Advise a recent (desperate) Ivy graduate (LAWYERS ESPECIALLY)
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Anonymous
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OP, I feel you! I also went to HYP for undergrad and was extremely lazy and really didn't put in the work. I sort of woke up halfway through my junior year and somehow managed to squeak through with a GPA slightly over 3. Immediately after graduating I worked in a depressing series of jobs, though for prestigious enough employers. I then went to grad school at the London School of Economics and I'm doing very well now. So there is hope...
My advice is to stick it out for a couple of years and apply to grad school, but not law school. Definitely consider LSE, they are basically just a degree factory and want your money. Luckily for me my parents paid for everything and so I had no loans for undergrad or grad school and that lowered the stakes quite a bit. |
Anonymous
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Op, I work for a graduate admissions consultancy. We help people get into top programs. I work with business schools, not law schools so there may be some differences but...
Here's the basic rundown. - the gpa can be overcome by having 1) an alternative graduate level transcript in courses that are analytical in nature, 2) a steady progression of raises, promotions, increasing responsibility. - the woe is me shtick for undergrad is weak and won't sit well with admissions officers. Just own up to your poor performance, prove otherwise through your post undergrad academics, GMAT (or lsat), etc. simply put there are a lot of people who went through tough times in the undergrad careers but left with good gpas. - focus on leadership at work. Take on big projects. Have impact. - get some extracurriculars going on ASAP. |
Anonymous
| How can you be "stuck in a rut?" You've been there less than a year. Stop trying to chase after the shiny new thing that will let you avoid the boring drudgery of hard work. Do the hard work. Do it well enough and you'll be able to go in whatever direction you choose with your career path. |
Anonymous
BTW, putting Cornell in the same tier as YaleHarvardPrinceton seems inaccurate. |
Anonymous
| I think any sort of reader familiar with the higher education system here would know that higher-ranked ivy's include Columbia, which the OP is more likely alluding to, as opposed to Cornell. If he went to Cornell in his current situation then he would really be screwed. |
Anonymous
Maybe they meant Columbia? Though I personally wouldn't put them on the same tier either. |
Anonymous
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Columbia, Cornell, whatever ...
(I agree Columbia is a bit better, but still.) |
Anonymous
| Don't go to law school. I'm of counsel at a big firm but prospects look pretty grim for the next generation. The ones who will make it (not just for a firm job but for government too) will have to bust ass and really prove themselves. Honestly, it kinda sounds from your post that you don't have the requisite work ethic. Once you're out of school, being an URM will only get you do far in the working world if you don't pull your weight. There are plenty of jobs that aren't so intense tho - look into one of those and live a happier life, you know? |
Anonymous
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took me 6 yrs to graduate from an ivy after some similar problems, but i had good internship experience that led to a job, which led to other jobs.
don't feel too doomsday. you can get out of it, just not on the same path as other people you went to school with. i agree with some of the others that maybe grad school right now isn't the best way. prove yourself at work. keep moving around and up. network like crazy. use your alumni and friend networks from school - that's really what your undergrad's value was about anyway. |
Anonymous
| Columbia's admit rate was lower than Princeton's last year, jus' sayin'. |
Anonymous
| Consider the foreign service exam. |
Anonymous
+1 My DH is a minority. The only thing being a minority does is make it a little easier to get your foot in the door. It doesn't replace a good work ethic or being willing to put in years of hard work to see a payoff. In DH's case, his minority status allowed him to get a scholarship to a T14 school, but that was combined with his 3.8 GPA from undergrad and 177 LSAT (and he's an immigrant, so English is his second language, which seemed to impress). If you don't do the hard work and bust your ass, there's a whole line of URMs who are. After school, the ONLY things that matter are who you know or how hard you work. Hire a career coach for $200 (or see if there is a free program somewhere for your URM) and talk through a 5-year plan. Expect to work hard and leave the excuses behind. |
Anonymous
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OP:
What really sucks is someone like you would get a free ride at a "T14 school" based on your URM rather than on merit. Oh, you poor baby. Your college chums have lucrative, prestigious positions and you don't? One hopes their merit got them where they are. McDonalds is always hiring. |
Anonymous
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Law school isn't a particularly good decision if you are at a point where you:
1. Want an exciting or creative job. 2. Have a history of depression. 3. Have a history of indecision. 4. Want to go to California without connections there. 5. Already have a lot of debt. 6. Don't know what lawyers do on a daily basis. |
Anonymous
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OP, haven't read all the advice so maybe someone has said this. Do informational interviews with people who are doing things that might be interesting to you. Ask them about what they do, why they like it, how they got into it. Send them a thank you note. Connect up with them on LinkedIn. (You have a LinkedIn page, right?) This will do at least two things for you. 1) help you figure out what you want to do with your life and 2) connect you up with a network of people who know you are looking for work.
Two times in my life I was changing careers and I did informational interviews and I ended up getting jobs because people knew I was available and interested. (And one of those jobs I shouldn't even have been hired for -but I think what happened was that they knew I was an old buddy of a staffmember at their major funder.) You're quite young. I understand that you feel anxiety about the future (most of us did) but you can work your way through this. But it's very important that you reach out to people and do informational interviews and then stay in touch with them. It can really help you find your way. Good luck! |