unemployed when submitting applications Forum

[walterwhite]

.

[KMart]

Have you only been unemployed since May/June of 2014? Or has it been a year or two?

[TheSpanishMain]

If you just graduated, I think you'll just get treated as a k-jd. It's not like having a job for a few months would've been a gamechanger.

[KMart]

If you just graduated, I think you'll just get treated as a k-jd. It's not like having a job for a few months would've been a gamechanger.

+1.
If you've been sitting in your mom's basement for a few years "studying" I think this will look negatively on your application. I presume this is not the case here.

[oceanmd]

Have you been volunteering during this time?

[walterwhite]

If you just graduated, I think you'll just get treated as a k-jd. It's not like having a job for a few months would've been a gamechanger.

+1.
If you've been sitting in your mom's basement for a few years "studying" I think this will look negatively on your application. I presume this is not the case here.

no I just graduated in May

[03152016]

why not try to pick up a gig though? that sounds like an awkward gap to explain to employers during interviews.

prob won't matter for admissions
might make a small difference on the margins at schools that value work exp
but i can't imagine it would make or break you, and there's not much you can do about it anyways

[dontdoitkid]

If you have good connections with any previous part time jobs, try connecting with them and seeing if you can get rehired and work minimum shifts until applications are done. Having continuous employment is having continuous employment, you don't have to specify about how much you worked unless you're really pressured to discuss that information.

[walterwhite]

why not try to pick up a gig though? that sounds like an awkward gap to explain to employers during interviews.

prob won't matter for admissions
might make a small difference on the margins at schools that value work exp
but i can't imagine it would make or break you, and there's not much you can do about it anyways

i was under the impression firms didn't care about your experience prior to law school. isn't the old TLS adage that unless you can cure cancer it won't affect your admissions chances, and law firms only care about your grades and what you do during your 1L and 2L summers?

[03152016]

what are you going to say when they ask why you took 16 months off
just curious
or do you think it will never come up

a quick search of tls shows lots of people being asked about it, lots of people not being asked about it (usually shorter gaps)
if you're really that confident that something at the margins won't matter, more power to you

[walterwhite]

what are you going to say when they ask why you took 16 months off
just curious
or do you think it will never come up

a quick search of tls shows lots of people being asked about it, lots of people not being asked about it (usually shorter gaps)
if you're really that confident that something at the margins won't matter, more power to you

Not 16 months!! I'm going to find something after I get my apps in. I graduated 5 months ago


Besides don't people take a year after undergrad to backpack through Europe and shit like that. They have an even bigger hole on their resume right?

[03152016]

i think a summer off after college is completely normal
i assumed by quasi k-jd you meant you weren't going to work before ls
if that's not the case, then retracted

[03152016]

re: your edit
that's a cool and interesting thing to talk about in your interview
vs. i spent a year living w/ mom + dad bc i can't juggle pt work and law school apps

[walterwhite]

re: your edit
that's a cool and interesting thing to talk about in your interview
vs. i spent a year living w/ mom + dad bc i can't juggle pt work applying to law schools

hold the bitchy attitude and just give me a straight answer to my questions. does it matter for admissions or not? are law firms really going to care about a 5 month gap right after i graduated college?


if you can't answer those questions please get out of my thread

[A. Nony Mouse]

I think his point was that people who backpack around Europe don't really have a gap in their resume because they can talk about backpacking around Europe, whereas there isn't much to say about living in your parents' basement for the same stretch of time. Which isn't what you're doing, but it sounded like it could be.

A 5-month gap isn't an issue, doing nothing between graduation and starting law school 16 months later would look a little weird.

[walterwhite]

I think his point was that people who backpack around Europe don't really have a gap in their resume because they can talk about backpacking around Europe, whereas there isn't much to say about living in your parents' basement for the same stretch of time. Which isn't what you're doing, but it sounded like it could be.

A 5-month gap isn't an issue, doing nothing between graduation and starting law school 16 months later would look a little weird.

Ok that makes sense. Clearly my initial posts were unclear because it is absolutely not my intention to do nothing for 16 months. Of course I am going to find something after I finish my applications in a couple of weeks.

I made this thread because I realized whatever job I do get won't be on my applications, since I'm going to submit all my apps first.

[03152016]

hold the bitchy attitude and just give me a straight answer to my questions. does it matter for admissions or not? are law firms really going to care about a 5 month gap right after i graduated college?

if you can't answer those questions please get out of my thread

i don't need your permission to post itt
i already answered your questions
if you're that much of a miserable failure at reading comprehension, you have much bigger problems then oci

[walterwhite]

hold the bitchy attitude and just give me a straight answer to my questions. does it matter for admissions or not? are law firms really going to care about a 5 month gap right after i graduated college?

if you can't answer those questions please get out of my thread

i don't need your permission to post itt
i already answered your questions
if you're that much of a miserable failure at reading comprehension, you have much bigger problems then oci

no no no see i think you're the one with the reading comprehension problem. Nobody here mentioned anything about not being able to balance law school applications with work except you. That was a completely irrelevant point you brought up; it had nothing to do with my questions. So you can take your unsupported inferences and your snide, condescending remarks and get the fuckkkkk on out of here.

[03152016]

I recently graduated from UG and I've been focusing on preparing for the LSAT/ writing my essays/ doing my applications so I don't have a job.

Nobody here mentioned anything about not being able to balance law school applications with work except you. That was a completely irrelevant point you brought up; it had nothing to do with my questions. So you can take your unsupported inferences and your snide, condescending remarks and get the fuckkkkk on out of here.

i can tell you'll go far

[03152016]

make sure to spend a couple months in your mom's basement working on this one bro

[TheSpanishMain]

Everybody be friends.

Anyway, as to the idea that firms won't care what you did before law school, I don't think that's true. At least based on what friends who have gone through OCI have told me, if you take a few years off to do something substantive or interesting, that definitely sets your resume apart from the hordes of k-jds. Firms (again, this is secondhand info) like the idea that they won't be your first "real" job.

[walterwhite]

make sure to spend a couple months in your mom's basement working on this one bro

hahaha ohhhh sick chirp. that's ok bro I'll get the last laugh when my decisions come in

[A. Nony Mouse]

OMG STOP BICKERING.

OP, you will look like a K-JD in the sense that you won't have work experience on your resume. That might be an issue at NU, sure. Schools will realize you have the chance to get a job after applying, but won't be able to consider what that work experience says about you as a candidate. But it's not like you can do anything about it now, right? So it's not really worth worrying about, honestly.

[03152016]

sorry op
i definitely have a lot of faith in you and your intellectual abilities
best of luck in your cycle

[Elston Gunn]

isn't the old TLS adage that law firms only care about your grades and what you do during your 1L and 2L summers?

This is 100% not the case. Firms absolutely care what you did before law school. They probably care about it quite a lot more than what you do 1L summer, actually, and your 2L summer would hopefully be *at* the firm.

I'd say
School/grades >> Personality >= Pre-LS work experience > Journal >>> Everything else.

Now I'm not saying K-JDs are screwed or anything, but if you've got it, it matters. And not having a big gap is a good thing.