Should I drop out? Forum

[anonymous1232323]

I'm a rising 2L right now at a T1 school in a major market (think Fordham, GW, USC) who did not have the best year. I had a lot of really bad things going down in my personal life right before finals first semester - my best friend died in a car crash two weeks beforehand and I was a total wreck. Even though I got all As on the simulated exams my professors gave us halfway through, ended up getting a 2.9 GPA; the school curves to a 3.3. I brought my grades up second semester substantially (I got a 3.42) but still, my average is sitting at a 3.14, and 50% is marked at a 3.27.

I know I'm no longer competitive at OCI. My career counselor today basically told me (in a nice way) that I have a one in a million shot of getting a job from it. I do have a callback at a V15 through a family friend that is a senior partner, but obviously that's not guaranteed. The problem is I never really wanted to be a lawyer in the long run: I went to law school to use it as a stepping stone for a high-ranking government job, and with the jobs that I'm going to have access to if I don't get something through OCI, that's not really a possibility anymore. I'm also taking on a lot of debt - I have about $75,000 out already (which includes $10,000 from undergrad).

I'm seriously considering dropping out, but the problem is I have no idea what I would do with my life otherwise: I have a pretty useless bachelors in political science, albeit from a lower Ivy. It's not that I don't want to be a lawyer at all, I do like the field, and I would have been happy practicing for 5 - 10 years. I just didn't want to be one forever, and I'm worried that now that BigLaw is mostly out of the way I'll be stuck in this career path until how ever long it takes to pay off my debt, which could be a really, really long time. But I really don't know what to do with only a bachelors in political science, even from an Ivy, that will be making more than $50,000 a year. Do you guys have any advice? Or any suggestions on other careers to begin looking into?

[HopefulSplitter0000]

I'm seriously considering dropping out, but the problem is I have no idea what I would do with my life otherwise: I have a pretty useless bachelors in political science, albeit from a lower Ivy. It's not that I don't want to be a lawyer at all, I do like the field, and I would have been happy practicing for 5 - 10 years. I just didn't want to be one forever, and I'm worried that now that BigLaw is mostly out of the way I'll be stuck in this career path until how ever long it takes to pay off my debt, which could be a really, really long time. But I really don't know what to do with only a bachelors in political science, even from an Ivy, that will be making more than $50,000 a year. Do you guys have any advice? Or any suggestions on other careers to begin looking into?

0L here.

No idea about dropping out. However, if you're okay moving to China, I could help you get a job in college admissions consulting. The main requirements will be strong writing skills and interpersonal skills. From a lower ivy, you could reasonably expect a starting salary of about $50,000. Here in China, it is unlikely you'll spend more than $25,000-30,000/year on living expenses (most people spent <$20,000), which would give you $20,000-30,000/year to pay down debt. This varies from city to city and person to person, but the standard middle class family in China is living on about $600 USD a month, even in big cities.

College admission consulting's exit opportunities are primarily in education, but you could always pursue another degree later (MPP, PhD, etc.) after taking a few years to decide what you want to do. That said, based on what I've read, you cannot really return to law school once you've dropped out--at least it won't be easy. However, since you said yourself you don't really want to be a lawyer and have a below median GPA, I am not sure you benefit from law school anyway.

[cavalier1138]

The problem is I never really wanted to be a lawyer in the long run: I went to law school to use it as a stepping stone for a high-ranking government job, and with the jobs that I'm going to have access to if I don't get something through OCI, that's not really a possibility anymore.

Well, that was never much of a possibility in the first place, nor is it much less of a possibility now, unless you wanted to be a judge (which is a lawyer who tells other lawyers what the law is) or a high-ranking government official in charge of one of the law-oriented agencies (which would make you a lawyer who tells other lawyers what to do). So if your ideal vision was to tough it out in practice for 5-10 years in biglaw, then jump to being head of some agency that didn't involve legal practice, law school was not a great choice, because both of those things are very unlikely to happen for most graduates.

Can you be slightly more specific about your government goals? Do you want to hold elected office? Work for a specific agency? What kind of legal practice did you imagine having for the first 5-10 years before you went on to your real goals?