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1. Really cool public interest job in a location where I have a lot of friends but will get no money and incur pretty significant costs because of moving/living
(really don't want to say no because I would love this job and really believe in the goal of the project)

2. Job with a family friend's firm in my hometown. Can live at home for free. Will probably get paid something.
(really don't want to say no because the family friend went out of his way to get the job for me)

3. RA with my favorite professor.
(really don't want to say no because i love this professor and will have him again next year, and he does exactly what i want to do if i dont end up in public interest)

I know this is super late to be deciding, but there was a bunch of stuff going on with all of these, and I thought they were all going to fall through for one reason or another, so I didn't think I would end up needing to choose between them.

Thanks for your help!

I voted RA. Only in hopes that he writes you a stunning LOR or pulls stings to get you a job. The same could be said of option 2 though.

I would do RA and PI together.

1L summer? Unless firm job is likely to lead to full time employment, axe it. It's too early to be compromising stuff you're interested in out of obligation or for a couple grand.

I agree that the ideal would be doing the PI job and hopefully working out some sort of remote RAing situation. Any chance of that?

Your prof should let you RA part-time while you do the PI job. Dilemma solved.

I'd think hard about the family friend thing. I've pulled strings in the past to get people offers only for them to change their mind at the last minute. I can tell you one thing, I won't pull any strings for those people ever again, I may pass their resumes along but I will not go out of my way for them, nor vouch for them. So be careful before you burn any bridges.

PI position that costs a lot of money is probably not a good idea unless your overall loans are low. If a PI job is your target you should look for a PI job in a place where the costs won't be extravagant. You cannot afford to take huge loans even with all the loan repayment assistance you might get. However, if you will be graduating with little to no loans, the PI job might be worth the additional expense.

The RA position sounds good. If you can do it part-time it would be even better. Supplement the RA job with a PI job in your area or the firm job.

Going for a firm job for the money alone is not the best idea. However, unless you find a PI job in your area or somewhere you can live without significantly increased expenses, you should consider the firm job. Moreover, if a family friend went to bat for you, consider your relationship with them before rejecting the offer. How will they take it? How well do you know them? Will you need their help later?

Family friend job because it pays, and you already put them through the trouble of getting you the connection/job.

Maybe try and split it with RA if possible?

Thanks for the posts.

Unfortunately, I can't combine any of them; that would have been great.

I honestly have no idea which to do. You would think that I would be leaning one way or the other, but I honestly feel an equal split between the three.

LSATfromNC wrote:I'd think hard about the family friend thing. I've pulled strings in the past to get people offers only for them to change their mind at the last minute. I can tell you one thing, I won't pull any strings for those people ever again, I may pass their resumes along but I will not go out of my way for them, nor vouch for them. So be careful before you burn any bridges.

I also voted for the family friend because of this.

keg411 wrote:

LSATfromNC wrote:I'd think hard about the family friend thing. I've pulled strings in the past to get people offers only for them to change their mind at the last minute. I can tell you one thing, I won't pull any strings for those people ever again, I may pass their resumes along but I will not go out of my way for them, nor vouch for them. So be careful before you burn any bridges.

I also voted for the family friend because of this.

Yep. Me too. It would be rude not to take a job someone pulled strings to get you.