1L considering dropping out.. Forum

[shouldacouldawoulda]

I'll be the first to admit I never should have attended law school in the first place. Hindsight's 20/20. But now I am looking down the barrel of the loaded gun that is final exams, and wondering what I should do.

I realized I wanted to drop out about midway through the semester, mainly because job prospects at my school (T2 ranked 60-70) were even more abysmal than I thought and I talked to and read posts from enough depressed and jobless attorneys that I saw the writing on the wall. I came to law school in the first place for the worst reason: didn't know what else to do. In fact I had almost talked myself out of it when my school offered me a half tuition scholarship and I said what the hell.

After my mid semester drop out realization, I decided to at least finish up the semester because I couldn't get a tuition refund and my parents/girlfriend encouraged me to. As you can imagine, my motivation level severely dropped off. It is to the point that I am now two weeks away from finals and I cannot for the life of me start studying. I planned on starting last night, and I ended up applying for jobs in my undergrad degree field..

So here's my question: is there any benefit to me taking the finals or should just I drop out now? I would go ahead and take them but I'm worried that I will fail one and I would much rather a future non-legal employer know that I dropped out on my own accord, not because I was kicked out. Do non-legal employers even check with law schools about something like this?

Not looking for any sympathy, just some advice. If it makes any difference, my undergrad was a business degree from a solid state school and I had less than $10k in debt. I'm now looking at a debt total of $72k if I stuck with law school all three years, and that's assuming I kept my scholarship (have to stay above median).
Thanks

[banjo]

I would just drop out now. I don't really see the benefit of taking finals either.

[FSK]

Just drop out. You're going to half ass finals anyway.

[AReasonableMan]

You should gun hard. Really nothing to lose at this point. It's like a casino. If you want to be a lawyer and are concerned about jobs then it's really a lottery at this point. Master law school test taking as best as you can.

These schools may not release grades till it's too late to get a refund. You also can't predict your first semester grades beyond if you absolutely bombed (had no points). But no harm in gunning hard at this point.

Yes, the TT and TTT lawyers here are probably understandably bitter. However, mentally it's well known people are much more likely to post positive info about themselves than bad info. There's a certain amount of maturity in saying I made a mistake. Most will never talk about it. On the contrary, those who do well will be more likely to post about it.

Most here went to good schools. If there are very smart and personable people at top schools getting fucked than your school is pretty obviously to be by and large fucked.

[AReasonableMan]

I would just drop out now. I don't really see the benefit of taking finals either.

If s/he wants to be a lawyer then it's not impossible to gun and try for top five percent. It's unlikely but it's like a free casino at this point.

[A. Nony Mouse]

But what about that post suggests that the OP actually wants to be a lawyer?

[shouldacouldawoulda]

But what about that post suggests that the OP actually wants to be a lawyer?

See that's the thing..I find studying law only marginally interesting and I would have zero desire to practice unless I was making enough money to justify $72k in debt..

[shouldacouldawoulda]

And I want to add that its not that I'm not confident I'd do decently if I went balls to the wall, I'm just a realist and the fact is 90% of the kids at my school won't be taking jobs that justify the debt..

[ManoftheHour]

I think you should gun hard. What if you're top 1%? Or top 1? I would say barring you being a mouth breather, you'd probably snag a big law job. You might hate it, but there's 160,000 reasons to do it.

If you get median pwned, then just drop out anyway. It's not like you're getting any of that money back.

Dude, you have one month left. Might as well see where you land. Hey, you might be the chosen one.

If it goes to shit, then just drop out afterwards.

[sflyr2016]

You sound like a bitch. No offense. Not because you realized that you do not want to practice, but because you're making excuses for not taking exams. Gun hard, be a grownup, and re-evaluate after break. Heck, you might actually do well enough that you change your mind. But really, do not make any excuses for not trying on exams. You sound scared of not doing as well as you think you could... See if you actually can and go from there.

[Kratos]

First off, you're probably not gonna fail out, so don't stress about that. Second, at this point try to do well and if you don't crush, then just dip out, youve already paid so see where you land.

Or just bounce now if you seriously hate this shit. This is up to you. If you know for sure you don't wanna be a lawyer, who the hell are we to tell you to stay in school you hate?

[mmelittlechicken]

Drop out yesterday.

[BankruptMe]

You should have hedged your bets and applied to jobs throughout the semester to see if you get anything...

I know what it feels like to lose motivation and figure what's the point. In my grad school program last year I did the same thing when I realized I did not want to be a professor, I do actually kind of regret it

Go balls to the Wall and see what happens. Also, see when tuition is due for next semesters. What I realized is, is that a lot of schools scam the shid out of you and makes tuition day like 3 days before grades come due.

[valen]

I'd suck it up and stay the month for finals, if nothing else than to build character. It's a month, you can do month. What else would you be doing with your time anyway? Eating Doritos, applying to jobs, and collecting unemployment? Those things will all be there four weeks from now.

[GOATlawman]

Personally I would use it as a free vacation where you can chill out until the end of December. Find a job to start in January or so and you've got a solid month to travel or get drunk every day or whatever. I would travel

1 semester of tuition at 1/2 price is not that much...If you don't like what you're doing there's no way you're gonna beat all of the gunners studying 24/7, so why waste all that energy? Find a job then chill out

[AReasonableMan]

You sound like a bitch. No offense. Not because you realized that you do not want to practice, but because you're making excuses for not taking exams. Gun hard, be a grownup, and re-evaluate after break. Heck, you might actually do well enough that you change your mind. But really, do not make any excuses for not trying on exams. You sound scared of not doing as well as you think you could... See if you actually can and go from there.

Agree with this. The fact they knew employment stats were bad but didn't want to deal with the work of retaking matches not wanting to deal with studying because only those with good grades are competing for a few good jobs. It seems like someone who would give almost anything to avoid working.

[Ron Don Volante]

Give the next few weeks your all then apply to jobs over break and throughout next semester. No reason not to give it a whirl at this point, IMO. If you get a job that looks enticing, jump ship and cut your losses. Until then, what else are you gonna do?

[Cogburn87]

You sound like a bitch. No offense. Not because you realized that you do not want to practice, but because you're making excuses for not taking exams. Gun hard, be a grownup, and re-evaluate after break. Heck, you might actually do well enough that you change your mind. But really, do not make any excuses for not trying on exams. You sound scared of not doing as well as you think you could... See if you actually can and go from there.

Agree with this. The fact they knew employment stats were bad but didn't want to deal with the work of retaking matches not wanting to deal with studying because only those with good grades are competing for a few good jobs. It seems like someone who would give almost anything to avoid working.

[MarkfromWI]

Plain and simple, if you don't want to be a lawyer drop out. Say you do stick it out and somehow manage to kill it during finals, what then? Stick around for another 2.5 years just to get a job you don't like? Doesn't make any sense to me. If you're sure you don't want to be a lawyer, consider the semester's tuition the cost of learning more about what you do and don't want out of a career. $10k UG debt plus whatever you've spent for the first semester isn't a bad place to be.

[scrowell]

I went to a tt/ttt, i have passed the bar, i have a good job. you can make it work if you really want it.

[AReasonableMan]

You sound like a bitch. No offense. Not because you realized that you do not want to practice, but because you're making excuses for not taking exams. Gun hard, be a grownup, and re-evaluate after break. Heck, you might actually do well enough that you change your mind. But really, do not make any excuses for not trying on exams. You sound scared of not doing as well as you think you could... See if you actually can and go from there.

Agree with this. The fact they knew employment stats were bad but didn't want to deal with the work of retaking matches not wanting to deal with studying because only those with good grades are competing for a few good jobs. It seems like someone who would give almost anything to avoid working.

You have to consider the facts available. They already paid tuition, and are there. They mentioned they would like a good paying job in law but think it's unlikely. This is all true but parroting the just drop out when OP could study is foolish. They've already given up the negative (time and money).

[haus]

Do you have something useful to do other than law school between now and when finals would end?

[scrowell]

You sound like a bitch. No offense. Not because you realized that you do not want to practice, but because you're making excuses for not taking exams. Gun hard, be a grownup, and re-evaluate after break. Heck, you might actually do well enough that you change your mind. But really, do not make any excuses for not trying on exams. You sound scared of not doing as well as you think you could... See if you actually can and go from there.

Agree with this. The fact they knew employment stats were bad but didn't want to deal with the work of retaking matches not wanting to deal with studying because only those with good grades are competing for a few good jobs. It seems like someone who would give almost anything to avoid working.

I've found that most law students are like that.

[Ron Don Volante]

I went to a tt/ttt, i have passed the bar, i have a good job. you can make it work if you really want it.

[Cogburn87]

You sound like a bitch. No offense. Not because you realized that you do not want to practice, but because you're making excuses for not taking exams. Gun hard, be a grownup, and re-evaluate after break. Heck, you might actually do well enough that you change your mind. But really, do not make any excuses for not trying on exams. You sound scared of not doing as well as you think you could... See if you actually can and go from there.

Agree with this. The fact they knew employment stats were bad but didn't want to deal with the work of retaking matches not wanting to deal with studying because only those with good grades are competing for a few good jobs. It seems like someone who would give almost anything to avoid working.

You have to consider the facts available. They already paid tuition, and are there. They mentioned they would like a good paying job in law but think it's unlikely. This is all true but parroting the just drop out when OP could study is foolish. They've already given up the negative (time and money).

Plain and simple, if you don't want to be a lawyer drop out. Say you do stick it out and somehow manage to kill it during finals, what then? Stick around for another 2.5 years just to get a job you don't like? Doesn't make any sense to me. If you're sure you don't want to be a lawyer, consider the semester's tuition the cost of learning more about what you do and don't want out of a career. $10k UG debt plus whatever you've spent for the first semester isn't a bad place to be.