CWRU Law at Nearly Sticker Price - Worth it?

[scriptorium_monk]

Hello! I was recently accepted into Case Western Reserve School of Law in Cleveland OH which is my dream law school for their international law program, experiential learning, war crimes research office, and location in the city I aim to practice in. I am potentially interested in practicing either international law or intellectual property as well as a clerkship. My heart is not set on big law though I would not mind the opportunity in the future if my mind does change (Cleveland is home to the HQ's of at least 10 large firms like Jones Day, Baker Hostetler, Squire Patton Bogs, and Thompson Hine). I applied through their 3+3 program from my college which allows students to complete a bachelor's degree and law degree in six years instead of seven, with dual admission and advising from both institutions. (aka L1 will be senior year) which is a serious plus for myself. I am posting here to see what the thought may be though as to taking on the amount of debt I would have to (via federal or private loans) to attend this school and if that would be considered "worth it" to others. Is this amount of debt common for law school grads in the first place? I know loans currently federally have very high interest rates (roughly 7-9%).

I received a 10k scholarship per year, L1 Fall free books, externship stipend, and a living stipend from this law school.
[
Tuition non-discounted: ($62.7k)
Tuition with Scholarship: ($ 52.7k)
Tuition with Savings: ($ 42.7k)
Tuition with own health insurance: ( roughly $ 39k)
Rough Estimate of Excess Fees: $164 (Student Activities Fee) + $30 (Graduate Student Council Fee) + $1,872 (books) =$2,066

Total Cost/Debt: Roughly 42k per year

Employment/unemployment scores 85.6/13.6
First Time Bar Pass Rate (2023): 72.9%
USNews: #89 ATL: Unranked*

*ATL DIY'd 50% Large Law Firm Jobs, 100% FT Legal Employment, and 100% First-Time Bar Passage Rate = 42 for CWRU School of Law*


Large Firm 22.2%
Small Firm 15.3%
Federal Clerkship 2.5%
Public Service 19.3%

My total estimate debt after 3 years would be: Roughly $138,575

Thank you!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi scriptorium,

First, congratulations on getting into your dream law school!

Whether or not going to law itself, much less going specifically to Case Western Reserve, is worth it is largely a personal decision that you should make based on many factors.

A lot has been written on this subject, as there are unfortunately many law school graduates who are either unable to find suitable work in the legal profession or no longer wish to do so and yet still have significant student debt from law school.

Here is one fairly recent article on the topic.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/p ... nymore.asp

As for the amount of debt that you calculate, that is not unusual. For comparison, according to the article cited above, the average law school debt is $160,000.

Assuming that you decide that law school is the right choice for you, then you should compare Case Western to other law schools to which you were accepted (assuming that you applied to several schools). For example, perhaps you were accepted to a higher ranked school that costs even more money? Or perhaps you were accepted to a state school that costs less money (especially with in state tuition)? Although if you are applying for this special program at Case Western a year early, perhaps you haven't applied to other law schools yet? In which case, you may want to try to get a sense of what laws schools you may get into if you were to apply next year (based mostly on your GPA and LSAT score).

Here is a blog on the scholarship vs. prestige question.

https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/schola ... y-and-run/

We also have two podcast episodes on this topic that are linked at the top of this blog post.

(I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that usually the best way to improve one's chances of getting a merit scholarship or increasing the amount of that scholarship, is to improve one's LSAT score, so keep that in mind if you feel that you still have time to improve your score.)

Big law jobs and clerkships can be very competitive. State clerkships however aren't quite as competitive as federal clerkships.

Also, while it's a nice bonus that a law school has a strong program in a particular area that you may want to practice in (i.e. international law), generally it is the law school's overall reputation/ranking and a student's GPA that largely determine one's career prospects upon graduation.

You mentioned possibly wanting to work in intellectual property law. If you are majoring in engineering/science, then patent law may be a good opportunity. Patent law requires a degree in engineering/science, which most lawyers do not have, so those that do are often in demand.

You should also look up the law school's loan repayment assistance programs (LRAPs) and public service loan forgiveness (PSLF) in case you ultimately get a public interest job. These programs help offset the student loan costs for graduates who work in public interest jobs.

In my opinion, many potential law students don't adequately weigh certain factors that can be hard to quantify, such as living for 3 years (possibly longer) in a place that you actually want to live. If you know that you would like to live in Cleveland for the foreseeable future (even after graduation), then that is definitely one significant reason for attending Case Western.

The fact that Case Western is offering a special program that essentially eliminates a year of school/tuition is also another significant reason for attending Case Western. (Personally, I considered my college years some of the best experiences of my life that flew by too quickly, so I would not have wanted to cut them short a year. However, from a financial/career perspective, saving a year of tuition and graduating law school a year earlier certainly has its benefits.) If you feel eager to get started with law school as soon as possible, then this may be the right decision for you.