I went to a public school for undergrad that’s nothing special academically, but did so because I had a full scholarship. I went on to law school directly from college but wish I had taken time off to do something else, perhaps work full-time so I could get an idea of what the real working world was like!

I went to a top 20 law school. I didn’t graduate at the tip-top of my class but was well within the top 40%. I also had some other accomplishments that are well regarded on resumes (law review board member, etc.).

However, I graduated with about $150k in debt. My current job pays me around $50k. That means that about 50% of my take-home pay every month goes straight to pay my student loans. And, so far I don’t love being an attorney, some days I outright hate it, but it’s the only thing that I am qualified for that will pay me enough to squeak by given my loan payments.

My advice is to ask yourself, if money/prestige/etc. was no object, what is the one thing would you want to do for the rest of your life? If it’s not law, you really need to think about the risk — especially with your money and your time — that you would be taking by pursuing law. It’s not a magic ticket that will automatically get you a great paying and rewarding job (I wish!).

My other advice is, if you do go to law school, don’t necessarily go to the “highest ranked” school you can get into, thinking it will get you the best job, which was my strategy. I had a great education but it was very expensive, and without contacts in the community (like influential family friends, which can be a problem if you’re from a rural area or your parents aren’t traditional “professionals” -doctors, lawyers, etc.) it can be tough to get a high paying job, which you honestly will need if you end up in a lot of debt with loan payments of $1000+ per month. A whole lot of it is “who you know”. Trying to get a job out of law school was the first time I encountered a situation where you can’t just get by own your own merit (like you sometimes can with good grades which get you scholarships, etc.) and it was a tough lesson to learn. You might see people who did far worse than you in your class getting jobs paying them twice or three times what you end up making just because of who their parents know.

If you get good scholarships elsewhere, particularly if it’s a school that’s not top tier but is strong regionally and you’d like to stay there, go for it, and you may also have a better chance of being at the top of the class there which can be a great asset.

Once you start working, you can start to build your own reputation that doesn’t depend on where you went to law school, in terms of ranking/tiers/prestige, etc. So go to the school that makes the most sense for you — the best fit, most affordable, whatever your priorities are.