Hi, Sarah! I'd like some advice if you could dispense it. I'm an English and French major rn. My parents are telling me that graduate school is a must, but if I go into English, they won't pay for it because it's not a sustainable career. They're pushing for law school, and I'm tired enough to agree. So, I'd like to ask, what is law school like? And is the money worth it? Because the main reason I'm considering it is because I have a physical disability, and I hella need the money/healthcare

Answering this question is complicated by the fact that the legal sector has been hit with the same crushing blow as the rest of the economy. Most courts are shut down for all but emergency matters right now, and corporate clients aren’t doing any new business, so law firms are furloughing and firing staff in response. Given that in 2019, legal hiring was juuust returning to pre-2008 levels, the impact of this is going to be felt for a long, long time.

Something to think about.

Anyway, before I even get into law school and whether it’s a good idea to go to law school, I want you to take a step back and question some of your parents’ wisdom. Why is graduate school required? Do you want to go to graduate school? What purpose would an MA or a PhD serve---do you want to teach, and the school district requires an MA? In your fantasies, are you a professor of English Literature? How does that fit in with your needs? (As someone with a lot of friends getting PhDs right now, the academy tends not to be super supportive of folks with disabilities, and only a fraction of working professors are earning anything approaching hella money. Spending 5-7 years working extremely hard only to end up an underpaid adjunct is a reality many bright scholars contend with.)

Even if you agree with your parents and decide that graduate school is the way to go, I’d still caution you about going straight from undergrad to grad without a clear idea of what you want out of it. If it’s possible in your situation, I would try and find a job, and work for a year or two---working between college and law school was the best decision I ever made, and it was abundantly clear from the very first day of class who had spent some time in the real world, and who hadn’t.

But now to answer the question you actually asked:

I enjoyed law school. I’ve always liked learning, reading and writing, and law school has that in abundance; if you’re bright and detail-oriented and don’t mind reading lengthy cases, you’ll be fine. As someone who earned her own highly impractical Bachelor’s degree, I found that the only real difference between college and law school was law school’s emphasis on the professional---we were there to get a job. Yes, classes were important and legal theory was interesting, but only if you paired that with networking events, internships, and cozying up to professors who made job placements.

(I’ve talked before in my “some things rats won’t do” tag about the particular struggles of law school, I won’t rehash them here.)

I do make good money. I’m not at a large firm so I’m not making hella good money---some of the students I graduated with are pulling down six figures, easy---but it’s certainly more than I was making before I went to law school. However, I can’t say whether it’s “worth it” because this is what I wanted to do. I’m not enduring something for a paycheck, this is my chosen career; the paycheck is just fair compensation for my time and services. Wanting this, having chosen law school for myself, having chosen which law school, having fought for a career in health law...it makes it easier. I’m not sure how I’d handle the ups and downs of my job if this hadn’t been my choice in the first place.

I’m not saying that you can’t be a lawyer just for the money. But before you sign up for three expensive years of studying, networking, long hours, internships and hustle---before you sign up for a lifetime of billable hours, hostile clients, and high-strung, competitive peers---I would sit with yourself and really think about that choice. Seriously consider whether that’s something you’re prepared for. Understand that a JD isn’t a guarantee of benefits and a generous salary, as my underemployed or COVID-furloughed colleagues know. Spend time considering whether that’s a road you want to go down.

Once you’ve figured out whether that’s something you can see yourself doing---once you’ve figured out whether grad school is even the right move for you at this moment---then you can go back to your parents and have an honest conversation about what your future might look like.

Though of course you could always just show them this video: