Alek wrote:Could you please explain the point you are making? Specifically, which of my posts overlooked the bad job market, what part of the highlighted post is worth revisiting? I am not sure how paralegal work and a postponing of law school relates exactly to my job search during school and after. If you could clarify, that would be great.
Thank you for your advice and generous concern, I am grateful.
Okay I'll stop being a sarcastic ass. The point I'm making is that law school is not a walk in the park and if you don't think that you even want to be a LAWYER then you shouldn't go. You're going to be putting yourself through a tremendous amount of work and debt for three years and you're not even sure you want to use the JD. There are people (myself included) with numbers in your range who REALLY want to go, so I'm not just telling you T14 or bust, I'm telling you if you don't WANT TO DON'T DO IT. This is one of the things that gave me the idea that you don't want to go:
Alek wrote:At this point I am considering seeking other graduate options given that I am not inspired to practice law. Law seems like a field I have the skill set for, however if I'm not going to use the specialized knowledge, or plan on needing it, why go?
The posts in which you said that you know people who have JD's and don't use them and are perfectly happy and the post in which you referenced it being difficult to get a paralegal job are the ones that made me think that you are "ignoring the bad job market". There are a couple of points to make here:
1. This is a public forum in which many people give advice to hundreds of people all the time. That means that we generalize because in our advice we cannot account for whatever stroke of luck you may have that will land you some awesome job in which you are not a lawyer but still practice law. If we said that to everyone then we wouldn't be being realistic. Those jobs may be out there but they are not in any way abundant and should not be counted on. You shouldn't go to law school without some expectation of actually being a lawyer. Period.
2. The job market sucks for everything right now. You said you personally knew someone who is having trouble finding a job in the LEGAL (yes it's a paralegal but it's the same field) field. Guess what? The legal job market sucks even more than a lot of other job markets right now, it's not exactly on it's way to recovery any time soon. I'm not going to make generalization about Tier 1, T14, T17, T79, etc going to law school is risky right now matter what. Go read the legal employment forum if you want some anecdotes.
3. When someone comes in here and says that they don't wanna go, but why not? I'm going to tell that person to explore other options that may have way more job options and JOBS. Let us people with low numbers who really want to go be stupid and go, but if you don't want to go don't go.
Also, if despite all of this you STILL go then:
Alek wrote:I did a few practice LSATs and earned a 164 on the real deal. I feel that even if I were to score 169 in a retaken test my low GPA and practical absence of "soft factors" will still be a blemish. I am anxious my personal statement will be weak.
This is just plain wrong. A 164 and 169 are NOT the same thing. At all. RETAKE your LSAT. A 169 opens so many more doors (schools) than were open with a 164. Soft factors don't matter and your personal statement just needs to be readable and not make you look insane.
If you stick around and read this forum you will see that there is a wealth of information (and sarcasm and general douchiness) that can help you if you do decide to go. You are not the first person to get this kind of advice or reaction from the people here. HTH.