<p>Note I am not necessarily advocating that OP ends up at a law school. What I am implying is that typical career options available for a large percentage of grads with liberal arts degrees are horrendous, and law school, if one can get into the right school and ends up with the right grades, is likely to be the least crappy choice out of available choice sets that OP faces. For one thing, I think attending a T-14 law school is heck a lot better of a career choice than pursuing a PhD in psychology, even at Harvard. We know that job market for law grads has shrunk. On the other hand, the job market for academia in humanities is basically non-existent.</p>
<p>Also, let’s not forget. The vast majority of people in the workforce don’t necessarily love their jobs. Most people work jobs to bring food on their table and put roof over their head. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor, there are 18 million college grads in the U.S. who work in retail jobs, that don’t require a college degree. Do you think that these 18 million people work their jobs because they genuinely enjoy their work? If you were born just a hundred years ago, the chances were overwhelming that you’d become a farmer by default. Yet, how many men in the history of mankind wept themselves to sleep because they couldn’t follow their “passion” in their “career”? I hang on to the belief that practicality trumps fit or “passion” or whatever you may want to call it.</p>
<p>I think the key assumptions there are “right school” and “right grades.” You’re building the hypo to discount serious and substantial risks without any reason to believe, ex ante, that they should be discounted. Plus, and I feel like this can’t be stressed enough, the OP does not want to be a lawyer. Maybe people don’t love their jobs but that’s no reason to aim for it. As for practicality, are you forgetting the quarter million debt?</p>
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<p>I never understood people who ended up with that much debt while unemployed after law school. After 1L, given your grades and school rank, you will be able to estimate, with a pretty high accuracy, your chances of landing Biglaw. Or, after 2L OCI is done, if you find yourself striking out while facing sticker debt, you can cut your loss and drop out of school. T-14 schools give you enough of a shot that taking a gamble at it is a logical choice for many.</p>
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<p>I am strictly entertaining the thought of enrolling in a law school, only if one is able to win admission to a T-14 law school. </p>
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<p>Part of aging and maturing is gaining more of practicality while becoming less ideal. I remember, when I was a kid, I wanted to become a NASCAR racer. Everyone has to face the reality as they grow up, and make a rational career choice, that is realistic within the available set of choices. If you can find a line of work that you love while being able to put a roof over your head doing it, more power to you. Most working professionals are not this lucky.</p>
<p>why is this thread even 3 pages? OP said he/she doesn’t have any passion for law. attending law school is already questionable as it is for those that want to. without passion, law school will be even more torturous than it is for everyone else, and OP will get little value out of a JD.</p>
<p>quite simply, OP should not go to law school.</p>
<p>NYULawyer, most lawyers hate their jobs. One survey found that first year associates are among the most unhappy professionals out there.</p>
<p>I agree that you should do something to put a roof over your head, but you should not want to cry when you get out of bed in the morning. Once you earn in the 50k to 75k range, extra money does not correlate with more happiness. (Adjust as necessary for cost of living and student loans.) </p>
<p>If you cannot stomach being a lawyer, taking out $200k in loans that will force you to be a lawyer for the next twenty years is stupid. Find something else that pays reasonably well and doesn’t make you hate your life.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>agreed. I mentioned earlier that OP should do everything in his power to line up a job before graduating from college. </p>
<p>If people with liberal arts backgrounds can land a career-track job with decent pay, many wouldn’t be going to law schools. I think people in OP’s shoes should seriously give job hunt process a lot of effort, and if that fails, re-evaluate law school later, or any other graduate schools.</p>
<p>Many big-firm lawyers being unhappy is completely true. I think that has largely to do with insane amount of law school debt, and grueling working conditions of Biglaw. However, I think law school can be a wonderful opportunity if you can attend a T14 with little to no debt. My friend went to Harvard Law and now works in Biglaw. Last time we met, he wished he could go back 4 years and attend Cornell Law for free rather than going to Harvard Law at sticker. Those 3k a month loan payments, while working 70-80 hours a week, isn’t the most ideal of circumstances. </p>
<p>Where I was going was that law school would be the better alternative, compared to PhD in humanities. You think going to a law school is bad. Getting a PhD in humanities is basically a career suicide.</p>
<p>Just an update… met with the pre-law advisor, and he pretty much agreed to everything you guys said… if I want to go to law, I need to make sure since it is an investment, and he does support my thoughts about doing clinical psychology for my masters’ degree. However, since he did say that since I’ll be graduating early, I should seriously consider taking a gap year (or two) since I’ll have more experience. Even said that he’d contact my dad to tell him about what he told me.
Just wanted to thank you guys again! It’s good to know that I’m not completely crazy.</p>