This is Part II of a response to a reader. Paying for law school begins with good planning. And by good planning I mean having rich parents. Because that’s the only way you’ll pull it off without borrowing a ton of money. (A note: some people don’t like talking about money because they feel it is in bad taste. If that’s you, quit reading now) Take Harvard Law for example: That’s just for one year. Law school is three years long, so break out your calculators. Don’t forget the annual tuition increases, and the 7% that compounds DAILY. Thanks to the handy cost of attendance calculator on Georgetown’s website, I can now calculate exactly how much a debt-financed Ivy League education costs. That’s a little over a quarter million dollars. How exactly can anyone pay that off? The short answer is that the job prospects are very good at HLS, as new associates make $160,000 a year at the large law firms....

This is my first reader requested blog. I had a friend from high school message me and ask how I got into Harvard Law, and how I’m managing to pay for it. Since my background is nothing if not humble, I doubt she is the only one wondering, and I'm happy to tell my story. Still, how to get in and how to pay are two different topics, so today I’ll talk about how I got accepted. My next post will be about financing this absurdly expensive education. Whether it’s law, medical, or business school, the first thing you have to do is figure out which school you want into. Then figure out what they want. I always knew that I wanted into Harvard Law. And it was surprisingly easy to figure out what they wanted. Law schools are easy – they want students who help their rankings. So I figured out how the rankings are calculated. Law schools are ranked by two inputs: the median GPA and median LSAT scores of their students. The law schools obsess about their rankings, so I ha...

Around November of last year I panicked about money. I can’t remember exactly why, but it was probably because I looked at my student loan balance and had a good ole’ case of debt fright. But by fortuitous happenstance, I saw a little banner ad on the side of the page – a little banner of hope. Sperm donation! If I passed their “rigorous” admissions process, I would have the opportunity to make $100 a pop, up to three times a week. That’s $1,200 a month. In one fell swoop I would solve my money woes and achieve genetic immortality.  I was extremely enthusiastic about my prospects as a sperm donor. These people are eugenicists. I knew my chances were good. I sent a couple of emails, and quickly had an appointment after class made for California Cryobank’s Central Square office. They would test my first “donation”, and then determine if I’d made the cut. What ensued was perhaps the most awkward experience of my life. After arriving at the office, I was ma...