hey legal eagles it's no secret that law
school is expensive it takes three years
of your life it's stressful but it's
also rewarding and it's the gateway to
becoming a lawyer but the question is is
it worth it well today we're going to
explore whether it's the right decision
for you and whether it's worth the huge
upfront investment so stick around so
the costs of Law School are well-known
and they are very large average tuition
alone is more than $40,000 per year and
when you add in living expenses you're
basically guaranteed to spend over fifty
thousand dollars per year for three
years unless you get a very generous
financial aid package from your school
the average law school graduate in 2015
had over one hundred and forty thousand
dollars in student debt to obtain his or
her law degree and those numbers are
increasing every year at about four to
six times the rate of inflation
obviously things get more expensive over
time but law school is getting more
expensive a lot faster than almost
everything else law school debt is often
at high interest rates like seven or
eight percent and for perspective if you
had $150,000 in debt at 8 percent
amortized over 10 years you'd have to
pay back about $30,000 per year and of
course you have to pay that using
after-tax money because there are very
few tax incentives for paying back law
school loans so when you look at the
average salary of an attorney you should
subtract about $30,000 per year in
after-tax money from the salary because
that's the contribution that you have to
make for law school loans but that's not
the only cost there's also the
opportunity cost it's not just the
sticker price of law schools it's also
the money you would have earned
somewhere else if you had not gone to
law school for example median household
income in the u.s. is about $60,000 and
if you're the type of person who can get
into a reasonable law school odds are
you have the potential to earn over
$60,000 per year
after you graduate from college so over
the three years that you would have gone
to law school you could have made about
a hundred and eighty thousand dollars on
average and that's money that you would
not make and you would have to forego if
you go to law school now for context if
you're able to get a big firm job they
generally start in big cities paying
between 165 and 190 thousand dollars per
year plus often a bonus if you work a
number of hours and within three years
of working as a big firm associate you
can make well over two hundred thousand
dollars but there's often a huge price
to pay in order to get those big
paychecks big firms are often located in
the most expensive cities which means
you're going to be paying the most in
living expenses in order to to make that
that big paycheck and of course only top
graduates from top law schools get those
jobs we did another video on the
prospects of getting a top law firm job
the link to that will be down in the
description so check that out to see
what your odds are based on what law
school you go to and where you have to
graduate in those particular law schools
but that being said only a small portion
of law school graduates actually get a
big firm job when they graduate
according to the New York Times in 2015
more than 20% of law school graduates
held jobs that didn't even require a law
degree so imagine going to law school
for three years and then not even
practicing as an attorney well 20% of
graduates don't even practice as
attorneys at the same time in 2015 only
40% worked in law firms compared to 60%
from the class of 2000 so the odds of
getting a big firm job or even a medium
or small-sized firm job are much lower
now than they were 10 years ago so keep
that in mind when you're factoring in
whether law school is worth the
investment so I know it's really easy to
focus on the top law schools and the top
law firms to see what kind of numbers
people make when they graduate and it's
easy to fixate on people making close to
$200,000 right
they graduate from law school but those
kind of numbers can really skew things
in 2015
median pay for law school graduates
across the board was only sixty-four
thousand eight hundred so that's a bump
against the median u.s. salary of only
about five thousand dollars per year so
looking at averages only many people are
paying close to two hundred thousand
dollars it for law school for the
opportunity to only make five thousand
dollars more per year so given the debt
and the opportunity cost and the upfront
cost of going to law school is it worth
it well it depends it can be it
certainly was for me but it's also not
for everyone
here's generally how I think about it if
you know you have to be a lawyer you
should probably go to law school if you
know deep down in your heart and your
bones that no job is for you except
being a lawyer then law school might be
a good choice if you aren't sure whether
you want to be a lawyer or not do not go
to law school full stop and a discussion
that's it it's not worth it you will
have a terrible time and it's not worth
the personal cost and the monetary cost
to go to law school law school is a
necessary step to become a lawyer and
any ancillary benefits like learning how
to argue could be learned better faster
and cheaper somewhere else but if you
won't be happy unless you are a lawyer
then law school is probably for you law
school could be for you if you are
prepared for a huge debt liability those
are some big numbers it can be
manageable when you're paying it off
over ten years I would not count on
public interest fund where they pay off
your loans that can require you to pay
off your loans over a 20 or 30 year time
scale which it can add tons of costs and
fees so I would assume that I was going
to pay off the debt over a 10-year
period at roughly a seven or eight
percent Interest if you're prepared for
that kind of debt then law school might
be a good decision for you I'm if you
can get lots of scholarships law school
might be a good choice for you if you
can avoid
the upfront cost of the published rate
of law school then then that changes the
metric of whether it's worth it to incur
the opportunity cost of law school if
you are confident that you can be in the
top 10% of your class now law school is
kind of like Lake Wobegon where everyone
thinks they're above average but if you
are a hundred percent sure that you can
kick ass in law school and especially if
you're going to a top law school then
odds are you can be on the right-hand
side of the distribution and you can get
one of those jobs that pays well over
the median salary and you stand a good
chance of being able to pay off your
debt in the future also if you are
prepared to work 3,000 hours per year at
a big firm that can also swipe things in
your favor to make law school a good
decision if you're prepared to do the
kind of big firm work then it might be a
good stepping stone to getting into that
big firm job if none of those things
describe you consider law school very
carefully you can't discharge the debt
of law school in bankruptcy so it's
going to stay with you basically forever
I know that this may sound like I'm
talking down about law school I had a
great time in law school I thought it
was a wonderful experience and contrary
to popular belief I had a ton of fun I
really loved it
but at the same time I recognize that
it's not for everyone for some people
it's not worth it to incur that debt and
some people really regret it I was lucky
and then I'm not one of those people I
don't regret my decision to go to law
school I certainly don't regret my
decision to become a practicing trial
lawyer but it's not for everyone and you
need to decide for yourself and
hopefully this will help you make that
decision but if you have decided that
law school is for you be sure to
download our free ultimate pre-law
checklist
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videos we'll make on how to crush law
school so do you feel the need to become
a lawyer in your bones is law school
worth it for you let me know in the
comments below
I'd love to hear from you and until next
time at legal eagle think like a lawyer
and ace the exam well today we're going
to explore whether it's the right
decision for you and whether it's worth
it
hey legal eagles law school and whether
it's worth it so the cost of law school
you can check out the other video that
we did on the prospects of