Regret Attending Law School?

NYULawyer
Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:18:47 +0000

I worked in an engineering firm prior to law school, doing meaningful R&D work. That’s part of the regret of law school - I know that I was leaving a remunerative career, not a job that barely pays the bills. That is also why it irks me when people say, “But you’ve done XYZ over the past few years!” Well, yeah, but I was doing some awesome things before law school, too, they were just different awesome things.



This is why I believe that no one should attend any law school - including Harvard Law - if that individual is able to land a decent entry level job after college that would lead to a career.

Or at least, work for several years and re-evaluate your goals.

Purely from cost-benefit analysis, it doesn’t make much financial sense to attend a law school given that an individual can land a 60k/yr entry level job after college with decent career progression.



College grads who do not find meaningful, high-paying work at the age of 22 also have the option of actually finding a job, working their way up, and then getting a JD/MBA/masters/PhD when it becomes clear that the degree would help them advance into a certain position. (I guess I don’t respect the idea that someone with no work experience is owed a high-paying, interesting job; those are earned.)



Not sure if you are aware, but there are 17 million college grads, in the U.S., that work in jobs that don’t require a college degree. The underlying fundamental problem lies in the supply vs demand equation. In the U.S., there are just too many colleges, and everyone and his grandma can get into a college. In Germany, in contrast, only those qualified get into any college, and those that do attend school nearly free.

The job market for non-engineering/CS/math/accounting/finance majors are absolutely abysmal. I know people with B.A.'s from top Ivies struggling to find 50k a year entry level job. However, most of these folks were political science/ biology/ english/ chemistry majors, not CS/ engineering/ math.

However, just because one can’t find a meaningful work after college, one shouldn’t automatically resort to law school or any other grad school for that matter. Going to a law school outside T14 gives someone a tremendous risk that their life may turn out worse than it already is.

I strongly believe that higher education in the U.S. nowadays is somewhat of a double-edged sword. If you hit bulls-eye after your JD, MBA, PhD or what not, you can get solid returns on your education and find meaningful work in the area of your interest. However, you could also easily end up getting more screwed with an advanced degree, compared to not having done a grad degree at all in the first place.