Geez, time flies when you're having fun....seems like yesterday!
One guy worked real estate--not sure what he's up to these days (I kinda lost track of that one--I got the sense he wanted the law knowledge for his real estate pursuits, not to change careers totally), the other guy is in a small local firm and is actively practicing law and happy as hell. We're talking OVERJOYED. Before that, and while he was going to school, he was a night manager at a fast food joint and he'd been at that for a long time--he was sick of it and wanted to switch up his direction. He didn't make bad money in the fast food gig, either--but he hated the hours and the sameness of it. Plus, the neighborhood was a little sketchy; he always figured he'd get robbed eventually and didn't like the idea of having to deal with that.
I think more of these law school students should hang up their own shingle, put themselves on the list of attorneys provided by the state to keep their hand in, and try to carve out their own way. I think the "implied promise" of Big School Degree = Six Figure Salary At Fancy Firm is what causes such abject disappointment in many cases--no one wants to/is able to afford to (if they have loans) go work in that altruistic job at legal aid that doesn't pay real well. Of course, if you've spent a third of what the Big School costs are, you're more likely to be able to 'afford' to be able to take that lower paying gig because you're not worried about having to pay off a massive loan.
My two buds are just anecdotes, but I do think they had realistic expectations and they were more mature (in their fifties) and they weren't looking to be Lions of the Legal Field. The school was perfect for them--that's kind of the sort of person (older, with reasonable/specific goals) I think the school is looking to serve; I do not think their goal is to groom/churn out the Lockhart-Gardner and Boston Legal types.
That link doesn't have the non-ABA schools included, so I guess one would have to go to the school website for that kind of information...!
= new reply since forum marked as read