DC Mom Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 Also, I am about to be married, which restrains my options. Continuing on means $80K in opportunity costs + tuition. I understand the quitter label, which may be a reality, but I wonder how much avoiding that label is worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennesseeboy Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Also, I am about to be married, which restrains my options. Continuing on means $80K in opportunity costs + tuition. I understand the quitter label, which may be a reality, but I wonder how much avoiding that label is worth. How do you figure $80k in opportunity costs? Do you have a job that pays 80k that you can go to right now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Mom Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 How do you figure $80k in opportunity costs? Do you have a job that pays 80k that you can go to right now? $80K in tuition and opportunity costs for the rest of the semester, next year, etc. This includes subtracting the higher pay I could get in my summer gig at the firm. There's a fairly definite job that would pay $35K and bide me some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Mom Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 And I guess it would give me piece of mind to know that I would face the same problems dropping out this past fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinandjokin Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Also, I am about to be married, which restrains my options. Continuing on means $80K in opportunity costs + tuition. I understand the quitter label, which may be a reality, but I wonder how much avoiding that label is worth. Wouldn't ~3 years of work with a reputable firm after school pay pretty darn well, and put you a long way toward paying off your school debt? I realize you think you might be unhappy, but you are the one who chose to go to law school and take on these loans, and soon you will have a wife to consider when making all decisions. What is your wife's stance on school? Is she excited about her new family being saddled with debt, and nothing much to show for it? The more I read in this thread, the more I think you need to finish. Two-thirds of a law degree equals jack schitt, other than many thousands of dollars racking up interest. Finish, then explore your options. You are teetering on the 'woe is me' line, and it sounds pretty weak. In this information age, you had to know exactly what law school would require (both at school and in the wallet), and you had to know the options that would be available for employment upon finishing. Armed with this information, you chose to pursue this endeavor just 1.5 years ago. What happened since then? You've decided your personality doesn't mesh with other law students? Please. Hell, that alone might make you a commodity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennesseeboy Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 You either have a job that pays 35k or you don't. From a financial point of view if you finish law school you'll be making in the 60k level very shortly at a minimum. This is presuming you don't go to the 80 hour a week NYC or major city firms where your salary will be in the 150k rate or higher...but you'll probably have a more interesting and rewarding experience at the 60k range. Forget law school on your resume. No one..believe me no one...is going to be impressed that you "attended" law school. one year one and a half years or two years ain't gonna get you a cup of coffee. Take a date for your decision, sometime after this semester. Forget the law firm job. You already know you won't like it and that that is not what you want to do. Do something different or explore options. Its your life and your decision. Aim toward your future. Whatever decision you make will be the right one for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 You can complete law school and then not necessarily practice law...Sports agent, for example, is one career where a law degree is fairly prevalent. If I had gone to the playgrounds in Akron when I was in law school, I could have discovered Lebron James when he was in the third grade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennesseeboy Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Wouldn't ~3 years of work with a reputable firm after school pay pretty darn well, and put you a long way toward paying off your school debt? I realize you think you might be unhappy, but you are the one who chose to go to law school and take on these loans, and soon you will have a wife to consider when making all decisions. What is your wife's stance on school? Is she excited about her new family being saddled with debt, and nothing much to show for it? The more I read in this thread, the more I think you need to finish. Two-thirds of a law degree equals jack schitt, other than many thousands of dollars racking up interest. Finish, then explore your options. You are teetering on the 'woe is me' line, and it sounds pretty weak. In this information age, you had to know exactly what law school would require (both at school and in the wallet), and you had to know the options that would be available for employment upon finishing. Armed with this information, you chose to pursue this endeavor just 1.5 years ago. What happened since then? You've decided your personality doesn't mesh with other law students? Please. Hell, that alone might make you a commodity. Very good advice...that smokinanjokin guy has a lot on the ball....start smokin whatever he's smokin and everything will work out just fine!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erynthered Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Maybe you need to see your Doctor about "Depression" Seriously. Again, good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanker Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Finish school, don't take the bar, and go to work in the legal department of an insurance company reviewing their marketing materials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Mom Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 Wouldn't ~3 years of work with a reputable firm after school pay pretty darn well, and put you a long way toward paying off your school debt? I realize you think you might be unhappy, but you are the one who chose to go to law school and take on these loans, and soon you will have a wife to consider when making all decisions. What is your wife's stance on school? Is she excited about her new family being saddled with debt, and nothing much to show for it? The more I read in this thread, the more I think you need to finish. Two-thirds of a law degree equals jack schitt, other than many thousands of dollars racking up interest. Finish, then explore your options. You are teetering on the 'woe is me' line, and it sounds pretty weak. In this information age, you had to know exactly what law school would require (both at school and in the wallet), and you had to know the options that would be available for employment upon finishing. Armed with this information, you chose to pursue this endeavor just 1.5 years ago. What happened since then? You've decided your personality doesn't mesh with other law students? Please. Hell, that alone might make you a commodity. I certainly know that I am whining about all this, and I certainly accept responsibility for my choices. I am depressed because I feel like I blew it. I don't know if this makes my decision to go to law school a good one or a bad one, but I spent a lot of time trying to research law school. I am not sure if I was doing it smartly, but I knew about the hard time balancing life with work when you are a lawyer, I know that a lot of lawyers are dissatisfied, etc. I knew that you don't go to law school unless you want to be a lawyer. Yet, I had found the law so interesting in other contexts, aced the LSATs, thought it was the best chance for me to make something of myself and took the plunge. I figured I would know pretty early whether or not law school was the right choice. The thing is that in my first semester, I was like why am I here, but I said to myself "you owe it to yourself to finish this semester." I did well, and then I was like hey, this isn't so hard and I went through the next semester. Then at times over the semester and especially that summer, I was like "I don't really like reading case after case, dealing with minutia, blah, blah..." I just couldn't see myself doing this as a career. But I didn't want to quit after I had gotten through that year and I figured I had to see what job opportunities I could get during on-campus interviewing. Well, I got a summer job at a firm I thought was a great fit and I didn't think about quitting the rest of the semester, but then I was like, I don't like this stuff. Yeah, work sucks, but why do this kind of work that takes over your whole life? Why am I paying money to do this? The truth is that my financial situation isn't that bad right now. I could leave with very limited debt. But in a year and a half can I say that? And my future wife? She hates that everything is up in the air right now, but she would rather see me happy then be stuck in something I don't like. So with all that why don't I drop out or take a leave now? Because I haven't had that real true practicing experience that would let me know for sure. I am worried that I will regret it. I think I will know after this summer at the firm. I may hate the firm lifestyle, but I could get some better exposure about the practice of law. Basically my decision has come down to this: 1. On the one hand, I don't know what I want to do with the rest of my life and I cannot know for sure if I would have enjoyed law practice or not. 2. On the other hand, I don't feel like this career is right for me and what I know about what the practice is like doesn't appeal to me. I feel like however hard and crappy and a waste it would be to drop out now, if I don't... then I fear that inertia will carry me through for years doing something I don't like. The last thing I quit was running for class president in high school. Nothing since. I have stuck with a lot of bad things just to see them through, but when do you cut your losses? I feel that my time in law school has been like chasing losses in the stock market. I know that this is a self-absorbed, whiny post and thread. I should be a man and just make the call. I just don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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