Acceptance Isn’t the Goal

Getting accepted to law school can feel like the end goal.

It’s not.

An acceptance tells you that a law school is willing to let you attend. It doesn’t tell you whether attending makes financial sense.

The price matters. Until you have a scholarship in hand and other offers to compare it to, you don’t know how good (or bad) an offer is. 

The Sticker Price Isn’t Your Price

Published tuition tells you little about what you’ll actually pay.

Most law students don't pay full tuition. In the episode, Ben and Nathan explain that few students at Michigan Law pay full tuition. Everyone else receives a discount.

You apply. The school decides whether to admit you. Then it tells you how much scholarship money it’s willing to offer.

Only then do you know your price. 

Apply Broadly

You can’t know where you’ll get accepted or what scholarship offers you’ll receive.

Apply broadly to schools you would consider attending. More applications create more opportunities for scholarships. More offers give you more leverage to negotiate for better scholarships.

Try to submit a lot of applications, even if you only want to attend school in a particular region. A broader list gives more schools the opportunity to compete for you.

You don't know which school will give you the best deal. Apply to many of them to find out. 

Don’t Apply With One Hand Tied Behind Your Back

It’s generally good to apply early and broadly. But applying early isn’t more important than applying with your best LSAT score.

A stronger LSAT will make you a more competitive applicant and put you in a better position for scholarship money. If you know you can improve your LSAT score by a lot, don’t submit applications yet.

And if you have to wait for the next admissions cycle, so be it. Getting your best LSAT score is essential. 

Apply early and broadly, but only when you have the best LSAT score you can reasonably achieve.

Get Accepted, Then Wait

Many students begin to receive offers of admission in November and December. A lot of those offers aren’t accompanied by a scholarship decision. 

At higher-ranked schools, you may have to wait until March or beyond before knowing how much a school wants you to pay. 

If this happens, don’t worry. Take whatever time you need to gather all your offers. If you need an extension at one school because you’re waiting for an offer from another, ask for it. 

Then figure out which schools made you the best offers and negotiate with them. 

An Acceptance Can Be a Bad Offer

Getting into your “dream” school can turn into a nightmare.

It happens often: a student with subpar numbers gets admitted and pays full price, graduating hundreds of thousands in debt while many of their classmates attend at a substantial discount.

There’s another reason to be wary. Students paying full price typically enter with some of the lowest numbers in the class. That makes them less likely to finish near the top, which in turn makes them less competitive for the best jobs. 

These odds don't determine any individual student’s outcome, but they make paying full price an even riskier bet.

A school might admit you with little or no scholarship money while another offers you a substantial discount. Acceptance to the former might be exciting, but once the price tag arrives, it may not be much of an offer at all.

That’s why getting in isn’t enough. The price is essential.

Acceptance Isn’t the Goal

Build the strongest application you can. Apply broadly. Compare your scholarship offers. Negotiate. Then decide which opportunity makes the most sense.

Your goal isn’t to get accepted to law school. It’s to attend the right law school at the right price.

 

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