I am aghast by the responses above. You should not be making life-changing decisions based on the insight offered on a private anonymous forum. You should absolutely not be taking any advice from other students only!
Here are the items you should consider:
- A five year education in a law degree is a one time investment. Akin to a one time investment in a business / think of it as a one time investment in yourself, to get a professional certification, compound and pay out over your lifetime.
- SLS Pune is one of the oldest institution offering the degree with thousands of peers and reputation in the market. Jindal, Nirma, Christ, NMIMS, all these private institutions are well regarded nationally. If SLS Pune is your best choice, you have to set yourself up for success and take that chance, to have in place a personal brand, a decently good network and recognition! Remember - you are not just paying for education, but also for (i) good peer network; (ii) good alumni network; (iii) market reputation; (iv) building a personality shaped by experiences and exposures from people in all walks of life. Yes, it could be cheaper than 35L-50L at a government law school, but that does not take away that it is valuable.
- Education is a life long investment - 10 years down the line, when you will be making 50L-1cr if all goes well, your biggest regret will be being petty and stingy about the only investment that you needed to make to achieve the
- I was 17 when I joined the five year law program. The fee at the time seemed massive to me. I graduated to a salary of 6LPA. I switched a couple of years later to a pay check of 20-24 LPA. I currently expect to make 35-40 LPA at 27. Looking back, it has only been 4+ years since my graduation. I have been at the right place at the right time, however, in hindsight, I think not participating in the moot, not experiencing going to that conference, etc. were all myopic decisions. In a career spanning 30+ years, you will make a lot of money, short term loans and setbacks are irrelevant.
- Loans help you stabilise and stay grounded. Value the time you are there and work hard to ensure that you are building skills, network and discipline.
Don't be scared of loans, worst case scenario, you declare bankruptcy. Post that you still retain your degree and can probably get work anywhere because the institution is well recognised. Bad scenario - you figure out law is not what you want to practice - you still have a strong peer / alumni network to succeed in ancillary fields, especially because of the depth of your alum network (anyone graduated from Symbi is your network - it doesn't matter if it is al unorganised, people will be happy to sit and interact with you).
In my humble opinion, I think education loan - if you are considering it at all - is never risky, because you are already sold on the institution, your worry is the fees. Unless something incredibly goes wrong, I don't see anyone regretting that loan 10years down the line. It will look like a minor sum (just don't think about it if you intend to not make use of the degree or stay in a metro city).
This is a tough decision for you to make. I will give you my personal opinion as I did spend some time at Symbi Pune a while back before taking the CLAT/AILET again and switching to a T-1 NLU. I have seen some Symbi Pune kids saying that "Viman Nagar is a great place to spend five years and that you won't regret it if you join" but my experience was a bit different. I don't think taking an education loan for Symbi Pune is worth it.
Symbi Pune is a better college compared to other private colleges in India, but it isn't a great law school, rankings and all aside. The academic quality and exposure at the place is really not worth taking a loan for, in my personal experience. Their placement numbers aren't bad but getting 40 out of 300 students in T-1 firms is not great odds for you since such placements also depend on PPOs and connections as well and not merely Day-Zero recruitments (where firms actually come to college to interview and recruit). Law firms appear to be on a hiring spree lately and so the numbers are better than when I was there but it's no indication that you can easily land a T-1 law firm job from Symbi Pune (which is only way to pay off your loan in a short span of 2-3 years of working). Also, the one person who got Symbi's first vacation scheme offer in 2022 did so by his own initiative and not through the college's recruitment committee directly. There's an interview of this on SCC Online.
Also, when I was there, Symbi did not even offer any hostel facility except for some very connected nepo kids. I think the situation is largely still the same. So, you'll be spending 5 years having to worry about things like rent money, accommodation, food and even internship expenses in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, which will definitely distract you from your studies. Considering you'll have a loan issue, your academics should be the number one priority to land a good job/other opportunities.
Comparing it to another private law school like JGLS (which costs nearly twice as much), JGLS atleast includes the hostel facilities. I also feel that the academic quality of the JGLS faculty would allow you to access more opportunities over the five years like research initiatives which can add more value to your CV as well as enhance your understanding of the law (if you are a sincere student, of course). The faculty at Symbi aren't as great qualification and exposure-wise and won't be very effective when it comes to giving you recommendation letters, research opportunities, mooting guidance etc. A lot of that will require your own individual initiative through internships and alumni networking.
Personally, I would suggest you take up a decent govt. college, if that is an option, that does not require such a high amount of expenses, and preferably in your home town so you have more time to focus on your academics and aren't left burdened by the loan amount. Retake the CLAT since it is happening in 5 months this year and practice tests for landing a top-6 NLU. It is possible and not as seemingly difficult. Those colleges will ensure that taking a loan is worth it. Again, this is only my opinion, so good luck with whatever you choose.
It's really not worth it. The law is a difficult career for those who want to immediate return on investment. The package is also for those who get placed.
Many don't get placed and the college will simply say - Oh they 'opted' for litigation. That is not true. Many don't get placed. 100 percent placement is available only at top 5 NLUs.
Even if you get placed, the big bucks are there for those who are resilient enough to stick to a law firm job through really shitty times. Doing so with a loan on your head can really mess you up.
If you are able to get GLC or ILS, the investment is much lesser; but the returns (placement chances) are probably on par with Symbi. Places like Symbi, Christ and Jindal - a bunch of your fees is profits to the management.
Here are the items you should consider:
- A five year education in a law degree is a one time investment. Akin to a one time investment in a business / think of it as a one time investment in yourself, to get a professional certification, compound and pay out over your lifetime.
- SLS Pune is one of the oldest institution offering the degree with thousands of peers and reputation in the market. Jindal, Nirma, Christ, NMIMS, all these private institutions are well regarded nationally. If SLS Pune is your best choice, you have to set yourself up for success and take that chance, to have in place a personal brand, a decently good network and recognition! Remember - you are not just paying for education, but also for (i) good peer network; (ii) good alumni network; (iii) market reputation; (iv) building a personality shaped by experiences and exposures from people in all walks of life. Yes, it could be cheaper than 35L-50L at a government law school, but that does not take away that it is valuable.
- Education is a life long investment - 10 years down the line, when you will be making 50L-1cr if all goes well, your biggest regret will be being petty and stingy about the only investment that you needed to make to achieve the
- I was 17 when I joined the five year law program. The fee at the time seemed massive to me. I graduated to a salary of 6LPA. I switched a couple of years later to a pay check of 20-24 LPA. I currently expect to make 35-40 LPA at 27. Looking back, it has only been 4+ years since my graduation. I have been at the right place at the right time, however, in hindsight, I think not participating in the moot, not experiencing going to that conference, etc. were all myopic decisions. In a career spanning 30+ years, you will make a lot of money, short term loans and setbacks are irrelevant.
- Loans help you stabilise and stay grounded. Value the time you are there and work hard to ensure that you are building skills, network and discipline.
Don't be scared of loans, worst case scenario, you declare bankruptcy. Post that you still retain your degree and can probably get work anywhere because the institution is well recognised. Bad scenario - you figure out law is not what you want to practice - you still have a strong peer / alumni network to succeed in ancillary fields, especially because of the depth of your alum network (anyone graduated from Symbi is your network - it doesn't matter if it is al unorganised, people will be happy to sit and interact with you).
In my humble opinion, I think education loan - if you are considering it at all - is never risky, because you are already sold on the institution, your worry is the fees. Unless something incredibly goes wrong, I don't see anyone regretting that loan 10years down the line. It will look like a minor sum (just don't think about it if you intend to not make use of the degree or stay in a metro city).
Much love and best wishes for your success
Symbi Pune is a better college compared to other private colleges in India, but it isn't a great law school, rankings and all aside. The academic quality and exposure at the place is really not worth taking a loan for, in my personal experience. Their placement numbers aren't bad but getting 40 out of 300 students in T-1 firms is not great odds for you since such placements also depend on PPOs and connections as well and not merely Day-Zero recruitments (where firms actually come to college to interview and recruit). Law firms appear to be on a hiring spree lately and so the numbers are better than when I was there but it's no indication that you can easily land a T-1 law firm job from Symbi Pune (which is only way to pay off your loan in a short span of 2-3 years of working). Also, the one person who got Symbi's first vacation scheme offer in 2022 did so by his own initiative and not through the college's recruitment committee directly. There's an interview of this on SCC Online.
Also, when I was there, Symbi did not even offer any hostel facility except for some very connected nepo kids. I think the situation is largely still the same. So, you'll be spending 5 years having to worry about things like rent money, accommodation, food and even internship expenses in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, which will definitely distract you from your studies. Considering you'll have a loan issue, your academics should be the number one priority to land a good job/other opportunities.
Comparing it to another private law school like JGLS (which costs nearly twice as much), JGLS atleast includes the hostel facilities. I also feel that the academic quality of the JGLS faculty would allow you to access more opportunities over the five years like research initiatives which can add more value to your CV as well as enhance your understanding of the law (if you are a sincere student, of course). The faculty at Symbi aren't as great qualification and exposure-wise and won't be very effective when it comes to giving you recommendation letters, research opportunities, mooting guidance etc. A lot of that will require your own individual initiative through internships and alumni networking.
Personally, I would suggest you take up a decent govt. college, if that is an option, that does not require such a high amount of expenses, and preferably in your home town so you have more time to focus on your academics and aren't left burdened by the loan amount. Retake the CLAT since it is happening in 5 months this year and practice tests for landing a top-6 NLU. It is possible and not as seemingly difficult. Those colleges will ensure that taking a loan is worth it. Again, this is only my opinion, so good luck with whatever you choose.
Many don't get placed and the college will simply say - Oh they 'opted' for litigation. That is not true. Many don't get placed. 100 percent placement is available only at top 5 NLUs.
Even if you get placed, the big bucks are there for those who are resilient enough to stick to a law firm job through really shitty times. Doing so with a loan on your head can really mess you up.
If you are able to get GLC or ILS, the investment is much lesser; but the returns (placement chances) are probably on par with Symbi. Places like Symbi, Christ and Jindal - a bunch of your fees is profits to the management.