A major life overhaul, just what I needed?

August 9, 2007 8:05 AM

More what-to-do-with-my-life advice needed: If I work full-time at a salaried job with benefits, and want to enroll in a year-long paralegal certificate program (the faster I can be done, the better), quit the job and wait tables for money, is this completely stupid?

If you check my post history you know I've asked about a zillion questions about finding a new job out of state, blah blah blah. I've recently changed my career goals (away from publishing/editing) and want to get into law, beginning as a paralegal.

I have a bachelor's degree in journalism with a minor in political science. I'm interested in and comfortable with learning more about law and getting into a paralegal certificate program that takes about a year to complete if you go full-time. I'd probably have to get an educational loan either way to do this, but I want to be able to knock out the classes as quickly as possible so I can get the certificate, find a job somewhere else and zoom zoom zoom.

My current salaried job does really nothing for me (career-wise) besides provide a steady paycheck, which is absolutely a plus, but waiting tables can be lucrative (I just quit a second job doing it, where I did very well in a short amount of time). I don't really bring much to the company besides being a "Girl Friday" and providing filing and data entry help to people when they need it.

So is it a bad idea to quit this job, salary, benefits and all, to go back to school full time? It would only be for about a year and I'd hopefully be able to find a job relatively quickly after that.

Any advice, anecdotes or "Are you crazy?"s are all welcome. Thanks!!

posted by slyboots421 to Work & Money (19 answers total)

A= current salary - what your waiting-tables salary would be.
B= cost of education
C= paralegal salary - current salary.

What is A+B? How many years of C will it take to reach A+B? Are you willing to work that long as a paralegal? If so going to school full time for a year makes sense, since it sounds like your current job is a dead end. If not, then it's crazy.

If you're not interested in being a paralegal to be a paralegal, but, rather, you wish to be a lawyer, then do read one of the dozens of AskMeFi threads on that subject. If you're not at a top-14 school or in the top 10% of a second-tier school, you're not likely to get the big bucks as an attorney, and even those who do get the big bucks are often quite unhappy.
posted by commander_cool at 8:15 AM on August 9, 2007

Have you looked into getting paralegal jobs without the certificate? Most of the people working as project and legal assistants in most of the major firms do not have such certificates. Why wait tables when you could just start working as a paralegal and, if you find it necessary, get the certificate in your own time and potentially on the Firm's dime?
posted by Pollomacho at 8:17 AM on August 9, 2007

There might be local programs that offer nighttime paralegal programs, which would still allow you to keep your fulltime job (I'm presuming it's 8-5). Depending on how busy you want to be, you could do both fulltime.
posted by jmd82 at 8:18 AM on August 9, 2007

I've recently changed my career goals (away from publishing/editing) and want to get into law, beginning as a paralegal.

When you say "beginning as a paralegal," do you mean that your goal is to eventually be a lawyer? If so, skip the paralegal step altogether, score well on the LSAT, and just go to law school.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:19 AM on August 9, 2007

i recently quit a day job in publishing to do other stuff and i say DO IT and don't even worry about the A+B math. if you know you can and like waiting tables, you'll be fine no matter what happens. and if you aren't you'll figure something else out. in the meantime you'll have a great sense of freedom and agency.

i agree with other posters that from what i've heard, you can just get a paralegal job, sans certificate program. and i also agree that if you want to be a lawyer you should just go to law school. if there's some reason that's not what you want to do next, then don't, but i don't think being a paralegal is really a step toward being a lawyer.
posted by nevers at 8:32 AM on August 9, 2007

Can you take night classes? Benefits--especially medical--are nothing to sneeze at.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 8:32 AM on August 9, 2007

Why would you not want to 'get into law' by going to law school (i.e., stay at your current job until you are accepted to law school, then quit and hit the books full-time)? Why is being a paralegal better than going straight to school? Are you just dipping your toes in to see how it feels, or are you thinking you'd like to be a career paralegal?

These may be ignorant questions (I know next to nothing about how the job ladder works in law), but it seems like you'd be trading one 'Girl Friday' job for another.
posted by Pecinpah at 8:33 AM on August 9, 2007

agreed if that if you do want to become a lawyer, it is completely unnecessary to be a paralegal first, and that will just delay you another year on what is a fairly arduous multi-year trek.

if you can afford to go to law school right away (and you are sure that's what you want to do), there's no particular reason to delay it.
posted by modernnomad at 8:39 AM on August 9, 2007

Response by poster: I'm not sure that law school is the way I want to go just yet - the thought of getting into all that debt with no guarantee of even coming close to making enough money to pay it off, let alone live - scares me.
Another thing about law school that daunts me is the fact that my undergrad GPA was not especially strong (a rough couple years in the beginning) but I did earn very good grades in my poli-sci classes.
I'm looking at enrolling in two classes for this semester (to be done in a year I'd need four at a time!) that I can take, one at night and one online, but it seems like I could knock so much out faster by going during the day, too. But dirtynumbangelboy is right - medical benefits are mostly what's keeping me locked in where I am.
posted by slyboots421 at 8:42 AM on August 9, 2007

Best answer: I totally disagree with those that say skipping the paralegal track is the right idea. Spending time in an actual firm working on actual coursework as a paralegal is exactly what you need to decide if law is really where you want to make your career. Also, should you decide to become a lawyer, you will have a leg up as you will have experience in legal writing, something 9 out of 10 law school graduates do very poorly and have to learn on the fly in their first year(s) as a grunt associate (aka glorified, far better paid paralegal).

Again, however, do not let the certificate hold you back from applying for positions as a paralegal.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:45 AM on August 9, 2007

I've never known a paralegal to make to a lawyer. And you don't need the certificate at all.

Depending on your LSAT scores, law school can be entirely free. Your undergrad GPA doesn't matter nearly as much as the LSAT scores (whether it should or not being another inquiry). Take the LSAT as your first step to see whether you can go for free.

A 165+ can get you a full ride (including living expenses) at a tier three school, generally. You've got to know what you're working with to really evaluate your options.
posted by letahl at 8:49 AM on August 9, 2007

medical benefits are a good thing about full-time jobs, but if you really want to quit, you might be willing to pay for cobra and/or to look into other health insurance options. there are good ask.mes about how/where to get your own insurance.
posted by nevers at 8:56 AM on August 9, 2007

I just quit a second job doing it, where I did very well in a short amount of time

Waiting tables temporarily as a side-gig is completely different than doing 40+ hours a week for a year. You'll burn out. On top of it if anything happens to you medically you wont have insurance. I would only do this if you absolutely needed the money and are willing to gamble with your health.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:23 AM on August 9, 2007

Best answer: Keep your current job while you either work on applying to law school or work on the paralegal certification at night very part-time. Do not quit the benefits-paying, salaried position on a hope and a prayer. COBRA can cost a lot—$400 a month, I've known people to pay—and you really don't want to have to pay for school and COBRA and whatever other expenses you have on what a waitress makes (and walk around on a waitress' tired feet at the end of the day) while you go to school at night.

You say a lot of your work at the current job is administrative, odds-and-ends kind of stuff. Sounds cushy, seriously, and it'll leave you with a lot more energy at the end of the day than waitressing will.

And relatively quickly finding a job later...well, relatively is the operative word there. Don't bank on the job search being easy—it may be and it may not be. You can't guarantee it'll be one way or the other.
posted by limeonaire at 11:05 AM on August 9, 2007

Best answer: As far as going to law school ... I wouldn't let the low GPA bother you (how low is it?) I had a 2.75 undergrad but scored well on the LSAT and got a 60 % tuition scholarship to a third tier school, plus offers for another school that I turned down. Low grades just mean you need to perform better on the LSAT and apply more places (I applied to 9 schools ... 2 pie-in-the-sky, 3 mid-caliber and 4 safeties.)

As far as being a paralegal - I see nothing wrong with this route. It will definitely give you good exposure to what it's like doing the drudgery of law ... if you can handle it, you will definitely like being a lawyer even more! I don't think you should quit your good job + bennies until you already have the job as a server. As others have said, run the math first and make sure it makes sense.
posted by Happydaz at 11:10 AM on August 9, 2007

I disagree with those who say you should go directly to law school, especially if you're not sure that that's what you want to do. A year as a paralegal will (1) expose you to what lawyers spend their time doing, which could well save you $100,000 in law-school debt if you decide you don't like it, (2) will put you way ahead of the curve when it comes time to actually be in law school, and (3) could even put you in good stead when you're looking for a job. The former paralegals in my law school classes were nowhere near as lost as the students seeing the stuff for the first time (the moving parts of civil procedure are not at all intuitive), and they make better junior associates, too: both law firms I worked for were thrilled to hire as lawyers former paralegals who left the firm to go to law school.

If you know you want to go to law school, you may wish to consider a masters degree in poli-sci to get your GPA up if your GPA is really bad unless you can ace the GPA. Loans at a third-tier school will not pay for themselves: that admissions decision is crucial.
posted by commander_cool at 11:28 AM on August 9, 2007

If you have no responsibilities to anyone other than yourself you should do everything that enters your mind. Law school, medical school, rodeo clown- go for it. You can always go back to being a "Girl Friday".
posted by bkeene12 at 12:04 PM on August 9, 2007

Don't worry at all about your GPA -- for law schools, it's all about the LSAT. If you're intimidated by law school, give yourself a year to dabble in whatever night school coursework seems interesting to you. Certain things that are tangential to a law education -- like the courses leading to a real estate license -- may serve to help you finish deciding about law school while actually giving you useful skills for law school/law practice.

If your LSAT score is decent, don't be intimidated by the expense of law school. You can avoid massive debt by picking your school carefully, as others have already suggested in more detail.

"Waiting tables while taking paralegal courses" is an anxiety fantasy. You're almost sure you want to be a lawyer. Finish making that decision -- and if the answer is no, construct another fantasy and pursue it!
posted by gum at 12:37 PM on August 9, 2007

I wouldn't spend a year in school to be a paralegal, especially if you already have an undergrad degree in poli sci. I would skip the courses and start applying for paralegal jobs. You can also look for jobs advertised as "legal assistant" positions, which usually means that they're looking for people they can pay less because they have no experience/certification, but they'll train you, and then you'll be able to get experience working in the legal profession. Once you've worked at a law firm for a year, you'll be able to decide whether you want to be a lawyer, and you won't have the debt from your paralegal course holding you back from going immediately to law school.
posted by decathecting at 1:38 PM on August 9, 2007