Monday, October 18, 2010

Tired...sooo tired...


this is a picture of me--literally in class. I am holding my glasses. I wanted to demonstrate how tired I was by displaying the bags under my eyes.

Weight loss did not go well for me this last week. Today's weigh-in showed a .9lb increase in weight. This is super-frustrating, but not totally unexpected. Last week I was back from my fall break and my roommate had a tragedy in her life, and we had the negotiation competition at school which went from 5pm to 9pm one night, and all of this sent me running to french fries and ice cream for comfort.
I did narrow the point intake down after I got back home to Cleveland, but I guess by that time the damage was done. We also ate some mexican food on Saturday which I think may have made us a little sick.

Today I read a story about a law student who is asking for his money back--he's as far as I am--about 2.45 years in. His wife is pregnant, he has no job prospects, and his mounting debts are hemming him in. I know just how he feels--well, as a friend pointed out, I guess my husband is not pregnant (neither am I) but other than that. It feels pointless to go to classes that don't really deal with how to actually do anything that lawyers do. Ah, but that's where the internships come in, you say? Well, government work is all work-study, and primarily clerical even if you get that job. Many jobs specifically list that "those without work-study need not apply." If you are one of the few that gets selected to have an internship at a firm, you're not even almost home free. Many internships are cancelled, postponed, shortened, during the summer, and despite the long tradition of offering jobs to legal interns unless they totally screw up, FIRMS AREN'T DOING IT ANYMORE. Your best chances are to "stay in touch."

Top schools have amazing employment rates--this factors into the school's ranking by US News. What those numbers don't say is that that includes people who have short-term, part-time, on-campus work, or work that isn't within the realm of the law at all!

Talking to a law-school friend yesterday, and commiserating over the fact that we both dread tomorrow every day, we came to the mutual conclusion that whenever we talk to someone who says, "I'm thinking of going to law school," our first impulse is to hit them in the face with all the force we possess and say "think again, moron!"

If I knew then, what I know now. I don't think I would have gone to law school. Business school, maybe. But after the miles on the road, the thankless extra-curricular tasks, the grueling reading, strict attendance requirements, I'll have nothing to show but a $50,000 piece of paper.

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