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I am part time at a tier 2 school and work full time as a paralegal. I have received grants for school and have been able to pay the remainder in cash. I have no student loans as of yet. I have tried my best to avoid debt because I am interested in going into public interest law. I am finding working full time and going part time to be a very miserable experience. I am also working a very unfulfilling but stable job. My grades are very very poor. I have no idea when I will graduate if I continue part time, I dropped classes last spring and took off the fall semester. I am considering the following options

-Transfer to full time- I am pretty sure it will take me two years to finish at this point. Take out loans to cover living expenses. I am a little hesitant because I am not sure if this will make law school less miserable or not.

-Continue working but go at a slower pace maybe two course per semester. This would draw school out even longer but would be easier than taking 4 classes while working.

-Just drop out and enjoy life.

TTT with poor grades, no debt, and a steady job. You should drop out. You probably won't get a real legal job anyway. No reason to put yourself through this.

It's hard to tell from your post if you've done this or not, but it's my opinion that you need to seriously examine yourself and determine if the law is where you want to be in the future; public interest or otherwise. If not, I think you need to drop out before you do any damage with student loans (it's great that you haven't yet).

Good luck. I know it's a tough position.

I have not made any decisions yet. I am considering quitting my job in August and going to school full time for a semester to see if it is any less miserable. My tuition is paid for I would have to borrow for cost of living which will kind of sucks considering public interest jobs do not pay much. I am not in TTT but a state school ranking in the 30s. I am just not sure going 40k or so in debt is worth coming out of school making 50-60k. I have been a paralegal for 7+ years but I would like to work as an attorney working directly with indigent clients either with the PD or other organizations serving low income clients. I will admit dropping out is tempting, I am considering if I should attempt a semester full time first but that would cause me to have give up my job............really not sure..

Just my opinion I don't even have anything really to back this up with. But I would try to do both, because here's how I look at it. You already have bad grades. You can make a turn around, but your not going to improve enough for biglaw. Also, you want PI so that it less about grades and more about networking, and everything else along those lines. I think your best bet is to honestly quit putting so much effort into school. Your school probably won't fail anyone.

If I were you I probably wouldn't do the readings most the semester, go strictly by hornbooks, find old outlines, and gun like hell for median the last two weeks of the semester. If you end up like bottom 30% with no debt thats probablt better then being top 60% with debt looming over your head and oppurtunity costs. You can afford to volunteer after school for a while and do other things that might not be available to you with debt.

The two class option seems like a good deal to me. honestly I feel like you could learn the material pretty quickly for only two classes and get a free education without putting all that much effort in over a long period of time.

Thank you for the reply. That was very well stated. I think going to 2 classes and putting in minimal effort would probably make it a little more bearable and I agree totally on the grades point.

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Just go 9 hours, 3 semesters a year. You're making money while in school, which is more than most can say. You'll absolutely find a job upon graduation.

TLS is hilarious.

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Desert Fox wrote:TTT with poor grades, no debt, and a steady job. You should drop out. You probably won't get a real legal job anyway. No reason to put yourself through this.

Where do you get TTT when OP said tier 2?

I think dropping out might be the best idea for you. I think quitting your job and going full-time in your situation is not a particularly good idea -- especially because your grades are bad. Getting even a low paying public interest job is tough, and is even harder with poor grades.

For what its worth, if you do decide to stay in school, verify how long you have to complete the degree. I know my school has a specific time period that you have to graduate, but I can't recall what it is.

hoos89 wrote:
Absolutely is not a word that should exist ITE. Poor grades at a T2. What are the odds you will find a job that will be more fulfilling than the one you are in (or even pay much, if any more)? Good PI jobs are not easy to come by, and whatever people may say they DO look at what grades you have and where you went to school. Nobody here can tell you what is right for you but it sounds like you need to seriously reevaluate your goals: if being a paralegal is so bad, what makes you think that whatever job as lawyer you have is going to be that much better?

He/she will absolutely be able to find a job. 100%.

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Bad grades? No debt? Job? Drop out.

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It's amazing how many of these threads pop up at final's time, not before the semester.

Obviously OP is in a bad place but why quit before 1L when they're paid up already and can't get refunded.

Everyone says law school is a lottery of equally smart kids, but I'm starting to realize that getting strong grades isn't about being the smartest working or hardest working, but very hard working, having some common sense and not giving a shit on test day either way. way too many people fold. you spent your $. fight for it.

hoos89 wrote:
You don't even know who this person is. How can you possibly say that with a straight face? Also I assume when you say a job, you don't include Stabucks barista in there. Someone with self-admitted terrible grades at a less than stellar school in an economy that cannot support all of the law graduates being produced annually? Okay.

Yes, I meant any job. You're correct though, I don't know the op. So I suppose it depends. However, I recently got a convicted felon (fresh out of prison) a very good job relative to his outlook, so excuse me for thinking that the op will most likely find a job after graduating from law school.

ajax adonis wrote:
Are you purposefully trying to give bad advice?

Do you still beat your wife?

roz77 wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:TTT with poor grades, no debt, and a steady job. You should drop out. You probably won't get a real legal job anyway. No reason to put yourself through this.

Where do you get TTT when OP said tier 2?

Anything not T14 is TTT son.