Law Schools

Wealthy Students Have A Much Easier Time Succeeding In Law School

Wealthier students can almost literally buy good grades at some law schools.

By  
on

It is no secret that law school costs an insane sum of money, and many students struggle to pay expenses associated with a legal education.  Indeed, many law students choose to attend lower-ranked institutions in order to accept merit scholarships and decrease the amount of debt they need to borrow.  I think it is well-understood among lawyers that individuals do not always attend the best law school to which they are accepted because of financial reasons.

However, I think there is less awareness of the fact that students who attend the same law school can have dramatically different academic outcomes based on how wealthy a student is.  Indeed, there are a number of advantages richer students have that make it easier for them to succeed academically in law school.  As a result, it might be unfair to judge the academic performance of people who attend the same law school in a vacuum, since wealthier students might have advantages when earning their law degrees

One of the ways that wealthy individuals sometimes boost their GPAs during law school is by taking summer classes.  My alma mater and other law schools do not apply a standard grading curve to some smaller courses, and many seminar-style classes are offered during the summer.  Of course, financial aid does not cover summer classes, and less-wealthy students would never think of borrowing additional money to take classes over the summer when they can earn these credits during the academic year.  Indeed, many less-wealthy students like myself needed to work during the summer to earn money for living expenses, so we did not have the time to attend summer school.

However, I know a few wealthier students who had their parents pay for these smaller classes offered during the summer.  Almost everyone in these classes received an “A” or “A-,” and this had a material impact on their GPAs.  In addition, taking classes during the summer means that these students were able to take fewer classes during the normal academic year.  Since these students had a lighter academic load during the school year, they could devote more time toward succeeding in those courses.  Because wealthier students can almost literally buy good grades at some law schools, rich kids have a much easier time succeeding in law school.

In addition, wealthier individuals can obtain various academic resources that are not available to poorer students.  Some wealthier law students take courses the summer before law school in order to prepare for the rigors of earning a law degree, and less-wealthy students like myself could never afford such classes.  In addition, wealthier law students can purchase all kinds of hornbooks, treatises, and other materials that can help them succeed in law school.

When I was a law student, I did not have any money to spend on hornbooks, since I borrowed the least amount of money possible to minimize my student debt.  Thankfully, my law school’s library had hornbooks students could borrow for short periods of time, and this was almost exclusively how I used these materials.  This definitely impacted my studying, since I couldn’t write any notes in these books, and sometimes, the materials were not available during finals and other busy periods of the school year.  You might say that I was being unreasonable for not shelling out several hundred extra dollars a semester for these materials, but wealthier students never have to make this choice.  All told, access to additional academic resources definitely makes law school easier for wealthier students.

Another reason why rich students usually have an easier time succeeding in law school is because they typically do not need to pursue work-study jobs to pay for living costs.  Most of my wealthier friends received hundreds of dollars a week for living costs from their parents.  However, as mentioned in a few prior articles, many less-wealthy students like myself needed to pursue work-study jobs in order to pay for living costs.

Sponsored

Working 15 to 20 hours a week during law school could impact your studies, since this takes time away from completing assignments and attending study groups.  I was able to do some homework at my work-study gigs, but my attention was usually not as focused as it would be if I had devoted this time exclusively to completing assignments.  For some, a work-study gig could make you more disciplined and focused, but I definitely worked with classmates who had academic issues because of work-study employment.

In addition, wealthier students usually do not need to find paid employment during the summer, since parents are paying for their living expenses throughout the academic year.  Many internships are unpaid, and wealthier students have more opportunities to pursue interesting internships if they do not need to worry about being compensated. However, during my summers in law school, I needed to earn extra cash, and this restricted the types of internships to which I could apply.  Not being able to pursue certain internships can affect one’s employment outcomes, and this is another advantage that wealthier law students have.

All told, it can be unfair to compare law students who attended the same law school in a vacuum, or based on their GPAs alone.  Indeed, wealthier students typically have a number of advantages when it comes to succeeding in law school.  Wealthier students can usually devote more time to their studies and can game the system to boost their GPAs in ways that less-wealthy students cannot.

Jordan Rothman is the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a personal finance website discussing how he paid off all $197,890.20 of his college and law school student loans over 46 months of his late 20s. You can reach him at [email protected].

Sponsored

Topics

, , , ,