Q & A

Why are you quitting law school?
I don't like it. At first I thought I had a prejudice against lawyers and would strive NOT to be a stereotypical, evil lawyer, but I realized that I don't like a lot of the subject matter that a lawyer's education is based upon. The law school's administration did not impress me either, what with its constant bungling of issues I felt were a matter of common sense. In the end, I couldn't see myself doing legal research (and paying exorbitant amounts of money to do so) and writing memos for the rest of my working years.

What are you going to do now?
I'm trying to find a permanent position in publishing, the industry in which I am currently interning. It's what I wanted to do since college, if not as early as high school.

Doesn't publishing pay crap compared to a lawyer's salary?
Don't think that having a piece of paper that says I have a J.D. translates to "please take this six-figure starting salary." Most likely, that kind of salary would only go to the very top students in my class, given that my school is a few tiers below Ivy League.

Did you fail out and are making all of this up as an excuse?
No, I didn't fail out. I actually did a lot better second semester (short of my evil oral advocacy class, where the professor was totally arbitrary in assigning our moot court grades) than first semester.

Aren't you being hasty in your decision?
Actually, I've been thinking about this since February. I've been unhappy with law school since then, but figured I might as well finish the first year since I'd already spent the money on tuition.

Why don't you just finish law school and go into publishing afterward?
Why waste over $100,000 to finish the last two years? I know what I want to do, and it certainly doesn't have anything to do with becoming a lawyer.

So didn't you just waste a lot of money?
I don't think it was a waste of money. I learned that I shouldn't listen to people who don't know anything about being a lawyer when they tell me that they think I'll be a good lawyer. Besides that, I understand what Josh goes through as a law student. If I hadn't gone to law school and gone through the first year, I wouldn't be able to appreciate the time that a law student has to spend on schoolwork. I did learn a lot during my first year, bookswise, that is, and I know that if I can get through a first year of law school, I can probably handle a lot of other things. Also, I don't think I would've gotten my current publishing internship if I hadn't been a law student. It opened the door for me, and I'm able to get interviews now because of that internship.

Is Josh upset about all of this?
No, Josh has been the most supportive friend I could have during this time. When I got rejected from my first application on Friday, he surprised me with long-stemmed peach roses. He said that he wants me to be happy and he knows that publishing is what I've wanted to do for the longest time.