32 year old -- journalist turned PR professional

[syracuse32]

I'm a soon-to-be 33 year old who has long considered going to law school. I was a broadcast journalist in a local television market for about ten years and recently made the transition to public relations, currently making in the mid-60s. I have no student debt; although I'm close to finishing a masters degree in Media Management, which I'm paying for out of pocket, as I go along course by course.

I'm now realizing public relations is not as rewarding as I thought it was going to be. In fact, I've been down right miserable. I am now seriously considering pursuing a JD. The biggest factor, of course, that is holding me back is the debt load and my age. My partner just finished law school and is working at a very good firm. I'm having trouble deciding what to do. I certainly don't want years more to go by and I'm sitting wondering what if?

Thoughts?

[Hamilton]

What's your undergrad GPA?  That will be a big factor on what type of school you get into, or if you can get into a school. 

Me, I'm a big voice AGAINST law school except for certain circumstances, which include (1) a burning desire to be a lawyer, (2) high ranked law school, (3) very good scholarship, AND (4) taking on very little debt.  IMO have ing an "interest" in being a lawyer is a FAR cry from really having a desire to be a lawyer - pursuing law as an "interest" could be a huge financial mistake.  Are you prepared to go $100K in non-dischargable loans?

Also, what makes you think law will be any more rewarding than PR?  There a lot of disillusioned lawyers out there... it is not like Law and Order or any other show glamorizing the profession or making it look exciting.

[syracuse32]

Undergrad GPA is 3.2 and my master's GPA is 4.0, and I have significant professional experience.

In many ways, I feel like a salesman in the PR profession. This doesn't settle well with someone who has always been purpose-driven in life.

[Hamilton]

Grad GPA wont matter when applyiing - all they look at is UGPA and LSAT score.

[bigs5068]

I think step 1 before you do anything else is to take the LSAT. Study for a few months and see what you get. With a 3.2 undergrad GPA and an LSAT score of 160 it is possible you can get full scholarships to a number of ABA schools. Check out lawschoolnumbers.com to see what schools you would want to target and you can see how much scholarship money individuals got from certain schools. Unfortunately, your 4.0 in the masters program will not mean anything to an admissions committee. It is UGPA & LSAT score they consider when looking at admissions/scholarship etc. The 4.0 won't hurt you and it will be a good soft factor, but unfortunately it will not help you much  in regards to admission.

Another site to look at to determine salaries etc is lawschooltransparency.com. This site does much a better job of reporting employment prospects than U.S. News & the ABA, which counts working at McDonald's or being Managing partner at a top law firm equal in regards to employment numbers. One guy at my school had a very similar background to yours and he has done pretty well for himself up to this point.

One other thing you can do to save about a thousand bucks on application fees is to register & attend an LSAC forum if it is convienet. If you just write yoru LSAC number down at every table you will get on a mass mailing list from the school and they will give you fee waivers. I applied to something like 20 schools and only paid for apps to 3 of them.

Hopefully that info is somewhat helpful and good luck!