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I'm debating applying next cycle or taking a year off to study for the LSAT and decide for sure if law school is right for me. The issue? I have nooo idea what I want to do with that off time. I'm thinking Americorps or something along those lines. It would be interesting to get a job, but with no desire to relocate and no intention to stick around I'm thinking my options will be limited.

Did you take any time off before law school? What did you do? Any recs for interesting off-year gigs?

I retook and reapplied. I am spending my year off as a paper pusher in an office. My job was okay with me working for a year but you don't necessarily need to tell your future employer that you are going to quit in a year.

Very true, I would just hate to get stuck doing the b**** work in a company where new hires are expected to grind their way up.

God I'm going to miss the fancy paid internships only available to current college students.

check your PM

I think it should be mandatory to have one year off. Kind of like the NBA.

krasivaya wrote:Very true, I would just hate to get stuck doing the b**** work in a company where new hires are expected to grind their way up.

But this is easily outweighed by the tremendous positives associated with retaking and reapplying.

I'm going straight through. While I might be interested in taking a year off, in the end I can't anyways.

Did not go straight through. Regretting it for many reasons. This is a personal decision for everyone, though.

patrickd139 wrote:This is a personal decision for everyone, though.

It is slightly personal, but people make it out to be more personal than it really is. There are tangible, attainable benefits to retaking/reapplying that far outweigh the discomfort associated with having to work for a year and make ends meet.

bk187 wrote:

patrickd139 wrote:This is a personal decision for everyone, though.

It is slightly personal, but people make it out to be more personal than it really is. There are tangible, attainable benefits to retaking/reapplying that far outweigh the discomfort associated with having to work for a year and make ends meet.

Are we talking about taking a year off to retake/reapply or just in general? I thought it was the latter.

Sandro wrote:I think it should be mandatory to have one year off. Kind of like the NBA.

Negative.

I went straight through and don't regret it in the least.

Knock wrote:

bk187 wrote:

patrickd139 wrote:This is a personal decision for everyone, though.

It is slightly personal, but people make it out to be more personal than it really is. There are tangible, attainable benefits to retaking/reapplying that far outweigh the discomfort associated with having to work for a year and make ends meet.

Are we talking about taking a year off to retake/reapply or just in general? I thought it was the latter.

This. My post was addressing the latter.

I've been out of school for a couple years now, applying in the fall. I Graduated in three years, with summer classes every summer, I needed a fuckin break. One of the better decisions I've made

Knock wrote:Are we talking about taking a year off to retake/reapply or just in general? I thought it was the latter.

OP mentioned the LSAT so I was referring to the former. But I guess people may be talking about either. My bad for confusing them.

I don't think that people should take a year off just because it matures them, but I do think that a lot of people should take a year off to retake/reapply.

I dont get what the big deal is with taking a break from school and working, I mean you gotta work full time sooner or later. I couldnt imagine being 25 without any real world experience to speak of

I'm mostly curious about the latter. Not sure if it's a good idea to go into law school if I'm totally burnt out and unmotivated after undergrad, but the idea of hating life after a year making ends meet doesn't sound appetizing either. TFA is starting to become much, much more desirable.

patrickd139 wrote:Did not go straight through. Regretting it for many reasons. This is a personal decision for everyone, though.

Would it be alright if I asked you to expand? This experience is why I wanted to ask you lovely TLSers before biting the bullet and (not) registering for the LSAT.

edit: I have not taken the LSAT. One of the biggest reasons I'm thinking about taking a year off is to find time to study. My life in undergrad now consists of a full time job where I have to serve beer to pervy frat boys until 2am in a schoolgirl skirt + study abroad + 17 hours a semester + having a shiny new disability. Life and loan debt pretty much owned me.

..

Also TFA isnt accepting apps anymore for 2011

krasivaya wrote:

patrickd139 wrote:Did not go straight through. Regretting it for many reasons. This is a personal decision for everyone, though.

Would it be alright if I asked you to expand? This experience is why I wanted to ask you lovely TLSers before biting the bullet and (not) registering for the LSAT.

edit: I have not taken the LSAT. One of the biggest reasons I'm thinking about taking a year off is to find time to study. My life in undergrad now consists of a full time job where I have to serve beer to pervy frat boys until 2am in a schoolgirl skirt + study abroad + 17 hours a semester + having a shiny new disability. Life and loan debt pretty much owned me.

Register for the LSAT, take your time studying and pay down some of that student loan debt.

Regretted not getting substantive work experience because I'm skewing towards biglaw/tax and my history degree is pretty much useless coupled with my 9 months of full-time w/e. It's going to work out in the end, but I definitely think I could have benefitted greatly from taking a year, working one full time job (instead of full-time job and full-time student, like I did in UG). You're never going to be in your 20s again, so you might as well enjoy it. If you're the type of person who can get their life on track after putting it on hold for a couple years, know that the legal field will still be waiting when you're ready.

As to the bolded, if you work at a Flying Saucer chain, I love that place.

dr123 wrote:Also TFA isnt accepting apps anymore for 2011

I've got a year left in undergrad, I'm just trying to sort out my options before the October LSAT

acrossthelake: I've heard that so many times! I would be so into doing TFA if not for that rumor, but I'm having trouble imagining how it can be more physically intensive than what I do now. Since I'm kind of weak after getting sick I'm a bit worried about getting in over my head.

Patrick: It's pretty amazing, I did not know I could love beer that much. Thanks for sharing, that's a lot of what I'm worried about. I have a tendency to change what I want to do often and over committing to the new big thing. I seriously have three, separate, fully fleshed out resumes - journalism, political work and restaurant/management. I'll definitely put some thought into what kind of law I want to go into before fleshing out resume number four.

krasivaya wrote:

dr123 wrote:Also TFA isnt accepting apps anymore for 2011

I've got a year left in undergrad, I'm just trying to sort out my options before the October LSAT

acrossthelake: I've heard that so many times! I would be so into doing TFA if not for that rumor, but I'm having trouble imagining how it can be more physically intensive than what I do now. Since I'm kind of weak after getting sick I'm a bit worried about getting in over my head.

What do you do now?

It's not physically intensive per say, it's mentally draining and demoralizing. The sad thing is that it is the administration and not the students who cause the most stress. After working for four years as a tutor in a TFA-eligible school/school district, I knew I wouldn't want want to directly work for those people. Words can't really explain it.

Went straight through and I couldn't be happier!

I took a year off, and it was a great decision. I was very burned out after UG, and working for a year allowed me to pay down debt/have some savings when I got to LS. Although I did take the LSATs while still in college.

Law school is great in that you can go do something totally different for some time out of UG, and then decide to go to LS, and not need to segue back into the field of law (ex: I know people who graduated with biology degrees, spent 5-6 years doing research that involved minimal legal transactions. But instead of being a detriment, their non-law background still gave them the same opportunities as pre-law/philo/history/etc. degrees.

Knock wrote:I'm going straight through. While I might be interested in taking a year off, in the end I can't anyways.

This. Plus, I've been chilling all senior year anyway and I'll be chilling all summer. I'm pretty sure I'll be well rested. I'd hate to have to get back into the groove of being a student again. I know myself too well.

I took a year off. I needed a break from being a student for a while, as I had never been anything else (except for part-time gigs and internships). I did a 6 month internship and then a 4 month internship, and now I am going to China for 3 months. The internships were pretty much the only way to work in my field, and I taught the LSAT on the side. I got to try out a couple of cities, and I received work experience in my area, as the first internship was effectively a job that they just don't pay you much for. I think it was a good idea, and I believe some of the things I did helped me when it came to receiving scholarships from some of my schools. (I'm not saying they helped me get in. I doubt they did, but larger scholarships seem to look at these factors.)

Note: You can get into some internships that require you to be a student if you can say you will be enrolled in grad school following the internship, as I did for my second one.