Law School (and yes, undergrad)

Ult0015
Tue, 29 Mar 2011 19:32:51 +0000

Hey everyone,

Later this year I’ll be starting my freshmen year undergrad. I going to GWU and my planned major is political science.

I suppose its normal that people have been asking if I plan to go to law school. A typical conversation lately has been going like this:

“What are you majoring in?”

“Political Science”

“Oh, so you want to go to law school?”

Believe it or not, I didn’t know that so many political science undergrads went to law school for grad when I first became interested in the major. I chose poli sci (and GWU) obviously because my main interest (and at times obsession) is politics :). However, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do for grad school, and really all I can say is that I KNOW I want to go to grad school, nothing else.

I’ve found a multitude of grad degrees that I could potentially be interested in: public policy, public admin., etc. But there is really one thing that is important to me: I want to make MONEY. By money, I mean a salary of $100,000 + per year. I don’t admit it in public, I tend to act like i’m the kind of person who cares about pursuing their interests more than making money etc etc - but in reality its not always true. I guess I just want to find a way to mix my interests with a path that will lead me to good paying job, rather than put my interests/passions/idealism ahead of everything (is this such a bad thing?).

I just worry that political science (and a grad degree in PP or PA) would lead me to some sort of government job (I would be lucky because they are scarce these days) that would be low-pay. Law school appears to me to be, potentially, the best way to avoid this, even though I know that law school does not equal instant success. I cannot see myself as a lawyer, but perhaps this could change.

I suppose there’s the argument that I have 4 years of undergrad to figure this kind of thing out. But is that really true? Students who want to go to law school start preparing right away, taking certain courses and studying for the LSATs, etc. Can I afford not to decide what I want to do for grad school early on?

I would appreciate any input - :).