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Looking for some advice...

I am a 1L evening student at Seton Hall Law on a full ride. I currently work as a lobbyist making a good salary. My initial plan was to go to school for 4 years part time while continuing to hold my current job, and then to look for full time employment at a firm after graduation.

However, grades just came out for the 1st semester (11 credits in the part time program) and I got a 4.0 and am ranked 1st in my class (out of about 40). My question is, should I transfer into the full time program either at Seton Hall or another school and look for 2L summer associate spots instead? I am thinking that maybe with my grades it makes sense to go the traditional route to finding a legal job, since I might actually be of interest to good firms when they start interviewing in the fall.

Thanks!

You're in a pretty good spot. You should be eligible for summer associate positions your third summer. If you keep up grades, you'll be very competitive for SA positions. Just take the summer off of work to do a summer program. I did the exact same thing, at a similarly ranked school, and being able to keep working and graduate without debt was huge.

You aren't disqualified from traditional hiring because you are in an evening program. It is just a bit trickier. If work isn't willing to let you take the time off, just quit before your summer program, and be a "full time" student for 1 year.

ClubberLang wrote:You're in a pretty good spot. You should be eligible for summer associate positions your third summer. If you keep up grades, you'll be very competitive for SA positions. Just take the summer off of work to do a summer program. I did the exact same thing, at a similarly ranked school, and being able to keep working and graduate without debt was huge.

You aren't disqualified from traditional hiring because you are in an evening program. It is just a bit trickier. If work isn't willing to let you take the time off, just quit before your summer program, and be a "full time" student for 1 year.

Anecdotal - but a friend of mine is an evening student a similarly ranked school. Work won't let him/her take a leave of absence this summer, so s/he is gonna quit in may, do the SA (which of course, pays a bunch more than current job, albeit not annualized) and then be "full time" student for final year. Seems to have worked out really well. That said, SA is no guarantee, particularly since its so far down the road. Also, idk the logistics of transferring from a night to FT program -- idk if you will have the credit requirements to transfer after 1 full year in the evening program.