I'm considering becoming a lawyer
Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 12:39 am
Okay, so there are a few things I will be talking and asking about in this post. For some background, I'm currently a high school student in California, about to start my senior year. I will likely attend UCLA for undergrad, though my dream school is Stanford, and while I do think I have a shot at being accepted there, I probably won't. If I don't become a lawyer I will almost definitely become a software engineer. Those are really the only two careers I am considering at this point. If I do become a lawyer, I am mainly interested in becoming either a public defender or prosecutor here in California. So unlike many other prospective lawyers I'm not really interested in getting a $160,000 a year job at a huge firm. Also, just an fyi, I'm not too worried about having to go in debt for student loans, because I stand to inherit about half a million from my grandparents once they, well, you know. So once that happens (not that I want it to happen, but its a fact of life) I'd be able to easily repay my debt.
So my first question is, how good of a law school would I need to attend to have a reasonable chance of landing a public defender or prosecutor job in California? I've heard law schools are separated into "top 14", "tier 1", "tier 2" and so on, but what level would I need to be accepted to in order to obtain the job I want? Given my overall level of intelligence and success in academics so far, I'm fairly certain I could get into a tier 1 school, and quite possibly even a top 14 school, but I can't really be sure of anything right now, or take anything for granted, considering I haven't even began college yet.
My second question is, what should I major in? Before I was considering becoming a lawyer, I was simply planning on becoming a computer science major. Which obviously could still work even if I go to law school afterwards. But the thing is, considering how hard I'm sure law school is, and considering that major doesn't really affect one's chances of getting into law school, I might rather just have an easier liberal arts major, probably political science (I'm really interested in politics). Additionally, I'd probably have a bit of a higher gpa with that major, meaning I'd have a little bit better chance of getting accepted into a top law school. But on the other hand, if I don't get into a top law school (read: one good enough to give me a good chance at the jobs I want), then I won't waste my money and attend law school, and if that happens, a political science degree would be useless, while a computer science degree would still allow me to be a software engineer. Another problem is that if I want to be a political science major, I'd have to decide for sure that I want to become a lawyer in about a year, and I'm not sure if I could make a decision in that time frame. So I'm really unsure of what my college major should be.
For me, at least, those two questions are related. If, for example, there is a good chance that I could get into a law school that would allow me to get a job as a public defender or prosecutor (i.e. If I'd only need to go to a tier 2 school), then I would probably major in political science. But if I'd need to get into a Top 14 school to have a shot at landing one of those jobs, then I'd major in computer science, since I would definitely need a backup plan.
So yeah, thats basically all I wanted to ask for now. Any answers would be much appreciated.
So my first question is, how good of a law school would I need to attend to have a reasonable chance of landing a public defender or prosecutor job in California? I've heard law schools are separated into "top 14", "tier 1", "tier 2" and so on, but what level would I need to be accepted to in order to obtain the job I want? Given my overall level of intelligence and success in academics so far, I'm fairly certain I could get into a tier 1 school, and quite possibly even a top 14 school, but I can't really be sure of anything right now, or take anything for granted, considering I haven't even began college yet.
My second question is, what should I major in? Before I was considering becoming a lawyer, I was simply planning on becoming a computer science major. Which obviously could still work even if I go to law school afterwards. But the thing is, considering how hard I'm sure law school is, and considering that major doesn't really affect one's chances of getting into law school, I might rather just have an easier liberal arts major, probably political science (I'm really interested in politics). Additionally, I'd probably have a bit of a higher gpa with that major, meaning I'd have a little bit better chance of getting accepted into a top law school. But on the other hand, if I don't get into a top law school (read: one good enough to give me a good chance at the jobs I want), then I won't waste my money and attend law school, and if that happens, a political science degree would be useless, while a computer science degree would still allow me to be a software engineer. Another problem is that if I want to be a political science major, I'd have to decide for sure that I want to become a lawyer in about a year, and I'm not sure if I could make a decision in that time frame. So I'm really unsure of what my college major should be.
For me, at least, those two questions are related. If, for example, there is a good chance that I could get into a law school that would allow me to get a job as a public defender or prosecutor (i.e. If I'd only need to go to a tier 2 school), then I would probably major in political science. But if I'd need to get into a Top 14 school to have a shot at landing one of those jobs, then I'd major in computer science, since I would definitely need a backup plan.
So yeah, thats basically all I wanted to ask for now. Any answers would be much appreciated.