<p>On the other hand, my two best friends, whom eventually got married, were discouraged from going to Law school because “there were to many lawyers”, “you’ll never find a Job” etc. This was 10 years ago. They both attended law schools outside the top 10; one was hired within months, one would call and say “I’ll never get a job, it was a waste of time.” She did get hired, by the federal government, three years later after working as a paralegal for that time. They each now make high six figure salaries and have two vacation homes on different sides of the continent. They enjoy their work. The wife thinks it took her so long to find a job because she had family issues going on and first year grades weren’t spectacular.</p>
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What do you mean by “high six figure salaries,” redeye? No federal government employee earns in the high six figure range. The Attorney General’s salary is around $200K; the President earns $400K annually. Did you mean to say that six figures is itself a high salary? (It is, in comparison to what most Americans earn, but six figures doesn’t result in two vacation homes for many people.) </p>
<p>This is an interesting document from NALP: <a href=“http://www.wcl.american.edu/career/government/documents/NALP_Federal_Legal_Employment_Opportunities_Guide_-_2010-11.pdf[/url]”>Office of Career & Professional Development - American University Washington College of Law; It states that
Not a lot of positions available, considering the number of law school graduates each year.</p>
<p>You have several years ahead of you to decide whether law school is in the cards for you which is good. Overall, the job market for new law graduates is imploding. Way too many law school graduates for the legal jobs available. Read insidethelawschoolscam at blogspot.com which is hosted by a current professor at University of Colorado Law School. It is chock full of quantifiable “let the buyer beware” type evidence re law school. Also, he has a recently published e-book for students considering law school that is a “must read”. Again, you have plenty of time to decide, but become an informed shopper.</p>
<p>One more somber note, the main reason this law professor started the insidethelawschoolscam blog was that a former student he highly regarded committed suicide after one year of being unable to find employment as a lawyer. (The law professor said this in a recent Washington Post article on the lousy legal job market. Google it up.) There have been structural changes in the legal job market since the Great Recession of 2008 which augurs that many legal jobs are never coming back.</p>
<p>Why waste your time wanting to go into a totally boring field? Believe me, law schools and law students are a “dime a dozen”. Just about EVERYONE will end up doing boring work, reading documents after documents after documents after…</p>
<p>It’s NOTHING like you see on television. In the end, you’ll end up trying to open a little corner office begging to get people to come to you. </p>
<p>If you really want to make a difference, learn/do something tangible. Don’t just hope for a career where all you end up doing is push papers around. The reality is that 30 years will go by and you’ll finally discover that you did NOT make a difference.</p>
<p>That’s my best advice to you.</p>
<p>BTW business degrees are also useless. So in answer to your question, do NOT go into law. It’s a waste of life. Do something like engineering or the sciences. If you’re really talented, the money will come…and you get to create or discover really “cool” things in the process.</p>
<p>Frazzled-- This couple both make over $100,000 per year. One makes way over $100,000 a year, in private practice, and didn’t go to a top 15 law school. I don’t feel comfortable giving out more of their private information.</p>
<p>Thank you for the clarification, and I agree that you don’t need to provide private information. When your post said “they each now make high six figure salaries,” my interpretation was that you meant salaries in the high six figures, which is not the case for any federal employee, of course. </p>
<p>Now in private practice, an attorney can make that much or more (or can be struggling to get by in the mid-5 figures).</p>
<p>What other careers you would consider that would require strong communicator skills?</p>
<p>Only go if you are going to work really hard, otherwise it is a waste of money. We know a young man who partied through Law School, and didn’t pass the Bar. Now he has a ton of debt, and no job!</p>
<p>I always warn young students who are “set to become a lawyer” about their future life mistake, who want to become a lawyer after watching “Boston Legal” and “Legally Blonde”.</p>
<p>It is a terrible mistake to treat your college as a mere stepping stone to get into a law school. Go to college and major in something that is marketable; one that will get you a job.</p>
<p>Posters in this thread who warn about job prospects in legal field are correct. I have friends at top 30 law schools, ranked top 20% of their class, that don’t have any jobs lined up yet with six figure school debt.</p>
<p>What is mind boggling is how damn expensive it is to pursue education in this damn country. Law school is hardly only program that incurs massive economic sacrifices. Pretty much every college nowadays demand at least 20k a year just for tuition. Then, also think about those Masters in Theatre programs at NYU or Boston University which demand 50-60k a year in tuition, with little to no financial aid.</p>
<p>Bottom line is that education is an investment, and a very expensive one at that. Only buy it if you can get a solid return on investment. And, don’t tell me going 100k in debt for a law degree at a directional State U is worth it because you want to fight for justice.</p>
<p>I just checked what the most popular majors are at my alma mater. The top 4 most popular majors are biology, economics, government, and history.</p>
<p>I am not sure what the kids are thinking, nowadays. Majors such as biology or government are not marketable at all. Hell, one guy I know from my college who graduated with a biology degree is now working as a truck driver. But, at least he doesn’t have those six figure law school loans to pay back.</p>
<p>I was an Econ & Government major in college. Finding a respectable corporate job with those credentials proved to be a pure hell. Hence, the reason I am in law school. </p>
<p>If I could do it again, I would most likely to major in CS, Engineering, Accounting/Finance, or Math/Stats.</p>
<p>There have been a million posts on CC about the folly of attending law school.</p>
<p>As a JD/MBA, who is also giving you this advice based not only upon my own experience, but also on the experiences of countless friends and co-workers in the legal field, I suggest you take that advice.</p>
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<p>Actually, a major in biology can be marketable if done right. Unfortunately, nearly ALL students don’t think about what is necessary to get a job. As an undergrad, it is absolutely necessary to do undergraduate research and acquire as many lab skills as possible. In addition, it’s important to network. Only then, will a technician or grad school opportunity become available. (BTW, I suspect many biology majors were pre-meds who failed in getting into a medical school. And so never thought about what was necessary to get a job).</p>
<p>Anyway, just like with anything else, one must pay one’s dues. A technician job may not pay much…but it may strengthen a persons resume considerably for entry into a great graduate program.</p>
<p>In fact, my brother did just that…
and today he is a brilliant scientist, co-owner of a biotech firm, and works 7 days/week because he absolutely loves research and discovering new things.</p>
<p>I’m hard-pressed to think of a worse financial decision than going to law school. Law schools are producing 45,000 JDs annually for about 22,000 open associate positions. That means you can do literally everything right (T1, top 10%, law review, moot court, whatever), and still get screwed. And getting screwed doesn’t mean settling for public defender instead of BigLaw—getting screwed means pulling espressos while drowning in $150,000 of non-dischargeable debt.</p>
<p>If you can get into a T14 law school, yes.</p>
<p><a href=“T1,%20top%2010%,%20law%20review,%20moot%20court,%20whatever”>quote</a>, and still get screwed
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<p>If you go to T1 and graduate top 40% you will get snatched up immediately</p>
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<p>In this economy, that is no longer true as there are students from T-6’s that got shut out and graduated with out jobs.</p>
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<p>Over 2/3 of those open associate jobs, out of 22k open positions, don’t pay enough to service the level of law school debt. (aka, not biglaw level comp)</p>
<p>Anyone who pays near sticker price to attend a law school outside top 14, in this economy, should be examined for sanity.</p>
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<p>If you are top 40% of the class (or close to median), coming from any law school outside of T14, you face greater odds of graduating unemployed than employed.</p>
<p>^ Indeed…</p>
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<p>Hard science degrees are just as “useless” as any liberal arts degree, even CS and engineering degrees don’t pay nearly enough to go through if you have no interest in those fields.</p>