Realistic or not? Forum

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Prospect24

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Realistic or not?

Post by Prospect24 » Tue Feb 14, 2017 12:41 am

Trying to figure out if this is a realistic path or if I'm out of my mind. I've worked for an investment fund for two years working on primarily international investments. I'm about to start working for the state department. I'm thinking about doing this for a few years and then applying to law school. I'm primarily interested in international arbitration, international trade, and economic sanctions. Given the investment and diplomatic background I feel like this should be an easy sell.

Few questions:
1) Am I right to assume this prelaw experience will help placing I these areas of law or does it not really matter?
2) I graduated with an UGPA of 3.58 (4.0 in economics, mostly gen eds that pulled my gpa down). If I get >170 LSAT do I have a realistic shot at T14? Will softs like SG President and significant nonprofit experience help overcome the gpa?
3) Since I'll be in the D.C. area I'm considering Georgetown or GW at night until my final summer when I'd want to SA in the international arbitration group for a D.C. big law firm. Is this doable from these programs or should I just apply full time?

I think that's all the questions for now. I know these are kind of all over the place, but I'm trying to plan down the road. Thanks!

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KMart

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Re: Realistic or not?

Post by KMart » Tue Feb 14, 2017 3:58 am

Prospect24 wrote:Trying to figure out if this is a realistic path or if I'm out of my mind. I've worked for an investment fund for two years working on primarily international investments. I'm about to start working for the state department. I'm thinking about doing this for a few years and then applying to law school. I'm primarily interested in international arbitration, international trade, and economic sanctions. Given the investment and diplomatic background I feel like this should be an easy sell.

Few questions:
1) Am I right to assume this prelaw experience will help placing I these areas of law or does it not really matter?
2) I graduated with an UGPA of 3.58 (4.0 in economics, mostly gen eds that pulled my gpa down). If I get >170 LSAT do I have a realistic shot at T14? Will softs like SG President and significant nonprofit experience help overcome the gpa?
3) Since I'll be in the D.C. area I'm considering Georgetown or GW at night until my final summer when I'd want to SA in the international arbitration group for a D.C. big law firm. Is this doable from these programs or should I just apply full time?

I think that's all the questions for now. I know these are kind of all over the place, but I'm trying to plan down the road. Thanks!
you're real early in this planning game but let me give you some advice

1. it will help to an extent. it's by no means necessary, but it helps. at least that's my understanding. either way, it won't hurt and it will help (im just unsure how much it actually does help).

2. yes you do. the softs will be a minimal bump. everyone at those schools will have a great resume that is comparable to yours, so softs really aren't what is going to separate you. your numbers matter more because the school's ranking doesn't change based upon these softs.

3. im really unsure here. my understanding is that part-time programs have a harder time placing employment-wise but this could be entirely wrong. my gut says just go full time if you can swing it, but again this is a tad beyond my area of understanding so im not fully confident in this answer.

best of luck

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cavalier1138

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Re: Realistic or not?

Post by cavalier1138 » Tue Feb 14, 2017 6:20 am

Since (3) is the only question that hasn't quite been answered:

No, GW will not give you a good shot at working in DC biglaw. DC is considered the most difficult biglaw market to get, and wanting to work in international arbitration won't make it any easier. Regardless of your background experience, work of the caliber you're looking for requires a T14 degree (and honestly, even if you're looking at DC, you probably don't want Georgetown if you can avoid it).

As mentioned, you really shouldn't be looking at the part-time programs unless you absolutely have to. There's rarely a benefit to those programs, but there are a lot of drawbacks.

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BlendedUnicorn

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Re: Realistic or not?

Post by BlendedUnicorn » Tue Feb 14, 2017 7:53 am

It bigly depends on what you're doing in the state department but that could easily be the type of unicorn job that leads to unique outcomes.

I guess my biggest caveat to that is if you have a job like that I don't see why you would want to leave it.

E. I do agree that I wouldn't go to GW under any circumstance with those goals.

Prospect24

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Re: Realistic or not?

Post by Prospect24 » Wed Feb 15, 2017 12:18 pm

All 3 answers are helpful so thanks! I had a feeling the experience and softs wouldn't be as helpful as I hoped, so that just means I'll need to study harder for the LSAT.

cavalier1138 wrote:Since (3) is the only question that hasn't quite been answered:

No, GW will not give you a good shot at working in DC biglaw. DC is considered the most difficult biglaw market to get, and wanting to work in international arbitration won't make it any easier. Regardless of your background experience, work of the caliber you're looking for requires a T14 degree (and honestly, even if you're looking at DC, you probably don't want Georgetown if you can avoid it).

As mentioned, you really shouldn't be looking at the part-time programs unless you absolutely have to. There's rarely a benefit to those programs, but there are a lot of drawbacks.
I figured no GW but wanted to ask. Why no GT? I read somewhere that for IA it was one of the better schools at placing and was good at D.C. big law due to location. Is this incorrect?
HuntedUnicorn wrote:It bigly depends on what you're doing in the state department but that could easily be the type of unicorn job that leads to unique outcomes.

I guess my biggest caveat to that is if you have a job like that I don't see why you would want to leave it.

E. I do agree that I wouldn't go to GW under any circumstance with those goals.
It's not a unicorn job, but I'd definitely say it's a head turning job. It could turn into some really unique outcomes, which is part of why I'm planning this out early. I want to give it 3 years at state to see where things start to head before applying for law school because I may decide I don't want to leave (also part of why I mentioned part time). I think realistically state for 3-5, law for 5-10, and then back to a gov role would be the dream.


Also one other question. Any chance at $$ or with the low gpa is that pretty much out?

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cavalier1138

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Re: Realistic or not?

Post by cavalier1138 » Wed Feb 15, 2017 12:40 pm

Prospect24 wrote: I figured no GW but wanted to ask. Why no GT? I read somewhere that for IA it was one of the better schools at placing and was good at D.C. big law due to location. Is this incorrect?
It's not so much that Georgetown is bad. It's just that Georgetown has surprisingly low biglaw/fedclerk placement rates for a T14 school. For DC firm placement, UVA would be a much safer choice. And as far as I know, Georgetown doesn't have a particular leg up over other T14 schools when it comes to international arbitration.

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