https://www.law.uchicago.edu/financialaid/budget
Tuition: If you have a heart condition, do not read the next sentence. Full-time tuition at the Univer$ity of Chicago Law $chool amounts to $61,626– for the 2017-2018 academic year. There is also a Student Life fee of $1,164. I’m sure that you will have plenty of time – in between studying your brains out in the library, home, or city bus – to take advantage of what it offers. First year students will also be assessed a $75 Transcript Fee, plus a Computer Allowance charge of $1,500. What a bargain.
Total Cost of Attendance: According to the same page, the law school lists the total estimated COA as $93,414 for first year students, and as $91,839 for those in their second or third year. Think about that for a moment. Let that figure sink in, and if that doesn’t take your breath away, then you are from a wealthy background or from a truly connected family. Then again, you could merely be a fool.
The school lists room and board as $16,830; personal at $2,880; and transportation costs as $2,502. In order to get a better picture of the total annual price tag, we will prorate those three items. Student loan fees, books and supplies, and health insurance costs will remain unchanged. This is fair, since actual students will require expenses over a full calendar year, and not just for nine months.
After prorating those three areas, the more accurate estimated Total Cost of Attendance is $100,818 for first year law students at the Univer$ity of Chicago. However, it is "only"$99,243 for second and third year students. Keep in mind that these costs are for a single year of law school! Good luck avoiding the need to take out private student loans, for your first-rate “legal education.”
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings
Ranking: As you can see, the Univer$ity of Chicago Law $chool is rated as the 4th greatest and pristine land school in the land, by US “News” & World Report. Then again, it is a full six spots ahead of Northwestern University Prtizker SOL. That makes it the best in$titution of “legal education” in the Windy City. And tuition is not much more expensive than Northwestern’s law school.
https://www.law.uchicago.edu/files/file/aba_employment_summary_class_of_2016_final.pdf
Employment Placement Statistics: You will notice that there were 215 members of the University of Chicago 2016 graduating law class. Every one of them reported working in full-time, long-term positions within 10 months of receiving their law degree. By the way, 10 of them landed jobs that were funded by the law school or university.That’s one way to ensure full employment.
Scroll down to Employment Type, to see how well the class is doing. In fact, 144 were employed in private law firms within 10 months. Of that figure, 19 were in offices with 251-500 attorneys – and 107 were with firms that have more than 500 lawyers. It would be interesting to see what portion of these come from families who can afford to foot the bill for their law degree. As you will see shortly, nearly 40% of this class did not take out a dime in student loans to attend law school.
Another 36 landed article III clerkships. These guys will do just fine, once their year is complete. This school is expensive as hell, but it might actually be a relatively safe bet. Keep in mind that most Biglaw associates are churned and burned within 3-5 years. Hopefully, you earn enough in that short span to repay your student loans.
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/grad-debt-rankings/page+2
Average Law Student Indebtedness:USN&WR lists the average law student indebtedness - for those members of the University of Chicago JD Class of 2016 who incurred debt for law school - as $134,148. By the way, only 62% of this school’s 2016 graduating cohort took on such toxic debt. Remember, this amount does not even include undergraduate debt – and it also does not take accrued interest into account, while the student is enrolled.
Here's some more good news. While the law school was ranked 4th best in terms of overall reputation, the school’s 2016 graduating class was only the 50th most burdened by additional law school debt. I suppose that does make it a great deal, for those smart enough to gain entry. It’s even better for the 38 percent of this class that did not take on any student loans for law school. That is nearly 2/5 of the entire cohort. Have fun competing against those rich young men and women for the best law jobs out there.
Conclusion: If you are not from a ridiculously wealthy family, or you are not married to a top rate cardiologist who wipes his ass with $20 bills, then you have no business attending such an outrageously “institution of higher education.” It’s a sad statement, but I’m not the one who made the rules about wealth and connections being the rest route to “success.” By the way, the rich kids in your class do not even need the credential. It’s more of a vanity thing with them. When they’re playing at Augusta National or having their next yacht party – comparing their Rolexes – it might give them something to talk about with their friends or associates. Based onthis Wikipedia entry, the Univer$ity of Chicago Law $chool was “founded by a coalition of donors led by John D. Rockefeller.”
Here’s something else to consider: even if you break your neck trying to join The Club, you may never really fit in with your surroundings. History provides countless examples of this outcome. And if you don’t manage to become a tenured “law professor” or a Biglaw partner, you may struggle to repay your student loans. It seems that even medium-sized law firms don’t want supposed Biglaw failures or washouts – and there aren’t a ton of in-house positions afterward, either. In the end, if you feel the outrageous cost of admission is worth it to you – and that you can commit fully to a spartan lifestyle for several years – then feel free to enroll. Sadly, too many lemmings think that they have a shot at these types of jobs – with a JD from a second tier diploma mill. Per usual, if you are rich, enter with no hesitation.