Law School or Master in Teaching?

So they work on average just as many hours as an office worker but get paid only about 30,000-80,000. As a lawyer you won't get those two months off and you will work more hours, however, you will make 3 to 4 times as much.

F$ck teaching. Its BS and you get paid a sh$t salaray. Both my parents were teachers and I grew up without sh$t. They reveloved there whole lives around our college fund so that meant no swimming pools, no dogs, no TV in room, no cars, rare vacations,no cell phones, no pro sports games, very few movies or concerts, no going out to eat, never ever played golf or learned how to ski. Plus I grew up in a neighborhood with a bunch of invalids. They spared my entire childhood for some stupid f$cking degree which is of no use. Stop worryong about your GD free time and get into a career where you can give your children a childhood and a future. Money opens up doors what makes you happy doesn't. And all the people who say lawyers are evil and teachers are noble were just dumb as rocks and had no choice but to become teachers. Teachers build this myth that they are great people to feel better about themselves when all they really are is lazy and scared of a real job in which pathetic lackluster performance (which is rampant in our nations public schools)gets you canned. Think about your children.

registered wrote:

no swimming pools, no dogs, no TV in room, no cars, rare vacations,no cell phones, no pro sports games, very few movies or concerts, no going out to eat, never ever played golf or learned how to ski.

You poor, poor baby. My heart bleeds for you.

To the original poster, at least in the U.S. you'd have a hard time arguing that what society really needs is another lawyer. Not so for teachers.

But if possible, you should figure out what your calling is. A happy, productive lawyer who provides valuable services to his clients is better than an ineffective, miserable teacher.

I practiced law for 35 years, made a good living, and enjoyed it. I retired at age 60 and started coaching high school track & field. I love coaching. I suggest that you make a list of what's important to you and use that as a guide for making your decision. For example, where would you place finances on your priority list? How about freedom and flexibility? How about job satisfaction, status, job security? Get the picture.

no fatties wrote:

The law does interest me, quite a bit. I am interested in having my own practice though, and I know that is nearly impossible to do right out of the gate. I have NO INTEREST in working for a medium to large sized firm. I want to work to live, not live to work.

Being a solo is extremely difficult out of school for the simple reason that you don't know what you are doing (sorry, law school does not prepare you to actually practice law) and won't have anyone to show you how to get things done. But, people do go solo out of school. You may not make more than the mailman the first few years, but if you build up a client base, you can take in a nice chunk of change after a while.

More and more the trend is for people to go to big law, bust butt for 7-10 years, make partner, build up a book of business and then go out on your own (usually with some associates to do all the dirty work).

My pop is a lawyer and I had no cell phone, no swimming pool, no dog, no TV in my room, no personal car, rare vacations, never been to a pro sport game, no concerts, never ever went out to eat, rarely played golf and never went skiing. I would say my pop made a lot of money, but he was trying to teach me the value of a dollar. The man also spent most evenings working on cases and at least one day of the weekend working on cases. Being a lawyer is much more time consumming than a teacher. Choose wisely.

You do realize that someone who teahes as well as coaches at a high school works 60 hours a week right? With meets on the weekend and papers to grade at night it can be incredibly time consuming. and a large numer of teachers teach summer school for more dough. Choose wisely.

I think I will choose law school. LSAT in December should be a good time, then apply to school by March, and start the following Fall. I think practicing on my own will be very rewarding, even if it will be a struggle the first few years.

Also...I think I'll be able to run during 1L. I know it has been said that this isn't possible, but if I can do it while currently working 40 hours a week in the office then I can sure as hell do it if I'm a full time law student and not working.

no fatties wrote:

I think I will choose law school. LSAT in December should be a good time, then apply to school by March, and start the following Fall. I think practicing on my own will be very rewarding, even if it will be a struggle the first few years.

Also...I think I'll be able to run during 1L. I know it has been said that this isn't possible, but if I can do it while currently working 40 hours a week in the office then I can sure as hell do it if I'm a full time law student and not working.

A couple of things:

make sure you study hard for your LSAT. You want to be sure to go to the best school you possibly can as long as it's within the top 14 schools. Beyond that, all schools are regional (unless you're absolute top of your class at UT/USC/etc). There are great forums out there-- check out

.

You're going to have to give up the whole notion of practicing on your own straight out-- no one does that; you still need to learn how to be a lawyer/network/etc.

You'll definitely have time for running if running's important to you. Heck, I'm planning on running Boston next year during 1L.

Why are you pretending to be an expert if you haven't even been to a single day of law school yet?

correctionsagent wrote:

Why are you pretending to be an expert if you haven't even been to a single day of law school yet?

He's apparently done his research in the course of making a decision on where to go to law school (not that choosing the #1 ranked school is a tough call). I'm a practicing attorney and am heavily involved in recruiting at my firm.

What he said is correct -- with one minor tweak: I'd guess that in the next year or two, everything outside the top 6 schools will tend to be more regional in placement, given the decrease in firm on-campus recruiting.

no fatties wrote:

Impending grad school decision....

Your thoughts?

Best high income, high autonomy career = Dentistry

Become a dentist, open your own practice, work 50 hour weeks for awhile to pay off loans, then scale back... money and time to use it... if you can tolerate putting your hands in peoples' mouths all day.

allegheny nike wrote:

Best high income, high autonomy career = Dentistry

Become a dentist, open your own practice, work 50 hour weeks for awhile to pay off loans, then scale back... money and time to use it... if you can tolerate putting your hands in peoples' mouths all day.

agreed. kind of wish i went that route.

however, i would like to say that this masters in education stuff is such a load of crap i want to puke.

if you're going to teach high school math, you should have a masters in MATH. Not how you would theoretically teach math if you KNEW ANY MATH.

I agree 100%. I'm trying to find an English teaching job and I have my masters in English, which is definitely the way to go. Unfortunately, most school districts are looking for cheap teachers, so it's not looking good for me.

What ever you do: study hard for exams, which ever way you go.

The LSAT, MCAT, GRE they're all pretty powerful determining factors in your life. I'm in med school in Baltimore. I'm at a good school. But, wow this place sucks.

To be a dentist/physician you'd need to enroll into a post-bacc. program to get all your requirements and then study for the MCATs. Next, you'd have to put yourself into about 130,000 (on average) of debt, which comes before your 80+ hours/week during residency.

So that crosses the medical route off your list..

Go to law school. My n=1 reason to not teach: my sister just got her Masters in history from a great school, with the intent to teach. No one's taking her; it's been a year.

no fatties wrote:

SO, which career will eventually provide me with the things I want most in life:

. . .

- Upper middle class to wealthy income.

. . .

That one kind of limits your options, doesn't it?

Here's a compromise: Become a teacher, but marry a lawyer.

Actually, the idea of a "masters in teaching" sounds horrible to me. Is this sort of credential absolutely necessary to teach in public grade schools? Is the winner of a Nobel Prize in physics required to sit through a year or two of education classes before he can teach physics in a public high school?

I teach in an American school overseas and I made over US$130,000 last year. A great job, without all the state/federal stuff attached to it. Great kids, who are highly motivated. And long holidays!

First off, if you get the masters in teaching before you are tenured then no one will hire you. That's a fact. Been there, done that. I'd forget the older crowd because they will probably end up knifing you one day. Stick to the elementary kids.

The law school gig sounds pretty good but it probably depends on the specialty. I know from personal experience that the divorce crowd in my county is an organized crime syndicate-lawyers, psychologists, judges, all of them. I'd hate to have to work with that scum everyday. I guess it has been shown in research that lawyers tend more toward sociopathy than the general population.

Teach at a COLLEGE. Get your MA in your subject area and teach at a small, private school. If you're willing to relocate, there are jobs all over.