Top Law Schools

Does anyone else feel this? I graduated UG a year ago and I ended up spending the year studying for the LSAT and working a pretty nice government job. All said and done I will be attending a "T30" with a large scholarship and the $ I made I can use to graduate without any debts which will also allow me to pocket my SA money if there is any. However, I see a lot of my friends who went the consulting route already making 60-70K per year and moving up the latter. I sort of feel like I am getting left behind and have possibly been passed by them in terms of earnings and career. Has anyone else had an issue with this? or is this just me being a young immature 23 year old?

Maxmillion wrote:I sort of feel like I am getting left behind and have possibly been passed by them in terms of earnings and career. Has anyone else had an issue with this? or is this just me being a young immature 23 year old?

While you are no where near biglaw secure from a "T30", your substantial scholarship should put you in a great position. Most of your friends in consulting will top out around 100k with just an undergrad degree and will have to go to get an MBA or transfer to industry. I wouldn't worry too much about being left behind.

Maxmillion wrote:Does anyone else feel this? I graduated UG a year ago and I ended up spending the year studying for the LSAT and working a pretty nice government job. All said and done I will be attending a "T30" with a large scholarship and the $ I made I can use to graduate without any debts which will also allow me to pocket my SA money if there is any. However, I see a lot of my friends who went the consulting route already making 60-70K per year and moving up the latter. I sort of feel like I am getting left behind and have possibly been passed by them in terms of earnings and career. Has anyone else had an issue with this? or is this just me being a young immature 23 year old?

There will always be someone who is smarter, richer, more attractive, and more respected than you. I wouldn't bet your happiness on these things and comparing yourself to other people, especially people who've made significantly different career choices. (I know, it's really hard though. I often think about my doctor friends and wonder what if. Then I realize I would hate to be looking at gross diseased people and touching blood & guts all day.)

At the end of the day, you just need to enjoy your job and find it meaningful, make enough money to live well, and be with people you like.

Edited to include this - PS - By the way, your consulting friends won't ever be able to practice law unless they go to law school, but you can always go into consulting if you'd like. Look at Ken - he's a JD but later went into real estate and is now enjoying extraordinary success, but no non-JD real estate agent would be able to go into law. So you already have an advantage over your peers.

Don't feed it, it has already eaten. No second rounds allowed.

"...and moving up the latter." Although I think that you meant "ladder", "latter" works.

Blessedassurance wrote:Don't feed it, it has already eaten. No second rounds allowed.

haha!! Now I regret my original answer. Too thoughtful and earnest. I should've said he should be feeling inadequate, duh. Look at those fancy McKinsey kids, earning all that dough without an advanced degree. You know, punishment and/or negative reinforcement (ignoring him) would've been better.

schooner wrote:

Maxmillion wrote:Does anyone else feel this? I graduated UG a year ago and I ended up spending the year studying for the LSAT and working a pretty nice government job. All said and done I will be attending a "T30" with a large scholarship and the $ I made I can use to graduate without any debts which will also allow me to pocket my SA money if there is any. However, I see a lot of my friends who went the consulting route already making 60-70K per year and moving up the latter. I sort of feel like I am getting left behind and have possibly been passed by them in terms of earnings and career. Has anyone else had an issue with this? or is this just me being a young immature 23 year old?

There will always be someone who is smarter, richer, more attractive, and more respected than you.

schooner wrote:Look at Ken

Maxmillion wrote:Does anyone else feel this? I graduated UG a year ago and I ended up spending the year studying for the LSAT and working a pretty nice government job. All said and done I will be attending a "T30" with a large scholarship and the $ I made I can use to graduate without any debts which will also allow me to pocket my SA money if there is any. However, I see a lot of my friends who went the consulting route already making 60-70K per year and moving up the latter. I sort of feel like I am getting left behind and have possibly been passed by them in terms of earnings and career. Has anyone else had an issue with this? or is this just me being a young immature 23 year old?

First, you are asking the wrong crowd. Almost everyone here is biased towards attending law school.

Second, you are not being immature; you are just starting to see reality: the labor market for lawyers sucks, and it will suck for a long time. Why go that route when you can do much better things?

I totally understand this. My friends are all successful, have homes, cars, make over $100k. One went to University of Phoenix, the other dropped out. I'm in law school, unemployed, with far more education than they both have.

schooner wrote:

Blessedassurance wrote:Don't feed it, it has already eaten. No second rounds allowed.

haha!! Now I regret my original answer. Too thoughtful and earnest. I should've said he should be feeling inadequate, duh. Look at those fancy McKinsey kids, earning all that dough without an advanced degree. You know, punishment and/or negative reinforcement (ignoring him) would've been better.

I am assuming I am being called out for being a "troll." However, I am serious when I say that seeing my friends starting their career and me heading back for 3 more years of school does not sit all too well at times. I know it is for the best but I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way.

Maxmillion wrote:I am assuming I am being called out for being a "troll." However, I am serious when I say that seeing my friends starting their career and me heading back for 3 more years of school does not sit all too well at times. I know it is for the best but I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way.

My advice: call your friends and see if they can hook you up with one of their jobs.

Wait a minute...you're 23 and you're whining because you don't make 70k right out of UG? You don't have a big house and a nice car right out of school? You have to make due with a lowly government job? That's terrible! Really? Get some work experience and get some perspective.

Sack up, my man. Whining is not becoming of you.

scammedhard wrote:

Maxmillion wrote:I am assuming I am being called out for being a "troll." However, I am serious when I say that seeing my friends starting their career and me heading back for 3 more years of school does not sit all too well at times. I know it is for the best but I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way.

My advice: call your friends and see if they can hook you up with one of their jobs.

I do that now.

...

To OP: re-fucking-lax.

I'm turning 27 in September and I'll be in the application cycle for next year's fall class (meaning I'll turn 28 right after I start). You're 23. I'm not sure about you, but I'm very happy I took the time away from school, started working professionally in the field to make sure I enjoyed it, developed the understanding that student loans are not these magical nebulous things that you get to ignore for the rest of your life, and simply enjoyed life before finally saying yes to becoming an attorney. I even had my first LSAT score expire (that was NOT planned though...it was a very fun moment when I realized I had to take the damn thing again) before I made this decision. I personally feel like WAY too many people jump into law school because they "don't know what else to do," which is not a good reason to go to law school. It's hard, it tends to cost a lot of money, and you have to sacrifice other parts of your life in order to do it. This was a natural progression that I knew I'd eventually end up doing even before the market tanked, but still, saying goodbye to an income and spending ludicrous amounts of money is not something to be taken lightly.

So while it may appear like everyone you know around you has it great, keep it in perspective. First off, they may not even like what they do but they're so stuck in it now that they have no choice but to keep going. Second, this isn't about them; it's about you and what you want to do.

To OP,

Are you really 23 or are you wondering if your behavior is comparable to an immature 23 year old? Sorry for calling you a troll if you really aren't.

I feel like this post could have been written by me...

Maxmillion wrote:Does anyone else feel this? I graduated UG a year ago and I ended up spending the year studying for the LSAT and working a pretty nice government job. All said and done I will be attending a "T30" with a large scholarship and the $ I made I can use to graduate without any debts which will also allow me to pocket my SA money if there is any. However, I see a lot of my friends who went the consulting route already making 60-70K per year and moving up the latter. I sort of feel like I am getting left behind and have possibly been passed by them in terms of earnings and career. Has anyone else had an issue with this? or is this just me being a young immature 23 year old?

Umm, don't worry about it, consulting adds and cuts jobs like they're eating and going the bathroom. The industry changes basically month by month as new products are released. Not sure what a T30 is, but sounds like you're graduating with no debt, so... go kill it and get a job.

Blessedassurance wrote:To OP,

Are you really 23 or are you wondering if your behavior is comparable to an immature 23 year old? Sorry for calling you a troll if you really aren't.

Are you retarded? You're the troll, stop posting.

There are two types of people in this world: (1) doctors and med students, and (2) those that couldn't get into med school.

We must accept our lot in life.

ahduth wrote:

Maxmillion wrote:Does anyone else feel this? I graduated UG a year ago and I ended up spending the year studying for the LSAT and working a pretty nice government job. All said and done I will be attending a "T30" with a large scholarship and the $ I made I can use to graduate without any debts which will also allow me to pocket my SA money if there is any. However, I see a lot of my friends who went the consulting route already making 60-70K per year and moving up the latter. I sort of feel like I am getting left behind and have possibly been passed by them in terms of earnings and career. Has anyone else had an issue with this? or is this just me being a young immature 23 year old?

Umm, don't worry about it, consulting adds and cuts jobs like they're eating and going the bathroom. The industry changes basically month by month as new products are released. Not sure what a T30 is, but sounds like you're graduating with no debt, so... go kill it and get a job.

Blessedassurance wrote:To OP,

Are you really 23 or are you wondering if your behavior is comparable to an immature 23 year old? Sorry for calling you a troll if you really aren't.

Are you retarded? You're the troll, stop posting.

Really? What is this, Dr Phil? If a grown ass man is searching for answers to questions for which he's better off consulting a shrink, it is within reason to question the legitimacy of his/her story and clarify any ambiguous parts.

"Is this normal or am I being a whiny teenager?"

The above could mean one is actually a teenager or one is asking if his/her behavior could be interpreted as being similar to a "whiny teenager".

...

Yes, I am 23. Most of my friends have jobs with delloite or pwc. The t30 meant a school ranked in the top 30 or now, 25.

Maxmillion wrote:Yes, I am 23. Most of my friends have jobs with delloite or pwc. The t30 meant a school ranked in the top 30 or now, 25.

I know that the decision to attend (or not) law school is a hard one, and I think in TLS you are most likely going to get wishful and overly optimistic thinking about it. On top of that, TLSers understand little about the actual legal profession as they have not yet graduated from law school (or even attended it). Therefore, I think it would be valuable for you to get the opinions from actual JDs at "JD Underground" (--LinkRemoved--).
Good luck.

I must say I don't get this shit. This whole "giving up 3 years of income" BS. What do you want to DO with your life? If you want to be a lawyer, I seriously doubt that at 45, after 20 years of practice, you will be saying "shit, if only I had made that 70k 20 years ago"
Life is long bro, NOTHING has passed you by at 26. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a pussy. The only question you should be asking yourself is do you want to be an attorney. I yes, go to law school, if not, don't. But don't make any decisions based on the next three years of potential earnings.

kwais wrote:I must say I don't get this shit. This whole "giving up 3 years of income" BS. What do you want to DO with your life? If you want to be a lawyer, I seriously doubt that at 45, after 20 years of practice, you will be saying "shit, if only I had made that 70k 20 years ago"
Life is long bro, NOTHING has passed you by at 26. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a pussy. The only question you should be asking yourself is do you want to be an attorney. I yes, go to law school, if not, don't. But don't make any decisions based on the next three years of potential earnings.

Only the next three years? Going to law school (or not) impacts one's career prospects for the remainder of one's career, not just three years. I think that is the main issue here.