Law students: do you think about quitting law? (1 Viewer)

[Atlas]

Just wondering, do you think about quitting law? What ultimately makes you not quit law and keep at it? What happens if you actually quit - will it become some haunting shadow?

 

[maka]

I think most people within the course have some doubts about law, especially after a poor result or two. I have never seriously considered quitting law but in the first year (ie Juris), I took a few poor marks to heart. In the end, I realised that one or two bad marks arent the end of the world and that it was just some teething problems in transitioning to uni standards. Since, then I have been sweet.

If I quit law, I would fall back on my Business degree.

 

[tha-ish]

For me personally, I remain in law because I know I want to practice law for a living. However, that may not apply to you. If you are doing a double degree, you may as well stick with it because you will pick up another degree (which hopefully interests you) anyway.

In terms of the haunting shadow - best answer can be found in 'pinstripe prison' by lisa pryor (book) - the short answer is, there may be a shadow, but it's not worth worrying about.

Hope that helps, and read the book, I think you'll find some answers, or at least get someone's perspective who has gone through a law degree, gotten a job and realised it wasn't for her.

Good luck!

 

[iwannarock]

i never think about quitting.

but if i failed a core subject or something........i probably wouldnt have come back.

instead i think about why i ever did the degree in the first place.

its comforting to know that there will be lots of other people like me that get a law degree and never actually go in to practice.

 

[Tabris]

Never quit! perserverence and hard work will get you through!

btw Iwannarock, its your last semester!! finished with your take homes?

 

[iwannarock]

Never quit! perserverence and hard work will get you through!

btw Iwannarock, its your last semester!! finished with your take homes?

last semester ever!

i've got my IT assignment due on monday and then thats it.

its really amazing that my care factor has been zero for these last two assignments (Enviro was on friday) considering if i failed them and had to come back to uni for another 6 months i'd probably kill myself.

these next 3000 words will involve minimal effort.

 

[Atlas]

Hope that helps, and read the book, I think you'll find some answers, or at least get someone's perspective who has gone through a law degree, gotten a job and realised it wasn't for her.

Good luck!

Thank you for the recommendation, will look into it

its comforting to know that there will be lots of other people like me that get a law degree and never actually go in to practice.

Really? All I seem to hear from are those who come from a "long line of distinguished judges and lawyers..." and have already picked out which firms they want to go to... I haven't really met many who clearly say they don't intend to end up as lawyers... :mad1:

Never quit! perserverence and hard work will get you through!

Thanks for that!!! Hopefully, your words will stick with me whilst I bleed 5000 words for a take-home over the next 24 hours

 

[MaNiElla]

Just wondering, do you think about quitting law?

all the time.

 

[mrbsting]

all the time.

I second that.

 

[Atlas]

all the time.

I second that.

Woohoo not alone then But would you actually do it?... is it actually possible to quit law once you've taken the plunge into the trap that is the law degree..

 

[iwannarock]

Woohoo not alone then But would you actually do it?... is it actually possible to quit law once you've taken the plunge into the trap that is the law degree..

1st year 2nd year i could of.

when you get to 4th and 5th you think of all the wasted money and time if you quit so you stick to it.

 

[iwannarock]

Really? All I seem to hear from are those who come from a "long line of distinguished judges and lawyers..." and have already picked out which firms they want to go to... I haven't really met many who clearly say they don't intend to end up as lawyers... :mad1:

i don't think many people plan to do a law degree and not end up practicing.

it just must be hard to get a job.

i cant remember the statistic but its pretty high.

i'll try and find it as i procrastinate more with these 3000 words ahead of me.

 

[AsyLum]

Plus its massive rock n roll cred when they interview you and ask you why you got a law degree!

 

[Atlas]

1st year 2nd year i could of.

when you get to 4th and 5th you think of all the wasted money and time if you quit so you stick to it.

True true... I guess the option of quitting has faded away... damn it I'm trapped

 

[chewy123]

The first few weeks of uni I thought of it constantly, in fact I was certain that I would quit and change to comm (liberal) or comm/art. That quitting desire has died down somewhat since then, not because I don't want to anymore, but because I have less time to think about it, I've decided if I still can't make a decision by the end of this yr I will defer law and focus on commerce until I make up my mind.

It's not that I hate law, in fact I enjoy parts of it, but I am afraid of the workload in a legal career, I hear horror stories of lawyers working 60-80+ hrs/week with 40% depression rate and it just doesn't seem like a career that fits me. At the same time I am afraid to quit and regret it for the rest of my life, one reason why I am contemplating to quit is because I am still in transition mode from high school (hardly any friends is one thing, the daunting environment is another).

Anyway, if you're doing combine maybe you can do what I do, graduate from your other degree first, then see where it leads.

 

[Atlas]

It's not that I hate law, in fact I enjoy parts of it, but I am afraid of the workload in a legal career, I hear horror stories of lawyers working 60-80+ hrs/week with 40% depression rate and it just doesn't seem like a career that fits me. At the same time I am afraid to quit and regret it for the rest of my life, one reason why I am contemplating to quit is because I am still in transition mode from high school (hardly any friends is one thing, the daunting environment is another).

Anyway, if you're doing combine maybe you can do what I do, graduate from your other degree first, then see where it leads.

If it's your first semester and doing Jurisprudence - that unit = , seriously, I don't know any other law student that speaks fondly of that hideous unit except for one philosophy student...

As to workload, surely the horror stories are just some people... I guess we could always be monotonous suburban conveyancers or just some unambitious civil servant to avoid the workload, right?

Re: transition to uni - before you know it you'll be another Mq student and just get sick of the "environment" (blobs of cement, trees, constant hum of assessments etc...)

 

[wixxy2348]

Thought about quitting.. then i realised it's the business degree I don't like.

So... hopefully transferring to Arts/Law.
And no, I wouldn't quit law.

 

[chewy123]

Atlas: Just a side note, I hail from unsw...but yeh, we feel the same pain, i is access student~

 

[TehAzner]

If it's your first semester and doing Jurisprudence - that unit = , seriously, I don't know any other law student that speaks fondly of that hideous unit except for one philosophy student...

As to workload, surely the horror stories are just some people... I guess we could always be monotonous suburban conveyancers or just some unambitious civil servant to avoid the workload, right?

Re: transition to uni - before you know it you'll be another Mq student and just get sick of the "environment" (blobs of cement, trees, constant hum of assessments etc...)

Undertaking Jurisprudence in your first year and first semester at Macquarie has always been a bit confusing for me. I can understand that it can help with your legal reasoning, philosophical foundations and legal analysis skills, however considering that it is a 4th year subject at USYD and UNSW, I've just got to ask the question: "wth??". There are some Macq transfers in my class this year and they said Jurisprudence was really random as a subject but they're glad they won't have to relive it again later on in the undergraduate careers lol.

 

[Tabris]

Plus its massive rock n roll cred when they interview you and ask you why you got a law degree!

just off topic Asylum,

I noticed someone walking across the pathway between the library and the Mac Theatre at around 12:05 noon .....he was holding a yellow cardboard food container and talking to some near-bald guy.....

Was that you?