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The (perhaps running) quitting journalism and going to law school thread

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Clever username, Jun 23, 2007.

  1. Cadet

    Cadet Guest

    That actually sounds like a lot of people I know who work in sports - journalists, sports information, athletic trainers, etc.
     
  2. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    I would never go into law, not in a million years, because the lawyers I know hate their jobs yet feel like they are stuck there b/c they blew an ungodly amount of money getting their degrees.

    Totally understandable that people would consider leaving the ship that may be sinking, but my guess is you're swapping one unhappy gig for another.
     
  3. John

    John Well-Known Member

    That's encouraging. (Goes off to look for hemlock.)
     
  4. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    I took the LSAT three years ago, almost to the day, and got a 157 with minimal prep. Spent the summer researching law schools, going to a couple of open houses, talking to friends, that sort of thing. Never could pull the trigger. I think law almost has to be a calling for you, for the shitload of money you'll be borrowing to make it happen.

    And in my case, I discovered that the LSDAS accumulates ALL your college grades and determines your GPA from that. No big deal for most people, a massive big deal for yours truly. I pissed and shitted my life away at the almost alma mater, transferred to the real alma mater and got a 3.3 GPA for my time at the second school. But those Ds and Fs didn't transfer with me. They would for law school admissions purposes, turning me into a fourth-tier wait-list candidate pretty fucking post haste.

    Plus if I took the LSAT again, I'd probably not have the luck I did the first time. One of the pieces of advice I read was to pick a letter and, when you ran out of time on a section (protip: you WILL run out of time at least once), fill in all the unanswered questions with that letter, then try to go back and get one or two legit answers in before time expires. So I chose B and got slammed by the inappropriately-named games section. With one minute left, I had 10 unanswered questions. Figured out the first one quickly, then filled in B for the other nine. When I got my test score, I also got the answer key. Turned out the answer for eight out of those nine questions was B. I don't think I'm going to have fortunes break quite that way again. Just a hunch.
     
  5. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Eight out of nine! Lucky bastard :)
     
  6. Cadet

    Cadet Guest

    I've been thinking a lot about this thread tonight.

    Why is it that so many of us have considered law school? Why is this thread not about, say, architecture school?

    And how many of us consider law as an option because it seems like a "serious" profession? I know my family is still waiting for me to get a "real" job. It's the sports-as-toy-department mentality. Even though we may not believe it, how many of us have internalized it to the point where we would consider law school?
     
  7. Cracker

    Cracker Guest

    This is the mindset of many that go into law school (I wrapped up 1L a month ago). This, to me, is the biggest cause of the unhappiness of many lawyers. So many get caught up in the "prestige" of the profession, take the big-money jobs at a firm on a list of white-collar sweatshops known as The Vault 100, and lead miserable lives (not all of them are miserable, but many, many are). The most content attorneys I know are either public defenders, prosecutors or work in pro bono or low-wage law. They live in normal houses and don't drive a Benz, since they can't afford to with the lower salaries and the loan payments. But they also don't hate their lives.

    You have to ask yourself WHY you want to go? Is it just to get paid? Going to law school because you actually want to practice law isn't nearly as common as I thought.
     
  8. amraeder

    amraeder Well-Known Member

    Man, I fell for ya, but I can't empathize. Most of my family is in the I'd-give-my-left-nut-to-do-what-you-do-instead-of-this-business-gig mindset.
    As far as law school goes, I think journalism attracts people who are better with words than they are with numbers or sciences. So, if you're good with words, law school is an option. If the sciences are your strong suit, there's always med school.
    That's just a guess, anyway.
     
  9. Meat Loaf

    Meat Loaf Guest

    True. AutoCAD is similar to Quark in ways.

    I've thought a lot about getting out although I've only done this three years. Just doesn't seem like there's a future in it. My father-in-law nearly lives like a king because he's a small business owner and only has a high school diploma. I'd very much like to help him toward retirement so my wife and I could take over and live well and enjoy our existence.
     
  10. HeinekenMan

    HeinekenMan Active Member

    I had the same question. I'm not sure what the answer is. I know I went into journalism because it seems like an honest profession where your job is to tell the truth and, perhaps, write stories that impact the world. I think my initial interest in law school was rooted in similar motivation. But I lost interest when it became clear that my vision of a bunch of Thurgood Marshall's legal world was squashed by the reality of Johnnie Cochran's legal world.
     
  11. audreyld

    audreyld Guest

    I'd desperately love to go to Architecture school. Or culinary school. Or graphic design.

    And those last two are actually options for my post-Master's in journalism life.

    Unfortunately, I don't have the skill set necessary to be an architect.
     
  12. HeinekenMan

    HeinekenMan Active Member

    I saw an article last week that noted the huge growth in environmental careers. It's really the current focus of a lot of business and government stuff.

    I found a U.S. News and World Report article from 2006 that lists the top 25 careers. Editor is on the list.

    I think what a lot of people in our profession need to understand is that there are ways to adjust without leaving the profession. For example, if you're tired of designing pages at 10 p.m., you might be able to land a job at a monthly magazine, which will probably give you your evenings back. If you're tired of covering a certain beat, you could switch gears and go to the news side. If you're concerned that your job will be cut, bolster your talents or find another job.
     
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