Externships worthless? Forum
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
-
- Posts: 428117
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Externships worthless?
After you already have an SA, if you don't want to clerk, is doing an in-semester externship worth it? I hear they are often more work than a class of equivalent units.
-
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2011 2:12 pm
Re: Externships worthless?
I've actually heard the opposite in terms of workload. To each his own. I think with a SA in hand, the only reason I would do one is for the pass/fail aspect of them so as to not mess up the GPA.Anonymous User wrote:After you already have an SA, if you don't want to clerk, is doing an in-semester externship worth it? I hear they are often more work than a class of equivalent units.
-
- Posts: 4249
- Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 3:23 am
Re: Externships worthless?
Absolutely worth it in most cases. Yes, it will probably be more work that it's worth in credit hours. But, it will be the only time in all of your law schooling that anyone teaches you anything about how to be a lawyer. And, just as with anything else, you are going to need to do things a certain number of times before you are competent at them. Plus, more practice will always make you better. You're better off getting some of this learning curve out of the way before you start your real job, and externships can be a good way to do this.
- erico
- Posts: 232
- Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 1:56 am
Re: Externships worthless?
Also a good networking opportunity.
-
- Posts: 4249
- Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 3:23 am
Re: Externships worthless?
Also true.erico wrote:Also a good networking opportunity.
Want to continue reading?
Register now to search topics and post comments!
Absolutely FREE!
Already a member? Login
-
- Posts: 428117
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: Externships worthless?
they can actually be fun and interesting, and when finals come you have 1 less final for the same number of total semester credits.
- pleasetryagain
- Posts: 754
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 1:04 am
Re: Externships worthless?
Agreed - this is what your entire third year should be imo. My school has a dumb policy that caps the number of external credit hours you can have at a very low number (maybe this is standard, idk). Since I already maxed out I can't do another externship this spring (or at least have it count towards graduation). So instead of actually learning things and meeting people that will be useful to my career I get to sit in a boring class taught by a boring academic about the "doctrinal" areas of a subject that no one cares about/uses/are now mostly irrelevant (entirely irrelevant in my desired field).Renzo wrote: it will be the only time in all of your law schooling that anyone teaches you anything about how to be a lawyer.
/bitter rant.
-
- Posts: 428117
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: Externships worthless?
My law school does the same thing (maybe even the same school). My method has been to do internships without credit. Some agencies require you to earn credit, but many if not most are more than happy to have you work 8-16 hours a week without pay and without credit. My school will even count it towards pro bono credit even if you can't get academic credit.pleasetryagain wrote:Agreed - this is what your entire third year should be imo. My school has a dumb policy that caps the number of external credit hours you can have at a very low number (maybe this is standard, idk). Since I already maxed out I can't do another externship this spring (or at least have it count towards graduation). So instead of actually learning things and meeting people that will be useful to my career I get to sit in a boring class taught by a boring academic about the "doctrinal" areas of a subject that no one cares about/uses/are now mostly irrelevant (entirely irrelevant in my desired field).Renzo wrote: it will be the only time in all of your law schooling that anyone teaches you anything about how to be a lawyer.
/bitter rant.
-
- Posts: 1245
- Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:24 pm
Re: Externships worthless?
It also depends on what you want to do. In EDNY and SDNY, if you want to come in as an AUSA from biglaw at a relatively junior level (3-4 years out of school) it's a virtual prerequisite that you have a demonstrated interest in prosecution. The way most people do this is through externships/internships.
-
- Posts: 428117
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: Externships worthless?
OP here. I guess I'll try to do a couple. Thought some people would argue downsides, but I guess not .
- IAFG
- Posts: 6641
- Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2009 1:26 pm
Re: Externships worthless?
"More work than normal classes" seems like a pretty big glaring downside to me. At my school it's an auto-A but if yours is just P/F I would skip it.Anonymous User wrote:OP here. I guess I'll try to do a couple. Thought some people would argue downsides, but I guess not .
-
- Posts: 428117
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: Externships worthless?
It is P/F. You're only required like 10-15 hours a week but most people say they end up doing 20-30 hours. I do like playing xbox360 but I don't want people at my firm to think I suck because all I did was take classes...IAFG wrote:"More work than normal classes" seems like a pretty big glaring downside to me. At my school it's an auto-A but if yours is just P/F I would skip it.Anonymous User wrote:OP here. I guess I'll try to do a couple. Thought some people would argue downsides, but I guess not .
-
- Posts: 428117
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: Externships worthless?
I've done three internships so far in law school and never had one run over the stated hours commitment. I had a friend who did three at considerably more prestigious agencies and she was working many weekends/evenings. It really depends.Anonymous User wrote:It is P/F. You're only required like 10-15 hours a week but most people say they end up doing 20-30 hours. I do like playing xbox360 but I don't want people at my firm to think I suck because all I did was take classes...IAFG wrote:"More work than normal classes" seems like a pretty big glaring downside to me. At my school it's an auto-A but if yours is just P/F I would skip it.Anonymous User wrote:OP here. I guess I'll try to do a couple. Thought some people would argue downsides, but I guess not .
-
- Posts: 428117
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: Externships worthless?
I've done 3 externships, the last of which was volunteer because I found the previous 2 so god damn useful. You will come to realize how absolutely useless your classes are once you do them. I couldn't recommend them more. I am admittedly biased, though, because I love that kind of work and ultimately would love to be a staff attorney.
Also, I got a LOR from one of my judges that my current employer said was the reason they hired me. Obviously not that important in your case, but a LOR from a judge is a very good thing to have, in my opinion.
Also, I got a LOR from one of my judges that my current employer said was the reason they hired me. Obviously not that important in your case, but a LOR from a judge is a very good thing to have, in my opinion.
Register now!
Resources to assist law school applicants, students & graduates.
It's still FREE!
Already a member? Login