Welcome! In this video, we're going to be talking about the downside to a
law school scholarship. I'm Jarrett Stone. I'm the founder of Law Venture. And before
diving into this video, I do want to direct your attention to the bottom in
the description area where I will be posting freebies from this point on. That
way you can just take a look at them, check them out, and then download them. If
you like them, I think they'll be very helpful.
Ok so let's kind of dive in to the purpose of this video -- the downside to a
law school scholarship. I know this a little bit of a plot twist because you
get a law school scholarship and you're typically cheering. But, the problem is
maybe a year down the road you might not be cheering. You might actually regret
taking that law school scholarship. So why? The reason being -- a lot of these law
school scholarships are based on a contingency, right. you have to be maybe
in the top 50% of your class or maybe the top 25% of your glass. And more often than
not, people think "okay I've been fantastic as a student throughout my
entire life and this, top 50, that's gonna be pretty simple." Unfortunately, there's a
little bit of an issue and that issue is a lot of law schools in their first year
they put you in sections right. There's, let's say, four sections. And they put a
lot of the people who are trying to be in the top 50 based on the contingent
Law School offer into the same section. So it makes that section very, very
competitive. Each section has their own bell curve that's then applied to the
overall bell curve of your class rank. And so you gotta, I guess,
visualize a little bit of the fact that if you are in Section 1 and it's highly
highly competitive and you have everyone who has exceptional LSAT scores,
exceptional GPAs, and just type-A types of people, you have to know that
Section 1 is going to be ultra, ultra competitive. I can't stress that enough.
And let's say in Section 1 you averaged a 93% on all your exams. We're
used to thinking, "Okay, that's fantastic." But, if everyone ended up getting a 94 or
higher it's gonna put you at the back of the bell curve on your
section. Here's where it gets a little unfair. Let's say Section 2, the average
on the exam is like a 75 and you ended up actually being the high
score had your 93 just been in Section two. Let's say same exact, you know,
exams across the board. Well, unfortunately since you're in Section
1 it doesn't really help you at all that your grades were higher than people
in Section 2, 3, and 4. And so overall when you look at the bell curve
for all your class members that's going to put you in the back of the bell curve.
That's most likely not going to put you in the 50 percent or the twenty five
percent in order to keep your scholarship. So here's my recommendation --
weigh your options. Figure out what kind of person you are and figure out what
kind of life you want to live as a law student because it may just be more
simple and just less stressful to renegotiate a scholarship offer. Take
less money, but make sure it's not contingent on anything. In fact, you know
that'll free up not only your mental space, but it'll give you much much
relief especially in an anxiety filled law school environment. But, it'll also
free up your time because it really really requires a lot of work in order
to stay in the top 25 percent or the top 10 percent of your class. It's a lot of
studying and that's -- it's just -- it's a brutal grind. And that takes you away
from maybe networking or you know meeting other people, finding mentors, or
competing in competitions, and doing things like that. Or just simply working
out and maybe having some downtime in order to, you know, better execute on the
next day. This is just -- there really isn't an answer. It's all something for you to
consider. But, my recommendation would be take the less scholarship amount if it's
you know I guess taking away from the contingent factor and then really focus
on getting more money on years 2 and years 3 right. Just knock it out of the
park year 1. Do a lot of extracurricular activities, mentor, network, and then use
everything you've accumulated to beef up that resume and apply for scholarships
year 2, year 3. And then just get exactly you know the amount of money that you
were attempting to get in the first place. I think if you
take that approach, you'll be much much better off. And more importantly, you'll
be much much happier with your law school career and just your law school
lifestyle. So that's my big rant for the day or maybe warning is probably a
better way to put it. So, if you're considering law school or if you're
considering law school offers and if you have any questions be sure to leave them
in the comments below. Don't forget to give this video a thumbs up and if you
haven't subscribed -- what are you doing? go ahead and click that subscribe button,
which i think is over here. And again don't forget about the freebie below. See
you in the next one!