Kaplan is proud to announce a new partnership with JD Oasis!  All this month, we’re pleased to feature blog posts created by the JD Oasis team.  Check out all their great content at www.jdoasis.com.

By: JDOasis – jd12

I don’t necessarily agree with his whole thesis (in fact I probably disagree with him on most of his points) but, University of Arkansas School of Law prof Aaron N. Taylor does make a case as to why law school should still be worth it.  What do you think?  Any of you guys agree?

“Legal training helps in tough economy

Let’s start with the legal job market. Lawyers have not been immune to the effects of the recent recession. However, they have fared much better than most workers. According to U.S. Department of Labor data, the unemployment rate for lawyers was 1.5 percent in 2010 — more than six times lower than the overall rate of 9.6 percent. Since 2009, while the overall unemployment rate has remained above 9 percent, the rate for lawyers has exceeded 2 percent only once. It is true that unemployment among lawyers has increased significantly over the last few years (it was barely 1 percent in 2007), but the increase pales when compared to other occupations….

Student loans aren’t all bad

Discussions about law school costs are often accompanied by lamentations about the extent to which students are relying on loans to pay these costs. Student loan indebtedness has skyrocketed recently — more than 400 percent since 2000. Law student borrowing has jumped 50 percent since 2001. But much of the discussion surrounding this increase is premised on an assumption that all debt is bad. Critics also seem to have a questionable understanding of the favorable repayment terms associated with federal student loans.

Before I continue, let me make clear that I’m not defending the pricing structure of legal education. Too many law school pricing structures are premised on exploiting demand for seats in entering classes, and I agree with the view that the rate of tuition increase is unsustainable. But with that said, legal education isn’t going to get cheaper, and the associated costs of attending are going to increase as well. Moreover, because most law school graduates will have careers spanning 35 years or more, judging the wisdom of attending law school based principally on the immediate costs seems shortsighted.

The fundamental purpose of debt is to allow the immediate costs of consumption to be deferred to a later date. Used wisely, debt can confer much benefit upon the debtor, particularly when the debt takes the form of an investment. Student loans make higher education possible for many students by allowing them to defer the costs of their education “consumption.” And given wage premiums associated with higher education, student loans represent one of the best investments an individual can make.

Of course, not all student loans are created equal. Federal loans are vastly superior to private loans, and fortunately, most law students are able to finance their entire cost of attendance with federal loans only. Interest rates are fixed on most federal loans, and they are much lower than rates offered in the private market. Federal student loans also come with payment grace periods, deferral and forbearance options and an array of repayment plans — the most generous of which being the Income-Based Repayment Plan (IBR).

Through IBR, debtors with low income, relative to federal student loan debt, are allowed to make reduced payments of no more than 15 percent of their disposable income (defined as the difference between Adjusted Gross Income and 150 percent of the poverty guideline). After 25 years, any remaining loan balance is forgiven. If the debtor is working in a public service job, as a prosecutor, for example, balances are forgiven after just 10 years. IBR and other repayment options help ensure that debtors don’t have to choose between basic necessities and paying their federal student loans. Moreover, the loan forgiveness aspects of these plans are essentially back-end scholarships.

Given the political obsession with the federal deficit, you should probably take advantage of these favorable options while you can. One of the cost-saving “deals” made during the debt-ceiling-debacle ended interest subsidies on graduate and professional school student loans. These subsidies went to financially needy students and were typically worth thousands of dollars. So, along with increased tuition, politics could make law school more expensive in the future….

Applicant environment is favorable

The bad publicity about legal education contributed to a historic decrease in applications for admission during the 2010-2011 cycle. Applications fell 11 percent — the largest one-year decrease on record. When applications fall, law schools tend to admit a higher percentage of their applicants. And if applications fall again during the 2011-2012 cycle, as predicted, applicants will find themselves in a very favorable environment for gaining admission. At some schools, applicants who would have been considered “borderline” just two years ago might be shoo-ins for admission this year. So the strategic benefit of applying during a string of down years is worth ample consideration.

Another benefit of the bad publicity is that law schools will likely provide more detailed employment data. The anxiety over jobs prompted a grassroots movement for more transparency from law schools. The result was a mandate by the American Bar Association that law schools provide employment data that goes beyond traditional employment rates and provides better information about the types of jobs graduates are getting. The ABA will make this information available to the public, allowing applicants to better compare schools and make better informed decisions about where to attend — or whether to attend….”

This is a continuing series of blogs from our team of Admissions Consultants here at Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions, showcasing various considerations on finding the right law school for you. Click here for more information on Admissions Consulting from Kaplan.

When the topic of extracurricular activities is mentioned in association with law school applications, most people assume they are being asked about college activities or organizations they are active in during their career. While this is a worthy topic and needs to be highlighted in your applications, you also need to consider the matter of extracurricular activities when deciding which schools to apply to and which offer to ultimately accept. Whether you are getting ready to apply to schools or decide between acceptances, take into consideration what extracurricular activities are available at each law school and what is important and appealing to you.

There are many different reasons to consider what extracurriculars are offered at your future law school. It is not easy to start out in a new place and extracurricular activities offer you a social outlet and the chance to learn about the community and your fellow law students They offer you the opportunity to meet people with similar interests to your own. Starting law school is like starting undergrad and you will need to make a new network of friends. In addition, activities give you a way to connect with the surrounding community. Some schools have student activities that may be open to spouses and children allowing them to be a part of something that is taking up a LOT of your time.

Professionally, there are many student organizations that revolve around different law specialties and are an excellent way to learn about different interests you may have within the law field. It is also a way to start networking with people who may be your future colleagues – it is never to early to start your network! Getting involved in a student organization provides you the opportunity to demonstrate leadership ability and hone skills such as communication, presentation, writing, and negotation.

In The NAPLA/SAPLA Book of Law School Lists, there are approximately 950 different student organizations listed (although there are many on the same topic with slightly different names)! Some of the more common activities include: law reviews and journals; American Bar Association – Law Student Division; Amnesty International; Democrats/Republicans; Environmental Law Society; Federalist Society; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Law Students Association; Hispanic Law Students’ Association; International Law Society; Moot Court Board; Phi Alpha Delta; Sports Law Society; Student Bar Association; and Women’s Law Students Association.

Some of the more unique organizations include Ballroom Dancing; Cuban Detainee Program; Equine Law Society; Folk Music Society; Gaelic Law Society; Hockey Club; Investors Club; Spouses Club; Student Hurricane Network; Vocal Groups; and Yoga Club. It is important to remember that if a certain organization does not already exist at your dream school, you can always plan on taking the initiative to create it!

Should extracurricular activities be the number one deciding factor when choosing your future law school? Of course not. It probably should not even appear in the top five reasons but when all other factors are equal, remember to check out the activities that each school offers. Law school should provide you with both an excellent education and the opportunity to explore both professional and social interests.

“Location, location, location!”  That’s what many realtors will tell you when you’re trying to determine which of several prospective homes will provide the most re-sale value over time.   Simply put, a particular home in one location may end up being a lot more valuable to you than the same type of home in another area.

What did you say?  You’re not purchasing a home right now?  All right, I understand that the housing market isn’t doing so well.  What’s that?  You’re not applying for your realtor’s license either?  Okay, okay, I get it already – you’re applying to law school.  But, that doesn’t necessarily undercut my main point.  The mantra of location, location, location may still be relevant to you.  If geography hasn’t entered your mind yet, stop for a moment and think about it.

One reason why several of you may want to consider geography when applying to law school is that choosing the environment in which you’ll be the healthiest and happiest will make it more likely that you’ll be able to perform at your best.  And that could make you a stronger law school student, leading to higher grades, more inspiring contributions to the law school community, and better internships, better jobs and better careers.  By the way, if you think that one’s level of comfort isn’t a big deal for law school students, trust me.  I’ve advised many re-applicants over the years who first contacted me only after either dropping out during their first year of law school or deciding to transfer because they hated the environment in which their schools were located.  Some of these applicants couldn’t adjust properly because the local area was too rural or too urban for them. Others couldn’t take the weather (too frigid or too hot and humid), and still others felt uncomfortable living in a community in which they perceived local residents to be less than friendly due to differences in background characteristics.  Finally, others simply wanted or needed to be nearer to or farther away from their families.  Obviously, in every one of these instances, the mantra of “location, location, location” was subjective to each law student.  But, that doesn’t deny the fact that geography was a very real and crucial factor for each of them.  And, it may be a critical one for you as well.

I know, I know.  Some of you are probably thinking, “I’m not like those people.  For three years, I can buckle down, focus on my studies, and perform at my best in any type of environment – hot, cold, rural, urban, far away from or close to home.”  I hear you – but, keep on reading.  The value of law school location doesn’t just depend on where you’ll be more or less comfortable studying and living.  Geography can also have an impact on your pocketbook, as well as your future employment opportunities.

Affordability, or the pocketbook issue, is a key factor in the law school selection process for many applicants – especially in today’s trying economic times.  And you should be aware that affordability intersects with geography in interesting ways.  Let’s say, for instance, that you live with your family in southern California, and you’re extremely worried about the cost of a law school education.  In that case, to keep your expenses down, you might want to consider attending a local law school while living in your parents’ home, where your room and board, not to mention your travel and possibly your telephone costs, will be much lower.  To take things a step further, you might also want to consider public schools in your local community, as well as in other parts of California, where the tuition is still relatively low (albeit rising) for in-state residents.  Pushing out beyond your home state, you might want to think about calling your Aunt Madeleine in Miami and Grandpa Carlos in Chicago, who would be thrilled to have you live with them for three years at little to no charge.  You might also want to make a conscious effort to look at law schools beyond major urban areas where the tuition may or may not be high, but where the cost of living is likely to be lower.  If saving thousands – indeed, potentially tens of thousands of dollars – in educational loan repayments sounds like something you would be interested in, then geography is definitely a factor that you’ll want to think about when considering law school.

To be sure, geography isn’t just about saving money, it can also be about having the right opportunities to establish the best career for you, a career which can lead to more money in your pocket and – what to some of us is an even higher priority – a more fulfilling professional life.  First, when it comes to internship and post-graduate employment opportunities, you should be aware that the vast majority of law schools tend to have their greatest pull with potential employers who are within closer proximity to their geographic area. While a small number of law schools have national clout, the vast majority of law schools have disproportionate influence primarily within their city, state and potentially their broader geographic region.  What this means is that if you absolutely know that you want to work in city ‘x,’ then – all other school characteristics being equal – attending a law school in or near city ‘x,’ might just get your career off to a better start than applying to a school of similar quality in city ‘y,’ on the other side of the country.  At the same time, keep in mind that some schools are located near concentrations of certain types of law firms, corporations, and other organizations, including government entities.  So, if you’re interested in working in legal field ‘z,’ you might want to apply to law schools which are geographically closer to a concentration of institutions in that field.  Of course, just to be on the safe side, you’ll want to check out the recent placement records of the law schools in question to ensure that the correlation of proximity and clout with employers holds in every instance.

The above examples represent just a small sampling of the reasons why law school location might be critical to you.  But, hey . . . If it turns out the geography doesn’t really matter in your case, then more power to you.  Just to be certain, I encourage everyone to at least consider the realtor’s mantra when thinking about law school.

Location, location, location! It’s often a valuable consideration when purchasing property, and it can be just as important to think about when you’re applying to law school.

Paying for law school—do you want the good news or bad news first?  OK, here’s the good news—there’s plenty of money out there. The bad news—you’ll probably have to pay it all back. For you econ majors that’s called a “loan.”  The fact is, getting a law degree is an expensive proposition. Not med-school costly, but your J.D. degree can easily top $50 thousand and for many top-tier law schools that figure can soar up to $150 thousand.  So, where will this money come from?

1. You will self-finance.  God bless, read no further. By paying all this by yourself (or through your amazingly generous parents) you’ve been given a freedom to pursue any post grad law and not have to focus on the few very competitive but breathtakingly well paying entry level jobs. Do I need to mention that those jobs will almost certainly exclude any public interest or public sector positions?

2. The law school admissions office.  For most law schools, the financial aid and admissions function are in the same office. That stands to reason because once you’re admitted, schools want to make every effort to see that when/if you come you can pay. Most law schools live off their tuition fees to survive.

3. The Feds and private financial sector. If you loved filling out your 1040, you’re going to love filling out the required forms necessary to apply for the variety of government-backed or bank loans available as presented to you by your law school’s admissions office. I won’t bore you with repeating the materials exhorting you to meet the required (and crucial!) deadlines and form-submissions, but missing or ignoring them may leave you with an empty-hand and wallet.

4. Merit money. Again, once they’ve admitted you law schools want you to be able to afford them.  Although not very plentiful, carefully review the school’s catalog to see if you qualify for any of their free-money merit grants. Except for the top-ten schools which already have them, most schools LOVE big LSAT numbers. If your LSAT was 10+ points higher than the school’s published medians, they may very well want to throw incentive money at you (usually in the form of a tuition discount, not hard cash). Huge GPA numbers with average LSAT scores don’t have the same clout, but may be worth giving it a shot. What ever you do, if you think you may be in the merit-money category, DON’T accept an admission offer until you negotiate with the admissions folks. All of us Admissions Consultants know how to finesse this process, so don’t be shy! You will never be in a stronger negotiating position once you’ve been offered an admission spot and before you accept and a few minutes of polite “negotiation” can be worth thousands.

5. Fellowships, scholarships and loan-forgiveness programs.   Law schools are a bit defensive about the reputation of the legal profession. In a way, they see themselves on the front lines in countering the public’s vision of it as an essentially mercenary occupation so many schools have special programs to encourage its graduates to enter pubic interest law careers. Often this takes the form of so-called “loan forgiveness” programs which means if you take a certain category of those kinds of jobs (with their attending modest salaries) an increasing percentage of your loans will be forgiven over time. Another fellowship type programs require a competitive application to receive these outright grants. Again, the school’s admissions office will detail all those programs and application criteria. These are worthwhile programs, but very competitive.

6. Jobs and internships.     Those of you out there at or near the top of your class from a reasonably competitive law school and have an expressed interest in a private-sector law career may have the opportunity of injecting good money into your budget through well-paying summer internships after your first year. If your academic performance is stellar, these positions can go a decent way towards lightening your debt burden.

To wrap up, let me share a true story. Some years back, an advisee of mine got into both Harvard and University of Miami. The school she eventually selected was a shrewd parlay based on her extraordinarily focused goals. (1) She wanted to live and work in southern Florida, (2) wanted to make her career in the judiciary, with the ultimate objective of becoming a judge, (3) wanted a school well-networked in that employment sector and, finally, (4) did NOT want to pay a dime for her legal education. Of course Miami Law is a fine school, but they’d be the first to admit it’s no Harvard. My advisee’s knew her highly targeted career goals were easily covered by Miami and it was worth the cool $150,000 to forego the ego blast that invariably comes with the Harvard J.D. Last time I checked, she was well on her way to the bench and living happily ever after.

Hey future lawyers - have you cleaned up your Facebook page lately? You just might want to. Guess what we found? Among law school, business school and college admissions officers, the prevalence of Googling applicants is highest at – guess where – law Schools… by far.

According to our 2011 surveys of admissions officers at the top law schools, business schools and colleges across the U.S., those responsible for helping to produce tomorrow’s lawyers are by far the most likely to check out their prospective students’ digital trails; 41% of law school admissions officers said they have Googled an applicant to learn more about them, while 37% have checked out an applicant on Facebook or other social networking site.  This compares with 20% of college admissions officers and 27% of business school admissions officers who have Googled an applicant.  For these populations, less than a quarter (24% of college admissions officers and 22% of business school admissions officers) have visited an applicant’s Facebook page.

Additionally, not only do law schools have the highest prevalence of admissions officers checking applicants’ digital trails, but also the highest prevalence of discovery of content damaging to applicants.  Nearly a third of admissions officers who researched an applicant online – 32% – said they discovered something that negatively impacted an applicant’s admissions chances.   In comparison, only 12% of college admission officers and 14% of business school admissions officers found something online that negatively impacted an applicant’s admissions chances.

These findings make sense in context with what we consistently hear from law school admissions officers, which is that while admissions is based on high LSAT scores, strong GPAs and compelling personal statements, an overarching theme to the entire application is whether an applicant is able to exercise good judgment.  Clearly, an applicant’s digital trail can be an indicator of whether or not he or she possesses this quality.

Despite jokes and negative stereotyping of lawyers, the reality is that the legal community takes ethics among its members very seriously.  You not only have to be accepted to a state bar to practice law, but once you are admitted, unethical behavior can lead to your disbarment, stripping you of your ability to practice.  Not many other professions have that kind of enforceable code of conduct, so it’s natural that law schools screen more stringently and more often.

In a separate survey of 869 of our students who took the October LSAT, 77% objected to having their online personae included as part of the admissions process (although only 15% said that there is something in their personal digital footprint that might negatively affect their application.)  Interestingly, the same percentage – 77% – also said that as future lawyers they should be held to a higher ethical standard than other professionals.

Social media entering the realm of law school admissions? It’s a sign of the times for sure.

*The survey was conducted by phone in July and August 2011 and included responses from 128 of the nation’s 200 American Bar Association-accredited law schools.