where are those mysterious 2-5 years in a previous law firm going to come from? Your ability to land that first job is going to depend on your work experience (so far, not relevant to law) and education (which means a BA in a field which has taught you to write well and analyze (history, English, anything writing intensive).
Okay going to school for paralegal will teach me? That what school does, it teaches you how to do things you want to know. You have to start out somewhere.
Paralegal is a disappearing field. I won’t bore you with the details, but definitely don’t do it. However, if you feel you must, you need to major in pretty much anything and have a good GPA with excellent writing skills.
But don’t do it. Really. If you do want the details, let me know and I’ll bore you.
I don’t understand ?
People have told me teaching is a disappearing field as well before, I mean everyone has their opinions.
Teaching is not a disappearing field. Paralegal jobs are disappearing.
First, technology. many tasks that used to be performed by junior attorneys have been outsourced or tasked to IT consulting companies. Therefore, the more complex tasks that used to be performed by paralegals have bumped up to give junior associates something to do - because their billables are what keep firms afloat. Second, after the crash, many clients simply will not pay for paralegal time, the more mundane of the traditional paralegal tasks are designated to secretaries now - whose salaries have always been included in the cost of doing business. That leaves a couple of avenues for paralegal jobs - the temporary kind for people on the way to law school, and the kind working for John Smith, Esq. for minimum wage and no benefits.
Teaching jobs aren’t disappearing, but it has changed a lot - also since the crash. Many young teachers are fellows in programs like Teach for America and similar. The growth areas are special education and bilingual/ESL. Otherwise, teaching jobs are very hard to come by. My daughter is a young teacher who was tenured last year - she has an undergrad degree in history, with a master’s in special education. She also had a fairy godmother who helped her get her first job.
You can absolutely become a teacher if you do things right and proceed in a smart fashion.
I hope you will reconsider becoming a paralegal. If you do choose that path, paralegal certificates are worthless. You need a bachelor’s.
The teaching profession will not disappear. Online options are great. I got one degree that way myself and my kids took some online classes. But it definitely has it’s limitations. Education will continue to require humans. 
I have a friend who was a paralegal. She went back to a tech school to be a bookkeeper after some years in the field and having a hard time finding reliable employers. Bookkeeping has been better for her.
To add to zoosermom’s post, some court cases have ruled that tasks performed by paralegals (especially in collection work) have to be at least supervised by licensed attorneys, so many of the big collection firms have eliminated paralegals and just hire attorneys to do the case filings. Why pay a paralegal to prepare the pleading and then an associate to review it? Just have the associate prepare it and save a step.
Law firms need more ‘computer guys’ than secretaries or paralegals now. Associates produce their own documents. Years ago I had my OWN secretary and paralegal when I worked for a government agency. Same agency 15 years later, there were 2 secretaries for the entire department and I think there were 6 paralegals - 4 of them were attorneys who couldn’t be hired as attorneys because they didn’t have 2 years of work experience as an attorney (which is a requirement for most government agencies). That’s who you will be competing against for paralegal jobs, attorneys newly out of law school. If you were the employer, who would you hire, a paralegal with an AA degree from a community college or a lawyer with 7 years of higher education?
Well after some consideration I am thinking finishing and get my bachelors and masters from Western Governor University it is cheaper and online which may get me to be able to work more hours at Giant Eagle. It would only be $6,000 total for a year and that is without FAFSA helping me out get. It’s affordable and I can get both degrees. In a interview for a teaching job do they really look at where your degree is from? Bc that is what I am worried about but WGU is looks very nice
Actually, there is now a teacher shortage especially in places like NYS/NYC and in areas such as special education, bilingual education, math, science and technology.
I have sat on many teacher hiring committees. It will be very challenging getting a teaching job with an on-line degree if you have no actual classroom teaching experience because you will have to do a demo lesson and answer questions.
It is not unusual for good student teachers to get hired by their schools if there is an opening (I got hired out of my internship many moons ago and I have recommended interns who have gotten jobs).
This fall NYC is starting 3k for All as part of its Pre-K for All initiative (full day pre-school for 3 and 4 year olds). there are openings for licensed pre-school teachers. The current NYC contract ends in 2019, and there will probably be a lot of people leaving the NYC DOE (the largest k-12 public education system in the country)
Do school districts look at where you got your undergrad degree? I would say…that depends.
I’m going to stick my neck out here…and say…I interviewed and did hiring for years in a school. If an applicant came with a degree from an online school, it probably would not be viewed as favorably as one from a brick and mortar school. However, the keynwould be the types of relevant practicum experiences that applicant brought to the table.
As I mentioned…we typically get between 150-200 applicants for EACH elementary teaching position.
If you are looking for a special education position, or are a secondary school math, science or foreign language teacher, your options will be much more.
And the likelihood of you earning $60,000 a year your first year of teaching is small.
My district is in a very high paying area of my state. To get to the $60,000 a year mark, you need 6-8 ears of experience, a masters degree, and 30 credits beyond your masters. Bachelors degree hires just don’t make that kind of money here.
In addition, the higher paying districts often prefer candidates with some teaching experience. You may find that your first job as a graduate with a bachelors degree is NOT in a high paying district.
Literally every option I come up you guys are putting down? I am trying to do what me and my family can afford ? Someone recommended Western Governor earlier in the threads. WGU requires student teaching in person for 12 weeks so that is experience I mean even if you go to a regular insistion they have offers to take the whole program online, even RMU? I have online classes for Education before?
It all depends on where you live for paying.
You seem to have your mind made up. Just remember, you will need to pay the bills at whatever college you choose. You cannot receive need based financial aid for any costs that exceed the cost of attendance.
I don’t know anything about this online program, but you should be looking at their job placement rate for teachers. And the average entry level salaries. If the school can’t provide you with this information, I would be suspicious as to why.
NYC teacher salary scale
base salary forst year teacher, no experience is $54,000, 60k with a masters
In NYC most teachers student teach for the full school year
@sybbie719 and how many applicants do the NYC public schools get for each open position?
right now there is a shortage as I stated in pre-k, special ed, ESL, bilingual math, science and technology. In addition our contract ends in 2019, I would not be surprised to see a lot of people leave next year (after we get out 2 raises one may 1 and the other mid june). We are in the process of receiving our back pay for not having a contract for 5 years, which is why people are hanging in til 2019.
One of my former students is starting this fall as a NYC teaching fellows this fall. they will pay for her masters. There is also a big men teach initiative to get more young men in the profession
@kenadeek are you planning to concentrate on any of the fields mentioned here? If so, your job prospects will be far more varied and better than in elementary education, English, history,
Check the requirements in your state…but here…for secondary school subject certification, younneed to major in that subject area in undergrad school with added courses for teacher certification. SO…if you want to be a math teacher…you need an undergrad degree in math.
This may not be the case everywhere…so check where you plan to work.
To be honest, elementary teachers are a dime a dozen…except bilingual ones.
And where I am, the expectation for elementary education is that there will also be special education certification.
I don’t understand what I am suppose to do? I say I want to be teacher and your answer “oh well the pay isn’t good” I AM GOING TO GET MY BACHELORS AND MASTERS ELEMENTRY EDUCATION!!! I am going to ask a friend of mine who is a lawyer about the paralegal situation. This is my life. This whole situation is very frustrating
Do you think I’ll be okay getting my degree online through WGU?