Law or Public Policy?

FirstGen94
Thu, 22 Mar 2018 11:17:55 +0000

Hi! I am currently a second semester senior at a small liberal arts college where I’ve been studying public policy and political science. I’m currently trying to figure out what path to take after college. I intend to take 2-3 years off before pursuing more education to take a break from school and try out different areas. Throughout college I have focused my studies and internship experiences around topics relating to the criminal justice system and gender/racial justice. Most of my experience previously has been working for non-profits doing grassroots organizing, advocacy work, some policy work and a bit of legal support. I most recently interned at a public interest law firm that works with low-income/homeless clients.

I am currently in the process of applying for jobs after college and have been sending applications to research assistant positions at think tanks/policy organizations and legal/litigation assistant positions at different law firms. I am having a hard time trying to decide if I want to pursue something in law or public policy in the future. I have been thinking about applying to MPP programs or JD programs or even MPP/JD programs in a few years but have not really settled on which yet. I’ve appreciated my work in both areas and view the two fields as pretty interconnected. It seems like I would be able to get more funding for MPP programs than law school but on the other hand I feel like the legal toolkit I gain from a JD would be indispensable regardless of where I end up.

I have a bit of time before actually applying so was wondering if anyone had some advice on how to proceed or if anyone else has made a similar decision. I’m excited to get some more work experience and have time to rest after undergrad but want to begin sketching out a plan for the next few years. I’m hoping to study for the GRE/LSAT when I have some down time after graduation and before my first job out. My GPA is around 3.6 and I’m a decent standardized test-taker if that changes anything. Throughout college I’ve just been following my interests and have done some pretty cool internships/fellowships and definitely could write a great personal statement. I’m less concerned about admissions and more about the potential/usefulness/influence of each degree.