<p>I'm going to start this post with a long-winded anecdote. Skip below if you want to just address my question.</p>
<p>Since my school's always been telling me I have until the end of my sophomore year (or possibly later) to declare a major, I spent my first quarter in college taking easier classes to get a feel for my interests and possible majors. I'd like to say I don''t regret it a bit: the classes I took were interesting and engaging (even the philosophy class I hated provided a basic intro to constructing arguments) but easy enough for me to do well with minimal effort.</p>
<p>But I've come to realize that I can't keep on doing this if I want to study abroad in my junior year/take an easier course load my senior year. So recently I've been thinking more of fields of study and possibly careers after graduation.</p>
<p>I've always wanted to get involved in politics and even run for office someday, which is why I've started to consider going to law school. I can imagine myself working corporate law for a couple years, but certainly not for the rest of my life. Working for the government like at a DA's office/public interest group sounds more appealing, but like I said, my primary motivation for going to law school would be to pursue a career as an elected government official. </p>
<p>So having said that, do you think it's worth going to law school with that kind of motivation? If I tried to align my GPA/LSAT score (which I won't be taking for a while) to reach for those top T-14 schools, would it make a difference? For example, would going to YLS as opposed to Berkeley make a difference for a career in politics? I know both are excellent schools. I only mention these two schools because I feel like certain schools are more geared towards the politics track. </p>
<p>My advice to you, and to anyone else who asks this question, is that you should aim to go to law school only if you believe you want to be a lawyer. Law school is expensive and is not for everyone.</p>
<p>If you want to become an elected official, there are other ways to achieve that. Volunteer for campaigns; get involved in the local organization of the party of your choice. Apply for a position on a Congressman/woman’s staff or the staff of a state legislator. Try to become an insider in politics.</p>
<p>Network, network and then network some more. You will only be elected if people can relate to you.</p>
<p>There are three answers to this question: No, no, and no.</p>
<p>The trouble is that law school has become really expensive. Fifteen or twenty years ago, it might have made sense to go to law school, work as a lawyer for a couple years, and the re-assess one’s options. But now, it’s just too expensive for that, in my opinion.</p>
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<p>I agree with this. Except that even if you really want to be a lawyer, I would think long and hard about your likelihood of post-graduation employment before attending.</p>
<p>I know pretty much every elected legislator in my state on a first name basis and have asked pretty much all of them either “Do you regret not going to law school before running for office?” or “Do you feel that having a law degree helps you make better decisions regarding policy or when working on bills?.”</p>
<p>Some have said they wish they went and others said it did not make a difference. In pretty much every case however what was required was becoming involved in the community and networking.</p>
<p>You should think of a career first and elected office later since every one of these legislators have a day job/career they are involved in. It is true many legislators become lawyers and then run for office later on in life but there are legislators who work in business, finance, medicine/nursing, public administration, science, public services jobs like police/firefighers, and well, pretty much anything that gets you out there in the community where you connect with people and get a feeling for what your community needs.</p>
<p>So with that bit of rambling, dadofsam was dead on when he said only go to law school after undergrad if you want to be a lawyer as a career. In my opinion, it is good when legislators come from different backgrounds as it provides diversity in policy decision making.</p>