Got a 160 on LSAT diagnostic but not going to law school Forum

[Clyde Frog]

OP, if you're pulling Bs in hard science, I think you're doing pretty well. I'd say stick it out. I made a decision when I started undergrad that I would pick a major I could get As in, because I wanted my GPA as high as possible for law school. Now I'm stuck with English and Philosophy. If I could go back and do it differently, I would have chosen something more practical. Become a doctor, nurse, dentist, whatever and enjoy job security.

Everyone on these boards discuss job security in regards to law as if is this elusive unpredictable thing. Not to be rude but I honestly dont see law this way. Sure its difficult but I've worked at two law firms and the current one I am at I work closely with the senior partner who is the international defense council for some fortune 500 companies. That being said he knows a lot of lawyers and I generally get to pick the brain of most every law-student/ lawyer he knows and I've reached a conclusion. As long as your not a lazy/weak/unreasonable person and your willing to work hard there will always be jobs for you. A lot of people want to start at the top and thats just not how law works. Law is a stepladder system where you have to work from bottom up. The only limit to your success is your willingness to learn/evolve as a lawyer. That being said it definately is not for everyone but I think this is important when considering what field to pursue. Don't let "job security" scare you from a potentially dream job!

What the fuck. Please don't propagate once-true anecdotes from the golden era as the present reality. It's highly misleading. Lots of people want to start at the fucking BOTTOM and can't find a single job. Do you think 40% of law students are just too lazy? That's borderline "Just World" thinking. It's an awful fallacy. Plenty of people do everything right and don't get anything. Honestly, unless this is some sort of elaborate joke, you should stop trying to give people advice.

"Pick the brain" of a few lawyers under age 30, for starters.

1. Your way out of line and need to real your atrocious attitude in a bit considering I was only offering the information I have
2. Don't be a dick
3. Don't be an ass
4. All the lawyers I talked with were between the age of 27 and 40

Take a glance at this http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=192753

It's a thread on here for all those struggling to find legal employment.

[sfoglia]

OP, you mention that you are suited to and enjoy writing. I'm wondering if, rather than remaining pre-med, you take the majority of your science requisites, but declare an English major. Minor in Chemistry, Biology, Psychology, whatever. It's my understanding that English majors actually tend to do quite well on the MCAT, and an English background will certainly be beneficial for the LSAT, as well. Just a thought.

My personal experience? I rushed into graduate school immediately after receiving my bachelor's, with complete confidence that I knew exactly what I wanted to do. The truth is that it requires a profound amount of self-awareness to commit yourself to a profession at the age of twenty-two, twenty-three, and, while I don't regret a minute of my schooling, I do know that if I had the opportunity to do it again, I would not do it the same way.

[Azelais]

I resurrected this account to post anon in some legal employment forums and came across this thread which I created six years ago. My personal message to anyone who may be struggling to decide between careers:

FOLLOW YOUR HEART!!!

Because when there's a will, there's a way. I'm now a student at a T3 and couldn't be happier that I chose law over medicine.

Edit: and to those who are discouraged about retaking or the prospect of retaking, I took the LSAT three times before I got accepted into my dream school don't give up, and keep your eyes on the prize

[dabigchina]

I resurrected this account to post anon in some legal employment forums and came across this thread which I created six years ago. My personal message to anyone who may be struggling to decide between careers:

FOLLOW YOUR HEART!!!

Because when there's a will, there's a way. I'm now a student at a T3 and couldn't be happier that I chose law over medicine.

Edit: and to those who are discouraged about retaking or the prospect of retaking, I took the LSAT three times before I got accepted into my dream school don't give up, and keep your eyes on the prize

Wait until you start practicing.

[Azelais]

I resurrected this account to post anon in some legal employment forums and came across this thread which I created six years ago. My personal message to anyone who may be struggling to decide between careers:

FOLLOW YOUR HEART!!!

Because when there's a will, there's a way. I'm now a student at a T3 and couldn't be happier that I chose law over medicine.

Edit: and to those who are discouraged about retaking or the prospect of retaking, I took the LSAT three times before I got accepted into my dream school don't give up, and keep your eyes on the prize

Wait until you start practicing.

Hmm...you sound like someone who should've spent more time thinking about what career you want to go into

I spent years working in law firms as a paralegal and practicing as a patent agent, a job that basically involves everything that a patent prosecution attorney does (you just can't litigate or give certain business advice, which is why I'm now in law school). I would be more careful in the future before making assumptions--it's only the Internet, but comments like yours (especially in real life) can come back to bite you in the butt if you happen to be speaking to the wrong person.

Hope everyone else realizes the main point of my recent post, which is to pursue your dreams and not give up even when the road gets tough and you feel discouraged <3

[dabigchina]

I resurrected this account to post anon in some legal employment forums and came across this thread which I created six years ago. My personal message to anyone who may be struggling to decide between careers:

FOLLOW YOUR HEART!!!

Because when there's a will, there's a way. I'm now a student at a T3 and couldn't be happier that I chose law over medicine.

Edit: and to those who are discouraged about retaking or the prospect of retaking, I took the LSAT three times before I got accepted into my dream school don't give up, and keep your eyes on the prize

Wait until you start practicing.

Hmm...you sound like someone who should've spent more time thinking about what career you want to go into

I spent years working in law firms as a paralegal and practicing as a patent agent, a job that basically involves everything that a patent prosecution attorney does (you just can't litigate or give certain business advice, which is why I'm now in law school). I would be more careful in the future before making assumptions--it's only the Internet, but comments like yours (especially in real life) can come back to bite you in the butt if you happen to be speaking to the wrong person.

Hope everyone else realizes the main point of my recent post, which is to pursue your dreams and not give up even when the road gets tough and you feel discouraged <3

I love it when law students talk down to practicing lawyers on this forum. The fact that my comment got to you this badly tells me you don't handle criticism well, which is a huge problem if you want to be successful as a junior lawyer

[mysonx3]

I resurrected this account to post anon in some legal employment forums and came across this thread which I created six years ago. My personal message to anyone who may be struggling to decide between careers:

FOLLOW YOUR HEART!!!

Because when there's a will, there's a way. I'm now a student at a T3 and couldn't be happier that I chose law over medicine.

Edit: and to those who are discouraged about retaking or the prospect of retaking, I took the LSAT three times before I got accepted into my dream school don't give up, and keep your eyes on the prize

Wait until you start practicing.

Hmm...you sound like someone who should've spent more time thinking about what career you want to go into

I spent years working in law firms as a paralegal and practicing as a patent agent, a job that basically involves everything that a patent prosecution attorney does (you just can't litigate or give certain business advice, which is why I'm now in law school). I would be more careful in the future before making assumptions--it's only the Internet, but comments like yours (especially in real life) can come back to bite you in the butt if you happen to be speaking to the wrong person.

Hope everyone else realizes the main point of my recent post, which is to pursue your dreams and not give up even when the road gets tough and you feel discouraged <3

I think the underlying point is salient - you have no idea how your career will go, so it's foolish to declare victory already. I wish you all the best, but you haven't won yet.

[QContinuum]

I resurrected this account to post anon in some legal employment forums and came across this thread which I created six years ago. My personal message to anyone who may be struggling to decide between careers:

FOLLOW YOUR HEART!!!

Because when there's a will, there's a way. I'm now a student at a T3 and couldn't be happier that I chose law over medicine.

Edit: and to those who are discouraged about retaking or the prospect of retaking, I took the LSAT three times before I got accepted into my dream school don't give up, and keep your eyes on the prize

Wait until you start practicing.

Hmm...you sound like someone who should've spent more time thinking about what career you want to go into

I spent years working in law firms as a paralegal and practicing as a patent agent, a job that basically involves everything that a patent prosecution attorney does (you just can't litigate or give certain business advice, which is why I'm now in law school). I would be more careful in the future before making assumptions--it's only the Internet, but comments like yours (especially in real life) can come back to bite you in the butt if you happen to be speaking to the wrong person.

Hope everyone else realizes the main point of my recent post, which is to pursue your dreams and not give up even when the road gets tough and you feel discouraged <3

I believe dabigchina's concern, which I share, is that your initial post, however well-intentioned, may be misleading and harmful to 0Ls. "Following your heart" to a T3 law school is, for the vast majority of 0Ls, an awful "strategy".

Obviously, as with most every rule, there are exceptions, and one of the reasons why attending a T3 law school may make sense is if one is already working at a law firm as a patent agent and is attending law school with their firm's blessing/financial sponsorship. For patent agents, technical background matters far more than law school prestige*. But the vast majority of 0Ls are not patent agents (and don't have the requisite technical background anyway, so couldn't become patent agents even if they wanted to), and so your initial post would be harmful to those 0Ls who are in a very different position than the one you were in when you matriculated to law school.

[*Even then, law school prestige still matters. It matters especially if one is interested, as you indicate you might be, in becoming a patent litigator. And even staying in prosecution, a T13/T20 J.D. would be a significant "boost" in any future job search, vis-a-vis a T3 J.D.]

[Azelais]

Okay, so I think my post ended up being construed extremely differently than what I intentioned. Perhaps I should not have mentioned being in law school at all, let alone anything about which law school I am at. I think if I just said my LSAT score, that would have done a better job at conveying what my point was--which is that you should work hard to achieve whatever goals you have and celebrate the small victories along the way.

The point is, I took the LSAT three times and went through two law school application cycles in order to get into the position I desired. I'm a member of some Reddit subs and other forums which emphasize the benefits of "retake and reapply" and basically function as encouragement groups for those that are in the midst of studying. I previously received many positive private messages from people in those groups when sharing updates, but seeing how apparently not a single current LSAT studier has commented on this thread or sent me a PM, my message is moot/nonfunctional/ineffective in this thread/context and/or not many people are reading this (now that I look deeper, I realize that this is not a particularly active subforum. Oh well).

Anyways, I am just trying to push the point that it's generally good to stay positive while pushing towards your individual goals. Indeed, dabigchina's response irked me to no end--criticism and negativity is good when it's constructive/serves a higher purpose (e.g. improve a junior associate's work), but it's pretty clear that his negativity served absolutely no positive purpose. Saying "beware that when you start practicing the hours and workload is going to be rough if you go into BigLaw" serves as a useful warning that I should keep in mind. But a comment like "Wait until you start practicing" is way too broad and abstract (and based on unwarranted assumptions, as I mentioned in my last post) to plausibly have been said for a helpful reason.