Hello there, pretty people of the internet, and welcome to my channel
My name is Annika, and today I am going to talk about whether you should go to law school or not
Obviously, these are just my opinions, and you will find that there is no
super straightforward "if this, then yes," "if this, then no" answer to the question of
whether you should go to law school or not.
This will just be a quick list of things that I think you should consider
before deciding whether to take the jump and start law school or not.
I also went to law school in the United States, so this one is kind of US-centered
I know different countries do law school differently
Where I'm from, in Norway, you go to law school straight out of high school, it's five years, then you're done
While in the United States you need a bachelor's degree, and then you need, usually, an LSAT score
and THEN you go to law school
It doesn't matter what your bachelor's degree is in, which is different from for instance medical school
where it needs to be in a certain field  that related to medicine
You can go into law school with any degree, and in fact, a lot of law schools really value that you have very varied backgrounds.
The first and most important thing I want you to consider is
why you want to go to law school.
I think understanding why you want to go to law school will really clear things up for you
and make you understand better whether it is worth the cost or not.
Do you want to be a lawyer? Then obviously you have to go to law school.
Do you want to be in politics, or local, national, or state government?
Then having a law degree could be very beneficial.
Do you want to do something else, where having a law degree is kind of required?
Could be a good idea.
Do you just want the experience, do you want the education, do you want to have that in your toolkit when you go into the job market?
It could still be worth it.
People go to law school for so many different reasons, and some people have a very clear idea of what they want to do going into it
Like, some people wanna be public defenders and that's what they wanna do and that's what they end up doing.
Some people, like me, kind of go in going "It couldn't hurt!"
And end up on the other side and we're like "Yeah, it's probably fine"
So make sure you understand why you wanna go to law school, and it doesn't have to be something profound
You don't have to know specifically why you wanna change the world, but sort of going in
Elle Woods, Legally Blonde style, "I wanna go to law school because want this guy back"
kind of thing, ehm, will make it harder when things get tough, and they are going to get tough.
The next thing I want you to consider is the financial aspect.
Law school is expensive, so it's not something you can just kind of do.
Obviously, the price depends on the school you go to, whether it's public or private, if you're in state or out of state
But I found some numbers saying that the average cost for in-state public school tuition is about $85,000 over the three years,
while a private school would be about $150,000 for the full law degree
which, no matter how you cut it, is a lot of money.
Especially considering that you already need a bachelor's degree, so this will be on top
of any existing student debt you already have.
I think cost is one of the biggest factors that people consider when deciding whether or not to go to law school,
and when to go to law school. A lot of people will take time to work, work off some student debt and gather up
a nice little nest of savings before they decide to go to law school because it is so expensive.
I also found a CNBC article from 2018 saying that only 23% of recent law grads, or, law grads in general, felt like their degree was worth the cost,
just the financial cost. I'm not necessarily saying "don't go to law school because it is expensive," but I'm saying if
only one-fourth (1/4) say that it's worth the cost, then, I mean, I would take that into consideration.
I decided that going to law school was worth it for me because the school I wanted to go to also offered me a full-tuition scholarship,
which was insane.
Part of the reason why they did that was because I could have gotten into a much "better" school.
My GPA was really high, my LSAT score was fairly high, I already had a masters degree and other like "soft skills" and experiences that are highly valued
So I could have gotten into a much higher ranked school but paid full tuition, or I could have gone to the school that's lower-ranked and was exactly what I wanted
and get a full-tuition scholarship.
I'm not saying that you need to go to a worse school so that you can get a scholarship, but I'm saying that
if finances is big and it doesn't really matter to you what school you go to, consider maybe going to
schools that are "below" where you can get into, below sort of your reach schools, because it might help with cost.
I also know a lot of people that applied to different schools and if they get into a higher ranking school and get any kind of scholarship opportunity there,
they will use that to leverage another school they want to go to, to get a bigger scholarship or financial aid packet.
I don't have any experience doing this because I wasn't gonna negotiate the scholarship I got,
I was happy, I took it and ran with it, no questions asked on my part,
but I know students who have done this. Some have done it successfully, some have not, but it's worth a shot.
The next thing I want you to consider, which goes back into finances, really, is where you want to go to law school and what law school you want to go to.
When I decided what law school to go to, I decided that I wanted to go to a school in Oregon and I wanted to go to a public school.
There's only one public law school in Oregon so that made it really easy for me.
I wanted to be in Oregon because that's where my husband was and was going to school at the time,
and the point was kind of for us to be together, so it didn't make sense for me to go to a school in a different state.
Whether you're in-state or out of state will really affect tuition. It also affects kind of the network you build,
so if you want to practice in a state you're going to school in, you can start building a legal network while you're in school,
which can be very beneficial down the road.
Can't believe I forgot to mention this, but when I said where you wanna go to law school, I both meant the state and what law school.
Because a lot of law schools have different specialties and different things that they excel in
For instance, the school I went to is very well known for its environmental law program.
If you want to practice a very specific area of law and you know this, for instance, business law, environmental law, nonprofit, whatever it may be,
then try to look for schools that are well known to have good programs for this, that have professors that are well respected and renowned,
that rank high in terms of those programs specifically and though maybe the law school overall isn't ranked highly,
and that have like a good reputation, because that will help you get jobs later on.
The next think I want you to consider is whether or not you can deal with the workload of law school.
I made a video before that I will link up in the cards about whether or not I felt like law school was hard,
but this is a very subjective opinion. And what is true, is that the workload in law school is heavy compared to most bachelor's degrees.
I had a very hectic bachelor's degree so I had a lot of work, so for me law school wasn't that different
but I know for a lot of people coming into law school and learning a whole new way to read, a whole new way to write
a whole new way to attend classes and take notes was very overwhelming. So the workload is definitely something you need to consider.
Did you struggle through every single class during your undergraduate degree? Then maybe being a full-time law student will be very challenging for you.
The next thing I want you to consider is what's going on in your life.
Where are you in your life? And is this a good time to go to law school?
Law school will always be there. Sure, there might be more beneficial times to go or not,
but a lot of people don't start law school straight after undergrad. Some of my classmates came straight from undergrad,
some had taken a few years off, some had had a full career before going to law school.
So, it's not like you'll be the odd one out if you take a gap between your undergrad years and when you start your law degree.
Maybe this isn't a good time. Maybe you're in a job that you like and that you feel pays well according to your qualifications,
maybe you want to stay there for a while until you receive some benefits or maintain your health insurance or until you get married and your spouse gets a job with health insurance
Just think about your life circumstances. Are you having kids now? Are you planning on having kids now?
Having kids during law school is hard but it's definitely manageable. I had a baby during law school,
I will link that video up here as well. So it's definitely something you want to take into consideration  when you consider the timing of your law degree.
And the last thing I want you to really think about is, what will you do if law school doesn't work out?
I know this is kind of a sinister way of thinking about it, but for a variety of reasons, maybe it's not the right time,
maybe your financial aid or money situation changed, maybe you just don't have a good time with the students at your school,
for whatever reasons, people need to either pause law school or drop out of law school. Some people return and some people don't.
And I want you to really think about what will happen if that happens to you.
What is sort of the opportunity cost of you going to law school? So what other opportunities are you missing out on by choosing to stay in school for three more years?
Are you losing out on an amazing job opportunity or a move or are you going to alienate a lot of people who are very close to you?
Are you going to lose health insurance if you go to law school? Do you have a backup plan?
Do you have a degree you can get a job with or do you have a network that can get you a job if you decide that law school isn't working out for you?
Life is difficult, and it continues even while you are in law school, so if something happens on top of your workload,
and the financial stress of being in law school, if anything else gets thrown into the mix,
you might just get thrown off course and I need you to really consider what will happen if that's the case.
If you have a good idea of what will happen if you have to leave law school for whatever reason, I think it's easier to stay in for the right reasons
and I think it will save you a lot of stress because, you know, if things get hard or you are struggling with a class, and you're like
"Well, what now?! What if I fail this, and don't get my scholarship, and then I have to drop out", if you have a good idea of what that world will look like,
and you've made sure that it's a solid life, you will be a  lot less stressed, because you have... if you have a good backup plan.
I had a great time in law school. I feel like I learned a lot, and even if I decide down the road that I don't want to be a practicing attorney,
I feel like I've learned a lot of things that will be beneficial in other industries and in other lines of work
that I am interested in going into.
I met a lot of great people, I had a lot of great opportunities. I feel like my writing is better, my research methods are better,
and I have a better analytical mind because of law school.
I wish you the best of luck in making your decision about whether to go to law school or not.
I wish I could give you a more straightforward answer and exactly what you should do. I don't.
Every situation is different. I think in your heart of hearts you know if you're doing it for the right reason, and if it's a reason you can justify
to yourself and to your future self, that has to pay back these loans.
Anyway, I wish you the best of luck. Make sure to give this video a thumbs up; comment, subscribe, do all the things.
If you want to, check out the other videos I have listed. If you wanna learn more about my law school experience, having a kid in law school, whether law school is actually hard or not,
and other things like that. And I will talk to you all in the next one.
Bye!
