S got a post card from his HS informing him of the 5/10/15/…/50 year reunions coming up later this summer! Hard to believe they have been out of HS for 5 years already!
Didn’t someone from this group have a D or S who attended Coastal Carolina? I want to pass along congrats to them and their school as they won this year’s college world series. It is CC’s first ever national NCAA title.
S didn’t go to CC but a friend from high school is their 3rd place baseman.
ShawD graduated with an MSN and passed her national boards as a Nurse Practitioner. She then got most of the way through cleaning out her apartment and then left for a 3 month trip to SE Asia. Great blog coming out of Thailand at the moment. She loves what she does but was tired of school. She was so happy to be done with school and is almost joyous now on vacation. When she gets back, she’ll figure out where to live and get a job.
Congrats @shawbridge, you now have two kids nicely launched!
@emilybee - how exciting for him!
@shawbridge - congratulations to your D on her MSN and passing the boards!
Good news from DS. The past two weeks were his law school’s Regional Interview Week (RIW) and the week of OCI (On Campus Interviews) where many of the “big law” firms actively recruit and interview at law schools in a well structured environment which includes all of the rising 2L students bidding for their firms of choice for interviews. DS got all but one of his bid requests for his RIW visits to firms on both coasts and got all of his top choices for the OCI week interviews. As he stands right now, he has 8 callbacks and one firm offer for next summer as a Summer Associate. He got the early offer through networking during his summer session that led to pre RIW/OCI interviews. This is the normal process for landing a position out of law school - the students become summer associates during their 2L-3L summer. An offer for a full-time full junior associate position following the summer term for nearly all summer associates is the norm. The callbacks are invitations from the firm for the student to come and visit the firm (at the firm’s expense) in the office they interviewed for. It consists of a half day of interviews with up to 5 or 6 associates and partners. Quite an ordeal but it sets the students up for their initial years in their legal careers following graduation from law school. Having a summer offer pretty much guarantees him a position following graduation which means he will be able to pay off his law school loans in short order.
He will know by Labor Day where he will be working next summer and most likely beyond.
@AvonHSDad, great news! Sounds like your son is on a roll. My son2, high school class of 2014, is a rising college junior soon to leave for university of Edinburgh, as your son did, and trying to figure out if he’d prefer to get a MBA or JD. Did your son intern as a paralegal while a college student? How did he determine he preferred the JD over a MBA? My if my son does attend law school, he’s interested in corporate, transactional, media/entertainment law.
A certain type of people are happy as lawyers but most of the lawyers I know are not. I think this is corroborated by studies of happiness. You can find some studies on the web, but lawyers are something like 4 times as likely to be depressed as a typical person (this likely has to do with the low level of autonomy and the relatively transactional, non-social nature of the job). When ShawSon was thinking of becoming a lawyer, several lawyer friends advised him against it (good advice generally, as he is really dyslexic, but they were talking more about typical careers). He started a business instead and is now in grad school for a) computational and mathematical engineering; and b) an MBA. So, I think interning at a law firm is a great idea.
I work with lawyers regularly and a few have fabulous jobs with lots of autonomy and respect but for most of the others, not so much. One happy one was the guru of a particular area of defense – if you as a big company were sued in this area, he was your go-to guy. Very bright. Commanded a lot of respect in boardrooms, etc. He would have a team doing as much doing huge amounts of monthly billing, but he largely met with clients, sat in strategy sessions, and gave the work to his partners who supervised their minions. In contrast, when I was working in a family office doing private equity, I would call up a senior partner at a highly respected NY law firm and say that we needed X by 8 AM the next morning. He would then organize a team and produce it. No complaints, but not a lot of autonomy despite pretty high pay. So, really worth checking out what life is actually like in law firms.
ShawD is taking a 3 month trip backpacking in SE Asia. She is waiting until she returns to look for a job, but asked me to send in a resume for her the other day as one of her classmates worked part-time at a clinic that does integrative health and recommended her for a job there. Perfect for ShawD as she firmly believes in the medical model for treatment and has always had a spiritual side (she chose to attend summer camp at an ashram and was certified as an instructor at age 18 and meditates, etc.). Since she only had iphone and ipad, I followed her instruction to fix up her resume and cover email to send in. Only 1.5 hours away from us but in a smaller, hip/foodie city. She’d be anticipating going farther afield while she is still unencumbered, but the clinic seems like it might be a really good fit.
@RenaissanceMom, Our S majored in political economy (econ and political science) along with a minor in business. He never really considered an MBA but always had law school as his likely goal. During his fall semester of senior year he did interview extensively and was offered two good positions with consulting firms. He went back and forth but due to his ability to get a good LSAT score and acceptances from 5 of the top 14 law schools, he opted for the JD route. He is actually in a dual degree program and will graduate from law school with both a JD and an LLM. You son might want to look at a joint MBA/JD program. I can’t say what the salary ranges are for an MBA as there are so many variables but for the first year JD candidates in the top schools who are doing well, the pay for 2L summer associates and the subsequent junior associate positions following graduation at the top firms is very good. S did work for a local law firm for three summers. He was part-time the first year and then a full-time clerk the last two years. He found it interesting and I think it pushed him towards the LSAT and law school.
Bottom line, the key to going the law school route is a good GPA (3.5 - 3.8 minimum and 3.8 and up for the tippy top schools) and an LSAT in the 167 - 170 range if not above 170 for the top schools. S is looking at corporate law working with transactional matters including M&A, venture capital, capital markets and start-up businesses. You can PM me if you have any specific questions. I hope your S2 enjoys Edinburgh this fall. Our S enjoyed the change as well as the chance to see a fair amount of Europe while he was there.
@shawbridge, thanks for the comments. S is aware of the issues and work life for young junior associates. He is prepared to invest a few years for the experience before possibly heading out on his own. He knows that the work load, hourly billing requirements, pro-bono requirements and general conditions can be difficult at times for the young lawyer but he has the personality and drive to make the most of it and come out with a smile on his face. He has never been afraid of hard work which should bode him well.
Thanks @shawbridge and @AvonHSDad. I’m going to show him your posts. His father is a lawyer in NYC who for the most part has liked his career, particularly now bc although he’s still working hard, he’s one of the go-to attorneys for his area of the law. He enjoys the challenge.
At the moment, son has a 3.8 GPA, so if he continues on this path during his three remaining semesters on campus (not sure how his Edinburgh grades will be looked at by law schools), he should be in a pretty good position for either law or business school, as long as he pulls out decent test scores. I think, however, he has a better shot of getting excellent lsat scores as his SATs were lopsided…perfect critical reading, good math but not exceptional. Well, we will see.
Congrats to both of you! Your sons are rocking their post-undergrad careers! And before long, @shawbridge, your daughter will begin hers. In the meantime, her trip sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
@RenaissanceMom, Our son’s Edinburgh courses counted as credits but were not included in his GPA. If your S decides on the law school route, be sure to have him prep as much as possible for the LSAT. DS spent several months reviewing and practicing exams and logic questions. It definitely paid off as he got into 5 of the top 14 law schools and was able to receive a scholarship worth about one third of the total cost of the three year program. He also received full tuition offers from a couple of schools in the top 25 - 50 range but opted to pass for the higher ranked school which provides improved chances for better employment and future salary opportunities which are coming to fruition this week as he has several interview callbacks this week and next. See post 9906 above for the details of the law school OCI process.
@AvonHSDad, that was my husband’s reasoning too for taking on debt to attend a top law school. It particularly makes sense now because of the present legal market. Kids graduating from a T14 will earn enough to pay it back fairly quickly if they’re frugal the first 5 years post graduation.
^^That’s his thinking. With the starting rate at the big law firms just bumped for the first time since 2007 (thank you NYC firms), he figures he and his girlfriend can pay off their loans in 3.5 to 5 years or so. She is graduating next August as a PA so between them they should have a very nice income for their ages. He knew he was taking a gamble but based on his assessment, he was right and it appears to be paying off. Its amazing how “ranked” and “structured” the law school rankings are and what the top schools can offer their students and graduates.
Nice to read updates on the 2011 kids! D quit her job last month and after a family vacation (oh what fun that was!), started med school a few weeks ago. Lots and lots of work according to her…but she’s so excited!
^ My kid quit her job and took a new job couple weeks ago too.
My S recently relocated from NYC to Seattle area, but is still working remotely for his NY employer. He has a lot of friends in the area and I think he will be much happier there, he may eventually apply for employment at one of the many tech companies out there, but I am happy he kept his job for now because he was threatening to just quit and move!
My DD, the HS Math teacher, got a permanent position. She had been filling in from someone on maternity leave.
That’s great, bopper! Long-term subs are a good way to get that foot in the door.
DS continues to go to callback interviews at law firms and received his second 2L summer associate offer yesterday. He still has 8 callback interviews to complete. The nice thing is he knows he will have a position next summer and about 99% of those summer slots turn into full time junior associate positions following graduation.