The Red Velvet Lawyer

Who Should Go to Law School Today? At the MAPLA conference in late October, which I have covered in several postings , Washington University School of Law Dean Kent Syverud described three things: Who should go to law school today; Who should not go to law school today; and Which school a student should pick.  Who Should go to Law School Today? You should still go to law school, despite the debt-to-annual income ratio , if you: Care passionately about obtaining the skills needed to change the world; Will make sacrifices to earn the J.D. degree; Will be astute at figuring out how to get an affordable education; Will be flexible and adaptable to the changing career landscape; and,  Will be adaptable to obtaining new skills as that landscape changes. Who Should not Go to Law School Today? Dean Syverud also advised that you should not go to law school if: You don't know what else to do; It only helps college or unive...

Graduate School Bubbles Bursting Across all Professions? One of my colleagues forwarded this story  appearing in The New England Journal of Medicine .  The story provides an answer to the following question: "Are we in a medical education bubble market?" The authors answer that question in the last paragraph of the story and suggest a difficult future for other professional schools. Although it seems unlikely that we're in a bubble market for medical education, we may already be in one for veterinary medicine. That bubble will burst when potential students recognize that the costs of training aren't matched by later returns. Then the optometry bubble may burst, followed by the pharmacy and dentistry bubbles. At the extreme, we will march down the debt-to-income-ratio ladder, through psychiatrists to cardiologists to orthopedists . . . until no one is left but the MBAs. It explains: In medicine, students buy their education from medical schools an...

The Appalachian School of Law has one of the Lowest Tuitions of any Private Law School East of the Mississippi River Appalachian School of Law, given our mission and the population we serve, has worked to keep tuition affordable. For the 2012-13 year, we charged $31,000 per year.  And, we lock that number in for the remaining two years of law school.  This number does not reflect scholarships or tuition remission many students obtain. As a private law school, we rely on tuition and donations to operate the school. We get no state tax monies (as far as I know) or infusion of capital from a university parent. A recently updated comparison  of 106 private law schools, provided by Regent Law School, shows that the Appalachian School of Law joins seven other private law schools with tuition costs below $31,000. Only three of those schools are located east of the Mississippi River.  Their tuition costs range from $29,360 to $30,...

Appalachian School of Law is one of the most affordable private law schools in the U.S.  Based on the data I have, it is one of the most affordable private law schools east of the Mississippi River.  Even so, our tuition this coming year is about $31,000 per year. Living expenses in excess of tuition -- of about $20,000 per year -- make law school a significant investment in a student's future. If a college graduate asked me whether to go to law school today, I'd say "yes."  But, here's how to do it. Do not apply to a school that is likely to admit you to fill the bottom of the class. You will pay full tuition to claim that spot. Instead, apply to law schools that will happily admit you to fill the top ten percent of their classes -- they will be one or two tiers lower than your stretch school.  Look at the LSAT quartiles for each school for a hint at how you fit in each school's entering class profile.  Disclose the admission package offered by the be...