How much is a 168 LSAT worth?

WashU sent me a scholarship offer email last night. They're offering a Scholar in Law scholarship of $10,000 a year (or $30,000 distributed evenly over three years in their terms, I guess they want me to be impressed by the larger number). That only leave Mason and U of R outstanding in terms of scholarship offers. Alabama has not offered me any money so I'll take a look at the impact of the various scholarships on the tuition of each school.

Here's how the offers impact tuition (The Marshall Scholarship from Richmond is in italics to indicate that my application for that scholarship is pending):

	Tuition	$$	Tuition - $$	% $$
WashU	$40,436	$10,000	$30,436	24.73
Minn	$35,089	$18,000	$17,089	51.30
W&M	$20,146	$6,000	$14,146	29.78
GMU	$18,732
W&L	$36,297	$17,000	$19,297	46.84
Richmond	$31,510	$25,000	$6,510	79.34
IU	$37,373	$15,000	$22,373	40.14

That Minnesota scholarship really makes a difference. The W&M offer is nice (I have in-state tuition) too. The Marshall scholarship would really give Richmond an edge. I've heard that the scholarship money is basically used to buy LSAT scores. I guess we can see which schools want a 168 more than others.

A quick review of LSN shows that other people with numbers similar to mine are getting pretty much the same offer, with a few exceptions (two people with similar numbers have been waitlisted at IU). No PhD boost for merit scholarships. Maybe it will make a difference with the Marshall scholarship

Is it worth the money

A professor from Vanderbilt has written a paper that tries to determine whether or not law school is worth the investment. This post at the WSJ law blog gives some info about (and a link to) the paper. (The paper is being discussed in a few places. Ann Levine mentioned it in this post and included a link to this brief article on the ABA blog.) The quick answer to the question is that law school is not a good investment for most people, but the professor stresses that there are cases where law school makes financial sense. It is worth delving into the details of the study to determine if his conclusion applies to you. I have started working through the particulars of my situation. With a few acceptances (and scholarship offers) on the table, the time has come for me to start delving into the financial implications of law school. I've been aware of them of course, but I decided to focus on the LSAT and my applications. I also didn't see the point of trying to determine if law school is the right move without a sense of where I would get accepted. I've started working through some of the financial and career risks associated with law school. I'm finding resources. I'll be sure to share any particularly useful insights.

Debt

I'm always surprised to hear about people turning down big money at one law school to attend some place a little more prestigious. One of the most bewildering to me is a girl who said she turned down a full-ride at Cal to attend Penn. You can listen to her talk about it yourself here. She just off hand mentions that she'll just take a little longer to pay off her loans and attend the school that she really liked. I'm all for going someplace that feels right, but turning down free tuition? That's like turning down a free house!

This blase attitude to student debt is alarming to me. People are essentially betting their future on getting a high paying job when they finish law school. I want to go to law school, but I do not want to purchase a second house to do it. (My wife and I paid ~$125K for our first house. That's less than what it costs to attend most law schools.) This post at The Personal MBA blog makes some very nice points about the purpose (and burdens) of debt. His B school examples are valid for law school as well. Are you really all that different from an indentured servant if you have to work 100+ hours a week at a Big Law firm to pay for law school loans?