lawschoolguy7 wrote:I don't have HYS acceptances. I bombed my Harvard interview due to technical difficulties and haven't gotten YS responses.
And thank you for these responses, they make a lot of sense. I'm sort of kicking myself about the LSAT as well, because I was doing better on practice tests, but I did take it twice.
How does that website calculate its costs, AdieuCali? $165k strikes me as a very high number for Michigan considering that there will only be $37k of total tuition left over - could it really cost that much just for rent/food?
LST includes expenses that aren't usually covered by simply taking the school's estimated COA and multiplying it by 3, like debt appreciation, origination fees, tuition inflation, etc. Obviously, since you'll be taking out fewer loans, your debt appreciation will be lower. But it's a handy tool for back-of-the-envelope COA calculations for threads like these. I believe it tries to account for all expenses over 10 years.
If you want a more accurate estimate, you can use the calculator here
http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 1&t=225195. GULC used to have a loan calculator on their public site but I can't find it. There are other publicly available COA calculators.
That being said, schools typically
underestimate cost of living. For one, many only calculate COL for the months you're attending class, so the figures on some school's sites are for 9 months not 12. Even at the T13, most students do not have paying jobs 1L summer or during bar prep. So you will have to factor in COL expenses for 3 months during 1L and 5 months after graduation before the start of your stub year(though most biglaw firms give bar stipends). Additionally, many law students defensibly decide not to do the undergrad ramen diet for another 3 years and also spend money on bar review, dinners out, and vacations to keep their sanity. Going out even 1 night a week adds up over the course of the year. Finally, buying hornbooks, suits for OCI, and other school-related expenses can add a couple g's to your total COA.
All in all, with your family support, I could see your total debt being closer to 60k at UM, UVA, and NU. You could pay that off in your first year of Biglaw by living frugally. If you're seriously considering retaking, you can play around with this to see what LSAT you'd need for a named scholly at T6-T10
https://mylsn.info/r/pre-law/scholarships/graph/. But I think your current options are fantastic and you wouldn't have as much to gain as many others by retaking.
