46 year old non-trad taking the plunge. Forum

[Bobnoxious]

It's been awhile since I posted, but last semester about killed me. I made the mistake of letting the chair of the department talk me into the accelerated MA program in Poli-Sci, and adding the grad course to my regular day job and my other undergrad courses was not a good idea, though I was able to 4.0 the semester (3.71 LSAC total now). I won't be doing that again...at least not until law school, but then I won't have a job to worry about.

I just signed up for a free online Kaplan LSAT test just to see how it goes. (Best guess is about a 155)

I also just signed up for the full PowerScore course in April as well as the June LSAT. Wish me luck. (Shooting for a 165-170)

I'll finish undergrad with about $40k of debt, but there's not a whole hell of a lot you can do with a degree in political science. Of course that was known on the front end. Now I need SCHOLARSHIPS to...University of Memphis (where I live), Indianapolis (family will put me up rent free), or Washington U. in St. Louis (friends will put me up for extremely cheap). But, heck, the opportunity a JD will give me with all my business connections in my industry can't be any worse than being low man on the totem pole making less than $30k year with no benefits like I've been doing for 20+ years, even with the debt load I'm assuming at this late stage of life....can it?

[paratactical]

But, heck, the opportunity a JD will give me with all my business connections in my industry can't be any worse than being low man on the totem pole making less than $30k year with no benefits like I've been doing for 20+ years, even with the debt load I'm assuming at this late stage of life....can it?

It could. You could end up overqualified to be the 30k low man with six figures of debt. You either need to maximize your chances at gainful employment, minimize your debt, or both.

Check out http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/ for information on school employment statistics.

[mindarmed]

It's been awhile since I posted, but last semester about killed me. I made the mistake of letting the chair of the department talk me into the accelerated MA program in Poli-Sci, and adding the grad course to my regular day job and my other undergrad courses was not a good idea, though I was able to 4.0 the semester (3.71 LSAC total now). I won't be doing that again...at least not until law school, but then I won't have a job to worry about.

I just signed up for a free online Kaplan LSAT test just to see how it goes. (Best guess is about a 155)

I also just signed up for the full PowerScore course in April as well as the June LSAT. Wish me luck. (Shooting for a 165-170)

I'll finish undergrad with about $40k of debt, but there's not a whole hell of a lot you can do with a degree in political science. Of course that was known on the front end. Now I need SCHOLARSHIPS to...University of Memphis (where I live), Indianapolis (family will put me up rent free), or Washington U. in St. Louis (friends will put me up for extremely cheap). But, heck, the opportunity a JD will give me with all my business connections in my industry can't be any worse than being low man on the totem pole making less than $30k year with no benefits like I've been doing for 20+ years, even with the debt load I'm assuming at this late stage of life....can it?

What do you hope to achieve by pursuing a law degree? You'll be overqualified with 20 years of experience for a lot of shops. Not to mention you will be the elder of many of the senior associates.

[Bobnoxious]

Probably the first thing I'll end up doing is prepare an 8 hour CE course for insurance adjusters and disaster restoration contractors on legal pitfalls surrounding catastrophic property losses and use my contacts in the industry to fill up some classrooms with prospects and bird-dogs. I'll also be doing collections work for small contractors who are generally owed thousands of dollars by multi-family housing (apartment) investor groups in Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville...to start.