Comm. College on Resume Forum

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tk421991

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Comm. College on Resume

Post by tk421991 » Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:12 am

At what point do I remove my community college degree and work experience from my resume?

As a 1L, I have my community college degree and work experience (tutor) on my resume for a few reasons:

1) 3.85 GPA in Paralegal Studies
2) Show a connection to the area
3) Not misrepresent myself
4) There's a time gap between my AS and BS (I worked full time in between colleges)

After the summer, I'm probably going to remove the work experience from my resume because I'll have law school legal work experience to add. Do I remove the community college degree from my education section also?

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Pneumonia

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Re: Comm. College on Resume

Post by Pneumonia » Sat Jan 27, 2018 10:38 am

Normally I'd say leave it, but "paralegal studies" is not the best look. What kind of UG is your BS from? What kind of jobs are you seeking, and from what kind of law school?

The reason I'd say leave it on is that it shows you have a non-traditional background. Some firms like that because it shows that you have "street smarts" and/or that you're a hard worker (both from experience). But if you're UG is also not a brand-name institution, then you can communicate the same thing without adding your community college degree. Here's a few scenarios:

CC --> Brand-name UG (state flagship, nationally-known private) --> good law school, and seeking biglaw: leave CC on.
CC--> Brand-name UG --> sub T-50 law school: take CC off.
CC --> non-brand-name UG --> any law school: take CC off.

tk421991

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Re: Comm. College on Resume

Post by tk421991 » Sat Jan 27, 2018 11:06 am

Pneumonia wrote:Normally I'd say leave it, but "paralegal studies" is not the best look. What kind of UG is your BS from? What kind of jobs are you seeking, and from what kind of law school?

The reason I'd say leave it on is that it shows you have a non-traditional background. Some firms like that because it shows that you have "street smarts" and/or that you're a hard worker (both from experience). But if you're UG is also not a brand-name institution, then you can communicate the same thing without adding your community college degree. Here's a few scenarios:

CC --> Brand-name UG (state flagship, nationally-known private) --> good law school, and seeking biglaw: leave CC on.
CC--> Brand-name UG --> sub T-50 law school: take CC off.
CC --> non-brand-name UG --> any law school: take CC off.
Bolded and italicized is my situation. My CC + LS are in the same state, which is also my home state. My undergrad is a state school in another state.

I'm going the judicial internship/clerkship route. I have a summer judicial internship lined up, so now I'm just getting ready to start contacting judges in my CC/LS state to intern during the fall and spring.

Maybe leaving the CC degree on might be good, because I know judges like having talking points about candidates and it shows I'm local.

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