timbs4339 wrote:Unicorn1 wrote:timbs4339 wrote:Unicorn1 wrote:I have no contingency plans for the interim, and no idea what I'd do between now and next August. I'd spend the next 5-6 months studying, and after that would be in the same boat as I am in now, unable to find a real job since no one will want to hire me with the possibility I leave for law school.
It's also just one more year from starting my career. It has significant social effects.
1) Don't tell employers you are going to law school. People do it all the time. If you're uncomfortable with massaging the truth don't go into this profession.
2) Your legal career started when you got your first college grade or when you took the LSAT. You're in your career right now. All of the people who retook, got into vastly better schools, and had their careers set on a different trajectory didn't realize it at the time but they are very thankful now.
3) "Social effects?" Just tell people you got into a top law school but don't want to go because of the cost. They'll understand, will respect you for being mature, or most likely won't care either way.
4) Don't make financial investments based on emotion. Get rid of the idea that you get self-esteem or happiness from going to law school or being a lawyer. In fact, all of the available evidence points the other way- lawyers have much higher rates of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse that begins in law school.
1. Not a good idea. At least not if it's something I want to be able to put on a resume and establish good contacts with. It has nothing to do with not being comfortable lying. It's just not smart unless I'm looking for a job in which I don't care if they end up hating me, and I won't be interested in any of those jobs anyway since I don't need the money badly enough. Even if I did lie, the idea that I could find a good paying job with no grad school and no marketable skills is about as ambitious as expecting to make BigLaw from Cardozo.
2. Ok sure, so this would be akin to taking a 1.5 year sabbatical in the middle of your career. Not standard practice.
3. Social effects refer to me very likely not being able to find gainful employment, not being in law school, spending a lot of time studying, and being a 25-26 year old with no job and a very indeterminate future. It's just not a desirable position lifewise when trying to meet new people, especially of the opposite sex.
4. There is no emotion. But, the idea that going into law is simply a "financial investment," is absurd. I'm not expecting to be incredibly happy while I'm in law school studying. That doesn't mean I will be in a worse position in life than I am currently.
1) If you don't need the money badly enough, then you don't need to worry about what it's going to look like on your resume. Hell, work at Walmart. Bartend. Teach poker classes. Work on a campaign. Think of something.
2) No, it's akin to taking a self-directed test prep class in order to increase your career options, and potentially get a large performance bonus if you do well enough. A very large performance bonus.
3) Law students are a dime a dozen. Especially in NYC. Nobody cares, least of all members of the opposite sex (they are much more likely to care about your old career than the fact you were sucked into the boondoggle that is this profession). If you can't meet people before law school, going to Dozo isn't going to change things.
4) Emotion might be the wrong word. Naivete is better. You seem to just be wrapped up in the notion of being a "law student!" that just isn't the reality of things. It's not a magic ticket into being seen as a responsible adult that many people seem to think it is,, in fact it's a way for a lot of aimless liberal arts majors to defer real life for three years while they have their living expenses paid by the government. In fact, most of the flight from law school has been among the top applicants- anyone with any other options is staying the hell away.
1. I don't need it badly enough to work at McDonalds. That doesn't mean I don't need a real job.
2. I don't agree. You don't get a year off from life in any profession to take a self-directed prep class.
3. I certainly don't agree with this, and considering I've lived here my entire life and am kind of a social butterfly who is way more personable than average and has lots of friends, I am quite experienced on this matter. Telling people you're a law student is incredibly more socially acceptable than saying, "I'm unemployed but looking for work while studying for the LSAT and I MIGHT go to law school in 15 months."
Now, I agree that that doesn't necessarily mean you should go at all costs, hence the dilemma. But it is absolutely a non-negligible consideration for me, and you'll never be able to convince me otherwise.
4. I agree in part. I agree it is a way for lots of aimless liberal arts majors to put off life for 3 years. The difference here is I'm not doing that. I want to be a lawyer. I just want to get started on that track in August and not a year from August. You could say "studying for the LSAT is already being on the track," but now we're just talking semantics. Waiting a year is a major consideration, especially if you think it's questionable whether you'll be able to improve (and I'm unsure of that at the moment--I think it's likely I can improve, but certainly not guaranteed).
But again, I don't agree with the outside perspective. Even as it stands now, I tell people I'm starting law school in the fall when I meet them because that sounds a lot better than "I may go to law school or I may not and try to take the LSAT again and who knows what else in the meanwhile," coming from a 25 year old who will be 26 in a few months.
