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I attended law school in NY starting in 2007. By the time I was looking for an internship at the end of my first year, the economy collapsed. As a result, it fe

I attended law school in NY starting in 2007. By the time I was looking for an internship at the end of my first year, the economy collapsed. As a result, it felt like the whole premise of law school (at least for most students), namely that you could get decent grades and would have a high paying job at some firm upon graduation, was completely shattered. This turned out to be completely true for the majority of people who attended at that time. Everyone was trying to find internships at the end of their first year, but there just weren't any to go around and people who had received offers in their third year were seeing them slip away. I remember thinking at the time that given the economy and the massive layoffs that were occurring that applications to my school would be going down, but what I saw was quite the contrary. Every semester, droves of new students packed the hallways. People seemed to be using the economic downturn and poor job market as an opportunity to "invest in the future" and go back to school. But I just couldn't understand how tuitions could stay propped up and I felt there had to be some correlation between the salaries/availability of jobs post law school and the high tuitions. Again, to my shock these facts just didn't seem to matter and it seemed to me that the whole law school thing was just a big ponzi scheme waiting to collapse. I know this is all anecdotal and my own experience, but maybe I was right and the big correction has finally come.

graeme 12y ago
There was only a temporary surge after the crisis. People flooded into school thinking "school is a safe place to hide during a recession". This led to large crunches every subsequent year. Word has been spreading for the past four years. Applications have been down each year. We're hearing more now because it's finally reached a crunch point for schools. They've been trying to hold off closing by getting enough students and forcing other schools to close. It's musical chairs, and the music is now stopping.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- hkmurakami 12y ago
  >People flooded into school thinking "school is a safe place to hide during a recession". This led to large crunches every subsequent year. Another data point is NYC Business Schools. Lots of people in finance applied to, say, Columbia business school during the crisis, and thus around 2012 there was a huge plummet in applications there as the industry (a) started to recover a bit, and (b) it became clear that the rewards from a career on Wall Street would be much smaller than in previous decades.
hkmurakami 12y ago
>But I just couldn't understand how tuitions could stay propped up and I felt there had to be some correlation between the salaries/availability of jobs post law school and the high tuitions. Weren't administrations intentionally masking a lot of their post graduation numbers so that they looked good on the surface to relatively naive applicants?
- psaintla 12y ago
  Yes, this occurred at many law schools, http://thirdtierreality.blogspot.com/ http://thirdtierreality.blogspot.com/ , has been covering this for many years now

graeme 12y ago

There was only a temporary surge after the crisis. People flooded into school thinking "school is a safe place to hide during a recession". This led to large crunches every subsequent year. Word has been spreading for the past four years. Applications have been down each year. We're hearing more now because it's finally reached a crunch point for schools. They've been trying to hold off closing by getting enough students and forcing other schools to close. It's musical chairs, and the music is now stopping.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
hkmurakami 12y ago
>People flooded into school thinking "school is a safe place to hide during a recession". This led to large crunches every subsequent year. Another data point is NYC Business Schools. Lots of people in finance applied to, say, Columbia business school during the crisis, and thus around 2012 there was a huge plummet in applications there as the industry (a) started to recover a bit, and (b) it became clear that the rewards from a career on Wall Street would be much smaller than in previous decades.

hkmurakami 12y ago

>But I just couldn't understand how tuitions could stay propped up and I felt there had to be some correlation between the salaries/availability of jobs post law school and the high tuitions. Weren't administrations intentionally masking a lot of their post graduation numbers so that they looked good on the surface to relatively naive applicants?

psaintla 12y ago
Yes, this occurred at many law schools, http://thirdtierreality.blogspot.com/ http://thirdtierreality.blogspot.com/ , has been covering this for many years now