Bottom of Class @ Mediocre Law School = Doomed for Life?

Graduate School Law School
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<p>Hi everyone, </p>

<p>I know I often post and ask a lot of hypotheticals...and this one is really not to offend anyone or to stir up unnecessary anxiety, etc. ...but more to get a real opinion on the matter and also discuss it to find out if there are ways around this scenario for those who may have ended up doing not so well in law school (relative to their peers), but still graduated with a law degree. </p>

<p>In this particular scenario, I'm wondering whether those who did not do so well at a mediocre law school (where they wouldn't even get the benefit of the "big name" branding of an NYU, Michigan, UPenn, etc.) are essentially "doomed for life." </p>

<p>Of course, doing poorly in law school isn't necessarily the be all and end all for a person's life and doesn't define the most important parts about a person. ....So, that phrasing is a little misleading and narrow in scope....but it's really meant as a doomed for life in your law career type of thing. </p>

<p>Is one more or less forced out of the practicing law community with bad grades at a mediocre to lower ranked law school? It seems that grades in law school more so than any other academic and professional field that I've come across matters the most towards one's chances of employment (which I've read are 50/50 for new graduates this past year). And given the amt. of law school debt that is common - $150K - it would seem possibly crippling to one's overall life as well. </p>

<p>AS AN ASIDE:
I was just reading that nurses and paralegals, who only need TWO YEARS of college (heck...just community college), can graduate with little debt (if they stayed at home with parents or worked part-time, etc.....plus community college is super cheap) and then be off to a career making $50K/year with seemingly much better stability in the job market, low debt, good salary, in-demand skills, and not have to be top of their class...</p>

<p>What other options are there for people who don't do well at mediocre law schools? And can they EVER make it back into the legal community with poor grades? ...Let's say they worked in ...business....and did very very well and increased a company's profit's by two or three fold and was very active in the community and developed relationships with people and was very successful otuside of law, but wanted to go back into it......can someone who had bad grades initially, but did well in another field, then come back and apply for jobs in the legal community? </p>

<p>Just curious ....I know this stuff can be scary, but I want to know NOW!! lol...to be better prepared for life in this potential field (I still have time to decide).</p>

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<p>

In NYC, paralegals, (and legal secretaries) need four year degrees and with overtime make six figures. I have known scores of people who came out of undergrad, worked as paralegals for 2-3 years and then went to law school.</p>

<p>To answer the question, if one is at the bottom of a mediocre law school, life is going to be very, very tough. I would personally not suggest finishing law school if one is at the bottom of a mediocre law school after one year.</p>

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<p>zooser, are you sure about the 4-year degree? My friend has a Master’s in English literature from a top college and he tried to apply for paralegal jobs in NYC and got turned down, b/c they said they wanted a paralegal certificate (which you can obtain with two years of college from a community college). …He was thinking of either doing law school too or a Ph.D. in literature, but wanted to start a family sooner and wasn’t sure about doing 3-5 more years of school. But yeah…he kept getting rejected due to not having a paralegal certificate. </p>

<p>Or…did you actually mean a 4-year degree WITH an extra paralegal certificate. I wasn’t sure if you were saying you needed only a 4-year degree from ANY field…b/c my friend not only had that but also an M.A. …He’s not going back to get a second Master’s, lol…but that’s a diff. story. </p>

<p>I might look into paralegal work before law school myself. I wouldn’t mind 2-3 years of work experience actually. I entered college at age 16, having skipped 4th Grade and being a late-year birth…so honestly, I do feel younger than most and feel that I’m less serious than some people are in some ways…but also more passionate than others too…I just want to study things I enjoy and do well and continue to learn, whereas most of my friends are really serious about jobs and more practical than I am. I am only now starting to think about those things. </p>

<p>But yeah…do you know if this info is up to date in NYC? I can check aruond too. I don’t think my school has a paralegal program actually, but I know the community college here does (ironically).</p>

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<p>

Positive. Things are very different now than they were even a year ago. Top law firms generally don’t hire with paralegal certificates (some smaller firms do). They generally want a four year degree and will train. In large law firms, paralegal certificates are seen as a joke and a scam. We would have to know what type of firms your friend applied to. It’s a very tough market at every level in law right now. One of the largest firms recently closed its doors and the market is glutted for every position.</p>

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<p>Hmmm, very interesting. </p>

<p>I’ll have to look into that. I know my friend was applyng through a job agency, so maybe that made a difference. But his degrees were from Rutgers and Michigan, so very prestigious. </p>

<p>I would have thought that an M.A. in English would be great for paralegal work too. But he was applying for editor jobs and other positonis too, so I know he wasn’t trying super hard for ONLY the paralegal thing. </p>

<p>Yeah, I know what you mean about community colleges. I took a math class there when I was in 10th grade over the summer. It was pretty easy…granted it was definitely faster paced than my HS class…so that made it different, but the way the class was taught was pretty easy. My math classes in college now area WAY harder. I can see why some people would not respect a CC degree as much. But it’s weird because IN FACT my college DOES NOT have a paralegal program (we’re a top school, so maybe it’s more focused on pure academic subjects and not so much on these professional credentially programs with applied knowledge/skills). I’m looking at other schools and many DON’T…it’s the community colleges that do for some reason. Very weird. But thanks again!</p>