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Sorry if this is a dumb question. I take the bar exam at the end of July, and my firm’s start date is in October. What the heck do I do in between? How do I pay my rent?

I don’t have money to travel. I’ve thought about getting a job for that two-month period, but it’s going to be hard to find something for such a short-term period.

No salary advance or stipend from your firm? Lots of places give out 10k-20k to help you survive the period between graduation and your start date.

If not, and you cannot find another solution, there are private “bar loans” that you can take out. But you’ll want to plan ahead with that, as you presumably need to apply before actually sitting for the exam.

Otherwise, enjoy the down time. It will likely be your last extended break for the foreseeable future.

bokampers wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 27, 2022 7:01 pm

enjoy the down time. It will likely be your last extended break for the foreseeable future.

But actually, seriously, this.

Go hiking or biking

im jealous, my firm is starting me mid-september.

Salary advance/stipend, bar loan, or bum off your family if that's an option (I know it often isn't).

I didn't travel (I wish I had), but I needed a good month or so at least just to get over bar study (it's not that any of the material was especially hard, it's just so all-encompassing and it becomes remarkably hard to think about anything else and it does tend to fry your brain). So like tending bar or driving an Uber would have been fine, but an actual thinking job would have been awful.

since you don't have any money saved up and are currently paying rent (meaning you can't stay with family), only viable option would be to take out a small loan to cover living expenses.

i would also consider borrowing extra to go on a trip/vacation with the down time if you're confident you'll repay it once you start working.

Take a loan and go live abroad somewhere cheap (think SE Asia, South America, etc.) $5k is enough to live like a king for 2 months in these places, and if you have a market paying job, $5k will mean nothing in 6 months.

This may not be prudent "financial" advice, but I think it's good life advice. You will likely never have this much time/freedom in your life again until retirement. Don't hole up in your apartment trying to stretch $100 2 weeks just so that you don't get yourself in debt. $5-7k of debt won't be meaningful and it'll allow you to experience things you may never have nor ever will get the opportunity to do so again.

A lot of people in my class traveled. Obviously that is geared towards people of some relatively healthier financial backgrounds (i.e, family can help support if needed), but as a previous poster said, many also went the route of doing SE Asia, etc.

Traveling doesn't have to be staying in the Four Seasons everywhere you go.

I worked. I had a paid internship that I ended up working for until a few weeks before I started. Things they don't tell you are that (i) taxes get taken out of your bar advance so it isn't like 10k in straight cash, (ii) not sure how it works right now with loans, but mine started coming due about two months before I started working so my cash for depleted fast, and (iii) some firms start in like September, some firms start in November. That's a big difference in how far 10k after tax would carry you.