Is Law School The Right Move For You?
The question is getting asked more and more. Of course it is. The potential risk and detrimental consequences are also increasing. Everyone by now knows the routine: There is so much debt, and the chances of having a decent job lined up are plummeting. Yes, the message continues to circulate. And it will until enrollment starts to increase again, attorneys start getting jobs, and law schools find better ways to help students pay for school.
But what this question boils down to is akin to the question you would ask yourself before any risk you take in life. Or any tough challenge you face. Or anything worth really doing in life. That question is not, is law school the right move for you? It is, how badly do you want it?
This question stems from a very lukewarm article in the college section of USA Today. Recycled stats and data are presented with a sprinkling of kind-of-relevant quotes and no conclusion is drawn other than law school might still be economically “worth it.” But is that any reason to go to law school? To make it economically worth it?
The one bit of helpful advice comes from a quote from a Columbia Law 2L. According to this student, you need two of three things. To attend a top 20 school, go to law school for free, or really want to be a lawyer. OK. Or you should really want to be a lawyer. If your two is you go to a top 20 school for free, should you really still be a lawyer? What if you don’t actually care about being a lawyer, but hey, it is free, man.
It has been stated that now more than ever, America needs good lawyers. These are probably the lawyers who really want to be lawyers. Yes, there is debt. And uncertainty around job opportunities. There are unknowns. But that is how the best stories are told. So, how badly do you want to be a lawyer?
Source: USA Today
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Source: Above The Law
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