Last night Matt, Judd, and I celebrated our team’s Trivia win at the Lowertown Bulldog. We are walking back to my car when I announce my plans to drop out of law school:
Me: “I am applying to design and advertising firms. I might as well use a skill set that I actually have. The second I get hired I’m dropping out of school.”
Judd: “Uh, no.”
Matt: “Yeah, don’t do that.”
Me: “But this degree is a waste of money.”
Matt: “But you’re halfway done. You might as well finish it.”
Judd: “Yeah, you’re already in debt.”
Me: “That’s ridiculous. Just because I have student loans for a useless degree doesn’t mean I should pile on more debt!”
Matt: “You are going to be paying it back over a long time even if you drop out.”
Me: “So?”
Matt: “So if you’re going to be paying back student loans for a long time either way, why spend years paying money for a degree that you do not have? That would be ridiculous.”
Me: “Touché.”
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8 Comments
Huma
March 31, 2010 at 10:21 pmI sure as hell didn’t know that much when *I* was a 1L. 😛 Good on him.
Jansen
April 1, 2010 at 6:54 amHe’s much older and smarter than I though. (By much I mean… 5 or so years).
butterflyfish
March 31, 2010 at 10:23 pmTwo words: Sunk cost. Wikipedia that.
Jansen
April 1, 2010 at 6:54 amThat’s what I was saying, but their point is that the law degree MIGHT be useful some day…whereas dropping out probably wouldn’t be?
Brandon
April 1, 2010 at 8:43 pmJesus, Dennis, why do you have to depress us all and remind us how utterless useless JDs are nowadays? I’m going to lay in bed with some cookies and be depressed now. JK
Jansen
April 1, 2010 at 11:20 pmRevenge for your fun UMiami facebook album. Mission complete. Buahahahah
Anony
April 2, 2010 at 6:57 amMeh, I’m doing the same thing and I suspect I’m not the only other 2L here who is ready to bolt if we can get a job outside of the law, right now.
Being half-done and wanting to finish the degree for finishing’s sake is nice, but I mean, there’s like another 30,000 dollars to be spent before that happens. Then we can join the 45,000 other law grads looking for nonexistent jobs. And all of the laid-off lawyers with better credentials. And all of the class of 2009 and 2010 grads who haven’t found jobs. And all of the current law students chomping at the bit for legal employment.
This shit just isn’t worth it to me anymore. Maybe to those who are just dying to be lawyers. More power to them. The employment prospects simply aren’t there. Better a shitty salary with half a law degree, than 45k with a law degree and a full debt load doing soft-tissue damage claims in PE.
It’s not going to make a world of difference whether a lot of us get the degree or not…we’ll end up paying for something we never get to use, or get real value out of. Being an irrational human who can’t make economic decisions is fun, anyway. I’d encourage anyone flirting with dropping out to give it some serious thought. Life is short, and you’ll never be this young again.
Outline of my 2L year at the University of Minnesota Law School
August 4, 2017 at 12:16 pm[…] A reason to finish law school. […]