Advise a recent (desperate) Ivy graduate (LAWYERS ESPECIALLY)
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Anonymous
OP-not sure which campaign you are on, but if it's interesting and has potential, ride it out. It's a great way to get your foot into policy making if it works out. Even if your candidate doesn't win, as long as you aren't working for a crazy campaign, the experience will help later. HRC will hire O'Malley staffers later 
It appears you have a history of depression and are second guessing yourself because you don't have family role models. Get a team of in person mentors, quick. Ignore the jerks on DCUM who say you don't deserve to get in. They wish they could crack 175 on the LSAT. Do listen to the advice about being skeptical of law school. Gone are the ages where you go into law because you don't know what you want to do with your life. Go into it because you want to be a lawyer. Otherwise, focus on doing well on the campaign staff and making connections with the higher ups. Those folks are supposed to help you get a job once the campaign is over. Ps- of course life (and pay) sucks when on a campaign, but hopefully you believe in the cause. |
Anonymous
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OP, I was a total mess at your age. Had dropped out of college and eventually graduated from a Tier 3 school. GMAT sucked but I pulled it together at work, had great references and a good story to tell. Wound up at a top 15 business school by the skin of my teeth. Not Wharton but respected. Doing well today and I have battled depression almost my entire life. What has helped is understanding what triggers it and working out a lot. It will never be entirely cured but also being quite open about this situation has also been good.
If I can move forward, so can you. |
Anonymous
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My interaction with campaign staffers has been an absolute displeasure. I volunteered for a few events and so many of them were so lazy, surly, and apathetic, despite the fact that their online bios made it seem like they were political superstars.
If you kick ass in your campaign work and get a good reputation, the sky is the limit. |
Anonymous
Totally untrue in this market. Law schools cannot get enough qualified applicants. If you have a high LSAT, it's likely the admissions committee will overlook a low GPA, especially if you are a URM. It's all about the average GPA/LSAT for ranking purposes, and the ranking is all that matters anymore. Having said that, if you don't know that you want to be a lawyer, don't do it. You will still need to bust your tail in law school and if you don't love practicing law, it will eat your soul. --former lawyer, current law school administrator |
Anonymous
| So, how was Columbia? |
Anonymous
| You write quite well, went to a good school, and have a policy background. I actually have a friend who is hiring for a job that you may be a fit for. |
Anonymous
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OP here.
Thanks for the support and advice. For those who have been less than supportive, your views remain appreciated—its useful to get a feel of the general reception someone in my situation would get from a more general audience. I also apologize for the delayed response. As of a week ago it seemed that the thread had died. Its a pleasant surprise to see that others have now chimed in. To clarify a few things and provide some more context, a lot of this anxiety has come about bc I'll be seeing many of my college friends this weekend and, at least for me, running into previous roommates and classmates who all seem to be at HLS/YLS, med school or on otherwise more well-defined career paths has made me reflect on my current situation and upped the anxiety factor. Any therapist will tell you that that comparing yourself to others isn't healthy. I don't think I'm alone in finding this a difficult habit to break. Another very important clarification: I'm by no means making excuses for my academic record. I'm quite confident that had I simply said "shitty GPA, top school, what should I do????" I would have received many more responses in the vein of "how is it possible to get a bad GPA at HYP?? There's rampant grade inflation...etc. etc." The general background I provided was merely to provide context—in this case, behavioral—which many of you have now shared your thoughts on. I don't expect any employer or even, for that matter, a university to genuinely care about what I experience through in college. It's my business. I own it. And at this point I own my shitty GPA. Its not going to change and sure, there were definitely times where I could have exerted myself more and, as much as possible, I am trying to use this situation and series of experiences as a learning lesson which I can grow from. Outlining my URM "status" was mentioned because, as I mentioned, I am interested in law school and this is commonly a factor in admissions. Not a huge factor, but one nonetheless. Moreover, I'm also really surprised by the number of people who took my flip comment about moving to California seriously. Realistically, I'm not in a financial position to move to California nor would an unplanned/unstructured move make any sense given the work I'm currently doing. I was writing in the spirit of Greeley's "go west, young man" which is a recurring motif in American literature. Now, after all that clarifying, some action items. I've thought about some of your comments. This has also coincided with more personal reflection spurred by in-office interactions and, as I mentioned, my upcoming reunion with my friends. Regarding law: I am interested in the "Law" because I think it's both a civic vocation which would allow me to tackle many of the social issues I am interested in working on—either as an activist or scholar—*and* a potentially lucrative "traditional" career which would, assuming all things remain constant (on my end), give me some financial stability. That being said, my ideal scenario would be to work in legal academia, perhaps within an interdisciplinary context. In terms of my academic interests, I am currently interested in immigration law, cyberlaw as well as legal anthropology. In terms of my creative interests/aspirations I honestly can't expand more given their specificity given that it's not unlikely for more than a few friends, family or acquaintances to be on thsi forum. What I can say is that the creative work I'm engaged in has, for the most part, been produced within a specific political framework—think meta-level. I'm not talking about X policy or Y piece of legislation. That being said, I am also very weary of the [lack of] potency the medium I work in may have. At the end of the day, the only thing that one can aspire to as an artist is to create work which captivates one's audience for as much time as they have been generous to allot to you and your work. Everything else—namely, politics and advocacy—is extra. So, I'm at the point where I'm going to continue working on the campaign which I'm currently on. I'm very confident of my candidate's chances, both in the state I'm in and in the general election. So, we'll see. I think for now I'm going to table studying for the LSAT and thoughts of law school until the 2017 application season. My GRE score—on practice tests only—is not too shabby so I may follow the advice of all the weary lawyers on this forum and not go to law school. I'm not sure that an MPA/MPP is much better though, especially given that top policy schools are not so quick to give out funding. So, to summarize, I'm at a point where I have a general idea of where I want to move conceptually/thematically. I'm concurrently interested in politics and the law but also drawn to creative ways of transmitting message, media, etc. Given my background and interests, after this presidential cycle I may pivot to something more international in scope. The problem I am having is that, while I know my interests, I don't know how nor can I think of a way to synthesize my interests with my skill-set into a job which I would find fulfilling. Such a job simply does not exist. Personally, work/life balance is only important inasmuch as I *need* to be doing work which I find fulfilling, at least on some level. Granted, I'm young and am more than willing to put in my time, do the scut work, etc.. Given the tenor of this forum, it seems inevitable that I'll become more cynical as I age. Some questions I have: - LSE. Could the poster who went to grad school there mention more about his/her/its/their (lol, gender neutral pronouns) experience? Do you feel that your degree from LSE is well-received in the US—specifically, DC and New York? - I do engage in self-destructive behavior. To be honest, worrying and writing about worry on this blog just takes away from time I could be using to do actual work, for example. That being said, I would appreciate if anyone else who has struggled with depression/mental illness could share a little bit about their experience. In particular, I'm interested in what others do to remain grounded on the day to day. In other words: rebounding from setbacks, remaining focused, not falling into traps of nihilism, etc. - Any other commentary of taking supplementary classes for my GPA? Worth it? Waste of time and money? - Speechwriting? One poster brought this up. I've never written a speech. How do you suggest getting started in this domain? How hard/easy was it to break into this line of work? Do you feel that your becoming a speechwriter was serendipitous or something which you "fell into"? - Anyone have campaign experience? How has this translated into career skills—not a job necessarily, but into other opportunities you've been able to pursue. - Anyone with experience in legal academia? I very much believe in the value of discourse and critique and, at least at a behavioral level, feel that I would do well in this domain. I probably won't be Cass Sunstein, but hey. On this note, I should be very clear that my shitty GPA is not the product of my inability to tackle intense research. My situation was more of an A+/F, black/white thing. Some semesters I would excel in many classes and others I would just mentally check out. I realize now that a lot of this is the product of a difficulty I have following through. Working on it. - Finally, could anyone speak to the difficulty of transitioning from an academic mindset to a more career-oriented, quick paced one? I'll be the first to acknowledge that I too often have my head in the clouds. Well, I guess I should stop writing and get back to work. Again, I very much appreciate your thoughts and, if you've reached the end of this post, the time you've taken to read my rambling thoughts and insecurities. |
Anonymous
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OP again. In response to 11/08/2015 07:59 who asked about my age. I just turned 25 (so, on the younger end) and I did in fact take one gap year before college. I participated in a fieldwork/community service type project sponsored by my university in East Africa. It was pretty hard to get into and it was fully funded.
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Anonymous
| OP once again. Wrote my long post on my phone. Now re-reading on my computer—sorry for the typos. I very much wrote this in a stream of consciousness while commuting home. |
Anonymous
| don't go to LSE it's just a money making scheme for rich third world international students |
Anonymous
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OP, I was going to comment on some prior posts, some of which were great. Then you posted a few times, the mother-of-all-posts is simply too long for me to read with even a hint of interest or an attention span.
And therein lies the rub: you carry a certain attitude that you are almost destined/entitled to this great, rewarding career path. A higher Ivy-league?! Newsflash: you may actually meet people whom did NOT go to the Ivy League, but possibly losers from Stanford, MIT, U of Chicago, or, ready: George Mason, JMU, and Radford. You honestly don't seem to have a clue about what you want to do - it almost seems you are soliciting for advice, to help you decide. You, recent Ivy grad(desperate), thinking about law school(bad grades, low motivation, unwilling to see own weaknesses). Also, who honestly gives a shit about your URM? Companies, entities, even non-profits, need, ready for this, WORKERS: definition of work: "physical or mental effort exerted to do or make something". Clearly, what you paid for, or got, at the higher Ivy, is literally worthless, unless you meet a similarly vain person. However, politics may be your niche. |
Anonymous
How old are you, troll? !2? 14? OP ignore, ignore, ignore. Sigh. Go away. |
Anonymous
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I didn't read all the posts, just your first one, OP.
You have to move forward, OP. Forget about what you've done in the past. Take a few courses somewhere and get As, so you can show you can do it. Or get some sort of certificate, and get all As. You'll feel better about yourself. Your grades in college do not define you. Lots of people have very successful careers with poor grades as an undergraduate. My brother went to a top business school with a C average in college. He worked for a few years, and had great recommendations and a great resume, so he got in to a top school. Everyone has a different path. Kids who have never failed are weaker than those who have. You are not doomed. Pull yourself together and make the best of what you have. Count your blessings and don't compare yourself to your peers. They don't matter, you do. There are loads of opportunities ahead, but don't make excuses, just move on. There, I've run out of cliches! Good luck, OP! |
Anonymous
Why bother coming on here to say, basically, "I didn't read what you wrote but you seem like an awful person"? |
Anonymous
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PP, I didn't say he was an awful person. Those were your words.
However I did say he seems to carry a sense of entitlement with him. Meanwhile his work ethic seems completely lacking. He lacks direction and focus. He also seems clueless that, while he is only what, 25, he is in direct competition w others that know EXACTLY what they want to do, career-wise. Which type of employee would you prefer? While I offered him some harsh facts, and perhaps a kick in the read, where are your bright suggestions? |