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I live in Texas, and wanted to know if I graduate & take the bar, what are my chances of getting a job with a starting salary over 55K? I would need to hit the ground running right after graduation, so that I could work on paying off my student loans. I've been taking practice LSATs and getting pretty good scores. However, I'm also looking at master's degree programs in the fields of health care and education. I've heard its really hard to get a job as a teacher in schools around here. Would it be easier to get a job with a law firm?

Depends what lawl school you go to

rad lulz wrote:Depends what lawl school you go to

so if I go to the wrong one, I won't be able to get a good job?

Lookingatcareers wrote:

rad lulz wrote:Depends what lawl school you go to

so if I go to the wrong one, I won't be able to get a good job?

Exactly. I would recommend UT. There is a vast gap in placement for any other Texas school. Also vandy and the t14 with your ties. If you are a Texas resident you have a leg up due to state quotas.

It's fascinating you're discussing teachers in the same breath as lawyers - something most people wouldn't draw the similarities on (market struggles, work long hours, etc).

That said, your chances "depend" on where you go to and how well you do - both of which depend on your application's strength. Your app's strength depends on the following three things:

1) LSAT
2) GPR
3) Not screwing up on everything else (as in literally not making a single typo anywhere, and turning in a pristine, gorgeous personal statement)

A mediocre LSAT is negated by a high GPR, but you might experience a road block in the scholarship hunt. Vice-versa on that, too (although I guarantee you a 3.0 with 180 looks a lootttt better than a 4.0 with 150).

In the pecking order, UT>>>>>Baylor=SMU=Houston>>>Tech>>>>>>>>>>>Everywhere else. If you want to go to law school in Texas and work here, then go to only one of the above five named institutions.

Read as much as you can about law school itself.

Learn as much about the field as you can. Maybe take up an internship or summer job.

Lastly, take everything I just said with a huge grain of salt, because I'm an ignorant 0L drafting up a post at 4:45 AM in the morning.

That said...

GLHF!

It's easier to get a job as a teacher, and teachers in large metro areas start around $46K here. Why bother taking on additional loans if your goal is a $55K job?

Lookingatcareers wrote:I live in Texas, and wanted to know if I graduate & take the bar, what are my chances of getting a job with a starting salary over 55K? I would need to hit the ground running right after graduation, so that I could work on paying off my student loans. I've been taking practice LSATs and getting pretty good scores. However, I'm also looking at master's degree programs in the fields of health care and education. I've heard its really hard to get a job as a teacher in schools around here. Would it be easier to get a job with a law firm?

If you go to UT, you will easily obtain your objective regardless of where you place in the class. If you can't get into UT, the next best law schools to attend would be U of H Law Center or SMU. Those schools are in very large legal markets and have the favor of their respective cities. However, you will have to place in the top 25% or top 33% to get that 55k firm job you want. You could probably place a little outside of these numbers , but whether you get a job or not is going to largely depend on who you know or what kind of legal work experience you had while in law school.

I would also advise that you take an advocacy class or two or participate in interscholastic mock trial to be more employable at the small firm level.

utlaw2007 wrote:However, you will have to place in the top 25% or top 33% to get that 55k firm job you want.

That's inaccurate for SMU. Top 25% has a decent shot at well over $55K.

kalvano wrote:It's easier to get a job as a teacher, and teachers in large metro areas start around $46K here. Why bother taking on additional loans if your goal is a $55K job?

Because as a teacher, your clients will underappreciate you, your higher ups will ask too much in too little time, you will work long unpaid hours, and your potential will go largely unappreciated as a cog in the larger machine.

Wait...which career is that?

kalvano wrote:

utlaw2007 wrote:However, you will have to place in the top 25% or top 33% to get that 55k firm job you want.

That's inaccurate for SMU. Top 25% has a decent shot at well over $55K.

My bad. I was just taking a guess. Thanks for the correction.

Lookingatcareers wrote:I live in Texas, and wanted to know if I graduate & take the bar, what are my chances of getting a job with a starting salary over 55K? I would need to hit the ground running right after graduation, so that I could work on paying off my student loans. I've been taking practice LSATs and getting pretty good scores. However, I'm also looking at master's degree programs in the fields of health care and education. I've heard its really hard to get a job as a teacher in schools around here. Would it be easier to get a job with a law firm?

I am a 0L and know very little about the legal market, but DO know a lot about public education in Texas. It is NOT hard to get a teaching job in Texas if you can teach any of the following: high school math, high school science, special education, bilingual elementary. However, if you want to teach elementary or secondary english/social studies/an elective, it will be very difficult.