Questions about everything! Forum

[c57l]

I'm going to sound like a crazy over-thinker, but that's because I am. I'm going to be a freshman in college this fall. I've wanted to be a lawyer for as long as I can remember. Whenever I think about my future, what I'm good at, interested in, etc, It always comes back to law. Reading about the legal job market lately, I'm kinda worried. I'm trying to get an accurate picture of what its going to be like. I was a pretty average student GPA wise, but my reading and writing SAT scores were well into the 90th percentile. I've scored very high in verbal IQ tests (professionally done.) My mediocrity in school is completely from my lack of trying. So I basically want to get an idea of law school. I think I can reasonably pull off a 3.5 college GPA without any extreme effort. I've already talked to the editor of the school paper, and I'm pretty sure I'll be writing for them. Mock trial and a few other clubs are also possibilities. On paper, I'm undeclared as of right now but I'm going to declare Polisci (out of pure interest in the subject) and possibly Economics as a double major. As for my LSAT scores, of course, I have no idea. Are high verbal/writing SAT scores an accurate predictor of ones LSAT score? I scored a 500 in Math for what its worth.

The picture of employment I get is this: you get recruited by a biglaw firm while in LS, go into the public sector, or you don't have a job. It seems like these are the only real opportunities for employment. Is this correct? Say I don't get recruited by a firm, are there opportunities outside of that for a job? Do large/medium size firms hire outside of law school recruitments? Is it worth going to a tier 2 or 3 law school? I live in Massachusetts, and I like BC and BU, not only because I feel if I try hard enough I could be accepted, but I like the location and what I've heard about them. Is their ranking in the top 20 "good enough?" College is going to put me into about $35,000 in debt. My plan would be to go straight to LS. I really don't want to be stuck in the unemployment line after piling on a massive amount of debt.

[jennylynn]

1. A law degree can take you in thousands of directions.
2. The legal job market could/will hopefully be completely in SEVEN years when you graduate from law school. No need to stress out right now. Relax.
3. Work hard in undergrad. Other than that, chill out and don't think about law school until you're a Junior. I'm an over thinker as well, but stressing about it at this point will do you absolutely no good.

[bk1]

Stop worrying about this until you have an actual GPA and an actual LSAT.

[eandy]

If you are SURE you want to go to law school, don't double major. They won't care. Just get a 4.0 and high LSAT.

[c57l]

Definitely no double major? The reason I was thinking of it was for the security IF I decided not to go to law school. I'm really sure that I want to go to law school - as of now. So what else is out there besides biglaw and public sector? I personally know a law school grad that's now a CEO. I'm assuming that's not exactly commonplace. For whatever reason, hearing people other than my parents saying stop worrying is making me feel better haha.

[Kilpatrick]

Right now your main goal should be to get the best GPA you can. Don't waste your time with that double major. Take classes that you are interested in that you know you can do well at. Don't waste your time with extra curriculars either if the only reason you are doing them is because you think they will help you get into law school. They won't. If you seriously want to go to law school, your ONLY goal right now should be the highest possible GPA you can get. Then in your junior year your focus should switch to getting the highest LSAT score you can.

[Kilpatrick]

Definitely no double major? The reason I was thinking of it was for the security IF I decided not to go to law school. I'm really sure that I want to go to law school - as of now. So what else is out there besides biglaw and public sector? I personally know a law school grad that's now a CEO. I'm assuming that's not exactly commonplace. For whatever reason, hearing people other than my parents saying stop worrying is making me feel better haha.

Oh just read this. If you are worried about security then maybe just major in Econ. Poli Sci is a pretty worthless major on its own.

[jennylynn]

Definitely no double major? The reason I was thinking of it was for the security IF I decided not to go to law school. I'm really sure that I want to go to law school - as of now. So what else is out there besides biglaw and public sector? I personally know a law school grad that's now a CEO. I'm assuming that's not exactly commonplace. For whatever reason, hearing people other than my parents saying stop worrying is making me feel better haha.

There are firms of all sizes, from single practices up to the large firms.
I'm working at a firm right now that does contracts for clinical trials. But yeah, talk to your undergrad's career services department. They should be able to give you a ton of info.