I know I want to go to law school, should I drop out of or finish my MPH? Forum

[asafawi]

Hi all,

I'm currently a second semester MPH student at George Washington. Since being accepted over a year ago I've had a complete change of heart. I want to go to law school but my dilemma is whether to continue this program. I am miserable in my program (I did my undergrad in public health too so its mostly repetition) and I don't see myself practicing in the field of public health. I'm thinking of working for a few years (I have a great internship at a think tank that could turn into a job if I was able to work full time) before applying to law schools (this whole realization has shown that I need some time to mature before making a decision as big as law school). My biggest issue is the debt. I plan on applying to law schools with LRAPs but that doesn't cover grad debt. If I don't want my grad degree any more, is it bad to quit now with 16k in debt or finish with 40k? Will it doom my chances at a law school with a good LRAP? I went to undergrad at Michigan and that's probably my top choice of law school with Georgetown, Harvard, Penn, and Northwestern also being in my top choices.

Has anyone here dropped out of grad school, worked a few years, then went on to a top law school? Your help is greatly appreciated.

[The Lsat Airbender]

If you're 100% you don't want to use the MPH, then I don't see why spending another $24k on it makes sense. And dropping out shouldn't be a big issue for law-school applications as long as you can articulate why law school will be different.

Working full-time for a while and then making a clearheaded decision about grad school is definitely the way to go here.

(I think you're overestimating how much LRAP will do for you. It restricts your career (and other life) choices and isn't a free lunch in that you often still have to make loan payments of some kind.)

[asafawi]

If you're 100% you don't want to use the MPH, then I don't see why spending another $24k on it makes sense. And dropping out shouldn't be a big issue for law-school applications as long as you can articulate why law school will be different.

Working full-time for a while and then making a clearheaded decision about grad school is definitely the way to go here.

(I think you're overestimating how much LRAP will do for you. It restricts your career (and other life) choices and isn't a free lunch in that you often still have to make loan payments of some kind.)

So, I should clarify that I do want to work in public service/government regardless of what letters are at the end of my name. I understand that LRAPs have downsides but I only think it makes sense to use them as a deciding factor when choosing between schools e.g. between a full ride at, say, Michigan State as opposed to a no-ride at a T14 (but I could be wrong).

I'm currently in a Public Health Law class right now and its honestly the only class I enjoy. All the others feel like things I've already learned in undergrad or things I could learn on the job.

Regardless, I will have to finish out this semester and I won't have to make an affirmative decision to come back or leave until August. I think the logical next step is to talk to some law school admissions people (I live in DC so there's plenty to choose from) and take the LSAT (I have a GRE score, its good but not great)