Six
years
ago,
I
was
hard
at
work
polishing
up
the
manuscript
for
Your
Debt-Free
JD (affiliate
link).
It
was
a
labor
of
love.
I
couldn’t
be
prouder
every
time
I
hear
of
the
advice
it
contains
working
out.
Even
more
so,
I’m
proud
of
the
people
who’ve
used
it
to
help
them
make
one
of
the
most
important
decisions
of
their
lives.
Alas,
as
Marcus
Aurelius
put
it
nearly
two
millennia
ago,
the
universe
loves
nothing
so
much
as
to
change
the
things
which
are.
Six
years
out,
some
of
the
information
in
“Your
Debt-Free
JD”
is
not
as
useful
as
it
once
was.
A
few
portions
are
even
downright
obsolete.
Probably
the
most
important
example
has
to
do
with
the
U.S.
News
&
World
Report
law
school
rankings.
While
these
rankings
were
never
a
sacred
cow
to
me
personally,
as
the
2020s
dawned
they
were
extremely
important
to
individual
law
schools
as
well
as
to
individuals
at
those
law
schools
making
decisions
about
whom
to
admit
—
and
maybe
even
more
importantly,
about
which
applicants
merited
a
generous
scholarship
offer.
Today,
as
criteria
modifications
and
the
lack
of
opt-in
from
certain
institutions
make
the
U.S.
News
law
school
rankings
increasingly
ridiculous,
fewer
schools
care
about
them.
Not
only
does
this
make
the
U.S.
News
law
school
rankings
even
less
useful
as
a
standalone
tool
for
law
school
applicants
than
they
once
were,
it
also
obviates
some
—
though
not
all
—
of
the
strategies
outlined
in
my
book
to
(let’s
use
the
right
word
for
it,
don’t
feel
bad,
this
is
the
evil
law
school
industrial
complex
we’re
talking
about)
manipulate
law
schools
into
offering
you
a
full
scholarship.
That’s
a
big
one,
although
there
are
several
others.
For
instance,
one
paragraph
is
about
buying
nice
suits
at
thrift
stores,
because
it’s
dumb
to
pay
$1,000
for
a
new
suit
when
you’re
in
law
school,
and
it
continues
to
be
dumb
to
pay
$1,000
for
a
suit
even
once
you’ve
become
a
millionaire.
It’s
still
sound
advice
not
to
throw
your
money
away
on
needlessly
expensive
clothing,
but
it’s
harder
advice
to
follow
these
days
as
thrifting
has
really
hit
the
mainstream.
Despite
all
the
changes
in
reality
that
have
caused
some
of
the
words
I
wrote
six
years
ago
to
become
less
relevant,
I
am
not
doing
a
revised
edition.
The
idea
was
never
to
make
a
ton
of
money,
it
being
such
a
niche
target
audience
and
me
wanting
to
keep
the
book
accessible
to
the
poorest
potential
lawyers.
That
being
said,
the
sum
I’ve
made
off
of
“Your
Debt-Free
JD”
amounts
to
something
in
the
neighborhood
of
a
dollar
an
hour
for
all
the
time
I’ve
put
into
it,
so
I
don’t
have
much
interest
in
revisiting
the
text.
I’ll
tell
you
what
I
will
do,
however.
If
you’re
in
the
process
of
applying
to
law
schools,
or
are
considering
going
to
law
school
in
the
future,
feel
free
to
send
me
an
email
(you
can
find
my
email
address
at
the
bottom
of
the
article),
and
we’ll
set
up
a
time
for
a
phone
call.
We
can
talk
about
whatever
you’d
like
(within
reason),
be
it
the
financial
calculus
of
going
to
law
school,
how
to
best
set
yourself
up
for
the
career
you
want
while
you
are
there
(or
how
to
figure
out
what
career
it
is
you
want
in
the
first
place),
or,
if
you’ve
read
the
book,
what
has
changed
since
it
was
written
and
what
that
means
for
you
now.
This
is
free.
I
don’t
expect
or
want
anything
from
you
in
return
for
a
few
minutes
of
advice.
Of
course,
I
always
appreciate
it
whenever
someone
buys
the
book
(most
of
the
information
in
it
remains
valuable)
and
am
especially
pleased
when
folks
leave
an
honest
five-star
review
of
it.
But
that’s
not
a
requirement
to
take
me
up
on
my
offer
by
any
means.
I
do
probably
need
to
put
a
couple
caveats
on
this.
According
to
the
ABA,
42,817
students
began
JD
studies
at
accredited
American
law
schools
last
fall.
I
have
no
idea
what
the
demand
is
out
there,
but
if
even
1%
of
those
of
you
who
end
up
going
to
law
school
next
fall
want
to
talk
to
me
about
it,
that
is
going
to
be
overwhelming.
So,
I
may
have
to
cut
it
off
at
whatever
point
I
deem
reasonable.
Additionally,
if
you
consider
yourself
MAGA,
don’t
bother
emailing
me
because
in
that
case
I
do
not
want
to
help
you
achieve
your
goals.
Well,
thank
you
to
everyone
who
bought
a
copy
of
the
book
over
the
past
six
years.
I
look
forward
to
speaking
with
some
of
you
in
2026.
Jonathan
Wolf
is
a
civil
litigator
and
author
of Your
Debt-Free
JD (affiliate
link).
He
has
taught
legal
writing,
written
for
a
wide
variety
of
publications,
and
made
it
both
his
business
and
his
pleasure
to
be
financially
and
scientifically
literate.
Any
views
he
expresses
are
probably
pure
gold,
but
are
nonetheless
solely
his
own
and
should
not
be
attributed
to
any
organization
with
which
he
is
affiliated.
He
wouldn’t
want
to
share
the
credit
anyway.
He
can
be
reached
at [email protected].