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***Please don’t quote ***

So... I ended up with just about my best-case scenario from my application cycle (T10 full tuition scholarship), but now that I am lining everything up and getting ready to move to school, I am getting a serious case of cold feet.

Basically, I am stuck trying to decide between going to law school (which has been my main career objective for the past 2+ years) and continuing teaching.

Info for teaching…

I already have experience teaching, and I enjoy it. I feel like I’m good at it, I have enjoyed the kids, I love the hours (basically 8-3, working 183 days/yr.), and I can only imagine how great the summer will be (I spent last summer preparing for LSAT, so this would be the first summer I am actually free).

Unfortunately, my school just lost 20% of its budget, and my position was cut (last in= first out policy). I have never taught in any other school, and I am not sure how much I would enjoy this work with a different school culture, group of coworkers, leadership team, and kids. I started teaching to fill a gap year before law school and then kept teaching a second year so that I could reapply and get better law options. The better law option part worked, but somewhere along the way, I just started to enjoy teaching too much, and all this doubt slowly crept in =/ Looking at the jobs that are currently open in my district (the only one I’m interested in teaching in), staying in teaching would mean moving to a pretty “rough” school next year (with no guarantee that I can find a better place any time soon because there just aren’t that many openings for HS humanities). Other negative for teaching is that it will lock me into my current city (which is away from all my friends but close to family) for the foreseeable future. If I want to move closer to my friends in the future, it’ll cost me my pension, which will pay ~16k/yr if I stay 10 years and 32k/yr+ if I stay 20 (assuming the union keeps doing their job).



Info for law…

I will graduate with less than 60k debt and a t10 degree. No debt is a realistic possibility if current savings are used and I get a firm gig in the summer (AA URM, so probably likely). I have a mentor (currently working in-house) who will be advising me all the way through school/finding a job, and I have a number of friends who work(ed) biglaw and have said that they have connections that will be able to help me get a foot in the door. That said, I have absolutely zero real world experience with law. I do not know if I will survive 5 years, 2 years, or 2 days (not that anyone really does). More importantly, I don’t know if I will actually enjoy being a lawyer. I’ve visited a handful of law schools, and I am 100% confident that I’ll love law school, but I don’t know anything about practice. Most of my friends seem to enjoy their paychecks, some of their coworkers, and the prestige of their positions, but I don’t know if any of them come home feeling as positive overall as I do when I come home. On the plus side, all of my friends are in NY/NJ/Philly, and if law got me back there (highly likely it seems), that alone would be pretty amazing.

Money is also a huge deal for me. Crunching the numbers, it looks like if I last 3 years in biglaw, I’ll make about 40k more than I would if I skipped law school and taught for six years. 4 years of biglaw would put me up around 150k, and the gap widens from there. I know making partner is basically an impossible dream, but I have friends who have lasted >5 years, and at that point, the $ separating law and teaching is night and day. On the other hand, if I do law, I’ll only get a pension if I do government, and that seems to be both difficult to get and relatively close in pay to what I could earn if I skipped school and stayed teaching.

So, there it is…

I know this is a pretty random post for TLS (and I'm sorry for being so long-winded), but I really don’t have many people to talk this out with. Everyone I know already knows that I’ve been shooting for law school for years, and everyone I know would think I’m crazy for even considering walking away from the offer I have.

What do you all think?

Any insight, words of wisdom, warnings, anecdotes, etc. are greatly appreciated!

..

sublime wrote:Do you want to be a lawyer?

I guess? I mean...can anyone truly know if they want to be a lawyer before they have been a lawyer? I've never really believed they can. Just doesn't make sense to me since you can't really know all that will entail or how you will respond to it until you live it.

I've never been a lawyer or taught at a school other than my current school, so I don't know if I will enjoy either one.

To answer you in a different way..

I want to be a lawyer as much as I want to be a teacher, and I am now struggling to decide between them.

..

sublime wrote:Do you want to be a lawyer?

I read what you wrote 180kickflip and totally see why you have such a tough, tough choice. And Sublime is completely correct, but you're one of the most reasonable posters on TLS (You sat out a year for a better LSAT which is rare and reasonable) so you must have considered this question.

And to some extent you answered this in your question by saying that you will love law school, but have no way to know if you will like practicing it. This is a tough position. I am kind of in the same boat where I am sure I will enjoy learning law, but have no real way to know if I will like the practice.

My only way to help is to maybe evaluate is to see if you can shadow an attorney for a week? Maybe see a day in the life. This helped me with my decision.

I already have experience teaching, and I enjoy it. I feel like I’m good at it, I have enjoyed the kids, I love the hours (basically 8-3, working 183 days/yr.), and I can only imagine how great the summer will be (I spent last summer preparing for LSAT, so this would be the first summer I am actually free).

So, you found a profession you enjoy, are good at, leaves you with significant free time, and—while not high paying—will compensate you well enough to live on.

Do not go to law school. Do not become a lawyer.

Just a thought here, if you're truly unsure, why not take another year? I'm assuming your LSAT score will be good. I know that you can't count on getting another full ride but it's certainly possible if you got it this cycle. If you take another year, it'll give you an opportunity to figure out if things at the new school will be as great as things at the old school. If they are and you still love it, I think it makes sense to stick with teaching. If they're not, you go to law school.

I know that's kind of kicking the can down the road but it seems like there really isn't a clear answer here.

That all said, if you're really worried about not getting the free ride, I'd say it's a good idea to take it. My thought is if you don't like being a lawyer, can't you go back to teaching?

I honestly don't know. I hope someone else could come in and correct me if I'm wrong. But I wouldn't expect having a JD would hurt you when it comes to looking for another HS teaching job. Maybe I'm wrong. But I would think it's one of the exceptions to the rule that JDs hurt you for non-law jobs. Please, if I'm wrong, somebody with more knowledge here correct me.

If you're unsure, consider asking your T10 if they would allow you to defer for a year and keep your current offer. You could try teaching at that other school.

Deferral seems like the best case scenario here. Can definitely 100% agree with you on the whole you can't know if you'll love it until you've done it point. If they don't grant the defferal it'd be a tough choice because the full rides are a lot more unpredictable than admissions. If your chosen school was the only one that gave you big money you might be taking a big risk by passing that up.

rpupkin wrote:

I already have experience teaching, and I enjoy it. I feel like I’m good at it, I have enjoyed the kids, I love the hours (basically 8-3, working 183 days/yr.), and I can only imagine how great the summer will be (I spent last summer preparing for LSAT, so this would be the first summer I am actually free).

So, you found a profession you enjoy, are good at, leaves you with significant free time, and—while not high paying—will compensate you well enough to live on.

Do not go to law school. Do not become a lawyer.

It's a t-10 degree that will only cost op 60k...Why would op not take it? Why couldn't op go back to teaching afterwards? I'd go to law school.

This is also just cold feet op. I imagine that just being able to get a full ride at a t-10 means that you put in a substantial amount of work to get to this point. You want to go to law school.

I'd go to law school. Seems really likely that it will be a net-positive move financially, and teaching will always be there.

Go to law school, this is a no-brainer, he is just as undecided about teaching.

also lawyers get more respect, "those who can't do, teach"

I might be the outlier, but I enjoyed my time in school. I was a few years out, it was nice to be back in the classroom without the stresses of adult life.

If you like being in school (I also enjoyed undergrad), consider the benefits of getting to spend three years around smart people learning shit.

dwyf wrote:I might be the outlier, but I enjoyed my time in school. I was a few years out, it was nice to be back in the classroom without the stresses of adult life.

If you like being in school (I also enjoyed undergrad), consider the benefits of getting to spend three years around smart people learning shit.

me too. and after the 1st year, you really are just hanging out for 2 years

Another1 wrote:

rpupkin wrote:

I already have experience teaching, and I enjoy it. I feel like I’m good at it, I have enjoyed the kids, I love the hours (basically 8-3, working 183 days/yr.), and I can only imagine how great the summer will be (I spent last summer preparing for LSAT, so this would be the first summer I am actually free).

So, you found a profession you enjoy, are good at, leaves you with significant free time, and—while not high paying—will compensate you well enough to live on.

Do not go to law school. Do not become a lawyer.

It's a t-10 degree that will only cost op 60k...Why would op not take it? Why couldn't op go back to teaching afterwards? I'd go to law school.

This is also just cold feet op. I imagine that just being able to get a full ride at a t-10 means that you put in a substantial amount of work to get to this point. You want to go to law school.

Are you working as a lawyer?

OP has found a profession he/she enjoys, is good at, and leaves for considerable free time outside of work. I'd guess 90% of folks never find this in life, in any profession. As for the percentage of law school graduates who can say those things about their jobs, I'd say that at least 95% cannot say what the OP says about teaching.

I don't think there has been one person more responsible for the declining law school enrollment that rpupkin. Which i'll admit that's a good thing.

Why do you hate law so much? and if you hate it, why are you always talking about it? can you point me to a thread where you encouraged someone to actually go to law school.

Gifted Hands wrote:I don't think there has been one person more responsible for the declining law school enrollment that rpupkin. Which i'll admit that's a good thing.

Why do you hate law so much? and if you hate it, why are you always talking about it? can you point me to a thread where you encouraged someone to actually go to law school.

I actually loved law school. It was three of the best years of my life.

And Gifted Hands, this is a serious thread started by someone who is making a life-altering decision. Based on your posts on TLS, you are either a troll or are mentally ill. Either way, you shouldn't be cluttering up this thread with your posts.

rpupkin wrote:

Gifted Hands wrote:I don't think there has been one person more responsible for the declining law school enrollment that rpupkin. Which i'll admit that's a good thing.

Why do you hate law so much? and if you hate it, why are you always talking about it? can you point me to a thread where you encouraged someone to actually go to law school.

I actually loved law school. It was three of the best years of my life.

And Gifted Hands, this is a serious thread started by someone who is making a life-alternating a decision. Based on your posts on TLS, you are either a troll or are mentally ill. Either way, you shouldn't be cluttering up this thread with your posts.

yea he needs to know your credibility too though. so wheres that thread?

I agree with the Great Pumpkin on this one.

If you enjoy teaching, find it fulfilling, enjoy the free time, and are good at it then I'd keep doing that. If the reason to go to law school is to make money, be "more prestigious" or whatever, or because you feel like you've been talking about it for so long and you don't really want to change the plan you've been telling other people about for years then none of those are sufficiently compelling reasons to go, IMO.

Life is too short man, if you are happy and fulfilled then ride that out IMO

His credibility doesn't hinge on the existence of a thread where he advises someone to go to law school.

180kickflip wrote:

sublime wrote:Do you want to be a lawyer?

can anyone truly know if they want to be a lawyer before they have been a lawyer?

Yes. A lot of people can.

If you want to do something else, don't spend three years law school plus ~2-3 years of practice just to reach the realization that you should have done that thing you wanted to do in the first place.

If he were looking to continue that same job he loved, it would be a much closer call, but it seems like his new job won't have a lot of the things OP valued.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:His credibility doesn't hinge on the existence of a thread where he advises someone to go to law school.

no but it helps prove he isn't biased, which is how he comes off in every single thread

It's just like any paperwork job (like consulting) where you have to do research and analysis. If you want a different kind of job, go into sales. All white-collar work is tedious and boring. teaching is no different and will get monotonous real quick

there are many routes your law career may take though so that's an important consideration. you are never pigeonholed into one job- there are many variations of law and you will prob find one that you are interested in