I received a full scholarship to a top-ranked public honors college in an average state flagship university. I chose the scholarship over several top private universities because my parents will not support my college tuition although we don’t qualify for financial aid. I’m done with 109 credits after 3 semesters but pretty much hate my school. I have great friends & extracurriculars but find the academic environment stifling and unfulfilling. My GPA is dropping far below my normal standards (though not below Phi Beta Kappa/magna cum laude), but I know I could be doing much better elsewhere where my classes were actually engaging. However, rather than take out $130k in loans to transfer to a smaller liberal arts school, I’m considering finishing one more semester to finish out my major in political science and minor in Spanish and then doing a DC internship semester for credit. I could then graduate summa cum laude (assuming A’s in my classes both semesters, which is completely doable), Phi Beta Kappa, and with Honors College distinction if I do my senior thesis over the summer. I’ve already done three internships and will have completed 5 summers/semesters in internships upon graduation, so I’m not worried about the lack of work experience. The only major hole in my resume is research, but I don’t plan on getting a PhD and would have the senior thesis, so I’m not sure how big of a concern that is. I wanted to work after graduation before going to law school anyway, so this would only accelerate my plans. I’m hoping to work in political campaigning for the 2018 cycle if I do graduate in December 2017, and then trying for other opportunities like AmeriCorps. I wanted to see if any early graduates and top law school attendees out there had any opinions or experiences related to mine. Thank you all for any help you can provide!
I don’t understand your question.
That being said, if you plan to attend law school you will need to keep your gpa way up. You need high gpa, LSAT above 172 to get into a decent law school where you have a hope to pay off the debt of law school by getting a law job. law salaries are bimodal, with one mean at about $60-70K and the other at around $150-$160K starting. That’s IF you get a law job. Lower level law schools don’t place many graduates in law jobs.
You need to aim for a school that will either 1) place you in Big Law at the high salary range to pay off your debt (by living small and focusing all payments on the principal) or 2) attending a school with loan forgiveness for going into public interest or government work. Those are the top 14 schools roughly, but investigate this thoroughly. If you need to take time off and get refreshed and then get your gpa up to 3.7 or 3.8 then do so.
You can start practicing the LSAT now if you want. The more time you spend practicing the higher your score.
I’m not sure I understand your question either. It sounds like you have almost all of the credits you need to graduate and need maybe 11 more or so in order to graduate next semester, so you’re asking if you should spend one more semester in college taking classes and one last semester doing a DC internship semester, then graduate, and go to work. Or…what?
I guess what I really don’t understand is the alternative. Spend an additional 3 semesters in college taking classes that you don’t need?
The concern that most people have with students racing to graduation is not having spent enough time doing the non-academic things they need to develop and be competitive. But it sounds like you’ve done that already - internships, extracurriculars, the works. You’ll have the DC semester. And not every undergrad needs research experience - if you have no interest in a PhD, there’s no point in getting it unless you’re simply interesting in it.
Sounds like you are one of the few good examples of graduating early, and using the additional time to gain more experience like Americorps and working on a political campaign. Go for it!
Thank you guys both for the responses! To be clear about the whole situation, I have a 3.92… I have higher standards than most people, so I know I should have a 4.0, but can easily get that back above a 3.95 for summa cum laude at my school. I also know I’m fully capable of scoring 172+ on the LSAT with a lot of studying of course, as I’m pretty good at standardized testing (2330 SAT).
And juillet, thank you for the encouragement! The alternative would definitely be taking another 3 semesters, studying abroad, maybe developing more extracurriculars and language skills, but I’m already functionally fluent in Spanish and don’t see myself needing more than that for a career in law.
I think my main question is whether wasting 3 semesters of full tuition and board to work will be a decision I ultimately regret.
More than anything, I’m extremely burnt out on school, know that I enjoy working, am a very independent learner who will still read and stay engaged in the world while working, and don’t see the 3 semesters even if spent abroad making a significant impact on any of that. I guess I’m answering my own question, but just wanted a couple outside opinions! Thanks again!
I think you’re unlikely to regret it, but as I commented in another thread, it’s kind of not worth living life in terms of avoiding regret. I think most people have things they wish they would’ve done differently in their past. You can only make the best decisions for you with the information that you have now.
The only thing I can think of is studying abroad for a semester or a year. If you have full tuition and board, investigate whether your financial aid will fully cover a semester or year abroad. There are lots of great study abroad programs and experiences that might be useful to a potential lawyer. You never know what you might need as a lawyer - another language is always useful, if you wanted to develop that. But even if you didn’t learn another language, you can learn about another culture, or maybe do an internship and learn about international law and justice or something.
Studying abroad also is just generally a great experience no matter what you decide to do. My semester abroad changed my life, and my only regret is that I didn’t spend more time abroad. I was kind of burnt out on school by the time my junior year rolled around, too, but personally I would’ve rather stayed and studied abroad than graduated early. But that’s because traveling internationally and learning more about the world were things I valued heavily.
Since you’ve got some time you can start looking to see if any study abroad programs are worth the extra time for you.
Oh, and one more thing:
Meh. I can only speak for myself, but I enjoy working a lot more than I enjoyed college (and I liked college). My days are structured better, and I have more money, plus I get to work around and learn from people of all ages and experience levels. Like you, I’m a pretty independent learner and have found a way to stay engaged and read about the things I am most interested in, and if I was really curious I could audit a class at my nearby university or request a syllabus from a professor about things I wanted to read about. (Then again, I went to graduate school for 6 years, so I scratched that itch real good. LOL.)
If you don’t graduate early, you could instead:
- Do a Co-op//internship
- Study abroad
- Do a 3-2 Master’s program
- Do research
- Take lab courses
and take the 4 years.
It depends on what you want to major in…if those make sense.
My daughter graduated in 2.5 years (HS Credits + some summer courses) but then finished her masters in 1.5 years…since we would pay for 4 years of college, she got a second degree within that time. We also told her not to rush but were not going to prevent her.
If you graduate early, you will be younger than others at work/grad school…my daughter wasn’t even 21 when she started grad school. Now she is a teacher at just barely 22.
However, if you didn’t take a loan and started work earlier, you gain that salary (if you are only looking at finances).
But you don’t have to take 4 year.s…you could do 3 years, 3.5 or 4.
Once you start working, it is very hard to stop.
But if you did a study abroad now, it is a great time to fit that in your life.