Starting Law School during quarantine

SF City Du

Hi Everyone,

I'm supposed to start law school in New York City in the Fall, but I'm genuinely confused about what I should do now. The idea of paying a ton of money to potentially be taking online Zoom classes seems like such a waste.

I'm curious what other people's thoughts are who are in similar situations?

Just for transparency, I have been in the work force and out of undergrad for 4 years, so I do have the safe option of just staying at my job. I know it is a different situation for those of you coming straight out of undergrad.

Thanks!

Logician

Personally, I would be very reluctant to pay top dollar for online classes. I’m of the belief that in light of the covid situation, if schools ultimately teach online, tuition should be adjusted accordingly.

Yuliya Samboryk

I’m in the same boat here. I do have a full time job but becoming an attorney is my future career so I wouldn’t consider not going to law school this fall. As long as I get my degree I’ll be happy lol

I do see the frustration of paying a lot of money to take online classes, but we have to work with what we got. Undergrad doesn’t differentiate between online and in person classes with tuition so I don’t see them giving a partial tuition refund, although it would be nice.

noonawoon

@yuliyas1 This isn’t true, fully online degrees from the same institution will cost less.

I definitely see colleges - undergrad and grad school - offering lower tuition if school is fully online. I’ve listened to a few podcasts and read a few articles about the future of college in covid and lower tuition has been mentioned as part of the contingency plans. I think colleges realize that they need to provide some kind of incentive if schools are fully online. While they can allow people to defer and admit off the waitlist, admitting off the waitlist negatively impacts their acceptance rates.

So I would expect lower tuition if law school is fully online in the fall. Maybe not significantly lower, though.

meghaneg

Starting law school this fall seems like a great way to get a prime clerkship when you get out of school, assuming there will be a smaller cohort of students entering this year due to concerns like yours. I'm a year behind, and wishing I'd been more on top of things to be in your situation instead of facing a potentially more difficult cycle for Fall '21 admissions.