I have two cousins who went to the University of Illinois and both graduated more than three years before I graduated high school. One majored in Psychology and the other majored in Economics and took the path of Pre-Law and eventually went on to law school. Before making my decision on my major I carefully observed how the lives of two of my closest family members went and tried to learn from their experiences. I choose to be a economics major and also pursue the Law route. My cousin who went to Law school as an aspiring career with much room for growth, not only monetary but also in terms of options on what he wants to do and how he wants to develop in his career. My other cousin who got his degree in psych ended up head-over-heels in student debt and continually has a hard time finding a job that truly fits his passion and is really struggling right now. When calculating my risks when deciding a major I took their two stories into account as well as taking into account what interests me and what makes me happy.
I currently am a senior and plan on graduating this semester roughly $30,000 in debt after my undergrad. Law-School is a whole other huge expense, somewhere upwards of $100,000 but there is hopefully some money out there that I have been striving to obtain. Over the past summers I have been working two different jobs in order to cut down on some of my debt and pay of my loans so I don't have as much of a burden on me when I do graduate. I worked as an intern a 3 days a week in a law office doing mostly clerical work and learning the business to help me gauge my interest in the field. It was a great experience and will look good on my resume, but the pay really wasn't that great so I also had to find another job. On the other hand, my other job as a Senior Deckhand (refer to post #3) payed very well and gave me a whole different set of skills in people managing and teamwork. By working two jobs I am hopefully helping my future and lowering overall financial risk in the future due to the fact that I will have paid off a good portion of my student debts that I wouldn't have been able to do if I had not have worked two jobs for the past 3 summers.
I really hope that the choices I have made in my past will help my future and by trying hard and school and striving to be the best version of me that i can be, I can be successful and fulfill my lifelong goals and achieve my dreams of becoming a lawyer.
My dad was a lawyer, Columbia Law School, class of 1936. So I certainly don't want to cast aspersions on the profession. But I believe it's been a tough market for recent law school grads as of late. Timing, as in all things, matters a great deal here. Perhaps its sensible to work a few years and then return to law school at that time. You may have saved more by then and the market for new lawyers may be stronger. I really don't know. I'm just suggesting there are alternative paths toward your ultimate goal.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, when the only dependent you have to care about is yourself, managing the financial burden is far easier. If and when you have a family, it is much harder to put off their financial needs. So it may be easier to go to school before that happens.
There are also mix and match possibilities - working and going to school at the same time. It sounds as if you understand the various alternatives. But these are not easy times and the choice is a tough one to make.
I have been hearing a lot about the difficulties of recent law grads over the past year or so. I have definitely been considering other options and have been applying to other jobs in the economic field as a result. I have realized that if necessary I can always go back to law school later on in life and it is not a necessity that i go immediately after graduating. Its a tough choice and I have many tough decisions in my near future but if I can properly weigh the costs and benefits of each decision and plan on doing the most financially responsible thing and the thing thats best for my future I hope to be ok.
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