My kid is graduating from college this year. She has applied to most of T14 law schools, has been admitted to one and is waiting to hear back from others. I think it is likely she will be admitted to few more T14 schools. In the last week she was given an offer to work at one of those DA’s offices in NYC. The program is for 2 years. Even though she would be a paralegal, it is considered “prestigious” to be selected and the work is interesting.
D2 feels a bit burned out right now after many years of intense studying (she had to work hard to get into her uni, and then had to maintain high GPA to get into law schools), she is concerned about not doing well in law school right out of college. She thinks two years of work experience at a DA office would help her get more out of law school and gain some valuable experiences/contacts.
In speaking with some of my friends/family members in law, they think she should just go straight through and get it over and done with.
Do you think her two years at a DA’s office would be a wasted time or could it potentially help her later on in her career or even make her a better law student? Or should she go straight to law school?
Is there a financial consideration? Working for a couple of years may allow her to save some toward the expense. Can she defer for two years? (I assume one year deferrals are common, but not sure if they would allow 2 years).
There isn’t much of financial consideration. She would only be able to save 50K over 2 years if she were to live at home, which really wouldn’t really make a dent on the total cost. She could potentially make 160k+/yr with a law degree vs 60k as a paralegal.
Law school isn’t as hard as college for most people. There aren’t many tests or papers during the semester. Most grades are based on a single exam at the end of the semester. Makes for a stressful week but the daily grind is not as bad as college. Just one opinion. On the other hand the two year program may convince her to avoid law school altogether which might be even better.
I think that if she is truly INTERESTED in being a prosecutor or defendants attny, then the internship would be a good opportunity to solidify her CV.
If she is interested in a completely different area of law, like patent, corporate, or environmental for examples, then it many be a waste of time for her.
I totally get the need to take a break and collect yourself. My D took a year off between graduation and law school and did not apply to LS until after she graduated.
I agree with @menloparkmom, it seems like your daughter wants to do big law and if this does not what she is ultimately interested in then she should just move forward, get grades and try to achieve a 2-year clerkship.
However, if she just wants to take some time off and decompress, nothing wrong with that either. She has a few things to weigh:
Does she have to commit to working for two years?
Does she have a hard deadline as to whether or not to accept or decline the offer?
Will she be given enough time to see how her cycle will play out before making a decision?
Some things to consider:
While she may be able to defer for one year, and some schools will only defer on a case by case basis, it is unlikely that she will be able to defer 2 years without an extremely extenuating situation.
If she takes the internship, she will most likely have to reapply and go through the process again. How does she feel about that?
Does her school’s career service office have a credentialing service where they store and hold on to the recommendation letters or will she have to get new letters 2 years from now to go along with the employer letter?
She will have to check with each schools regarding her scores as to see if her current scores will still be valid or if she has to retake (I think she should be good).
Something else to consider, while applications are down this year, she does not know what the landscape will look like 2 years from now or employment 4 years from now.
Very good points. I will ask her to look into all of that. She has only a week to consider her offer(s).
At this time, she thinks she wants to go into public service. It is mom who thinks she should go into big private law. She told me she could go work at a DA’s office for few years then go to a private law firm. She interned at our city DA’s office last summer and loved it.
Would it be bad for her accept her job then decide to go to law school after she gets her results? I am trying to buy some time here. I also think she will have a better chance this year with admission than any other year.
sybbie - are you in NYC? If so, do you think the experience as a paralegal at an US attorney’s office worth it?
I am very familiar with banking. When D1 was entering the business, I was able to give her a lot of pros and cons on various careers within banking. Ultimately, it was D1 who made the decision which offer she was going to take. D2 is only 21, what she knows about law is very limited. I am trying to give her as much information as I can for her to make an informed decision. She really doesn’t need to make a decision whether she wants to go into big law or not until later, but right now she needs to decide if it would be worth her while to wait 2 years before law school.
IMO, it depends on two numbers: $ merit aid; LSAT score.
If any of the T14 offer a boatload of free money today, that would be hard to turn down since we never know what the apps will look like 2 years hence.
What is her score. No need to publish, but consider: is she one or two questions away from Harvard’s median? (A Harvard competitive student could earn some merit money at NYU, which has a great PI program.) Is she one/two questions away from 17x, which opens up merit money at T7-T14? (“Yuuuuuuuge” difference between a 168 and a 171.)
Above assumes good GPA, which won’t move much with senior grades.
Merit money is tax-free!
full disclosure: big fan of working for a year or two prior to LS. (IMO, it should be required, just like it is at top B-schools.)
This is what I am thinking based on what I have gathered here and in speaking with few IRL people:
If she could get a deferral from a law school of choice, may it be for prestige or money, would be “have your cake and eat it too.”
The offers she has this year would most likely be the best she could get. Doing two years of paralegal job, even at a great place, will not necessary improve her application later. Another word, if she didn’t get into her top choice this year, by applying a year or two later with 2 years of good experience is not going to get her in either.
If she is not able to get a deferral from any school then it would be too risky to work for 2 years and start all over again. This year applicant pool is down, but it may change few years later.
Do I have it right? At the end of day, it is going to be her decision, but I want her to understand all pros and cons before she makes a decision.
Depends on the reason for the rejection. If she is below median for GPA, then yeah, not fixable. OTOH, if she is below median for LSAT…
…A few more correct questions on a retake could make a big difference. Going from below median to above is the difference from rejection to being competitive. Add in a year or two of work experience…
Not sure a deferral gets her much, unless its to YLS or SLS (which probably would not offer a deferral anyway).
First year of law school grades are EXTREMELY important. I didn’t realize it until my kid was there. 1st year summer internships dependent on 1st semester grades. Law Review and 2nd year summer job (which becomes job after graduation…if private sector) dependent on 1st year grades. If she wants a break, especially with such a great opportunity, she should take it. My kid did not apply right out of undergrad. Was a paralegal in a US Justice Dept division. Work experience (and a few years of life experience) provided something to talk about in interviews that was different from what an undergrad-law school student usually can talk about. After 1st semester, got offered all summer internships applied for. And, got offered 2nd summer jobs from all of the top law firms applied to. (This 2nd summer job process happens at the end of the 1st year summer)
If she gets into her top choice, try to defer. Otherwise, work and reapply. Not likely to do worse, and could possibly do better in terms of admissions. And, very likely to do better in terms of prospects for employment during and after law school.
BTW…US Attorney for the Southern District of NY is one of the most prestigious US Attorney’s offices in the country. Eastern District (Brooklyn & Long Island) is pretty good, too!
Yes, I think that’s why she is torn.
I checked on schools where she applied, they all do deferment, but case by case. Columbia is almost automatic. Many do one years, but some will consider 2 years.
I vote for the internship. She will get so much more out of the law school experience after doing it. If she can get the deferment, then she can have her cake and eat it.
I think that DA position will be very helpful in a lot of respects. Law schools will still be in the mess that they are today in 2 years, I’m pretty sure.
US Attorney positions are both prestigious and worthwhile. If she is thinking public sector work it can only help her. Also, while 1L year may be less strenuous in terms of hours in class etc., I want to echo the sentiment expressed above about the critical nature of 1L grades. Even for exceptional students, law school exams are a challenge. Having everything ride on one test is another level of hell, as my D described it, and the format and what professors are looking for differs significantly from other exams. Work experience is always valued in the admissions/interview process, and if she gets the admissions offer she wants, and can negotiate a deferral, she will have the best of all worlds. Good luck to her, Oldfort!
