Here’s a topic that is relevant both to people who are applying to law school in the current application cycle and also to those who will be applying this coming fall:
Safety Schools.
You might reflexively add safety schools to your list because that’s what you were told to do when you applied to college.
Or you might be thoughtfully diversifying the odds in your “portfolio” of law schools.
That’s all fine.
But.
Law school is different from undergrad.
The difference between going to college and not going to college is huge. There’s lots of evidence to support how much that matters.
Law school, on the other hand, is just one of many options you could pursue.
And only you get to decide which law schools are worth the time, money, heartburn, lost income, and lost opportunities.
Here’s the conundrum: The schools that are worth it to you may or not be ones you are in the running for.
But I would argue that they have to be worth the investment for you to make it onto your list.
They have to sit right with you.
They have to be places where you will thrive, even if they aren’t your first or seventh choice.
So if your list ends up having no safeties, I’m OK with that as long as you are. You’re an adult, and you can decide if you’re OK with the possibility that you might not get into any of the schools on your list. It's fine to think, "Only Schools A-G are worth it to me, and if I don't get in, I don't get in, and I'll do something else with my life."
If you don’t get into any of the schools on your list, that doesn’t feel great, but you also won’t be going to a school that isn’t what you want or need.
It’s OK to be picky.
Of course, if you decide that you are going to go to law school somewhere, full stop, no matter what, then yes, you do need to add some safeties. That's just good contingency planning.
Here's the rule I would like you to apply:
For any school that you’re thinking about adding to your list, ask yourself: If this were the only school I got into, would I go?
If the answer is no, why would you put it on your list?
If the answer is contingent on cost, fair enough. You might go if the price is right but not at full fare. In that case, you’d need to apply to find out what you would pay. (Crazy system, I know.)
Here’s the scenario I’d like for you to avoid:
You add a safety school to your list even though you’re not crazy about it and you assume you’re probably not going to have to go there anyway. And at the start of the application cycle, it probably isn’t feeling all that real yet anyway. It’s easy to add a school to a list.
Then imagine that this school turns out, later in the cycle, to be the best offer you have. It’s not what you were expecting, and it’s not what you were hoping. But here you are.
You enroll there and and try to make your peace with it and you show up, and in the first week of classes you have an emotional crisis and realize that you don’t want to be there. You might even think it’s beneath you (you might be wrong, but I’ve heard that reaction). Your attitude at that point is not one that is going to ensure peak performance, which is what you're aiming for, even at that school that's ostensibly beneath you.
At that point I’m wishing you had asked yourself “If this safety were the only school I got into, would I go?” way back when you were putting your list together. Or at least before you decided to enroll.
But you’re there, you have your emotional crisis, and now you want to leave and you want to submit law school applications all over again.
Here’s the problem:
If you drop out and submit another round of applications in the new admissions cycle, you will have to disclose your enrollment at that first law school. And you’ll have to explain why you left.
So before you enroll anywhere, remember that if you decide not to go, that’s OK. That might even be the best decision for you. That’s a very personal, case-by-case decision. And only you live with the consequences.
Not going to law school is the best option in some circumstances.
Remember: You’re driving this bus. You get to decide.