To go or not to go to law school that is the question. Forum

[MTal]

There are about a billion other things you can do to advance yourself that don't involve getting a law degree.

[TNFSkier16]

Isn't the Maxwell School at Syracuse the top MPA program in the country ? Also, isn't a joint JD/MPA available at Syracuse ?

Roger. That's what I want to do. I'd feel that at least be respectable in gov't/ fed contracting circles.

[crossarmant]

Hold out for William and Mary, if you don't get in then keep your job. You don't seem to insanely keen on being a lawyer, more of just flirting with the idea. Unless you're really gung-ho about it, stick with your solid paycheck. I'd kill to be making that out of undergrad, but psych degrees are a little hard to get work with that pay more than $35k.

An MBA or some other graduate degree would probably be more useful to you anyways.

[58103]

If you have to ask, then the answer is no.

[mebeSajid]

4 years. 2 as a paralegal. 2 as a consultant working with project management for a high profile gov't agency dealing with Homeland Security.

As someone who worked as a consultant for six years (and a PM for the last two of those) and ended up going to law school: get an MBA unless you're totally committed to being a lawyer. It opens a lot more doors for you than law school does.

Note: I didn't get an MBA because my heart wasn't in the work anymore - I actually wanted to be a lawyer.

[Bill Cosby]

In that case the best course of action here would be to go if you get in (and do whatever possible to get in, visit the campus, see if you can set up an interview, write a nice LOCI/why W&M), but if you don't keep working for a few years and save up money. Get in some solid LSAT prep and try taking the LSAT one more time in a year or two. You'll have money and be in a better position all around than if you just went to Syracuse now.

Definitely scratch Syracuse. I mostly agree with NYC here, although I think you'd be better off long-term passing on law school altogether this year and focus on improving your LSAT and making a push for next year/year after. If you've already made W&M's waitlist with your current numbers, a few more points could absolutely seal the deal.

edit: posted before I saw what you went through for W&M and your test history. I still thinking waiting is the best option, but now I think W&M lets you in, probably a good idea to go.

Unless he has some killer soft he isn't tell us about, he'd need more than a few points to get in. I was waitlisted with 163 and a higher GPA.

[TNFSkier16]

No killer softs. Just normal work experience. I'm not passionate about my current job and figured that getting an advanced degree like a JD/MPA would open a lot of doors to me. Namely government relations or even business development.

Edit: Strongest part of my application is a year of work experience working as a paralegal for one of Obama's czars - and he writing a LOR. That's bout it.

[mpj_3050]

In the name of all that is holy stay at your job. I'd kill for a 50k job right now. Friend of mine does something similar to you and bitches about it all the time despite it being incredibly easy and less than 40 hours a week.

There few decent paying jobs right now and you have one of them so stay.

[crossarmant]

No killer softs. Just normal work experience. I'm not passionate about my current job and figured that getting an advanced degree like a JD/MPA would open a lot of doors to me. Namely government relations or even business development.

Edit: Strongest part of my application is a year of work experience working as a paralegal for one of Obama's czars - and he writing a LOR. That's bout it.

Wrong reason to go to law school. For the love of all that is holy, stay where you are then. An MBA will do a lot more for you and cost less. Only go to law school if you WANT to be a lawyer. Other reasons are asanine and are the reason that 1. Law schools are overflowing with grads, 2. Supply of lawyers far outpaces demand, 3. Most attorneys are dissatisfied with attorney work.

Seriously, with a $50k salary now, 3 years of working hard, getting an MBA you can make a lot more and move up quickly enough. A J.D. is not the right answer.

[FlanSolo]

I'm a 0L so take my advice with a healthy grain of salt, but if you want to go to law school to enhance your career prospects you probably need to work harder on the LSAT so that you're scoring in your practice range. Maybe it's test anxiety?

I really don't want to sound mean (indeed, I'm in a similar situation at a T14), you were probably put on the wait list at W&M because they don't want to piss off the person who wrote your LOR with an outright reject. If you're in the mid 160s where you PTed, you have a very legitimate shot - especially with all your demonstrated interest. But at 156 and a 3.1, you're probably not getting into W&M unless you are the person who wrote your LOR.

[TNFSkier16]

I'm a 0L so take my advice with a healthy grain of salt, but if you want to go to law school to enhance your career prospects you probably need to work harder on the LSAT so that you're scoring in your practice range. Maybe it's test anxiety?

I really don't want to sound mean (indeed, I'm in a similar situation at a T14), you were probably put on the wait list at W&M because they don't want to piss off the person who wrote your LOR with an outright reject. If you're in the mid 160s where you PTed, you have a very legitimate shot - especially with all your demonstrated interest. But at 156 and a 3.1, you're probably not getting into W&M unless you are the person who wrote your LOR.

Makes sense. Eh I'll stick it out at my job and get a PMP then an MBA.

[fingersxd]

Isn't the Maxwell School at Syracuse the top MPA program in the country ? Also, isn't a joint JD/MPA available at Syracuse ?

Screw the JD. Get the MPA and be glad you saved yourself all the debt.