Hii! In September I’m starting the IB (2016-2018) and after that I’d like to become an international lawyer for human rights (focus on children’s rights). I have a few questions:
- What IB subjects should I choose?
- What extra-curricular activities should I take up?
- What do I have to do after the diploma? I'd like to study either in the UK or USA, so do I have to major/minor in something as an undergraduate before law school?
- If yes, what would be the best subjects to major/minor in?
- If I want to become an international lawyer focused on children's rights, what's the best law school? Harvard law school? Oxbridge?
Sorry if I sound naïve but I’m 16 and I have yet to figure out my future career. Thanks!
Are you a US citizen or International student?
International law really doesn’t exist, but for what you want to do, attending Harvard, Yale or Stanford is nearly required. Regardless, but for Harvard, you need A’s and a high LSAT score in college. Major is irrelevant. Consider doing a couple of years in the Peace Corps or Teach for America f you are a US citizen.
Come back in a few years with a GPA.
@bluebayou I’m not a US citizen.
I’d like to work for the UN or something of that sort (“fighting humanitarian fights”)
^^those are unicorn jobs, Dusty, and thousands of students seeking them.
Good luck.
@bluebayou well I have time to really figure out what it is that I wanna do… out of curiosity, is there any non-unicorn job that pops up into your mind if I say “fighting humanitarian fights”? I’m willing to work hard but I really wanna do something I’m passioned about as a job.
As I tell other lawyers, and have never heard dissent: the number of lawyers who do what they planned to do before they went to law school is about zero. What you want now will not necessarily be what you want once you graduate from law school, and what you want is limited by what jobs are available.
Just focus on getting into the best college and then the best law school. Take challenging classes, develop good study skills (particularly reading, writing and critical thinking skills) and do extracurriculars that you love. Law school will fall into place.
And, for the record, I graduated from HLS. I was able to have the career that I wanted pre-HLS…but after learning more about it, and as I learned about myself more and what I liked and didn’t like, I figured that I really didn’t want that career after all. I do something that I never figured I’d do, and I’m happy that way.
It is pretty straight forward. If you have high GPA and fairly high LSAC score (>170), you will have a great chance getting into Harvard Law School because they accept so many every year. However, getting into Yale or Stanford is much harder. If you like good weather and want to go to Stanford, then you have to be exceptional because Stanford has the smallest class. If you don’t mind the crappy east coast weather, then you can always go to Harvard Law if you can’t get into Yale Law. But keep in mind that Harvard Law School is huge and is like a lawyer factory, and you don’t have any sense of an unique and special community like Yale or Stanford. In summary, for west coast leaning student, Stanford is your dream. For east coast leaning people, you have more choices - Yale, Harvard, Columbia.
@AsianBoy88, you posted before that you were rejected from Harvard.
@AsianBoy88, my post #7 is wrong. It should be disregarded. However, your description of HLS is not accurate. It is certainly a “unique and special community” to many.