Law Schools

Pathetic Percentage Of Law Grads Say Law School Was Worth The Cost

Given how unhappy graduates seem to be with their legal educations, do you still think you should go to law school?

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The value of a law degree?

If you’re drowning in debt, feel completely unprepared for a career in the legal profession, and don’t think that law school was worth the cost, you’re not alone. The majority of your colleagues agree.

According to a recent Gallup poll of of 4,000 adults, only 23 percent of law school graduates who earned a degree between 2000 and 2015 said that law school was worth it, and an even smaller percentage (20 percent) said their schooling prepared them for a career outside of law school. Considering the fact that most recent graduates have an average debt that rests comfortably in the six-figure range, this is pretty damning. In fact, this was the lowest rating of all postgraduate degrees included in Gallup’s poll. Take a look at the results:

Gallup speculates that “law degree holders may be less likely to say their degree was worth the cost because of the weak job market for those with a law degree in recent years.” CNBC summarizes another one of the main reasons why law school graduates felt like they didn’t receive a return on their investment in law school:

Another reason that law school graduates have such a negative view of their education is their relationships — or lack thereof — with their professors. Just 24 percent of J.D. holders felt that their professors cared about them as a person and only 19 percent said they had a collegiate mentor who encouraged them to pursue their goals and dreams.

These negative experiences were not consistent across other types of graduate students.

Given how unhappy graduates seem to be with their legal educations, do you still think you should go to law school? It might not be worth the money — and you could be repaying it for the better years of the rest of your life.

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Only 23% of law school grads say their education was worth the cost [CNBC]
Few MBA, Law Grads Say Their Degree Prepared Them Well [Gallup]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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