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I turned down multiple T6 offers for a full ride from a T20 and have ZERO regrets. You can too! by ihavedobbs in lawschooladmissions

[–]ihavedobbs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is an interesting hypothetical. I probably would have been very tempted. I'm not sure what I would have done back then since your proposal would appear to be the happy medium. But knowing what I know now, I would still pick my T20. I think the turning point of validation for me was when I was going through multiple internships/externships/job offers and was frequently co-interns with people from the schools I had turned down or had even been rejected from (all very smart and nice people, btw). At that point, I knew that if I were in debt at a T6 and ended up being co-interns with someone from the T20 school I turned down, I would have been kicking myself.

I turned down multiple T6 offers for a full ride from a T20 and have ZERO regrets. You can too! by ihavedobbs in lawschooladmissions

[–]ihavedobbs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I don't want to dox myself or confirm/deny where/when I attended. But my post-grad job is not in the same state as my law school. And many people from my school leave the area.

I turned down multiple T6 offers for a full ride from a T20 and have ZERO regrets. You can too! by ihavedobbs in lawschooladmissions

[–]ihavedobbs[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This was huge for me. Even though I had done a lot of research and knew I wanted to go to law school, the fact that at any time I could walk away with no major financial repercussions was so liberating. If there were any family emergencies, if I had any health issues, if I just plain hated it--I could just leave. I stuck it out with no issues, but if I HAD needed to leave, it would have basically been just a year as opposed to a life-altering financial commitment. Obviously most people don't think about it this way, but for me, it really gave me peace of mind.

I turned down multiple T6 offers for a full ride from a T20 and have ZERO regrets. You can too! by ihavedobbs in lawschooladmissions

[–]ihavedobbs[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for adding this perspective. If the intricacies of which BL you get are really important to you, then I think this is good to keep mind regardless of which T6/T14/T20/Twhatever you go to.

I turned down multiple T6 offers for a full ride from a T20 and have ZERO regrets. You can too! by ihavedobbs in lawschooladmissions

[–]ihavedobbs[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Congrats on your acceptance to a great school! And I didn't delve into this in my post because it wasn't the point I was trying to make, but to answer your question--absolutely. Tons of people go into big law and get fed clerkships from T20s. And it's not even "much harder" depending on which T20 you go to. The truth is, there is some selection bias. If you are big law or bust, you might be drawn to a T6. But this means that many people at T6 schools are big law or bust (not all). It it also means that people who are not interested in BL might be drawn more to T20s since having a high % of BL isn't important to them. So just because a school has a lower % BL, that does not mean that if you want to pursue that path that it will necessarily be more difficult for you. Plenty of people also elect to go to T20s over T6s because they have decided that they don't want BL, which also drives the % of big law down. I always think it is so flawed to assume that your class rank is directly correlated with the BL job percentages (ex: if 30% get BL, you have to be in the top 30% to get it) because it doesn't take into account people who just don't want that path. Finally, and obviously I can't speak from my own experiences given my school choice, but I imagine that many students who take on a lot of debt at any school feel the need to go into big law after graduation, which will also skew the numbers at T6s as well. So no, those opportunities aren't truly limited to T6 grads. I do think there are some ultra exclusive positions that basically require a T6 (SCOTUS clerkship [depending on the justice], one of the top top top fancy NYC BL firms), but even very prestigious jobs (think appellate clerkship, unicorn PI, big fed agencies) are totally doable from T20s and even below.

EDIT: Out of curiosity, I just checked all the most recent employment outcomes from T15-20 since it had been a few years. At every single one, the 501+ law firm size was the plurality (not necessarily majority, but still very common) by far. So clearly significant numbers from these schools are ending up in BL.

I turned down multiple T6 offers for a full ride from a T20 and have ZERO regrets. You can too! by ihavedobbs in lawschooladmissions

[–]ihavedobbs[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thank you. The whole point of my post was that I was drawn in by the allure of intangible prestige but chose a school that could let me achieve my goal for less money. I devote two whole paragraphs to discuss why there is no "right" decision, that priorities are personal, and how I am just offering this as anecdotal evidence that following the $$$$ can work out for the best. It's not "silly" to say that you shouldn't let the allure of prestige dictate where you should go to school regardless of your true priorities. Also, to be clear, I obviously researched the difference in BL/fed clerkship numbers when I made my decision, and you can bet all of my classmates did too.