Perhaps coming to CLS over a public law school isn’t necessarily an exercise in conspicuous waste by us ourselves, but instead a recognition that our future employers like to engage in conspicuous waste by hiring us. When I made the decision to come here, I don’t know that I did it so much because I wanted to be able to say that I went to CLS (although I can’t deny that in part), but more so because employers like to say they hire students from top schools.

Acknowledging this may make us just as culpable as when we accept the grading and curving system to appease firms at the possible expense of fostering a better learning environment. But it also matters whether we are focusing on the next 3 years or the next 30. Over the next 3 years, it may be true that I can get the same quality of education at a public school, but my return upon graduation may be diminished. While paying the bill each semester seems painful when remembering the cost of other schools I looked at, I’m not doing it because I want to show the world that I have money to waste. I suppose, on one level, I do it because I want at least the possibility to work at a firm that wants show the world they have plenty of money to spend on lawyers graduating from over-priced schools. I’m not sure that this makes me any less a part of the problem but it seems like a difference worth considering.

-- EllaAiken - 04 Apr 2009