Merit scholarship awards not the best reason to choose a law school

This weekend the New York Times ran a story about law school merit scholarships. One example, Golden Gate University in San Francisco, provides scholarships valued at $30,000 to first year students. The scholarship is renewable, contigent on maintaining a 3.0 or B average during the first year and the year after.

I was a poli-sci major in college and I considered going to law school. I considered it while I was in college and after I started working. I passed the first time because I was more interested in urban planning and real estate than I was in being a lawyer. I have no regrets. I got the jobs I wanted. I also got enough financial aid to make the graduate degree worthwhile.

After I had been working in the public sector for two years I considered law school again. Had I remained with the agency where I was employed, I would have been reimbursed for tuition--if I got a grade of B or better in each class. But then I asked around. I spoke with co-workers who were going to law school at night. They warned me that B's were very hard to come by; law school would be nothing like college or even graduate school in planning or public policy. Law school, I was told, was best meant for people who really wanted to be lawyers.

The people who are offered these merit scholarships have to make the same decision: do they want to be lawyers so badly that they would borrow so much money and study so hard to pursue the dream?

The way I understand the law school world, it is best to go to the best law school you can get into in the place where you would most like to work. This may not always be the highest ranked school or the least expensive, but it will be the one where you can become best acquainted with the legal community you want to join without having to worry about carrying double rents or finding a sublet while paying for school. So if I wanted to work in DC, I'd look at law schools there. If I wanted to work in New York I'd look at schools in the city. I would pass on conditional scholarships to schools that would be of less help in securing work. The money provided for those scholarships should not be at the expense of my ability to find a job.

Some might not agree with my strategy but it is one that worked for me when I went to business school instead of law school. I worked part-time, first at my old job, then at an internship I got through the school. I figured it was easier to build a resume and show commitment to a field through work than to try to get the top grades in my class. I would have felt the same way had I decided to be a lawyer.