Well I've been browsing some law school boards and also some sites like jdunderground.com and I seem to come across a not insignificant amount of law school graduates who have placed themselves in an EXTREMELY precarious position - paying sticker price at lower ranked law schools and now finding themselves in an extremely competitive market where the best they can do is work long hours at low paid positions and are being crushed by their debt load.
Besides making me thankful that I never went to law school, these discussions have made me a bit more aware of the prospect of debt and the fact that I really need to do the right research before I plunk down alot of money for a graduate degree and not simply believe that everything will turn out for the best.
It looks like I'll be paying sticker price to go to the Elliot School this fall and while I'm extremely excited to start what seems like an extremely interesting grad degree at a relatively well regarded school - I'm wondering if I can get some opinions from more experienced students as to what I can expect out of this degree and what type of assumptions would be reasonable to make regarding my quality of life post-graduation.
I have about 30K in savings and Elliot has a reasonable tuition - about 23K a year - so if I live frugally over the next 2 years I'm certain that I wont have the type of debt that some of these law school grads have.
While I would love to work for a government agency like Dept of State, DIA, etc. - I realize that the selection process for these types of positions are not only competitive but arbitrary and that I might get dinged during a security clearance for something out of my control.
I don't have a sense of entitlement nor do I aspire to be wealthy. Would it be reasonable to assume that with the right networking and internships I will have some reasonable positions open to me after graduation that will allow me to do something interesting related to my studies and to live above the poverty line?
As always, sincere replies appreciated.