The Girl's Guide to Law School
Get In, Get Through, Stay You
Law schools release a decent amount of information about their graduates’ prospects, so it’s easy to think you’re getting the full story.
You’re probably not.
Schools fudge data in a variety of ways, but the most common approach is simply not to report unflattering information on graduates’ salaries.
“A law degree is really flexible! It opens lots of doors.” Do not believe this statement. Hearing it makes me want to scream.
While it’s true that huge numbers of lawyers simply quit the profession entirely, it DOES NOT FOLLOW that the reason they’re no longer lawyers is because their law degree opened lots of other doors.
If you believe pop culture, life as a lawyer is pretty exciting.
Jury trials take half an hour and there’s an ongoing highlight reel of witty cross-examination and bombshell surprise evidence. Sadly, that’s not the way things work in reality.
People often say you shouldn’t worry about student loan debt — that it’s “good debt.” In some cases, this might be true.
Taking out student loans is an investment in your human capital.
To the extent they enable you to do something you couldn’t otherwise do, i.e., afford to pay for law school so you can become an attorney, student loans might be justifiable.
However, it depends on the specifics:
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Are you applying to law school because you want three more years to figure out what to do with your life? Guess what. That’s not the way this works.
You need to know where you want to work geographically, and what kind of work you want to do, well before graduation.
In fact, it’s helpful to know both of these things before the end of your first semester.
To put it charitably, one reason people consider joining the legal profession is to cash in — lawyers make lots of money, right? Sure, maybe they work all the time and aren’t always happy, but they’re rich! Totally worth it.
Reality check: Most lawyers don’t make all that much money, given the time and cost required to become one.
