Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paralegals applying to law school are a dime a dozen. Your son should try to figure out what kind of law he'd be interested in practicing later, and then get a job related to that field (e.g., if he's interested in environmental law, something with the environmental protection division of a local government, or working for an environmental protection non-profit).

Totally disagree. The benefit of being a paralegal is that is allows one to see what being a lawyer really involves. Most kids who say they want to go to law school,have no clue, even if a parent is a lawyer.

+1,000

The point of being a paralegal isn't to wow the admissions committee, it's to see what life looks like in BigLaw before digging in on the debt. I used to manage junior paralegals on the 1-3 year plan with the intent to go to law school, and half of them decided it wasn't for them based on the lifestyle they saw the associates leading. In a 2-year program, they should also get the basics of legal research, Bluebooking, and form motions drafting, which gives a small leg-up the first semester while they're trying to adjust to the workload. There were also at least two occasion my former employer hired as a summer associate a former paralegal who'd made a stellar impression on someone important during their support staff time.

Based on fairly recent market data, a fresh graduate going into a paralegal job should be in the $40-$50K range, depending on useful experience or education related to the practice hiring. The money is really in the OT and perks, though.

First, disregard the idea that he will save ANY money during those couple of years, unless he plans to live in your basement. Even if he goes into something really lucrative (like IB), the cost of keeping up with the Jones is high and metropolitan areas are not cheap.

Second, agree with all the posters that working for 2+ years before law school is a really, REALLY good idea. It will:
1. Reinforce that he actually wants to go back to school (in any field) and take on the debt that goes with that;
2. Reinforce that he actually wants to go to law school v. any number of other graduate studies programs that his mind will be opened to out in the real world;
3. Teach him the value of actual money (key for decision #1); and
4. Give him some professional experience, maturity, and real world street smarts. This will likely really help him get through grad school with a focused objective. There was a WORLD of difference in my law school class between kids who were fresh out of undergrad and those who had worked for a bit.

Third, what does he want to do with the law degree? Why is it really worth it to him to be one of a zillion fresh law grads v. choosing to do something more unique? Answering those questions will really help him determine how to spend a couple of years...

Some ideas:
Peace Corps or Teach for America
teaching
Hill - especially if he is interested in some sort of DC-related legal profession
retail management
HR - teaches a lot about ethics, the nuances and utter boredom of a lot of law
working in a non-profit that is in his interest area

There is a trade-off between interesting and well-paying when you get right out of college with a gov degree.