FlawSchool

When I declared my major as Political Science, I had given great thought into continuing my education into law school. After speaking with my advisor (who is great, truly an asset), he made me consider getting an MPA should I decide to not go the law school route. I graduated with my BS in the Spring of 2009 and decided that I would try my hardest to get a job before enrolling in any further programs so I could offset any debt that I would accrue. Luckily, being in Georgia, I was able to use the HOPE scholarship and graduate debt-free. But, as we all know, the job market has been extremely stagnant for any entry-level work and I haven't found anything. Many, many applications have been submitted to jobs both germane and non-germane to my degree. I've tried nearly every avenue and can't seem to land anything, however menial it may be. So, here I am trying to plan my next move. I had a thought earlier this evening, that I would get paralegal certification. Lots of programs that I've seen so far require that the student have a 4 year degree, which is kind of comforting. To me, this seems to be my most appealing option right now. For one, I wouldn't have to accumulate debt up to my eyeballs to get this; and two, it allows me to get a taste of the legal system to see if I would enjoy pursuing law school without having to take the plunge. Plus, it seems like the starting salaries are pretty decent although they offer nowhere near the headroom of a JD. I'm not looking to make this a permanent career (unless I happen to love it, so who knows), but instead gain another skill set and use it to leverage my position in the future. So, this option is checking the right boxes for me so far. I've looked at many programs and have seen two that would be great options for me. Here is the problem - one program does not have ABA certification, but comes from a school that has a great name (Emory). The other school does have ABA certification, but it has nowhere near the reputation of the first. I see that only a fraction of the paralegal programs in this country actually carry ABA certification, so it makes me think that the Emory name might be worth more than the ABA certification of the other school which is nowhere near as well-known. Am I way off base here? Plus, has anyone else considered taking the same path I'm proposing? I would love to hear some real-world experiences. If I can manage to land a paralegal job, it would allow me to make decent money while saving for (or at least offsetting the cost/loan debt of) a Masters or a JD. It seems to make sense to me.