<p>Hey guys, I'm a sophomore in college and starting to develop plans for grad school/law school. I graduate in Spring 2014, and was thinking of skipping Fall 2014 to study more for the LSAT and apply to law school in the spring of 2015. Also, I feel this would give me time to take the GRE if I get a subpar LSAT score. My main reason behind this is that I don't want to be in my final semester at school, taking 4000 level classes/language courses and studying for the LSAT at the same time, trying to get into Fall 2014 law. </p>
<p>Any thoughts or should I not try to skip a semester to focus purely on the LSAT? Thanks!
-Chris</p>
<p>P.S. - I heard taking critical thinking (a philosophy course at my school), is solid preparation for the games section and analytical parts of the test.</p>
<p>My advice to you is NOT to go to law school.</p>
<p>There is a vast over-supply of lawyers.</p>
<p>I base this advice not only on my own experience, but also on the experiences of a myriad of friends and co-workers spanning a 30 year time period.</p>
<p>I am not the only one on CC giving similar advice.</p>
<p>I hope you will take it.</p>
<p>I got the same advice 30 years ago, and pooh poohed it.</p>
<p>I know this might sound cocky or even a little arrogant, but my intention is top 10, namely Georgetown or NYU for International Law. I believe if you have a focus and an intention in one particular direction, there won’t be an oversupply. Graduating from a subpar law school in tax law for instance, then I can see a problem. Thanks for the response</p>
<p>Applying to law schools in spring is a bad idea. law school admission is rolling; meaning, they hand out admissions starting in fall. If you apply late in the cycle, most seats would be gone by then and you will be at significant disadvantage. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is not necessary. Most of my friends, and myself included, prepped for LSAT during summer before senior year or during senior/junior academic semester. But, if you feel that is necessary, by all means.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Whether you like to hear it or not, it is true that there is a vast oversupply of lawyers and many lawyers struggle to find jobs even with very mediocre pay. There are people at top 10 law schools who graduate unemployed… You mentioned Georgetown Law, where around 50% of the class would graduate either unemployed or get jobs starting at 50k a year. </p>
<p>One thing to note, however, is that the risk of unemployment diminishes as the rank of your law school increases. For instance, at Harvard Law, only around 15-20% of the class last year failed to secure legit ‘legal’ employment. (BigLaw or clerkship) At Georgetown, that figure was close to 50% of the class.</p>
<p>According to Princeton Review’s book for Law schools, with interviews and comprehensive reviews of all the big law schools, there is no shortage of interviews and job opportunities for graduating law students from NYU, Georgetown, Yale, Columbia,and the other big law schools.</p>
<p>Run, not walk to whatever store you got that Princeton Review book from and get your money back. Lazy Boy is right are many students at T-14s who did not score big law SA positions. Georgetown, which is right now is not in the top 10 had very few offers this year in their home market (DC), which was a crazy market to crack across the board.</p>
<p>I would say the fact that over 15% of even Harvard Law graduates did not find a good job speaks for itself. Also, what you fail to realize is that even if you do get a good job at a top law firm, it is unlikely to last more than two years, and then you will be begging for jobs the rest of your life at tiny law firms, which resemble sweatshops and piecemeal factories more than law firms.</p>
<p>Believe me, I know what I am talking about. Again, I give you this advice—this WARNING—based not only on my own experience but the experiences of a myriad of friends and co-workers over a 30 year period. And also, now supplementd by similar posts on CC by other lawyers. It is clear that you intend to pooh pooh people such advice. I did the same when I was your age. To my detriment. By the way, I graduated Georgetown Law School. I have a client whose son graduated Northwestern Law School last year. He is unemployed. Tons of lawyers who used to work for big firms, who thought they were different, like you do, now spend their days mailing out resumes. Some even hide the fact that they are lawyers, so they can get para-legal jobs.</p>
<p>So my other option was a Master’s degree in International Affairs/Security Policy/Public Policy. Does this seem a better option? I was looking at the CIA/FBI/Homeland security. Law School and a Master’s degree are obviously my two choices and I know which field I want. Which one is the better option?</p>
<p>“For instance, at Harvard Law, only around 15-20% of the class last year failed to secure legit ‘legal’ employment. (BigLaw or clerkship)” </p>
<p>Lawyers: can you provide a citation for this statistic? </p>
<p>Is “BigLaw or clerkship” the length and breadth of law students’ aspirations? What about working for the DA or public defender, for education or civil rights NGOs in a legal capacity, for the Navy, Army (me!), or Marine Corps as a judge advocate? Are these examples of…illegitimate ‘legal’ employment? </p>
<p>Having graduated from Harvard Law this past spring, I really question your statistic (please prove my suspicion incorrect) and wanted to share some of the things that my classmates and I are doing beyond BigLaw and clerkships. Broaden your horizons and the world will feel a bigger place.</p>
<p>This is from 2005, when economy was actually good. In recent years, job placements for each school became much worse. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Let’s not forget that getting a job in public interest sector is intensely competitive nowadays, also. For many who can’t get BigLaw or clerkships, public interest jobs aren’t there for backup plan.</p>
<p>Most people study for the LSAT during the summer. I think you can consider that option, unless you have something ultra important to do over the summer between junior and senior year. (Worst come to worst, you can study during the summer between sophomore and junior year)</p>