Life as a law school dropout... Forum

[RUQRU]

Any dropouts want to share their thoughts?

First, you get your life back.
Don't have to worry about being a mortgage load of cash in debt with zero job prospects.
Don't have to read a shitload of boring cases.
The sky looks bluer and the air smells fresh.

All in all, a major life enhancement.

[almightypush]

[Cavalier]

--ImageRemoved--

[reasonable_man]

Did you go up to a dean and say "fuck you man... I don't need your fucking JD mannnn?"

If not; why not?

[PitchO20]

Personally, I think I'd be ashamed at first, but that would gradually dissipate. Of course, it depends why. If I failed out due to poor academic performance/laziness, I'd feel like shit. Otherwise, if it was due to personal matters or I made a conscious determination that a) I am (and will be) way too far in debt, and b) I won't be able to find a job to cover it, then I'd probably not mind as much.

[LoyalRebel]

I feel like that would be a huge waste of time and money on the semesters you did attend.

But whatever makes you happy.

[savagedm]

I came into law school knowing what to expect so all of those great experiences happened when I finally got here and left my dead end job prospects back home. Kinda strange how life turns out for the better if you look before you leap isnt it?

[Baylan]

Kid who sits in front of me in Contracts dropped out this morning. Keepin' me fresh. 22 days til my first exam.

[keg411]

I came into law school knowing what to expect so all of those great experiences happened when I finally got here and left my dead end job prospects back home. Kinda strange how life turns out for the better if you look before you leap isnt it?

+1

[Moxie]

Any dropouts want to share their thoughts?

First, you get your life back.
Don't have to worry about being a mortgage load of cash in debt with zero job prospects.
Don't have to read a shitload of boring cases.
The sky looks bluer and the air smells fresh.

All in all, a major life enhancement.

Except for the debt, the waste of time, and lack of employment.

[shepdawg]

My buddy who dropped out now has a sweet grocery bagging job.

[zeth006]

My buddy who dropped out now has a sweet grocery bagging job.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net ... mbassjocks

[Julio_El_Chavo]

I came into law school knowing what to expect so all of those great experiences happened when I finally got here and left my dead end job prospects back home. Kinda strange how life turns out for the better if you look before you leap isnt it?

are TLS posters really this aspie IRL, or does the Internet just turn everyone into a self-fellating asswipe?

[prezidentv8]

I came into law school knowing what to expect so all of those great experiences happened when I finally got here and left my dead end job prospects back home. Kinda strange how life turns out for the better if you look before you leap isnt it?

are TLS posters really this aspie IRL, or does the Internet just turn everyone into a self-fellating asswipe?

Both.

[Grizz]

I came into law school knowing what to expect so all of those great experiences happened when I finally got here and left my dead end job prospects back home. Kinda strange how life turns out for the better if you look before you leap isnt it?

are TLS posters really this aspie IRL, or does the Internet just turn everyone into a self-fellating asswipe?

A little of both.

[zomginternets]

so why are you still posting on a law school forum if you're happy to have dropped out of law school?

[savagedm]

I came into law school knowing what to expect so all of those great experiences happened when I finally got here and left my dead end job prospects back home. Kinda strange how life turns out for the better if you look before you leap isnt it?

are TLS posters really this aspie IRL, or does the Internet just turn everyone into a self-fellating asswipe?

A little of both.

Definitely both.

[fanmingrui]

so why are you still posting on a law school forum if you're happy to have dropped out of law school?

+1

[soaponarope]

so why are you still posting on a law school forum if you're happy to have dropped out of law school?

+1

No boring cases to read, no job, nothing else to do, etc...

But, in reality they're trying to vindicate their decision. And hell, why not...

[LettuceBeefRealTea]

quitting any task that you decide to undertake without being physically unable to finish is pretty shitty. mostly for yourself. if it was for illness or had no way to feed yourself, then that is understandable. but happiness can always be had after you finish. doubt and unhappiness are transitory. accomplishing something is permanent. that jd can never be taken from you. that work you put in permanently makes you a better human being. true happiness is constantly pushing yourself to be better and evolve to your highest point before you die. every small thing that you decide to do and then finish is an affirmation of the greatness of being alive and existing, of being animus in a universe of dead matter. sorry, really into nietzsche.

My buddy who dropped out now has a sweet grocery bagging job.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net ... mbassjocks

preface. this is a cool story bro. i just feel the need to tell it because of my hatred for the jock stereotype.

or you can do well in school and play sports?
i've played sports my whole life. i actually hated it when i was younger. i just wanted to read. my parents had me in therapy for borderline autism. i had zero perception of the world around me until puberty. my parents forced me to play, and it paid off. it really does build social skills and compromise and work as a team. it also got me really into working out. both sports and lifting got me through a lot of "mental" problems related to a fucked up brain chemistry. on top of varsity sports, i was captain of the speech and debate club and graduated top 5 in my class at a pretty intense prep school. now, i'm almost graduated from a T20, having played varsity/internationally here, and i own a business. i got two ib internships through alumni or the parents of kids on my team. the reality is that success isn't how hard you work or how intelligent you are, its timing and connections (that was something that was really hard for me to cope with and had a bit of a break down). most of my friends were made through sports, and no one has friends like rugby friends. those guys and girls will be with me for life despite me being crazy.

before cool story bro, i have a lot of hate for the jock stereotype. i used to be the most introverted/nerdy a person could be while still being functional. fuck, i walked around with 2 books at all times incase i finished one. if i didn't have 2 i would flip out. i read at my aunts funeral and didn't get why people where upset. i used to walk into oncoming traffic without noticing. i also had the whole numbers doing rituals a certain amount of times thing. i'm a pretty big dude at 6'3 225 lbs., so people assume that i am that dumb ass jock when i worked pretty hard and those people don't know shit about me.

[RUQRU]

To quote the great philosopher Forest Gump, "stupid is as stupid does."

quitting any task that you decide to undertake without being physically unable to finish is pretty shitty. mostly for yourself.

Spending years and over $100K to work in an industry that has diminishing ROI is not a smart idea. Just as all the 0L's who boasted they would be top 10% without any sense of irony, only later to post their neurotic fears about hoping to be above median, now are so sure they will make "big law" and drive a new benz upon graduation.

So continuing a task that is not worth the investment, as the eloquent Lettuce says, is "pretty shitty."


Is Law School a Losing Game?

a generation of J.D.’s face the grimmest job market in decades. Since 2008, some 15,000 attorney and legal-staff jobs at large firms have vanished, according to a Northwestern Law study. Associates have been laid off, partners nudged out the door and recruitment programs have been scaled back or eliminated.

Source: NY Times January 8, 2011

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html

Not to mention, if you do land the dream job life is oh so wonderful:

This gets to what might be the ultimate ugly truth about law school: plenty of those who borrow, study and glad-hand their way into the gated community of Big Law are miserable soon after they move in. The billable-hour business model pins them to their desks and devours their free time.

So, please enjoy your futures in and out of law school. I am sure it will be blast!

[boushi]

I knew a good dude who had really sporadic LSAT practice scores. One day it'd be 170, the next 158. I think it was mostly anxiety. We studied together all the time and, though I gradually improved, his scores jumped all around. On the real thing he ended up with a 160, which combined with his lackluster grades and late application, landed him only a few offers from T4 schools.

Eager to do anything other than his current paralegal job and just looking for a change of pace in general, he attended one of those schools, choosing a program located on the other side of the country from where he'd been living and in an area to which he had no connections. I thought it was a bit of a ridiculous stunt at the at the time, perhaps one of the most immature ways to try and part with a few years of immaturity and frustration, but I bit my tongue and gave him a tepid "kick-ass and take names over there, bro."

Well, first year it turns out that he buckled down and did alright. He also got his social life back and got into some good work out habits. He even got himself a pretty cool girlfriend. Things seemed to be turning around for him like he hoped. But then he made the most mature decision I've ever seen him make: he dropped out and moved back home.

Though he had long aspired to being a lawyer as some sort of culmination of his interests in politics, debating, etc., looking more clearly at job prospects and what a lawyer's work truly entails, he decided that it wasn't for him, despite the sunk cost and loans that came with them, and he got out before the point of no turning back.

Anyway, the dude has now created his own microbrew with a couple other of my college friends and has been winning tasting competitions and such like gangbusters. Never seen the guy happier and, at least for now, he certainly seems like he's heading to be much more "successful" than he would have been if he had graduated from the T4 school.

Dropping out isn't always a bad thing. I think that being forced by fear (of debt, embarrassment, etc.) into a career path you won't enjoy is a much worse outcome. People just gotta be honest with themselves about what they want out of life. Law school can be an expensive place to have some sort of turning-point/transformative experience, but I suspect very few people realize the true nature of legal work before jumping in and I expect the number who have such feelings but ignore them is pretty substantial. If you're one of those people, you should probably throw the social stigma of dropping out to the wind and go make some beers.

[Bumi]

quitting any task that you decide to undertake without being physically unable to finish is pretty shitty. mostly for yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_costs ... st_fallacy

[seatown12]

quitting any task that you decide to undertake without being physically unable to finish is pretty shitty. mostly for yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_costs ... st_fallacy

The two of you are not talking about the same thing.

Also, I just want to say, anyone who goes into law school thinking of it solely as an economic investment is so fucking dumb it's unbelievable.

[CMDantes]

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