Growing up, I always wanted to be a lawyer – it looks so damn cool. Legally Blonde (both the movie and the musical) pretty much cemented my desire – blonde sorority girl who decides to be a lawyer and looks super cute while doing it? HELLO… sounds wonderful.
Ok let’s be serious. I wanted to be a lawyer because it seemed interesting, and I figured that my reading, writing & research abilities and background would suit a law career nicely.
I took the LSATs during my senior year of college, in a freezing cold auditorium at a nearby college in late fall. (I swear, it was probably only 55 degrees for the entire 5 hours I was taking that test.) Then, after college I held off on applying. Something told me that law school was more of an “out” than what I really wanted to do. My internship experience and extra-curricular activities all had to do with Public Relations and Marketing, and I wanted to try my hand at that. I, unfortunately, graduated college in December 2009, right around when the job bubble burst. Fortunately, I landed a job 2 weeks after moving home through a temp. agency in Boston. The agency was temp. to perm., and 1 month from my first day I was hired… as a receptionist. The intent of taking this job was always to have it be a “place filler”, while I continued looking for my “dream job” – something in PR or Marketing. I ended up staying that the “place filler” job until October of that year (so, 10 months). I had been promoted from receptionist to Operations Coordinator, and had worked a lot with the Marketing Manager to create promotional materials. When the Marketing Manager departed, and the CEO decided he wanted to hire a less senior “Marketing Specialist”, I felt the need to apply for the job. I was told, however, not to even bring it up and that I would not be considered for the position. So I quit. Just like that. I had given 10 months to the company (not long, I know) and in that time had accomplished a lot. They could have HUMORED me and accepted my application, and then told me that they were going with someone else. Instead, the forbade me from applying.
Miraculously, when I quit my job (I actually gave 2 weeks notice), I ended up finding my “dream job” – an entry-level Public Relations Account Coordinator at a PR firm near my hometown. HEAVEN. And that is also the job I was fired from, unceremoniously, with an “it’s not you, it’s me” speech. BOO! During the 2 weeks I was unemployed, my dad took me on the “tour de law school” – bringing me to two local law schools, reminding me that I had taken my LSATs and had always wanted to go to law school. Why not now?!
Also, miraculously – at this time, my former job wanted me back when I was fired. (They did also tell me not to bring up Marketing again, and by this point, I was resigned to accept that maybe Marketing wasn’t my calling.)
I remained with my original company from December 2009 until August 2010. During my most recent stint at the original company, I realized that I wasn’t in a position where I could ever grow. Sure, I had grown to really, really like what I was doing (with aspirations to become a C.O.O. or some type of Vice President of Human Resources) but I wasn’t in a place where I would be afforded the opportunity to move up.
So – while applying for countless jobs, I also decided to cash in my LSAT scores and apply to law school. And… obviously … I got accepted to at least 1 school.
I realize now, that applying to law school (and accepting a place in the incoming class, and quitting my job and enrolling) may have been more of an “easy out” than doing what I really “loved”. I find myself dreaming of another Public Relations job, or social-media fame (check me out on Twitter!). Conflicted between whether to keep shelling out all this money on a legal education that, in the end, will be better than no legal education (at the tune of $100k) or to quit school and continue to pursue the Public Relations/Marketing route.