0L here--what happens to those that finish below median? Forum

[jigsaw22]

From a tier 1 (top 50 school)? What job prospects, if any, do students have that finish below median?

[PKSebben]

From a tier 1 (top 50 school)? What job prospects, if any, do students have that finish below median?

Initially? Not much. PD/DA, shitlaw.

[TTH]

[PKSebben]

ITT: TTH doesn't really get what "no-offered" means.

[romothesavior]

TTH, thank you for scarring me with that picture of the lumberjack having sex with my ex-girlfriend.

[snowpeach06]

You die. Dun dun dun dunnnnnnnn...

[ResolutePear]

I'd be hardpressed to continue law school under the median.

[ResolutePear]

You die. Dun dun dun dunnnnnnnn...

I don't think that's what Anonymous posting is for. Says Hillary Duff.

[romothesavior]

I'd be hardpressed to continue life law school under the median.

[MrKappus]

OK that meth ad is seriously disturbing.

[Anonymous User]

Just ask any kid at American below median--they're unemployed and unemployable.

DELETED

[romothesavior]

OK that meth ad is seriously disturbing.

Yeah, and kinda surprising. $15 for sex isn't normal? I've been getting a great deal then!

[Norlan]

no job offer and tons of debts haunting you

[vanwinkle]

You die. Dun dun dun dunnnnnnnn...

no job offer and tons of debts haunting you

These didn't need to be anonymous.

[john titor]

You eat a lot of shit

[Cleareyes]

OK that meth ad is seriously disturbing.

What I like about that anti-meth ad is that it implies that the problem with meth is not that you'll turn to prostitution but rather that once you turn to prostitution you will charge too little. As long as you're getting $200 for sex you're doing just fine. Now I have no issue with prostitution, but it's refreshing to see that kind of attitude from the government.

As for OPs question, I think people are being considerably too pessimistic. If we can agree that 98.5% employment figures are BS, I don't think that 50% is the right number for most good schools either. People below median at good but not great schools probably have not screwed themselves for the most part. They may have to work really hard to find a job and may not make a lot of money for several years, but I think most people here have too pessimistic a view of what happens if you miss the biglaw boat from a place like Hastings or BYU.

[hithere]

Once you're below the median, biglaw and government jobs are out of the equation. At that point, you hope for contract work--the problem is that most of that work has been outsourced to India. So, you're basically facing unemployment.

[MrKappus]

OP: I'm done scrubbing my eyes w/ brillo pads after seeing the meth ad and am ready to answer your question. You send about 200 job letters out to anything and everything you can find: in regions where you have ties, to firms where you know people, to places you've worked before, and to random postings on monster/craigslist/graffiti ads on the sides of buildings (maybe some firms have gone viral?). You probably get one or two bites for every 100 letters you send. In the mean time, you try to avoid doing temp law work, since there've been a few articles recently on ATL about firms being hesitant to hire doc reviewers on full-time.

If you're at median or just below it, things might not be quite so bad (see Cleareyes post above...he's probably quite right). But if you're bottom quartile, it probably won't be pretty.

[romothesavior]

Love the political cartoon.

My god we're all fucked.

[jigsaw22]

I'd be hardpressed to continue law school under the median.

Do most of the people under median drop out after 1st year?

[bedbathandbeheadings]

I'd be hardpressed to continue law school under the median.

Do most of the people under median drop out after 1st year?

If they had half a brain, they would.

[ResolutePear]

I'd be hardpressed to continue law school under the median.

Do most of the people under median drop out after 1st year?

If they had half a brain, they would.

Now here is a question that's really going to boggle you:

If they had half a brain, why would they be under the median?

[PKSebben]

OK that meth ad is seriously disturbing.

What I like about that anti-meth ad is that it implies that the problem with meth is not that you'll turn to prostitution but rather that once you turn to prostitution you will charge too little. As long as you're getting $200 for sex you're doing just fine. Now I have no issue with prostitution, but it's refreshing to see that kind of attitude from the government.

As for OPs question, I think people are being considerably too pessimistic. If we can agree that 98.5% employment figures are BS, I don't think that 50% is the right number for most good schools either. People below median at good but not great schools probably have not screwed themselves for the most part. They may have to work really hard to find a job and may not make a lot of money for several years, but I think most people here have too pessimistic a view of what happens if you miss the biglaw boat from a place like Hastings or BYU.

The problem isn't the number so much as what that number is supposed to represent. We all know that RA'ing after you graduate shouldn't count in those employment statistics, but somehow they do. I personally think things far more dire at T50 schools than 50%.

[MrKappus]

The problem isn't the number so much as what that number is supposed to represent. We all know that RA'ing after you graduate shouldn't count in those employment statistics, but somehow they do. I personally think things far more dire at T50 schools than 50%.

If that's true, then what jobs are schools using to pad the difference between gainfully employed grads and their reported employment statistic? UC-Davis, for example, purportedly has 97.3% "employed at graduation." If things are "far more dire" than 50%, what's making up the difference between (hypothetically) ~40% employed in real legal jobs that have futures and 97? That'd be a whole lot of RA's. I very much think the high 90's employment stats are bunk, but I also think your view's a tad dark.

[romothesavior]

The problem isn't the number so much as what that number is supposed to represent. We all know that RA'ing after you graduate shouldn't count in those employment statistics, but somehow they do. I personally think things far more dire at T50 schools than 50%.

If that's true, then what jobs are schools using to pad the difference between gainfully employed grads and their reported employment statistic? UC-Davis, for example, purportedly has 97.3% "employed at graduation." If things are "far more dire" than 50%, what's making up the difference between (hypothetically) ~40% employed in real legal jobs that have futures and 97? That'd be a whole lot of RA's. I very much think the high 90's employment stats are bunk, but I also think you're view's a tad dark.

Not hard to get to 97% employed when you don't survey or get responses from half the class. Just like its not hard to get a median salary of 160,000 when you are only talking about people in private practice, and you only survey a third of your graduates in private practice.