* For certain values of free. Exceptions occur, apply within.
Or...What feels like the only reason I'm still in Law School some days.
Law School is fricking expensive. This year, for three semesters, I took in $60,000 worth of loans. My books normally run over $500, and my brother's hit $1000 this year; although that is a post for another time, probably when I next buy books. There are some expenses that they tell you about, and some they don't. And then you graduate (God willing) and have to pay back three times what you borrowed, even if your earnings don't meet your expectations.
It's enough that a sane person might call it a racket. So Law Schools, like the illustrious one that accepted me (I love you, I do) try to come up with ways of making it sweeter. They do this through career counseling, on campus interviews, and opportunities in the community. But the number one thing it seems like they do some days? Free lunches.
During my 1L year I estimated that three to four days a week I could get a free lunch provided if I just went in and listened to a talk. Some days it was the Professional Development Office in their never ending attempts to assure us we will be able to find jobs, somehow; sometimes it was clubs and Student Associations telling us why we should be a part of them. I once had a week where I took pizza from the Democrats at the beginning of the week, and I believe sandwiches from the Federalist Society at the end. If the 'Annoyed Centrists' club had offered me a burrito I would have had the trifecta; some day I hope to be able to arrange a meeting of the GLBT club on Monday, and the club that has a 'Prayer Request' envelope up on that Friday.
I can't speak for all Law Schools, but I do have an ethical problem with these free lunches. And by ethical I mean culinary: There are places to get food from besides a sandwich shop and Papa Johns, guys. Seriously. When it is sandwiches I never get enough, and I've had enough Papa Johns I can identify what toppings a pizza has by the grease on the bottom of the carton. I've gained 50 pounds since moving back to the States, for the love of God.
It is an interesting and almost desperate feeling that these lunches sometimes provide. As if we'll forget about the economy and the glut of new lawyers who will be flooding the market at the same time we graduate if we're so stuffed full of pizza we sweat oil. Or if enough sub sandwiches will make us forget how much debt we have; especially if we're vegetarians, because one of the local sub shops idea of a vegetarian sub is bread and cheese.
That being said, if they stop deluding me with their oily opiates I'm transferring. Just...could they drug me with Chipotle from time to time?
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