Thinking of dropping out - mediocre grades, debt, etc Forum

[GatorEagle1]

Quick summary - attend a TTT public state school with around 50% JD employment; also pay 10k in tuition. I do not hate law school (whether it's the students, professors, or most coursework), but I do hate the low job prospects and excessive debt upon graduation.
Ok, I am trying not to turn this into a "woe is me" post. I got back two grades. One is median, the other is slightly below median. My legal writing class grade will likely be above the median. Final two classes are a crapshoot.

Recently, I've been looking into second options should this not work. As a former teacher for 5 years who didn't burn bridges, I started thinking about dropping out and pursuing a career in Speech Pathology (the MS, not the MED). Maybe if this work experience wouldn't matter for law, it would matter for another career (and maybe lead to some personal satisfaction of "helping others").

So a couple of quick questions:
1. Even though I am obviously not gunning for BigLaw, is a decent job paying at least 40k still plausible?
2. Anyone know anything about the difficulty of obtaining an MS with a liberal arts background?
3. Would it be possible to get letters of recommendation from law professors talking about my academic background?

Any other thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. If it wasn't for this website, I'd be paying triple the costs at another law school with no increase in job prospects. I do plan on attending spring semester, but the rest is in the air . . .

[Mick Haller]

Which job market?

[GatorEagle1]

I want to keep my privacy, so I'll say it's in the Sun Belt (not FL/TX/CA)

[Myself]

.

[gobuffs10]

I'd wait for your other two grades first. That said, I'd also take spring semester and see what you can fix. You might surprise yourself.

[buddingjd]

I'd wait for your other two grades first. That said, I'd also take spring semester and see what you can fix. You might surprise yourself.

probably bad advice

[09042014]

How much debt are you accumulating each year.

[Myself]

.

[GatorEagle1]

Including interest, 30+k (better than 60k, right lol). Not the wisest of investments it seems, but not financial suicide either. I thought I knew how to use IRAC, but obviously not. Bailing out after one semester seems cowardly (unless I was like bottom 10%), so I need to meet with my academic advisors and act accordingly.

Good alliteration at the end?

[09042014]

Including interest, 30+k (better than 60k, right lol). Not the wisest of investments it seems, but not financial suicide either. I thought I knew how to use IRAC, but obviously not. Bailing out after one semester seems cowardly (unless I was like bottom 10%), so I need to meet with my academic advisors and act accordingly.

Good alliteration at the end?

I'm a fan of alliteration, but damn, are you really going to want to do a 40K job with 100K debt? Cut your loses bro.

[094320]

..

[Shmoopy]

Your options outside of law will be easier to pursue if you just drop out now. You could have a gap of a couple months on your résumé without much problem, but a whole year will look worse.

[gobuffs10]

Apparently I'm an idiot, so disregard my advice. I just think one semester is too soon to quit, especially without your other grades in. You have no idea what those are, so how can you know what kind of position you're in? I really have a hard time seeing how waiting for all of your grades before making a decision is "bad advice," but I guess it is.

TCR seems to be pack it up now and go home. So if that's what you want to hear, there you go. Get out while you can, run for your life, sky is falling, etc. The plus is you have other options, if you'd be happier with those.

[cinephile]

If you want to do speech pathology without having the pre-reqs, you'll have to spend the rest of the year (spring and summer) taking the necessary courses (while working ideally). Then you can apply the following fall for admission in the fall of 2014. That's awhile from now, but that's more or less the timeline you'd have to work with.

[Mick Haller]

Below median at TTT should probably drop out.

Above median at a 20-50 school isn't usually enough to get anything decent.

[cynthiad]

I would recommend looking into the requirements for an MS now and signing up for the prereq courses in the spring, but don't actually withdraw from law school until your grades for this past semester are in.