at my university's law school, which is a T14, the average starting salary is 125-150k.
Which is a lot, but not as much when considering that most law grads have mountains of debt plus the opportunity cost of not being the workforce for 3 years. Plus they average 55+ hours per week. And usually cannot work from home.
You're better off doing CS undergrad and working for a Big 10. The hours are on average and can be flexible if you're an efficient worker.
That's likely the mean salary. Median starting salary in that space is likely $160k. Some market leaders have recently moved to $180k.
But yes. The debt burden is incredible. I am nine years out of school and - albeit primarily due to working in the public sector - I still have six figures in federal student loan debt. And 55 hours/week is on the low end. Most firms require around 2100 billable hours. If you figure 50 weeks worth of working days, that's 42 hours of real, substantive work per week, which you have to account for in six-minute increments, plus all of your normal basic admin and staff meeting nonsense. During busy times, we were told to aim for as much as 300 hours/month.
There's a reason burnout is so high among lawyers at large firms.
Which is a lot, but not as much when considering that most law grads have mountains of debt plus the opportunity cost of not being the workforce for 3 years. Plus they average 55+ hours per week. And usually cannot work from home.
You're better off doing CS undergrad and working for a Big 10. The hours are on average and can be flexible if you're an efficient worker.