Law School: Grad School if You Don’t Know What You Want to Do
There was a recent article in the Wall Street Journal about the expected pay from law school. Basically the article deals with the fact that there is a huge glut in lawyers. I believe this is largely due to bad advertising by law schools, promising unrealistic 6 figure salaries, and the fact that people choose law school because they don’t know what else to do.
This is a good example of why you need to carefully consider what you are doing after college. If you love law and have no greater desire in the world than to practice law, then great. Go to law school. But at least with most of my friends, they go to law school because they have no idea what to do with their lives, and it doesn’t matter what they majored in. Frankly, I agree with Tucker Max. I think law school would be awful and most jobs in law would be terrible too. But that’s just me.
Don’t put yourself into debt because you are unsure of what to do with your life and don’t want to leave school. Law school costs can easily exceed $100,000. Be very sure that this is the direction you want to take before you enroll. One quote that stuck with me is the following:
“The law degree that Scott Bullock gained in 2005 from Seton Hall University — where he says he ranked in the top third of his class - is a “waste,” he says. Some former high-school friends are earning considerably more as plumbers and electricians than the $50,000-a-year Mr. Bullock is making as a personal-injury attorney in Manhattan. To boot, he is paying off $118,000 in law-school debt.”
This goes back to a previous post I made about simply graduating and getting into the world, because there are opportunities out there. You can figure out what you want to do in the real world than hiding behind a law degree and $100,000 in debt.
