re: Life as a Lawyer Advice Needed

Unless it is a top tier law school, things are somewhat regionalized. That amount of money is insignificant when comparing the disadvantage you might place yourself in by choosing the wrong school for your end goals.

With that perspective I would ask the questions:

1. Where do you think you will want to live and practice?

2. Is there a special niche you might be interested in that you could exploit using the network, location, etc. offered by a law school?

3. Is there some special quality, instruction, advantage that one or more of those schools offer in comparison to the others?

As many posters have mentioned, the long term outlook of Louisiana is not bright. Tennessee and South Carolina have certain business, geographical, and other advantages over Louisiana now and looking into the future.

I would put LSU firmly behind the other two options unless she has some reason she wants to live in Louisiana. Even then, as her parent you should start to discuss and help her understand topics like this. As a 22 year old you have no clue about what it means to actually live somewhere and put down roots and how that can affect your life and your future family.

I wouldn’t choose LSU just for the free tuition. In the grand scheme of things 35k is not a big deal.

Louisiana’s economy is in the toilet, we have the highest sales tax in the nation and an extremely bad insurance climate. If you aren’t from here I certainly wouldn’t recommend voluntarily immersing yourself in this shitty state.

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So I'm just going to say it...
$35k is a lot of money for a 20 year old.
Invest it at 20 and tell me if you regret it 35 to 45 years later.

The most powerful "controlled" element to compound growth is time.

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Now do compound growth for making $50-100k more per year over just the first 5 years of that 20.

As others have said, I’d only choose LSU if she wants to stay in Louisiana after law school. Otherwise the others are better options.

What’s pretty solid? 162? 168? You’re looking at different caliber law schools with those two scores.

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If she got into a T14, go to the T14. If not, don’t go at all.

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Depends on what they are looking for. Could say the same thing about elite medical school, business schools, accounting school, etc.

First, a law degree is a bad investment. They have over produced for the market, hence all the scummy ambulance chasing commercials. That said, even in a bad field the smartest people do well. Also, if Louisiana has such a negative outlook, I would see that as a great opportunity if I was a lawyer since other lawyers won’t locate there. People who make the most money in many professions are often in unpopular markets were they have little competition.

I simply can't recommend the profession unless you're going to go to a Top 25 law school and make law review (or you have a guaranteed family job in a legit big money firm).

Are there folks doing well who don't have those things going for them? Yes. Is it a complete and utter crapshoot? Mostly.

Law school doesn’t matter (unless it is southern) if you want to practice at any big firm in New Orleans. More important to be top of your class, law review, etc. and make the on campus interview process.

Once you move away from the big firms, grades and rank matter. But not necessarily whether you went to lsu, Tulane, or Loyola. The middle tier firms are more interested in good cultural fit.

If you want to move outside of New Orleans, don’t go to Loyola.

You will hear a lot of negatives about the profession from both lawyers and non lawyers. The truth is, being a lawyer can be a great profession, from both an earnings and happiness stand point.