Taking a lesson from my undergrad - pick something useful Forum

[Great Satchmo]

I've been in research the last two years out of undergrad. I did a BA in psychology because it was interesting and, before I found my drive for academics (senior year...*sigh*), it was the path of least resistance. I start out computer science, but decided I didn't want to work that much for the math portion.

I was lucky to get a job, and a really good one at that. So although I've been successful post-college, I realize it's not the common case.

Approaching law school I was thinking public interest, as it's been central to some of the research I'm involved with, and I feel moved by the need for advocacy.

HOWEVER, and here is where the lesson comes in:

I am finding myself thinking that I want to give corporate/business related law a chance. I am forcing myself to start to recognize a balance between a marketable concentration and skill set, that is enjoyable enough, and intellectually stimulating.

I look at PI work as akin to my BA in psych. It may be fun, and it may be the path of least resistance, at least as far as interest in the subject matter goes, but it's something I was lucky with once, and don't count on it again.


I am not looking to sell my soul, nor do I have illusions of big law jobs and huge salaries. I'm just trying to take a lesson I almost had to learn the hard way.

Anyone else going through something similar?

[lawyering]

Well it truly depends on what you mean by path of least resistence. In the Harvard Law presentation, they said biglaw interviews consist of the person feeling for a pulse, and giving you the job. But getting a job in PI from HLS is still HARD. I don't consider that least resistence. Maybe it is only this way from the T5 or t14 schools...but from what I've heard, it's far harder to find something in PI work. And your salary will be a tiny fraction of biglaw. If you want easy, go for corporate law. Also, straight out of law school, I hear biglaw jobs are BORING and involve very little thinking--you're doing gruntwork (granted, huge numbers of hours a week, but still...).

That's been my impression after speaking to a number of people. I could be wrong.

[Great Satchmo]

I knew it might come off this way:

I don't mean to say that PI work is easier, not at all. I have no impression of that.

When I say "path of least resistance", I mean more along the lines of initial curiosity or interest in the subject.

For example (and putting difficulty of the subject matter aside): I found psychology more compelling without putting in additional effort, it just came to me more naturally. With computer science, I found a lot of intellectually and academically engaging topics, but I "gave up" on it because it didn't fall into my lap without effort.