Law School Bubble Deflates Harvard

An anonymous Harvard 3L lets the cat out of the bag. He was sold a bag of wooden nickels for $62,422/year plus interest and opportunity costs. It really is a shame. Having been admitted to Harvard Law, this Debt Child, probably had enough undergraduate credentials to go directly into the work force and make a good living without subjecting himself to a law degree/mortgage payment. Too bad.


"[Our former Dean] told us ... that we had all long since established ourselves as deserving of our reputations and the opportunities they made possible. So we studied, and we subcited, and we networked, and we keycited, and we summer associated. And employers looked at our grades, and our journals, and our work product, and our work ethic, and said, 'We don’t want you.' We came from Harvard, and they were nonetheless unimpressed. Something about us was so unappealing that it outweighed the appeal of having another Harvard graduate at the firm."


It's over, my fellow Debt Children. The law school bubble has burst just like the 1990s tech bubble in stocks and the housing bubble. The value of the degree will continue to plummet, despite the predictable government attempts to find ways to prop up its value.

What will not be forthcoming is an apology from the federal government for blowing up the law school bubble. They'll blame it on private schools, Enron or the tooth fairy before they admit to any wrongdoing. After all, didn't they point out "greed" as the primary reason for the housing bubble, another catastrophe caused by loans that are backed by the Federal Government and other government policies?

If greed causes bubbles, Mr. Congress, why does it wait for artificially low interest rates, easy money for school or other government initiatives before it does its dirty work?