We at OTLSS wish you the best for the holidays and the coming year. If you are unemployed on account of the law-school scam, remember that Santa Claus shares your plight:
The law-school scam has gained its second wind, with high levels of applications after a long period of decline. Law school remains a bad choice for almost everyone, whatever the fawning media may say. Stay away from law school if you don't want to get a lump of coal in your stocking for the rest of your life.
My own tale should be cautionary. I quit being an engineer in 2006 to go to a TTT. Graduated in the middle of the Great Recession and never found a job as a lawyer. Lost $300,000+ in engineer earnings and paid $100,000 for law school.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm desperately trying to hang on to my JD Advantage job, knowing that I will have difficulty finding any job at my age. Maybe if I get let go I can go back to what I did after graduating law school without a job: Home Depot.
Yes, your tale is a good warning to others. "JD-advantage" is Itself ridiculous: which other field of study upholds the benefits of working outside the field? But it seems that you could not find better work after a loss of $400k or more. That's a very steep price to pay for the alleged advantages of a JD.
DeleteOld Guy did eventually succeed—after a fashion—as a lawyer, but not without a great deal of trouble, and he is far from happy with his decision to go into law.
pharmacy does. it's 14 hour shifts, 1200 prescriptions filled, no seat, constant electronic and metric surveillance, 0.001 error rate allowed.
DeleteImagine if medical schools advertised their degrees as providing MD Advantage jobs?
DeleteYes: you wanted to become a physician, but at least you can parlay your medical degree into an "MD-Advantage" job selling cosmetics at the local pharmacy.
DeleteIt actually does happen, OG. Every year there's a very small percentage of doctors who fail to match into a residency program. Then there's something called the "scramble" and most of them find one there. But for the small number that get frozen out of both the match and the scramble, they might need to go work in a lab or as a pharma sales rep or something. It does, actually, happen. Much more rarely than with JDs, but "MD advantage" jobs do exist. It generally only happens to Caribbean grads (and NOT the ones from the big 4 Carib med schools at that), but it does occur.
DeleteSome of those who don't get a residency went only for the most desirable ones, in the hottest fields or the choicest locations, or else were not competitive for what they were seeking (which applies in particular to those from the Caribbean scam-schools). As you said, many of those will find positions in the second round. Those who are left on the shelf will have to do something else.
DeleteWhat does not happen in medicine, as far as I know, is the promotion of "MD-Advantage" as a viable and desirable category in its own right. The law-school scam has been touting "JD-Advantage" for ages, not as a backup plan for the rare people who cannot find work as lawyers but as a desirable thing in itself and a totally acceptable alternative to legal work.
I never understand why people with good, well-paying jobs quit those jobs to go to law school. I have read posts and stories about people crawling back to their old profession after they can't find a job with their JD. That said, even with student loans, I don't know anyone who could afford to put their lives on hold for three years and pay the rent/mortgage, all their bills, living expenses, possibly child support while earning zero income for three years. In fact, if any of the people I know even tried, they would likely end up divorce court, and then their house would be foreclosed on. . .do people save money for years on end to "invest" in a legal education?
ReplyDeleteNot everyone can. Old Guy could: he thought that it was his last chance to do something with his life after his previous line of work had dried up. He had no mortgage or other great obligations, though he certainly had to pay the rent. It was not easy, and he does regret the choice. Other students were travelling or otherwise spending familial wealth while Old Guy was working at odd jobs and scraping by.
DeleteThis is why night school was invented by law schools; work your job so you can get your TTT JD. And yes, I"ve met several people who follow this path; they have full-time jobs but are willing to roll the dice as night school graduates.
DeleteThe fall 1L grades should be coming out in another month or so. Hopefully some will have the courage to drop out and go another way.
ReplyDeleteAt my Toilet, I think they deliberately delayed publishing the grades until after the deadline to drop out without losing your tuition fees.
Anyone doesn't make the top 5% of their class when grades are posted should drop out. They won't have access to On Campus Interviews and will fend for themselves for the few jobs available. So essentially 95% of the remaining class should drop out.
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