Should You Even Go to Law School? An Honest Look Before You Apply
If you're reading this, you're probably already pretty far down the law school path. You've researched schools, started thinking about the LSAT, maybe even drafted parts of an application. The momentum is real.
So is the cost.
Three years of your life. Often six figures of debt. The mental and emotional weight of a demanding professional program. A career that, while rewarding for many, isn't what most people imagine going in. Before you commit to any of that, it's worth pausing to ask a question that pre-law advisors don't ask often enough: should you actually go?
This isn't an attempt to talk anyone out of law school. Law school is the right choice for plenty of people. But it's the wrong choice for plenty of others, and the cost of getting it wrong is high. Here's how to think honestly about whether it's right for you.
The "why" question matters more than the "how" question. Most pre-law students can tell you what schools they're applying to, what their LSAT goal is, and how they're approaching their personal statement. Fewer can clearly articulate, in plain language, why they want to be a lawyer in the first place. If your answer to "why law school" is "I'm good at arguing," "my parents want me to," "I don't know what else to do with my degree," or "I want a stable career," pause. None of those are bad starting points, but none of them survive contact with what law school and legal practice actually demand.
Be honest about what lawyers actually do. Pop culture trains us to imagine lawyers as courtroom advocates delivering closing arguments. The reality of most legal practice is reading carefully, writing clearly, sitting with ambiguity, managing client expectations, drafting documents most people will never read, and absorbing a lot of stress on someone else's behalf. Some lawyers love it. Many don't. Before you commit three years and a lot of money, talk to lawyers in the practice areas that interest you. Not partners showcasing their best moments — associates and mid-career attorneys, honestly describing their day-to-day work.
Understand the financial reality. Total cost of attendance at a private law school often exceeds $250,000–$300,000 over three years when tuition, living expenses, and lost income are included. Even with scholarships, debt loads of $100,000+ are common. That debt shapes your career choices for the next decade or more — making it much harder to take lower-paying public interest work, leave a job you hate, or take risks like starting your own practice. The "I'll just figure out the money later" approach has crushed more legal careers than almost anything else.
Know the employment numbers — the real ones. Every ABA-accredited law school publishes an employment report (the ABA 509 disclosure) showing where its graduates ended up nine months after graduation. Look at the schools you're considering and read these honestly. What percentage got full-time, long-term jobs requiring bar passage? What percentage are in jobs that don't require a JD? What's the salary distribution? At many schools, the picture is very different than the marketing materials suggest.
Consider whether you actually need a JD for what you want to do. Plenty of people apply to law school to do work they could do without one. Policy work, business roles, consulting, public service, advocacy, mediation, HR, compliance — many of these careers value a JD but don't require one, and many have faster, cheaper paths in. If you can describe the career you want without using the word "lawyer," there's at least a question worth asking about whether law school is the most efficient route.
Reasons to go that tend to hold up.
You've worked in or alongside legal work and confirmed you want more of it
You have a specific area of law you want to practice and you understand what that work involves
You want to use legal training for a defined purpose — public service, advocacy, policy, business — and you've talked to people doing that work
You're financially positioned (scholarships, savings, or low cost-of-attendance) to take on the investment without it limiting your future choices
You've talked yourself out of it and come back to it anyway
Reasons to go that often don't hold up.
You're not sure what to do with your degree and law school feels like a safe next step
You want to "make money" but haven't researched what legal salaries actually look like outside the top firms
Someone else (family, partner, mentor) wants you to go more than you do
You like the idea of being a lawyer more than you like anything specific about legal work
You can argue and want to use that skill professionally — without further information about what legal arguing actually looks like in practice
If you're not sure, take time before applying. Time off costs you a year. A wrong decision about law school costs you much more. If you're genuinely uncertain, working in a legal-adjacent role for a year (paralegal, judicial assistant, legal aid, policy work) is one of the best ways to find out. Some applicants come back from that year more committed than ever. Others come back having decided to do something else. Both outcomes are wins.
The point isn't to scare you off. Law school is the right call for plenty of people. The legal profession needs thoughtful, committed people who understand what they're signing up for. If that's you — go. The point of this post is the people for whom it isn't the right call but who never paused long enough to find out. That group is bigger than pre-law culture admits, and they tend to figure it out only after the debt is locked in.
You don't have to have it all figured out before you apply. But you should have asked yourself the question honestly.
Moore Consulting Services works with pre-law students nationwide — including helping prospective applicants think through whether law school is the right move before committing. Reach out if you'd like a thoughtful, direct conversation about your situation.