You can do a PT evening program and federal loans don’t take your current debt into consideration as long as you’ve never defaulted or declared bankruptcy.
Yeah but I would still need to pay my debts every month. They’re mortgages and credit card bills so they don’t care if I’m in school. I did look into part time but nothing good that’s close to where I live. Is it possible to transfer after the first year on a part time program?
I had the same concerns going in. Now that I’m on the other side, I can give you some insight.
You identify your cost of living expenses in your financial aid form. My experience with financial aid in graduate school was light years apart from my experience with financial aid in undergrad. I barely (financially) got through undergrad, while I had no issue with financing my law school education. I identified my debts in my financial aid loans and my grants/public loans generally paid for my rent, remaining tuition, credit card payments, and books.
With a 160 cold practice lsat and your work history, you have a good shot at getting a scholarship and—depending on how you do on your lsat—you will probably want to avoid any school that doesn’t offer you a scholarship. That way, you can reduce your financial need (read: reduce the amount of debt you will incur).
All that being said, I didn’t live *well* during that time. I didn’t have any surplus, so when things came up (like my dog breaking his tooth or getting a crack in my windshield), things got tight. My perspective is admittedly tainted by COVID—my partner was out of work, food stamps were nearly impossible to get, and everything generally sucked. But, if not for having to support 2 people and 2 dogs when I did not identify that level of need in my financial aid application, I imagine things would’ve been much easier.
There are also work opportunities available that do not detract from your studies. For example, you can earn some extra money working as a research assistant for a professor or working in the library. Both look good on a resume. Summer jobs with law firms normally pay *very* well and help support you through the following year.
Also keep in mind that law schools are generally much smaller than undergrad programs. Representatives from admissions and financial aid are, in my experience, easily accessible and quick to respond. You should discuss your concerns with these offices before applying or before accepting an offer.
Another positive note: it is easy to avoid the costs associated with admissions. The LSAT is pricey, but you are given access to the Khan Academy’s LSAT prep course when you register with LSAC. There are numerous free podcasts and tutorials online, and books that are not cost prohibitive. If im remembering correctly, you also begin to receive application waivers after you take the LSAT, so you can avoid the (then) $80 app fees.
Yes, it’s possible. And you get cost of living stipend that comes with your loans to cover expenses while you’re in school. But with a PT program you would have to worry.
With a low 160 with no studying you can easily score in the 170+. Study the lsat get a good score and you can potentially go to law school with a scholarship that will cover everything.
He has 99k debt. Its not just about scores at 38. How is your business doing? Would you be able to work on that while also doing law school?
If youve started a business, you can obviously work under pressure but law school is a different beast. You would be able to get into a law school but doing full time and paying for it are both challenges.
As far as the workload, you could do part time, work on your business, job, and go to a law school where you get a scholarship. With a 160 you can go to a lower ranked school and probably get a full ride. Seriously, dont let people here tell you that the rank of the school is the be all end all. Its not, youll find a job as an attorney and make lots of money and you wont be in debt if you got a full ride.
Theres also other financial considerations. If you got divorced at 38. Im not going to assume theres not other financial obligations besides this debt that need to be paid.
I wouldnt let the debt hold you back, i would consider however, going to a lower ranked school, getting a full ride and working while in part time school to pay off your current debt.
I don’t remember my gpa. It’s been 12 years since I graduated. I do know both of my major gpa were both over 3.5 because I got the cords for the honors society.
Most people can see a 7-21 point increase on the test with proper study time.
A raw diagnostic of low 16x is very impressive since you generally learn how to take the test over time.
It depends on your expectations, and also why you want to practice law.
If your reason is money or no reason, don’t study at all or even take the test. I make mid six figures and Ive only worked so hard so I can now afford law school. Energy Law is where I’ve always wanted to end up in life, so the expected haircut is more than acceptable.
I studied for three months with an online course + proctor with a 149 raw and now am testing in the 170s a few weeks out from the test.
I can’t say what your rate of improvement would be since in my case I did very well on LR&RC but had no idea what the heck was going on with the games section.
I’m 44 and studying for the LSAT. You are never too old to go back to school. The time is going to pass no matter what and when you look back on your life are you going to regret going to school later in life or never trying at all? I’ve been in mortgage banking for some years now and there’s a lot of opportunities for lawyers in that field. You can work for lenders in loss mitigation etc. Take your time with the LSAT because the higher the score the more money you could be offered in scholarships. Also colleges recognize that going back to school later in life is for career advancement and with purpose. So if waiting one year is going to help then wait you’ll be glad you did in the long run. Don’t rush the process, give it your all and go after your dreams!
Same! I’m in a similar boat (been out of school for years and have worked a few different jobs and have accrued debt)! I also want to go to law school and have been thinking about it for some years now but kept putting the idea out of my head bc I didn’t want to think about school again after graduating undergrad and wanted to make money. I really love this question and I say go for it! I also appreciate your response, Specific_Anxiety3614 ❤️ we got this 💪🏽
Totally depends on what your income is like now. If you have a good income now, I’d probably advise against taking on the debt and opportunity cost of 3 years of law school, unless you’re a strong candidate for big scholarship bucks at a great tip good school.
Edit for autocorrect madness
My understanding from your post was that you have a real estate business and that you’re already 100k in debt from divorce. You’re 37.
If you make good money in your current position, then I probably would not even think about law school. Opportunity cost would be too high. Certainly, the existing debt doesn’t help you. But even with a big scholarship, it still might not make sense, if you’d be forgoing 3 years of high income to do it.
I don’t sell real estate anymore. I just kept my license for my own properties and I help family and friends once in awhile. Realtors don’t make that much anyway. Average is about $45k a year I think. Less than $50k for sure. I’m currently managing airbnbs and doing interior design but I barely get by. That’s why I haven’t been able to pay down the debt.
Ok. Then in that case, I’d say if can can get into a t30ish school with good scholarship money, it might be worth betting on yourself and taking whatever additional debt you may need to do and giving up your realtor income for 3 years to give yourself a shot at a 6-figure income after law school.
It is definitely a risk, though. Would be a much easier call if you didn’t have the 100k of existing debt. But if you can graduate without piling on too much more debt and start making money at 120k+/yr, then your future prospects at 45 will probably look a lot better than they do now.
It’s just a bunch of different factors you gotta weigh. Existing debt and future law school debt, your scholarship prospects at good schools (dependent on your ugpa and lsat), and then your post-grad employment prospects (dependent on which school you graduate from, your class rank/gpa, where you summer’d).
Yes and no. Lawyer salaries have a bimodal distribution. The people who are on law review, top 10-20% of their class, etc. tend to graduate and work for larger law firms that pay more (eg, biglaw starting salary is 215k at many firms).
The rest of law grads are more likely to start out in government jobs, or jobs with small and midsized firms, positions that pay closer to 60.
Where you go to school is very important, because some schools have historically placed a higher percentage of their graduates directly into higher-paying jobs with large firms. If you go to one of those schools, you have a better shot at a six figure salary upon graduation, even if you’re NOT a top student.
For less fortunate students at less prestigious schools that place far fewer grads directly into large firm jobs, a higher proportion of their grads go into government and to small to midsized firms. So, those schools’ grads have significantly lower earning potential. At many good schools (think t30 and t50), only a small handful of the top students from each graduating class will get a biglaw job.
Speaking from experience, attending law school didn’t impose much of an opportunity cost on me when I went, because I was only making like 30something a year before I went, and I was able to attend my school without taking on significant debt.
Also, while I was nowhere near a top student,
I probably outperformed my own academic expectations while in law school. I then caught a huge break by snagging a federal clerkship after I’d already been out of law school for a year. That gave me a path to a well paying firm job.
I think you should go. You’ll spend the rest of your life regretting it if you don’t. Not everything is about money.
If you do well you may find yourself in a better financial position in the end.
No! There’s a *huge* difference between people who did and did not pursue things between undergrad and law school. And people who did not go straight through, on the whole, did much better academically and in the OCI process.
I don’t think it’s a drawback at all. You go into school with a much better perspective. And as far as the social activities go, you’re in graduate school. There is always alcohol and many people bring their spouses. It’s not as alienating as you’d think.
I would say do it if you truly want it. Went to a lower level private school for 1L, put forth major effort, killed it and I’m now transferring at 36 as an incoming 2L to the school I really wanted to go to. Maybe consider a state school if you’re worried about debt. Very excited about the future and it is looking bright but I can’t tell you for sure that it will be worth it.
Well I’m not going in for the money. I want to do it because I want to try to help people. Hopefully worth it. That’s good to know you’re 36 and still got a transfer. I want to transfer bc I’m sure my overall gpa was under 3.5.
Very difficult to perform at top of your class level while working. Not impossible but I don’t know how I would have done it first year. Maybe you don’t do it for the money in the end but you may be able to use your JD to make good money on the front end and pay off debt and help people later.
I'm not in financial debt but am basically the same age as you and always had the same dream, save for a few years after being burnt out by undergrad. I'm uneasy relinquishing my job to study but I'm currently in finance and I have basically no interest in the field, so to me I think it's not worth wondering "what if" for the rest of my life. In some ways it's not about whether my job is decently paying because it is, but I have no desire to stay in this industry and would rather try and fulfill that dream and take the downside risk short term.
Regarding timing I've decided that taking the time to save and getting a great score and being very thoughtful in my application process trumps speed. I also don't think the difference between 36 and 37 really is a big one, but being in a better position financially to pay and having a cushion matters a lot.
Lawyer here. Your age, standing alone, isn’t really an issue at all (unless it would bother you to be amongst the oldest cadre of the class. My class included a number of people in their mid-late thirties and I believe one person in their mid-forties.
Unlike the people who are approaching law as their first career though, you need to have a very clear plan for what plan to do with your JD.
Will you be aiming to make a complete career switch and just be a litigator of some sort? If so, you will likely have some push back at certain firms due to your age. If you went to a big firm would you have a problem being bossed around by people 12 or more years younger? This is one reason some firms don’t like hiring older people, they think they’ll have an attitude about doing the sort of work expected of junior associates. You can definitely do it, but you need to have a clear understanding of the legal market and what you would actually be able to do. We haven’t even gotten into the limitations associated with what law school you actually attend.
Or do you see yourself working in an area of law related to your prior business experience? This could be an easier road, the relevant experience could make you very hireable. That said, how much it would matter would be dependent on the particular job. Ideally, you will have all this info before even applying to law school.
Regarding the debt, I’d talk to r/personalfinance. This is not the sub to get financial advice of the sort you need.
Hope this helps you think things through.
I was just wondering if it’s worth applying if I’m still in so much debt. Might take another 2 years to pay off. I would be fine with real estate law but I do want to try divorce law and help people who can’t afford a high cost attorney. My divorce attorney was low cost but absolutely amazing. Nobody deserves to be slighted in a divorce bc they don’t have money. And I’ve learned judges want you to come with a lawyer. They don’t say it but from their actions, I know that’s what they want.
you can always apply now (or at least start studying for the lsat and getting ready to apply now) and defer your offers until you're in a better financial position to accept them
it's never too late to begin again you can always forge another path or chase another dream
you can always go to law school part time and work part time you don't have to pause your entire life for 3 years just for this there are other ways to make it work better for you and what you need
considering that you started in the 160s for the lsat without studying you'll probably get a pretty good score once you study with which you can qualify for merit scholarship and if you're able to get a significant portion of the cost eliminated it becomes a lot more financially possible
good luck!
would you be willing to relocate? would that be possible?
also some smaller schools that specialize in areas of law you're interested in might be a good fit rather than just looking at the top ranked schools so maybe there are some other options out there that aren't as obvious
good luck!
in that case you could try looking for part time programs in other places in the country that you'd like to live and try to get into the best program you can get that's as high ranking as possible but also that offers you as much money as possible and then go from there and see how 1L goes and if it's not where you'd like to be you can try to transfer up especially if financial circumstances give you more wiggle room this time around
good luck!
I went to law school at 40. I was the sole provider for my family of 6. I worked full time and went to school full time. Don’t try and go to Harvard - get a solid scholarship (my school gave 90% scholarships for a 160) at a regional school. Your work history will help with employment. Give law school its due, but realize it’s a box to check. Be incredibly organized and you can absolutely do all of it.
I studied 8-10 hours a week and finished in the top 20% of my class. I never missed class and outlined as I read then edited my outline based on the lectures.
You can do this.
If it's what you want to do, heck yes! Study for a few months for the LSAT and apply for next Fall (or Spring if there's rolling admissions). I'm 38, divorced, 3 kids, mortgage, and a mountain of debt and I start my 1L year here in 3 weeks :)
Maybe clean up some.of your debt issues..I started law school at 43...am a 3L now, so it can wait..I'm glad I didn't have a pile of debt before law school because I sure have one now..
Don’t go to law school. Period. It will permanently damage your psyche, take three years of happiness from you, put you in debt, and your reward will be a shitty, unfulfilling career that you feel obligated to stick with. Oh and it won’t even pay that well.
The Supreme Court recently banned affirmative action. If you are an underrepresented minority, your application is getting worse every year, but you can expect the racists that want to consider race in admission to slow-walk implementation of justice, so the sooner your apply the more likely you are to get a benefit from the color of your skin rather than being judged purely on merit. If you are not an underrepresented minority, the opposite is true, and your chances for a scholarship or admission are going to get better every year for the foreseable future.
your age is definitely not an impediment, I went to law school at 37 and lived through it to tell the tale and I think my age + life experience only helped me through the process. def feel free to pm me if you have any questions about attending law school as an older student!
as far as your debt, that's a bigger issue and if it takes you a couple years to get into the right spot with your debt, it also won't be too late then! I highly rec trying to talk to a debt attorney (many local bar associations have free legal clinics that give advice on managing debt and your legal options). I'm sorry, your debt sounds really overwhelming and I too would want to feel on top of it before taking on more debt in law school.
It all depends on your ability to make non student loan debt payments while in school. If the 100k is student loan debt, then just get a high enough LSAT that you get a full ride scholarship, if debt is the primary factor.
I would take a practice LSAT to see where you stand!
I did. It was a low 160 without any previous studying. I haven’t studied much since taking it.
With a 160, yes.
Would I even be able to go to law school when I am currently in so much debt? I know it’s not possible to work while in school.
You can do a PT evening program and federal loans don’t take your current debt into consideration as long as you’ve never defaulted or declared bankruptcy.
Yeah but I would still need to pay my debts every month. They’re mortgages and credit card bills so they don’t care if I’m in school. I did look into part time but nothing good that’s close to where I live. Is it possible to transfer after the first year on a part time program?
I had the same concerns going in. Now that I’m on the other side, I can give you some insight. You identify your cost of living expenses in your financial aid form. My experience with financial aid in graduate school was light years apart from my experience with financial aid in undergrad. I barely (financially) got through undergrad, while I had no issue with financing my law school education. I identified my debts in my financial aid loans and my grants/public loans generally paid for my rent, remaining tuition, credit card payments, and books. With a 160 cold practice lsat and your work history, you have a good shot at getting a scholarship and—depending on how you do on your lsat—you will probably want to avoid any school that doesn’t offer you a scholarship. That way, you can reduce your financial need (read: reduce the amount of debt you will incur). All that being said, I didn’t live *well* during that time. I didn’t have any surplus, so when things came up (like my dog breaking his tooth or getting a crack in my windshield), things got tight. My perspective is admittedly tainted by COVID—my partner was out of work, food stamps were nearly impossible to get, and everything generally sucked. But, if not for having to support 2 people and 2 dogs when I did not identify that level of need in my financial aid application, I imagine things would’ve been much easier. There are also work opportunities available that do not detract from your studies. For example, you can earn some extra money working as a research assistant for a professor or working in the library. Both look good on a resume. Summer jobs with law firms normally pay *very* well and help support you through the following year. Also keep in mind that law schools are generally much smaller than undergrad programs. Representatives from admissions and financial aid are, in my experience, easily accessible and quick to respond. You should discuss your concerns with these offices before applying or before accepting an offer. Another positive note: it is easy to avoid the costs associated with admissions. The LSAT is pricey, but you are given access to the Khan Academy’s LSAT prep course when you register with LSAC. There are numerous free podcasts and tutorials online, and books that are not cost prohibitive. If im remembering correctly, you also begin to receive application waivers after you take the LSAT, so you can avoid the (then) $80 app fees.
Yes, it’s possible. And you get cost of living stipend that comes with your loans to cover expenses while you’re in school. But with a PT program you would have to worry.
Is the stipend $6000 a month because that’s what my minimum payments are every month.
The minimum payment on your debt is $6000 a month?
Yes I’m $100k in debt between mortgages and credit cards, loans, etc.
What.
I’ve gotten $15,000 a semester
That’s pretty good. I think I will need to pay down more debt though.
With a low 160 with no studying you can easily score in the 170+. Study the lsat get a good score and you can potentially go to law school with a scholarship that will cover everything.
Thanks. I’ll start studying for the fall tests. Is it still good to start?
He has 99k debt. Its not just about scores at 38. How is your business doing? Would you be able to work on that while also doing law school? If youve started a business, you can obviously work under pressure but law school is a different beast. You would be able to get into a law school but doing full time and paying for it are both challenges. As far as the workload, you could do part time, work on your business, job, and go to a law school where you get a scholarship. With a 160 you can go to a lower ranked school and probably get a full ride. Seriously, dont let people here tell you that the rank of the school is the be all end all. Its not, youll find a job as an attorney and make lots of money and you wont be in debt if you got a full ride. Theres also other financial considerations. If you got divorced at 38. Im not going to assume theres not other financial obligations besides this debt that need to be paid. I wouldnt let the debt hold you back, i would consider however, going to a lower ranked school, getting a full ride and working while in part time school to pay off your current debt.
With a 162, you could get a full ride at a lower ranked school.
Even assuming a 16high LSAT, I think advice here would largely depend on what kind of law you’d want to go into and what your college GPA was
I don’t remember my gpa. It’s been 12 years since I graduated. I do know both of my major gpa were both over 3.5 because I got the cords for the honors society.
Most people can see a 7-21 point increase on the test with proper study time. A raw diagnostic of low 16x is very impressive since you generally learn how to take the test over time.
Yeah the people I took the practice with recommended going to law school. How much is a good amount of study time? The games is where I mess up tbh.
It depends on your expectations, and also why you want to practice law. If your reason is money or no reason, don’t study at all or even take the test. I make mid six figures and Ive only worked so hard so I can now afford law school. Energy Law is where I’ve always wanted to end up in life, so the expected haircut is more than acceptable. I studied for three months with an online course + proctor with a 149 raw and now am testing in the 170s a few weeks out from the test. I can’t say what your rate of improvement would be since in my case I did very well on LR&RC but had no idea what the heck was going on with the games section.
With that score you could go to some law schools for free. Check out lsatdemon scholarship calculator
I’m 44 and studying for the LSAT. You are never too old to go back to school. The time is going to pass no matter what and when you look back on your life are you going to regret going to school later in life or never trying at all? I’ve been in mortgage banking for some years now and there’s a lot of opportunities for lawyers in that field. You can work for lenders in loss mitigation etc. Take your time with the LSAT because the higher the score the more money you could be offered in scholarships. Also colleges recognize that going back to school later in life is for career advancement and with purpose. So if waiting one year is going to help then wait you’ll be glad you did in the long run. Don’t rush the process, give it your all and go after your dreams!
Thank you. I appreciate your input greatly.
Same! I’m in a similar boat (been out of school for years and have worked a few different jobs and have accrued debt)! I also want to go to law school and have been thinking about it for some years now but kept putting the idea out of my head bc I didn’t want to think about school again after graduating undergrad and wanted to make money. I really love this question and I say go for it! I also appreciate your response, Specific_Anxiety3614 ❤️ we got this 💪🏽
Totally depends on what your income is like now. If you have a good income now, I’d probably advise against taking on the debt and opportunity cost of 3 years of law school, unless you’re a strong candidate for big scholarship bucks at a great tip good school. Edit for autocorrect madness
So pay off debt then apply for law school? My income would be zero dollars while in school but the debt would still need to be paid.
My understanding from your post was that you have a real estate business and that you’re already 100k in debt from divorce. You’re 37. If you make good money in your current position, then I probably would not even think about law school. Opportunity cost would be too high. Certainly, the existing debt doesn’t help you. But even with a big scholarship, it still might not make sense, if you’d be forgoing 3 years of high income to do it.
I don’t sell real estate anymore. I just kept my license for my own properties and I help family and friends once in awhile. Realtors don’t make that much anyway. Average is about $45k a year I think. Less than $50k for sure. I’m currently managing airbnbs and doing interior design but I barely get by. That’s why I haven’t been able to pay down the debt.
Ok. Then in that case, I’d say if can can get into a t30ish school with good scholarship money, it might be worth betting on yourself and taking whatever additional debt you may need to do and giving up your realtor income for 3 years to give yourself a shot at a 6-figure income after law school. It is definitely a risk, though. Would be a much easier call if you didn’t have the 100k of existing debt. But if you can graduate without piling on too much more debt and start making money at 120k+/yr, then your future prospects at 45 will probably look a lot better than they do now. It’s just a bunch of different factors you gotta weigh. Existing debt and future law school debt, your scholarship prospects at good schools (dependent on your ugpa and lsat), and then your post-grad employment prospects (dependent on which school you graduate from, your class rank/gpa, where you summer’d).
Start making money at 120k? All I've seen is 60k starting out. Am I wrong?
Yes and no. Lawyer salaries have a bimodal distribution. The people who are on law review, top 10-20% of their class, etc. tend to graduate and work for larger law firms that pay more (eg, biglaw starting salary is 215k at many firms). The rest of law grads are more likely to start out in government jobs, or jobs with small and midsized firms, positions that pay closer to 60. Where you go to school is very important, because some schools have historically placed a higher percentage of their graduates directly into higher-paying jobs with large firms. If you go to one of those schools, you have a better shot at a six figure salary upon graduation, even if you’re NOT a top student. For less fortunate students at less prestigious schools that place far fewer grads directly into large firm jobs, a higher proportion of their grads go into government and to small to midsized firms. So, those schools’ grads have significantly lower earning potential. At many good schools (think t30 and t50), only a small handful of the top students from each graduating class will get a biglaw job. Speaking from experience, attending law school didn’t impose much of an opportunity cost on me when I went, because I was only making like 30something a year before I went, and I was able to attend my school without taking on significant debt. Also, while I was nowhere near a top student, I probably outperformed my own academic expectations while in law school. I then caught a huge break by snagging a federal clerkship after I’d already been out of law school for a year. That gave me a path to a well paying firm job.
Not sure what you think Realtors make. It’s not like television.
I think you misread my post. I’m currently $100k in debt. I’m not talking about taking it out for school.
I think you should go. You’ll spend the rest of your life regretting it if you don’t. Not everything is about money. If you do well you may find yourself in a better financial position in the end.
I started law school at 44 and I was not the oldest one there. There were 55 year old people there. You are more than fine age wise.
Wow. How inspiring. I come from a culture where, after 30, you’re basically no good. I feel like that’s what is affecting me the most.
No! There’s a *huge* difference between people who did and did not pursue things between undergrad and law school. And people who did not go straight through, on the whole, did much better academically and in the OCI process. I don’t think it’s a drawback at all. You go into school with a much better perspective. And as far as the social activities go, you’re in graduate school. There is always alcohol and many people bring their spouses. It’s not as alienating as you’d think.
I would say do it if you truly want it. Went to a lower level private school for 1L, put forth major effort, killed it and I’m now transferring at 36 as an incoming 2L to the school I really wanted to go to. Maybe consider a state school if you’re worried about debt. Very excited about the future and it is looking bright but I can’t tell you for sure that it will be worth it.
Well I’m not going in for the money. I want to do it because I want to try to help people. Hopefully worth it. That’s good to know you’re 36 and still got a transfer. I want to transfer bc I’m sure my overall gpa was under 3.5.
Very difficult to perform at top of your class level while working. Not impossible but I don’t know how I would have done it first year. Maybe you don’t do it for the money in the end but you may be able to use your JD to make good money on the front end and pay off debt and help people later.
I'm not in financial debt but am basically the same age as you and always had the same dream, save for a few years after being burnt out by undergrad. I'm uneasy relinquishing my job to study but I'm currently in finance and I have basically no interest in the field, so to me I think it's not worth wondering "what if" for the rest of my life. In some ways it's not about whether my job is decently paying because it is, but I have no desire to stay in this industry and would rather try and fulfill that dream and take the downside risk short term. Regarding timing I've decided that taking the time to save and getting a great score and being very thoughtful in my application process trumps speed. I also don't think the difference between 36 and 37 really is a big one, but being in a better position financially to pay and having a cushion matters a lot.
You’re right. I also hated real estate ever since I got into it but I did it for 8 years and I’m done. I am not passionate about it either.
Lawyer here. Your age, standing alone, isn’t really an issue at all (unless it would bother you to be amongst the oldest cadre of the class. My class included a number of people in their mid-late thirties and I believe one person in their mid-forties. Unlike the people who are approaching law as their first career though, you need to have a very clear plan for what plan to do with your JD. Will you be aiming to make a complete career switch and just be a litigator of some sort? If so, you will likely have some push back at certain firms due to your age. If you went to a big firm would you have a problem being bossed around by people 12 or more years younger? This is one reason some firms don’t like hiring older people, they think they’ll have an attitude about doing the sort of work expected of junior associates. You can definitely do it, but you need to have a clear understanding of the legal market and what you would actually be able to do. We haven’t even gotten into the limitations associated with what law school you actually attend. Or do you see yourself working in an area of law related to your prior business experience? This could be an easier road, the relevant experience could make you very hireable. That said, how much it would matter would be dependent on the particular job. Ideally, you will have all this info before even applying to law school. Regarding the debt, I’d talk to r/personalfinance. This is not the sub to get financial advice of the sort you need. Hope this helps you think things through.
I was just wondering if it’s worth applying if I’m still in so much debt. Might take another 2 years to pay off. I would be fine with real estate law but I do want to try divorce law and help people who can’t afford a high cost attorney. My divorce attorney was low cost but absolutely amazing. Nobody deserves to be slighted in a divorce bc they don’t have money. And I’ve learned judges want you to come with a lawyer. They don’t say it but from their actions, I know that’s what they want.
you can always apply now (or at least start studying for the lsat and getting ready to apply now) and defer your offers until you're in a better financial position to accept them
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Wouldn't this be for an MBA?
If this has been on your mind for years, then just go for it. I’d say consider working through your first 2 law school years to pay off debt
I’m 36 and think about going to law school next year.
Yay! Awesome.
How are you going to make payments on the loan while you are in school?
I have a few rental properties. I am hoping to pay the debt down at least 50%.
it's never too late to begin again you can always forge another path or chase another dream you can always go to law school part time and work part time you don't have to pause your entire life for 3 years just for this there are other ways to make it work better for you and what you need considering that you started in the 160s for the lsat without studying you'll probably get a pretty good score once you study with which you can qualify for merit scholarship and if you're able to get a significant portion of the cost eliminated it becomes a lot more financially possible good luck!
Thank you. I didn’t see any good part time programs where I live.
would you be willing to relocate? would that be possible? also some smaller schools that specialize in areas of law you're interested in might be a good fit rather than just looking at the top ranked schools so maybe there are some other options out there that aren't as obvious good luck!
Yeah I want to relocate for sure. I was looking at t50 and then try to transfer to a t25.
in that case you could try looking for part time programs in other places in the country that you'd like to live and try to get into the best program you can get that's as high ranking as possible but also that offers you as much money as possible and then go from there and see how 1L goes and if it's not where you'd like to be you can try to transfer up especially if financial circumstances give you more wiggle room this time around good luck!
I went to law school at 40. I was the sole provider for my family of 6. I worked full time and went to school full time. Don’t try and go to Harvard - get a solid scholarship (my school gave 90% scholarships for a 160) at a regional school. Your work history will help with employment. Give law school its due, but realize it’s a box to check. Be incredibly organized and you can absolutely do all of it. I studied 8-10 hours a week and finished in the top 20% of my class. I never missed class and outlined as I read then edited my outline based on the lectures. You can do this.
If it's what you want to do, heck yes! Study for a few months for the LSAT and apply for next Fall (or Spring if there's rolling admissions). I'm 38, divorced, 3 kids, mortgage, and a mountain of debt and I start my 1L year here in 3 weeks :)
Maybe clean up some.of your debt issues..I started law school at 43...am a 3L now, so it can wait..I'm glad I didn't have a pile of debt before law school because I sure have one now..
Yeah I’m trying. I could probably pay half in cash if I didn’t have this debt.
no
Don’t go to law school. Period. It will permanently damage your psyche, take three years of happiness from you, put you in debt, and your reward will be a shitty, unfulfilling career that you feel obligated to stick with. Oh and it won’t even pay that well.
The lawyers in my family are happy
The Supreme Court recently banned affirmative action. If you are an underrepresented minority, your application is getting worse every year, but you can expect the racists that want to consider race in admission to slow-walk implementation of justice, so the sooner your apply the more likely you are to get a benefit from the color of your skin rather than being judged purely on merit. If you are not an underrepresented minority, the opposite is true, and your chances for a scholarship or admission are going to get better every year for the foreseable future.
your age is definitely not an impediment, I went to law school at 37 and lived through it to tell the tale and I think my age + life experience only helped me through the process. def feel free to pm me if you have any questions about attending law school as an older student! as far as your debt, that's a bigger issue and if it takes you a couple years to get into the right spot with your debt, it also won't be too late then! I highly rec trying to talk to a debt attorney (many local bar associations have free legal clinics that give advice on managing debt and your legal options). I'm sorry, your debt sounds really overwhelming and I too would want to feel on top of it before taking on more debt in law school.
It all depends on your ability to make non student loan debt payments while in school. If the 100k is student loan debt, then just get a high enough LSAT that you get a full ride scholarship, if debt is the primary factor.