like BU or UW’s Gates Scholarship? Do you take the money and accept the fact your employment opportunities will be less than at a T10 or do you go T10 and just count on LRAP?

Thanks in advanced

User avatar
ChutzpahSaxa15

New
Posts: 78
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:54 pm

Re: When to go LRAP or when to take the money and run

Post by ChutzpahSaxa15 » Thu Jan 25, 2018 2:46 pm

Bumping this post because I'm in the same scenario!

I've read kind of conflicting things for PI - some saying to go to law school for as close to free as possible, but others saying that prestigious PI jobs can be pretty snooty about where you went to school so prestige matters for those, too. So I guess the main question is what sort of PI you want to do - like public defender type thing vs. high profile ACLU work might have different requirements.

LaudSAT

New
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2017 12:42 pm

Re: When to go LRAP or when to take the money and run

Post by LaudSAT » Thu Jan 25, 2018 7:54 pm

ChutzpahSaxa15 wrote:Bumping this post because I'm in the same scenario!

I've read kind of conflicting things for PI - some saying to go to law school for as close to free as possible, but others saying that prestigious PI jobs can be pretty snooty about where you went to school so prestige matters for those, too. So I guess the main question is what sort of PI you want to do - like public defender type thing vs. high profile ACLU work might have different requirements.
Hey thanks for the bump and response. I definitely just want the most employment options as possible. I’m not dead set on BigPI as I am familiar with the type of people who tend to work in those types of orgs (TFA) and they’re not my favorite. I will say though that I am concerned about coming out of somewhere and not having a lot of flexibility in employment options. I have heard that a lot of PI stuff depends on demonstrated commitment, but I feel that these more prestigious schools have more to offer in the ways of clinics and other career support.

Glad to know I’m not the only one stressing over this.

Post Reply

Return to “Choosing a Law School”