<p>I'm in a tough spot, I am interested in two very different paths and just kind of looking for some input from others. </p>
<p>Option 1: Stick with a double major in Media Studies and Political Science. I am planning on heading going back to school with all this in mind with visions of applying to the department of state, law schools or look for campaign work, become a lobbyist or simply look for PR/Marketing work. That type of stuff. </p>
<p>Option 2: Switch and start doing the prereqs for Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB) and try to make my way to a good med school. The downside of this is, I will have to stay in CC for an additional year. </p>
<p>I love to thought of option 1 but am nervous about the job availability once school is over. And for option 2 I am hesitant because I am already 24 and don't REALLY want to start my career work until I'm 31ish. </p>
<p>I plan on transferring to UC Berkeley from a California Community College either in for the fall of 2014 or 2015.</p>
<p>Thank you for your time and if you need more info just ask.</p>
<p>Well, it seems pretty clear you are only thinking of your degree in terms of “what’s the best for getting a job.”</p>
<p>It’s more a matter of whether you want to be a doctor or whether you want to be a lawyer/marketer/political staffer in the future. Those fields are fairly different, so you should pursue the field you like.</p>
<p>Do you even like science/biology?
(I, for example, like science, but actually hate biology).</p>
<p>I second what Terenc has said. These are two different careers, and it seems pretty straightforward that the solution is to simply pick the one you enjoy. What’s the point of working in a field if you wake up every day wishing you weren’t in it? </p>
<p>It sounds like you simply want someone to reassure you that (1) job availability in law or public policy isn’t that bad, or (2) it’s totally fine to start a career when you’re 30. If that’s what you’d like, then (2) is true (assuming you can dodge the crushing debt with a lucrative career), while (1) is mostly false (American law market right now is terrible; a decent career in policy still requires completing at least a terminal Master’s.)</p>
<p>However, you cannot predict what the job market will look like in 7 years (2 years CC, 2 years UCB, 3 years law school). That’s a really long time.</p>
<p>In fact, I’d wager that the market for lawyers would be perfectly fine 7 years from now.</p>
<p>And how much would you like to wager then? =)</p>
<p>Edit: realized that this comment sorta implies that I believe otherwise, which is not necessarily the case. But as you yourself mentioned, seven years is a very long time. Without doubting what must be your impressive powers of prophecy, a wise person would likely take such a remark with a large grain of salt.</p>
<p>I am basing that proposition off the cyclical nature of the job market.</p>
<p>Here is a scenario:
Times are good. People look at the lawyer job market and start piling in. 7 years from that point, those people who piled in the market realize that they are competing against each other. There is a huge influx of lawyers and an oversupply. So the market sucks for lawyers at that point. Students see this and choose to avoid being a lawyer. 7 years from that point, there is a shortage of lawyers because students 7 years ago had chosen not to go that route. The market is very good because the few lawyers that graduate get multiple offers, etc. People pile in and want to be a lawyer. Rinse. Repeat.</p>
<p>A simplistic model, but one that illustrates my point. And I don’t think you should fear that the market will be permanently depressed: lawyers will always be in demand. People and corporations will always need to sue each other. Criminals will always need to be defended or prosecuted. </p>
<p>As Warren Buffet said, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”</p>
<p>It is certainly true that models are not always to be trusted. But, as you can see, I have provided a logical rationale for my previous claim. Perhaps you could provide your own logical rationale refuting mine, instead of merely a sarcastic remark.</p>
<p>Eh, no thanks, I think sarcasm is quite appropriate in this context. </p>
<p>But if you insist: try logically reconciling your statement “you cannot predict what the job market will look like in 7 years” with your amusing efforts to do exactly that below.</p>
I did not say the scenario. That was not a prediction with certitude. It was a possibility.</p>
<p>I have contributed a reasonable scenario to the OP. You have said how you doubt my scenario, the only reason for this doubt is the fact that one cannot make 100% certain predictions 7 years in the future, a fact we both agree upon.
You have not provided your own rationale for you own scenarios, if any.</p>
<p>I said that “I’d wager that the market for lawyers would be perfectly fine 7 years from now” based off the idea of the business cycle. After WWII, our economy has ALWAYS gone in this cycle: crash, recovery, boom, crash, recovery, boom, the only variance being the length of time involved. Even the most recent recession, the “worst since the Great Depression,” is long over, and even though economic growth is slow right now, after WWII, America has never stagnated for 9 years (start date would be 2010 for this number).</p>
<p>Furthermore, is there any reason why law jobs would not be subject to economic forces? Labor economic is a whole field of economics devoted to studying labor markets. There is supply (students supply labor), demand (law firms hiring labor), and a price paid (salary paid). If there is a glut of lawyers now, driving down salaries and leading to unemployment of lawyers, supply will decrease in the long-run (and 7 years is “long-run” economically).</p>
<p>My proposition is that it is more likely than not that the job market for lawyers will recover in 7 years - which obviously is not a guarantee, just as I cannot guarantee that CS majors graduating in 4 years will enter a hot job market.</p>
<p>It goes back to what career you want to have. They both are pretty different, so there’s not much overlap on switching careers.</p>
<p>And don’t worry about an extra year or two. It won’t matter in the end. Do what you want, and everything else will come with your drive and determination.</p>