For a LONG time, I planned on going to a top law school, specializing in corporate law, and becoming a Big Law partner by the time I’m 35. Yes, I had that life mapped out when I was 13. I like to read, I like to write, I like to nit-pick. I’d be the perfect lawyer!
I talked about becoming a lawyer all the time when I was younger. So Mom tolerated my liberal arts degree because she always assumed that I’d go to law school. This is how I escaped the dreaded, “so, WHAT are you going to do with that degree?” question for the first couple years of college. But my focus changed. After seeing older friends struggle with the Beast (also known as LSAT), and really wanting a break from 3 MORE years of schooling, I decided that I wasn’t sure about law school. Mom freaked out. In retrospect, I couldn’t really blame her. I mean, she spent $100,000 for me to read great books and think and delve into the questions of life, which is all fine and good, but doesn’t even BEGIN to pay the bills.
But despite the tension and pressure from Mom (and myself), I am really glad that I didn’t let what-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life-let’s-go-to-law-school! push me into applying. Because once I’m on that treadmill I would’ve ran with everything I’ve got. So I knew, if I’m serious about law school, that would require a huge investment in terms of time, money, and energy. Then AFTER I get into a school, comes writing the tuition checks for $50,000 a year. After thinking it over, I concluded that I should NOT go $150,000 into debt to be tortured by the Socratic method.
I think this is something that many liberal arts students don’t think about. If they’re smart and don’t really know what to do after graduation, law school is often the default option. A J.D. is a valuable degree, but law school is such a huge investment when you’re not sure if you want to do law. Unless you go into Big Law for several years, it’d be pretty difficult to pay back the mountain of debt that you owe to Mr. Socratic. Fortunately, things worked out for me. I got a good job. I’m happy. Mom’s happy. 
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It’s so funny; I’m totally opposite of most liberal arts majors who end up in law… I NEVER wanted to be a lawyer. Ever. People would suggest it and I would laugh at them because I? Was going to be an academic! A professor! A Ph.D. in Comparative Literature!
I think the change happened a year ago. That other doctorate becomes infinitely more illusive the longer you stay out of school not becoming proficient in Latin.
It’s good you figured out something you want to do while you’re still in school; figuring it out afterwards is difficult and expensive.
It’s funny, you’re absolutely right that law school seems to be the *logical* choice for most lib arts majors, I don’t know how many times I’ve been advised to pursue a law degree for lack of a better grad degree.
It’s not like the Big Law benefits package isn’t tempting. I like what I do right now but still, the likelihood that my salary will ever approach the BONUS some of those folks are getting is, well, there’s no likelihood at all. =P In any case, it IS a major commitment, especially if you ever plan on paying off those loans and living debt-free. And I definitely plan to live debt-free.
I had such a hard time picking the right major, I didn’t even think about life after graduation. Luck was on my side, because I scored an awesome career (which has little to do with my major) and I’ve been with it ever since.
Sounds like the same luck is with you.
As far as I know lawyers don’t all make $150k. I have lawyer friends who are starting out, they are lucky to be pulling in 50k the first few years. That’s pretty hard because all of them have over 100k in school debts.
I am with Msminiducky on living debt free thing, even with my 58k of credit cards debt
I went to a liberal arts school and wanted to become a doctors, got scared by the MCAT and bored at the thought of all that school. So, I write about medicine instead. I like it and am happy with my decision, but a doctor’s paycheck would be nice right about now…
Debt Hater – the good thing is you don’t have a doctor’s student loans.
This is pretty much how I ended up in Law School. I doubt it is going to be worth all the debt I’m racking up. The worst thing is I passed up a couple of good scholarships to go to a higher ranked school. Now I’ve decided I don’t want to go into Big Law anyway so going to the higher ranked school is kind of pointless. I wouldn’t worry about the LSAT though it is pretty easy if you study for it. Although I guess that depends on what score you are shooting for. I’ve found that most professor don’t really use the Socratic method at my school at least.
Whatever you do, plan carefully and have a backup plan. I wanted to be a lawyer all along (my uncle was a lawyer in NYC with a few high-profile cases under his belt) but by the time I graduated with my liberal arts degree, law school had become prohibitively expensive for me and when I saw friends passing the bar exam and then struggling with debt repayment on low-wage jobs, I had a fit of risk aversion and decided not to borrow up to my eyeballs for what seemed a dicey payoff.
But I graduated in the middle of a recession, in a depressed Rust Belt economy, at a time when what little backup plan I had – a minor in computer science – quickly became obsolete as the PC rendered my mainframe skills so outdated. So I ended up with a minimum wage job and today I kick myself for wasting my $4K in hish school savings (that’s about $25K in current dollars) on a worthless liberal arts degree. As an investment, my financial return on the degree is highly negative.
As a History major with a Liberal Arts degree I probably fall into the category you are talking about. I had an inkling around Sophomore year that I would go to law school. I don’t think there are issues with going to Law School if you REALLY want to be a lawyer. What I don’t get are the people who go because 1) as you put it, they don’t know what else to do or 2) They think “it’s a good degree to have”. Yes you can do a lot with a JD (I have and I’m not an attorney) but the debt and three years of your life are not worth it “just because.”
I suggest teaching. Unfortunately, ANYONE can become a teacher and at least you will be earning money. That should give recent grads time to figure out what they REALLY want to do.
I came across this blog on a whim (I think from Krystal at Work) and have been pleasantly surprised! I’m adding you to my RSS reader immediately. You have great content, and it’s nice to hear about other young people who are interested in personal finance but also interested in living well.
I’m currently a college student, contemplating law school (ironically) because of the very reason you cover in your post – money, security, etc. I don’t want to be another unemployed liberal arts grad (then again, do I want to be another unhappy, overworked lawyer?). I’m definitely going to keep this in mind as I continue investigating jobs and careers.
Keep up the great work!
It’s sad that the only Liberal Arts degree that seems valuable to most people is the Law degree. I want practical benefits as much as the next guy, but the social-sciences are equal in their importance to society, People need the other Liberal Arts majors, and yes, that includes Philosophy and Art (which I USED to think were worthless studies). History, Sociology, Psychology, etc, are gravely important to the evolution of public policy. I only wish that this would be reflected by employers and universities, who continue to cater towards the more “profitable” schools while the rest of us are forced to use degree-plans that do little to express our worth.
I was the same way about medical school. Orgo sucked the life out of me but I really could have gone to med school if I was willing to live with the debt and all the energy it takes. I am glad I decided not to go.