smd76

My reasons aren't terribly exciting. I knew that I really wasn't interested in anything particularly adversarial, but always figured there was a paper-pushing branch I could get into if I had to. Ultimately, I hoped to work for a few years and then get an LLM and teach or something like that. But I graduated shortly after 9/11 and there were no jobs out there really other than really low paying public defender positions. (I know the economy is worse now, but at that time it seemed pretty bad!) I got a clerkship instead in a small town and got to see a condensed version of how things work. What I saw was that everything was based on meth. In that picturesque tiny little town, everything was somehow tied back to it. I saw the public defenders having their official hours cut because of funding, but having to take on a higher case-load. So to make ends meet, they'd be taking a few private clients on the side (meth defendants or nasty divorces)--hoping that they could pay their legal fees. I saw the attorneys working for people who were angry, disrespectful, hurtful, threatening and entitled. The attorneys I met on both sides of the aisle didn't enjoy what they were doing. They represented their clients appropriately, but when they found out I didn't intend to take the bar exam, the reactions ranged from congratulatory to jealous that I'd gotten out while I could. Don't get me wrong...I really enjoyed law school. After the first year, it wasn't particularly difficult. (First year is evil!) And my clerkship was the cushiest job I ever had. I got to do more than most of the clerks in bigger cities just because there wasn't a huge staff or caseload---they didn't need to keep me locked away in my office. I wrote opinions, I sat in on every trial we had, I got to judge high school kids doing moot court, I taught a "law unit" to a group of local nursing students. It was great. But I didn't want to be sitting at the attorney's tables. I really didn't want to feed my family based on other people's problems. And the career of constant pressure just wasn't what I wanted long term. I had hopes of having a child in a few years and I didn't want to work 70 hrs a week and have the babysitter raise him. I probably shouldn't have ever gone to law school. But I don't feel like it was wasted time. I honed my analytical, research, and writing skills. And it's given me a leg-up in my current career. Because of my degree, I got my foot in the door where I'm at. And now I have a hard-to-explain-but-they-seem-to-think-I'm-vital niche job. Was it worth the cost? Maybe. I don't regret it though. I refuse to do regrets. Everything we do builds off of our past. It all contributes to who we are. Without law school, I can't even picture where I'd be right now. But I haven't ever for one minute regretted the fact that I didn't take the bar exam. You said catharsis right? Hence the novel!!! Oh! And the cool thing is that once I got the job where I am, the whole building is full of lawyers who don't want to be lawyers--hundreds of them tucked away in random departments! For the first time since I'd made that tough decision, I was with people that understood that practicing law is not always the best choice. It's nice not to have to explain myself. Seriously...the decision not to take the bar was almost as hard as the decision to get divorced. MAJOR stress/pressure/etc. Good for you for realizing and redirecting early on. I can only imagine how tough that must have been.

Well, I finished law school, but never took the bar--taking that stand against the pressure of friends and family was one of the hardest things I've done. I knew half way through that I didn't want to practice law and my judicial clerkship just confirmed it. (EVERY lawyer I met wished they had done something else. My favorite was the local small-town prosecutor: "I should have gone to dental school!") But I finished and lucked out by getting into one of the biggie online legal research companies and getting myself a nice little niche job in the company after a couple of years. I've managed to stay employed in non-legal jobs that still require a JD. But now I'm aiming in a new direction. It's a big leap, but if it works, I'll be able to be in the academic world I love full time, and be able to support my family doing something that doesn't seem as mindless as sitting in a cubical all day for 30 years. My job now is fine, not fulfilling, but fine. Ok money and I can support my son and I. And the hours are way better than practicing law which works well with a family. And the best part is...the field I'm aiming at is super short of PhDs to teach. So if I can pull it off, I can double my income and actually pay off law school some day. :-D I agree that law school/lawyers are glamorized. I enjoyed school itself, but practicing law is NOT something I could do and be happy for several reasons. So I'm going to lump myself in with the drop-outs.

I'm aiming for fall 2012 after 2 years of taking some extra classes to fill in the gaps for a career change. If that works out, I'll be 36 when I start. I was 22 when I started law school. Things sure feel different this time around! I'll be moving across country most likely. I'll also have my son and two cats in tow. But he'll be starting elementary school then, so at least there will be that. I'm alternating between terrified and exhilerated about the possibilities. I'm super excited to be getting back into the academic world. First steps first: 1/2 time school to pick up those extra classes (paid for by my employer, yay!). Then I need to get a killer GMAT score. My parents are laughing and saying "I told you so" as I register for classes I refused to take back when they were paying tuition. But seriously, but when I was an undergrad, I was not motivated to do classes requiring actual work. Now is the time. I am highly motivated and willing to put in the work it takes. And my life is just recently in a place where I can focus on my own goals again. I've been told that graduating at 40-ish I will be pretty average for the field since so many people work for a while before going back to school.

I'm doing a switch in careers. I spent my undergrad doing classes I could B.S. my way through. So I went from and English B.A. to a J.D. (At the time I was debating pursuing an English Lit PhD, but there really wasn't anything I wanted to focus on and thankfully I knew enough not to go after something I was ambivilent about. After acing the LSAT practice test and being assured that it was a great general degree, I went that route.) I've been working for several years using my J.D. in a large company. But I've always wanted to teach. I know there's a shortage of accounting PhDs, so I'm aiming in that direction. It's not toally out of nowhere...before I got this job, I was back at school for a semester for an MPA and discovered an affinity for number crunching that I never knew I had. It was actually kind of relaxing to be taking classes where there was a correct answer! So now, after speaking with some grad schools about how to prepare, I'm filling in the gaps in my education and I plan to spend the next couple of years taking classes equivilant to an accounting major (non-degree seeking though). At the same time, I will need a killer GMAT score. Lucky for me, I'm a very good test-taker. I don't doubt my ability to study my way into a respectable score, but I'm going to need to start working on it gradually so that by next spring/summer I can take the exam. Aside from the free practice exams online, are there any favorite books to study from? Or just do as many practice exams as I can get my hands on until I like my score consistantly? I never really studied for the LSAT...those logic puzzles just come naturally for me. This is going to take real work on my part! I don't doubt that I can do it. But it's not going to be something I can just cram for a few weeks. Mostly because I don't have time for cramming! I work full time + single mom of a 3 yr old + starting to go to school 1/2 time. I'm a little busy! I'm excited for this new direction, but there are a whole lot of IFs that I need to accomplish. One of the biggies is a great GMAT score to convince them to take me seriously. Thanks!!