Those hoping for a six-figure salary in their first law job may need to reset their expectations.
Although six-figure starting salaries are the norm for graduates of top law schools who enter the private sector, the salaries of most newly minted lawyers aren’t even close to $100,000.
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U.S. News published the 2018 Best Law Schools rankings yesterday, providing aspiring lawyers with information on the cost of attendance at 197 ranked law schools and the annual earnings of recent graduates , among other data. These dollar figures allow law school applicants to estimate the return on investment of attending a particular law school.
Among J.D. recipients in the class of 2015 at ranked law schools, the median private sector salary was $68,300, and the median public sector salary was $52,000.
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Although there is a wide gap between starting salaries earned by recent law graduates who work in the public sector versus those who work in the private sector, experts say that public sector law jobs offer unique benefits, such as the potential for student loan forgiveness, opportunities to become involved in politics and the job satisfaction that comes from public service.
The financial payoff of private sector law jobs can be enormous, especially at large corporate law firms with $160,000 starting salaries. But the chance of getting one of these coveted six-figure salary jobs is slim unless you attend a law firm feeder school.
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Only 35 of the 197 ranked law schools reported median private sector salaries exceeding $100,000 — and 24 of these are private law schools.
Some law schools offer their graduates valuable connections in the job market, both through their alumni networks and because of their strong academic reputations, but the highest-ranked law schools tend to have hefty price tag s.
The average cost of tuition and fees among the top 10 law schools is $60,293 per year, assuming a student does not qualify for an in-state rate at one of the public schools. Even an in-state student at a top public law school pays a substantial sum. At the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, in-state law students pay $55,012 in tuition and fees per year, and at the University of Virginia, the in-state cost is $56,300 per year.
In general, the least costly option for prospective law students in the short term is to attend a public law school as an in-state student. However, experts say it is important to think long term and evaluate the potential payoff of a legal education to decide whether it offers a solid return on investment.
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U.S. News Data: Law School Costs, Salary Prospects originally appeared on usnews.com
