Soliciting feedback Forum

[Paul Campos]

Got an email this morning. Redacted version:

I'm writing to ask for your help and guidance -- I am a second-year law student at [Midwestern state flagship] Before enrolling at [ ], I attended [mid-ranked Midwestern university] where I was fortunate to earn my undergraduate degree in journalism with no student debt.

Now, after just one year in [ ], I have racked up approximately $52,000 and worst of all, despite studying hard both semesters, my GPA is an embarrassing [near bottom of class]. Even since I was in high school, I wanted to become a lawyer, but now I'm having some second thoughts. OCIs started this week, and due to my lackluster 1L performance, I have not been able to land a single interview with a firm. I love criminal law and hope to land a job as a prosecutor, but I also recognize that the market for government lawyers is very tight -- recently, [county in which the school is located] laid off a ton of state prosecutors to go back to 1988 staffing levels.

Given what I have just described, what advice would you give me? Should I cut my losses or stick it out? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I recognize that I am in a unique position to not have any debt for undergrad, and to be frank, I really enjoy learning the course material and living in [ ], but I fear that my investment in attaining a J.D. is fool's gold.

Further info gathered after following up with the writer: Spent the summer interning for the state A.G.'s office, which s/he also did the summer before law school. No lawyers in the family, although his/her father knows some via his business. Alternative to law school is to pursue an MBA, and/or try to find some kind of journalism work, or copywriting for a business.

What do you think?

[NYstate]

I think drop out or take a year leave of absence. I don't know anything about prosecutor hiring but I think OP will face stiff competition.

I am guessing OPs lifelong dream to be a lawyer is based on some fantasy of what practicing law is all about. I spent time last night reading the Vale thread. The job search is not just hard work. It eats people up. Someone had an offer making $12 an hour as a grad. People take unemployment hard and constant rejection destroys their hope and confidence.

It may be possible for OP to withdraw, retake the LSAT and reapply. I have read about that on the forum but have no idea how it works in practice.

If OP could stay without debt then I might have a different opinion. The OP should have come for TLS for advice ( or read your book before attending.)

OP put themselves in a tough position from day 1 of law schhol.

[shumpshump]

Dropping out definitely seems like the right thing to do. ~$160 debt after 3 years without a strong guarantee of getting a job is just too risky.

Are there other industries the person is interested in? I know journalism isn't doing too well right now either but maybe looking at part-time opportunities in that and then doing an administrative assistant position on the side could be something that may work. Any sales background? Trying for opportunities in that with the UG writing degree could work too.

Even if the person finds a paying job after graduation, there's no guarantee it'll be what they want to do. Suffering in a tough job that you don't want to do just to pay down six-figure debt does not worth spending two more years for.