How To Consolidate Law School Debt

Don’t Go At All Unless You Want To Very Badly

 
Don’t go to law school just because you can’t think of anything else. If your college grades weren’t great, and you have a less-than-fabulous LSAT score, you should seriously consider some alternatives before committing to a middle-tier school.
Law school should not be entered on a whim, and unless you’re among the best, there’s a chance you’ll graduate without a job and land back at square one, but with a huge amount of debt this time around.
If you’re feeling like law school is the best way out of a bad career, here are some things to consider before you go: 
Explore the possibilities of your current job: If you’re currently working, and you’re thinking about giving it up to go to law school, take a moment and think about where you could be in three years if you stay. Consider the money you could save, the raises and promotions you could earn, and also the opportunities you could find at a different company in the same field. When thinking about what law school will give you, don’t compare your prospective postgraduate opportunities to the life you have right now. Weigh the pros and cons with the life you could have in three years’ time.
Don’t give up on med school: A fair number of pre-law students were once pre-meds. After failing organic chemistry, they drop out of their science majors, finish college with liberal arts degrees, and proceed to apply for law school—their gateway to a second-choice career. While it might seem like it’s too late to revert back to medicine, think long and hard about the amount of debt either school would put you in anyway, and weigh the pros and cons of taking a few years to finish the required science classes at a community college. This could take a while, but it could also give you time to study for the MCAT, gain work experience in healthcare, and otherwise boost your application. 
Work a sales job: If you’re charismatic and your goal is not so much to practice law as it is to make money, consider going into sales. Sales jobs don’t necessarily require top grades or a lot of training, and because they provide for everyone’s paychecks, good salespeople tend to get higher commissions and bonuses.
But if law school is really your only option: Maybe you’re not happy with your life, you have a job with no chance of promotion, you have no interest in being a doctor, and you can’t sell things because you don’t socialize well. If that’s the case, law school might seem appealing. However, consider this: The number of testimonials from unhappy lawyers on the Internet suggests that working in law is not all it’s cracked up to be. If you must apply, make sure it’s for the right reasons.
Source: Above the Law
 

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