Kashim

First of all, thank you for the responses, I really appreciate all of your advice. I am very certain that being an attorney is something I would not enjoy, and that I will pursue study of philosophy. but I understand that giving up on my degree just seems a little too drastic at this point, and there are benefits I can take away from being where I am. I just have one question in regard to your recommendations. I imagine I am allowed to sit in for philo courses in the undergraduate dept. However, since I have only taken basic courses in phil, I was under the impression that I would need to actually take those basic courses in philosophy (register, take tests, submit papers, get credits/grades, etc ) in order to apply for MA and possibly work towards applying for a Ph.D program. I imagine actually taking classes cannot hurt, but I was wondering if you guys really think just sitting in for classes (or am I misunderstanding the term audit?) should be sufficient at this point to get a feel for the subject, and get to know the profs. Thank you.

Hello, I am new to the forum, and I am not sure if Im posting this on the appropriate board, but I have a question. As of now, I am a 2nd yr student at one of top 5 law schools in US. I took 2 years off after college to work and take it easy for a while. However over those 2 years, through some independent studying, I developed an intense passion for reading philosophy. As naive as it may seem, I felt like I found my calling. Despite the obvious limit to how much I could have learned over such a short period of time, I really felt like the books and the thinkers I came across had completely changed me. I ended up heading to law school very skeptical about the prospect of me being able to love or find anything more meaningful than learning more about this subject that seemed all too relevant, and gave me such thrills. Having spent a year here, I realize I want out, and I want to study continental philosophy. I know how naive this sounds, and my friends have not shied away from letting me know how they feel about my plans of quitting law school to study a subject I have not even majored in during college. But it is what I want. I want to at least give it a shot. And I know being an attorney is not for me. My question/concern is that as much as I would like to start at a graduate level right away. I have not taken any philosophy class beyond the first year level during college, and I do not have proficiency in any of the required languages. I expect I would need to go back to school (Canadian UG, I am a Canadian national. I wouldn't mind going back to my undergrad and taking some courses, even a lot of them. I am allowed to.), or take courses outside of my department here to produce a writing sample and get the necessary training in order for me to be able to apply for any MA or Ph.D program. I know that I would need a good GPA, GRE score, and a writing sample on top of everything else. But I just wanted to know how many credits in philosophy classes and relevant language proficiency are customarily required, and how I should approach applying for a graduate program, should I aim for MA? or Ph.D? Apologies for being so clueless, but any advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.