I regret not taking time off before law school

[fadedsunrise]

Is there anything I can actually now do about it, considering I have started, or am I going to have to eat my regrets and live with it(for the rest of my life?)

I started as a first year this year at a top 20 law school. Its not(yet) mindnumbingly intense, but some days it gets close. I chose to live at home for a combination of financial and personal reasons, and due to that I have to wake up no later than 7am most days of the week to commute to school. The commute is 2 hrs both ways, minimum, and sometimes more than that. Thankfully, I'm fairly efficient(so far) with my work, and manage to take only 3-4 hrs per subject per week for normal class reading. Writing assignments and such add more hours.

I registered with this forum last year as I was applying for the Boren Scholarship. I was rejected, depressed, and eventually convinced myself that I had no right to take a year off for no good (and to my mind, no good was no super prestigious reason-thus, short of Boren, TFA, or the equivalent, it was no good) reason, and basically forced myself to go considering I did have a prestigious acceptance sitting.

Now that our school is giving seminars on getting employment, and emphasizing stuff like "you gotta prepare for what job you want NOW", "grades are PARAMOUNT", and the like, I'm getting more stressed as to starting law school immediately. This is not to say I don't enjoy the intellectual experience-my professors are brilliant, deep thinkers, but approachable, the myriad of experiences open to first year students through both the school and the mentors are wonderful(and seemingly never ending), and it is nice, from an intellectual standpoint, to consider myself as being accomplished like that by the time I'm a third year.

However, I still can't help the small part of me which, every time they mention the timeline of what summer jobs we should be striving for, when we should apply for clerkships, and the like, to feel like a part of me is dying a bit inside. I had thought I could have at least the summers to travel and play around, or, if not that, the FIRST summer at least, but everything is planned down to the letter with research positions you should be aiming for first, then summer associate jobs the next summer, that it feels like I will have no more freedom to randomly BE anymore-all will be sacrificed to the legal employment Gods.

On the other hand, my personality is that of a competitive nutjob. I'd sooner land myself in the hospital for mental problems than LOSE, on almost anything, so hopefully nobody suggests dropping out-because I'm not going to take that option, no matter what.

I'm just wondering if people, perhaps specifically law people, had any experiences similar to this? Did you screw it with the school's suggestion that you MUST get a summer job, go travel instead, and still do well? Did you take a marvelous bar trip? Did you for some reason not start working after graduation, and uh, did something like teach English abroad but after...graduation? I'm wondering if any of these things are possible, or if I don't do as the school says and GUN it then I will be unemployed and nose deep in debt by graduation.

[justinmcducd]

If you are as competetive naturally as you say... I think law school and likely the practice of law will be a good fit.

But if you're getting a bad feeling about what your doing in your first year... you're still young enough to change paths.

Hell I'm 27, worked in the political/policy world a few years and then went on to a masters in policy.. realized I hated it (profesional politics, the only job offers I got), quit my job, and moved in with the folks for a bit to figure out what I really wanted to do.

The law profesion is tedious and most lawyers I know arent happy with their jobs at many points, but some seem after a while to enjoy it... I think a lot of folks go into law on the wrong assumtions of what being a lawyer really is, regarldess of pedegree. Those folks tend to be unhappy. If you think your one like that, and dont have a wife/kids, get out and live life while you can.

[mandarin.orange]

I never seemed to have a problem with useless breaks where I aimlessly traveled or idled away time, even if it meant incurring some debt. The recharge was essential, and inevitably, boredom would drive me back to some form of work with renewed vigor. I left my MS program with no plan, except to go backpacking and visit family for 2 months.

Not sure what I can offer in the way of advice, other than to get over the "if it's not prestigious, it's useless" conception of your free time. And leave you with this guy's blog, which might provide you with some inspiration. He found a way to incorporate long-distance hiking and travel with his law school plans.

Out of Order's trailjournal

[juilletmercredi]

I'm in a similar spot to you, but 26 and nearing the end of my PhD. I wish I had taken some time off before entering the PhD to travel abroad, teach English in a foreign country, mess around a little. I'm wondering whether it'd be possible for me to do that after my PhD and then come back, do a postdoc, and get on the research track (I'm not particularly interested in academia, so that helps). I'm just kind of dealing with things as they come, though, which is a tremendous triumph for me - a person who tries to plan everything down to the minute.

Can you sort of do both? Get a summer job that involves traveling? There must be summer law internships abroad for people who are interested in international law/justice/policy, yes? Can you take a leave of absence for a year to do a Fulbright or teach abroad or backpack or whatever? (If I weren't so close to completion of my PhD, I would do this. In fact, I wish I HAD done it after my second or third year of grad school.)

People take all kinds of winding paths to their careers. You may not get the most plum corporate jobs or judicial clerkships if you do, but I'm sure taking a few years to teach English abroad won't completely shut you out of law jobs forever. Perhaps speak with some working lawyers in the fields in which you're interested, and get their take?