Law School vs Engineering Forum

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dassale1

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Law School vs Engineering

Post by dassale1 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:37 am

I read a post about someone that would like to go to law school and is wondering if she/he has to do it given she/he hasn't start working yet. My case is similar but a bit different ( lol) so I would really appreciate your input.

I'm a 27 years old AA woman. I've been working as a petroleum engineer for like 4 years but I want to go to law school. As far as I can remember, I always wanted to be a lawyer. However, after getting my bachelor, I kept postponing and postponing. Today I am married and have a baby but I feel like I'm getting old so it's time for me to go to LS before it's too late. I have a 6 figures salary and a good life I would say but I want to go to law school and practice in a big law firm or as a federal clerk. Some people ( not knowing anything about the law) have told me that it's quite stupid to quit everything and go to law school especially since I'm the main breadwinner. I don't hate my job... but I don't love it maybe because law school has always been in the back of my mind.

What do you guys think? I need your honest opinion please.

Thank you

QContinuum

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Re: Law School vs Engineering

Post by QContinuum » Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:14 pm

It sounds like you have a burning desire to practice law.

Economically, you'd probably be better off staying in engineering, where it sounds like you have a good, lucrative job. But I think happiness is also important, and if you'd be miserable giving up on your dream of being a lawyer, I think that's powerful stuff.

Have you taken any practice LSATs yet? What's your undergraduate GPA (if you attended more than one college, what's your cumulative undergrad GPA)? I think that to achieve your BigLaw/clerkship goals, and to make a switch to law reasonable, you should be targeting the T13.

dassale1

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Re: Law School vs Engineering

Post by dassale1 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 2:32 pm

QContinuum wrote:It sounds like you have a burning desire to practice law.

Economically, you'd probably be better off staying in engineering, where it sounds like you have a good, lucrative job. But I think happiness is also important, and if you'd be miserable giving up on your dream of being a lawyer, I think that's powerful stuff.

Have you taken any practice LSATs yet? What's your undergraduate GPA (if you attended more than one college, what's your cumulative undergrad GPA)? I think that to achieve your BigLaw/clerkship goals, and to make a switch to law reasonable, you should be targeting the T13.
My cum GPA is 3.58 and I haven’t taken the LSAT yet but after reading LG bible, I took the diagnostic test and got 154. It wasn’t a completely cold diagnostic then. I would like to take the July LSAT. Working hard and praying to get 175+

dassale1

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Re: Law School vs Engineering

Post by dassale1 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 2:34 pm

Sorry for missing a few words.
The LG bible
A completely cold one

dabigchina

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Re: Law School vs Engineering

Post by dabigchina » Mon Jan 21, 2019 4:09 pm

I'm a junior lawyer in biglaw, so while I may not be an expert, I know a thing or two about "the law." It would be stupid for you to give up everything (especially as the main breadwinner) to indulge the fantasy of what you think the practice of law is. There's no guarantee you'll be happy as a lawyer (especially in biglaw). I don't want to be harsh, but here's a couple of things to consider:

1. Clerking is not a long term career (for the vast majority of people). People clerk for a year or two because it (1) looks good on their resume and (2) allows them to escape their firm jobs for a year or two.
2. You may think that you can handle biglaw long term because you've worked for a long time and have dealt with office bullshit. Chances are good that you cannot. I worked for 4 years in a relatively stressful environment, and even I was surprised by how much biglaw blows. One thing I did not really anticipate was how shitty being on call literally 24/7 is. It takes a huge toll.
3. If you exit from a firm to an in house job, chances are good you'll wind up making exactly the same amount of money you do today, only with more student loans, 3 years of foregone income, and a bunch of unnecessary stress because you had to work in biglaw for a few years.
4. You have no idea what the practice of law is and it's almost impossible for you to gain an understanding. Yes, you can ask for informational interviews and read some posts on this forum, but the day to day realities of practice will be lost on you until you are actually practicing day to day. There's no way for you to really know whether you would like it. This is doubly true for practice at a firm.

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dassale1

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Re: Law School vs Engineering

Post by dassale1 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:24 pm

dabigchina wrote:I'm a junior lawyer in biglaw, so while I may not be an expert, I know a thing or two about "the law." It would be stupid for you to give up everything (especially as the main breadwinner) to indulge the fantasy of what you think the practice of law is. There's no guarantee you'll be happy as a lawyer (especially in biglaw). I don't want to be harsh, but here's a couple of things to consider:

1. Clerking is not a long term career (for the vast majority of people). People clerk for a year or two because it (1) looks good on their resume and (2) allows them to escape their firm jobs for a year or two.
2. You may think that you can handle biglaw long term because you've worked for a long time and have dealt with office bullshit. Chances are good that you cannot. I worked for 4 years in a relatively stressful environment, and even I was surprised by how much biglaw blows. One thing I did not really anticipate was how shitty being on call literally 24/7 is. It takes a huge toll.
3. If you exit from a firm to an in house job, chances are good you'll wind up making exactly the same amount of money you do today, only with more student loans, 3 years of foregone income, and a bunch of unnecessary stress because you had to work in biglaw for a few years.
4. You have no idea what the practice of law is and it's almost impossible for you to gain an understanding. Yes, you can ask for informational interviews and read some posts on this forum, but the day to day realities of practice will be lost on you until you are actually practicing day to day. There's no way for you to really know whether you would like it. This is doubly true for practice at a firm.
Wow! Thank you so much for this great piece of advice. What you said definitely crossed my mind especially point 2. Though I think I like big law, I also want to be there for my family. It seems impossible with big law. On the other hand, I'm also scared of regretting not going to LS all my life.

Npret

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Re: Law School vs Engineering

Post by Npret » Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:43 pm

dassale1 wrote:
dabigchina wrote:I'm a junior lawyer in biglaw, so while I may not be an expert, I know a thing or two about "the law." It would be stupid for you to give up everything (especially as the main breadwinner) to indulge the fantasy of what you think the practice of law is. There's no guarantee you'll be happy as a lawyer (especially in biglaw). I don't want to be harsh, but here's a couple of things to consider:

1. Clerking is not a long term career (for the vast majority of people). People clerk for a year or two because it (1) looks good on their resume and (2) allows them to escape their firm jobs for a year or two.
2. You may think that you can handle biglaw long term because you've worked for a long time and have dealt with office bullshit. Chances are good that you cannot. I worked for 4 years in a relatively stressful environment, and even I was surprised by how much biglaw blows. One thing I did not really anticipate was how shitty being on call literally 24/7 is. It takes a huge toll.
3. If you exit from a firm to an in house job, chances are good you'll wind up making exactly the same amount of money you do today, only with more student loans, 3 years of foregone income, and a bunch of unnecessary stress because you had to work in biglaw for a few years.
4. You have no idea what the practice of law is and it's almost impossible for you to gain an understanding. Yes, you can ask for informational interviews and read some posts on this forum, but the day to day realities of practice will be lost on you until you are actually practicing day to day. There's no way for you to really know whether you would like it. This is doubly true for practice at a firm.
Wow! Thank you so much for this great piece of advice. What you said definitely crossed my mind especially point 2. Though I think I like big law, I also want to be there for my family. It seems impossible with big law. On the other hand, I'm also scared of regretting not going to LS all my life.
You would be foolish to throw away a happy life on the fantasy of going to law school. It looks much sexier from the outside.
Everyone has some regret in life. I would rather your regret be that you didn’t go to law school than tegret that you gave up a great life to chase prestige and big law.
Law school will always be there. Unlike med school, you cant age out. Who knows you can go in 10-15 years or whenever if it’s still a dream.

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