should you go to law school if you are under 21? Forum

[optimism2012]

im 19, entering in the fall


will i be a bar outcast?

[dood]

u are not worthy of my advice.

[optimism2012]

no. not being able to drink automatically excludes you from everything.

i just cant get in to the bars

[99.9luft]

what a baby. defer!

[bartleby]

im 19, entering in the fall

depends what your options are and what you want to do. if it's go to law school or sit at home and play xbox for 6 hours a day and "work" three days a week, then go to law school. if you can get a real job and work your 40+ per week and aren't in any real rush to go, don't go. if you can get a real job but really want to go to law school, then it is up to you.

[dood]

u are not worthy of my advice.

[optimism2012]

its not just bar review every thurs.
its:
the ski trip
barristers ball
your journal happy hours
the happy hours with your LRW section
meet & greets with profs
dinner/open houses with firms
moot court ceremony crap
networking receptions
thirsty thursdays
etc
etc

are they gonna check ids at these events? i doubt this

[Anomaly]

What are your goals? In any case, I say absolutely.

[MrPapagiorgio]

what a baby. defer!

This. You are already 2 years ahead of the usual straight from undergrad applicant. What is the rush? And yes, many law schools have a drinking culture that you may be excluded from.

[bbermud]

what a baby. defer!

This. You are already 2 years ahead of the usual straight from undergrad applicant. What is the rush? And yes, many law schools have a drinking culture that you may be excluded from.

+1. What's the rush on life? You're still a baby(no offense). Enjoy life before entering law school. Because after law school you wont be able to enjoy it much having to pay back law school loans. In the mean time, travel, join the peace corps, do whatever, just dont try to grow up so fast because you have your whole life ahead of you to work.

[Mickey Quicknumbers]

Just do something like this

[fatduck]

Just do something like this

average softs, decent shot at HYS with retake

[Sandro]

never understood why anyone 20 and under would start law school. Strange people.

[bbermud]

never understood why anyone 20 and under would start law school. Strange people.

make that 21/22

[99.9luft]

never understood why anyone 20 and under would start law school. Strange people.

asiandadmeme.jpg

[Sandro]

never understood why anyone 20 and under would start law school. Strange people.

make that 21/22

While I think taking a year off is a fantastic idea, I wouldnt call a 22 y/o in LS strange on the whole. Happens a bunch.

[dr123]

Take a few years off, I can imagine firms would be weary about hiring a 20 yr old as an SA

[westcoastcentric]

Live a little first, especially if your other option is a 40 hr/wk thing. Not being 21 is awkward and comes off as anti-social (even though it's obviously not your fault, you're doing your best to get there). Even when bars/events don't card, if you're drinking and you're underage, all your drinking buddies are tacitly complicit...and you seem like someone's little sibling that's hanging around.

[alexonfyre]

im 19, entering in the fall


will i be a bar outcast?

Take a couple years off to solve the world energy cancer poverty crisis earthquake and come back when you can drink. You can probably get into Yale Gold, which is the super-secret Yale for prodigies.

[Cade McNown]

No, don't do it. My roommate is 20 and a 1L at UCLA. IMHO he is too young for law school. The kid is a borderline genius (176, 4.0, graduated UG in 3 years) and most articulate person I know. BUT he is just not mature enough yet. Of course I myself am a 0L, so take this with a grain of salt, you will be no older than 20 when you need to look for your first important job (1L Summer). I can't imagine you have any significant work experience or experience interviewing, nor any of the corollary skills that come with experience (whatever those may be). Because you are going to law school to set up your future, I think you would be doing yourself a great disservice by jumping in before you're ready. Take a year or two to get some real work experience, and in your free time go live a little the way young people should. In that time you can earn some money to help with future loans as well, and there's a chance the legal market will have recovered a bit more. I'm not saying you won't succeed entering at age 19, but you will likely be in much better shape a couple of years from now, and though that might sound like a long time to you, it really is not.

[lawyerorbust]

I also am entering really young. I'm 21 in a month and have completed my undergrad degree in three years. Then again, I have traveled a lot, spent almost 10 years working menial jobs and I know that I want to do law. I am 100% sure, so if you feel just as confident, why postpone what you really are passionate about?

[predent/prelaw]

vag

[alexonfyre]

No, don't do it. My roommate is 20 and a 1L at UCLA. IMHO he is too young for law school. The kid is a borderline genius (176, 4.0, graduated UG in 3 years) and most articulate person I know. BUT he is just not mature enough yet. Of course I myself am a 0L, so take this with a grain of salt, you will be no older than 20 when you need to look for your first important job (1L Summer). I can't imagine you have any significant work experience or experience interviewing, nor any of the corollary skills that come with experience (whatever those may be). Because you are going to law school to set up your future, I think you would be doing yourself a great disservice by jumping in before you're ready. Take a year or two to get some real work experience, and in your free time go live a little the way young people should. In that time you can earn some money to help with future loans as well, and there's a chance the legal market will have recovered a bit more. I'm not saying you won't succeed entering at age 19, but you will likely be in much better shape a couple of years from now, and though that might sound like a long time to you, it really is not.

In all honesty, I have found that you can always move forward in life (Go to UG, Go to Law School, etc.) but you never go back. I was a couple of years ahead going into high school and college, and it proved to be my undoing. I was intellectually able to handle the material, but there is so much socially and emotionally that you can only learn by living life and has just as much of an effect on your progress and success as any grade or test. I personally had a complete emotional breakdown in the middle of college which pushed me back an entire year and ruined my GPA. I am still dealing with the repercussions of that and I am 23 now. If I had simply taken a year off, either before or during college, I could have saved myself, but I didn't and I regret it every day. A large portion of it was being unable to participate in things by being underage, and having no one around me who I could relate to. In the summers where my 20 year old college friends were getting internships and networking at social events, I was going to the 711 to buy my first pack of cigarettes and then choking on one and throwing the rest away. At 21, they were all going to bars with professors and mentors, enjoying the social life of a college student and I was hanging out outside, talking with the cop about his ex-wives (His name was Barry.)
There are plenty of kids who are introverts and are happiest by themselves buried in a book and live only to tackle the next challenge, and for them, all of this is irrelevant. If you are like me, and you enjoy being with people and experiencing life outside of school and work as much as in it, then I would recommend that you take this opportunity to do something unique and fun, then come back when you can fit in better. I hear that law schools really like to see things like Peace Corps on the resume.

[Sean1269]

depends on what your options are. Law schools is a blast. For 6 of the first 15 weeks of each semester you don't really do anything except for a few legal writing assignments. If you are debating whether you want to work 40 hours per weeks week or you want to go to law school, I would say law school, it takes less than 40 hours a week most of the time. Plus you can do fun study programs in other countries. If you're worried about getting hired 1L summer, don't be. I am a few years younger than most of my classmates and did fine, at the end of the day good grades trump. So get good grades.

Alternatively, if your other option is to travel, "work" a little bit, and experience life, do that. It will be WAY WAY more fun than law school. I would lean into taking a year off though, purely for maturity reasons.

[CanadianWolf]

If your only option as a 19 year old college graduate is paying full tuition at Syracuse law school, then you might want to wait a year or two & consider retaking the LSAT.

Otherwise it depends upon the individual's experience & maturity level as well as examing other options being considered.