Bigs, I admire your spirit and in the macro sense, I agree with you 100%.
However, I do think it's very important that people have a realistic understanding of what's going on out there.
For instance at your school, I think you make a great point that with hustle, focus, good grades, etc., your future can be bright.
However, (and I don't know the stats, but...) it might not be unreasonable to find that 1/3 to 1/2 of this year's graduating class won't be employed in the law at graduation or shortly thereafter.
Some of those folks will think that law school was the biggest mistake of their lives, especially if what they end up with is some customer service job that pays $40,000 a year and they're coping with six figures in student loan debt.
The very best will always be able to find room. Sometimes it's a combination of being the best and being very lucky.
The examples you cite, though, are more illustrative than they may appear at first blush:
<<Michael Jordan was cut from his high school team>>
Michael Jordan was playing varsity as either a sophomore or freshman. (Pardon me for not looking it up precisely.) He was cut from the varsity squad, where it was very, very unusual for a person so young to be playing, and played JV. The fact that he was on the varsity squad, at all, as an underclassman indicates that even then he was an exceptional talent.
<< Tom Brady was picked 199th in the draft>>
Brady was a Big 10 QB, coming out of Michigan. He went low in the draft, but still, we're not talking about somebody who had showed no exceptional ability.
<<I am sure when Scalia was in law school nobody thought he would be on the Supreme Court>>
Scalia was a Summa cum laude graduate of Georgetown and a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Harvard Law. Nobody may have KNOWN that he was going to be on the SCOTUS, but frankly, I doubt anybody was shocked.
As for Obama, I don't know as much about his background, and frankly, I think a little of it is kept on the down low. You're right that I doubt anybody predicted big success for him when he was a pothead at Occidental College. However, the man did transfer to Columbia and got admitted to Havard Law.
There are some who want to imply that he got what he got because of factors other than merit. Perhaps because of affirmative action?
Personally, I doubt that even with affirmative action, that there was ever a time when Columbia and Harvard Law had open admissions.
For me to believe the "he was a stupid pothead at Occidental college" story, I'd have to believe that stupid potheads at Occidental realistically wake up one day and say, "Gee, I think I'll apply to Columbia!" and that Columbia would then accept them.
Personally, Barack Obama appears to have been very accomplished. Being president of the US isn't really a job that's decided on merit. It's really more a popularity contest subject to macro-political influences.
So, what's the deal with all those guys? They were all exceptionally accomplished prior to attaining superstar status. These weren't "out of nowhere" success stories.
Which is the long ways around saying that if you're doing this, you might want to take an honest inventory and see if you have a realistic shot at attaining your goals.
Merely having the JD just won't do it anymore.
Now, who knows, maybe there's some pot-smoking sociology major out there with a 2.9 gpa and a 158 LSAT who through nothing more than personal initiative and drive will go out there and land a $50 million personal injury decision and retire rich.
However, with the climate the way it is, if you're not bringing something exceptional to the table, meaning serious intellect, a tremendous work ethic, and a desire and ability to network (and preferrably 2 of the 3 or all 3 if possible) that you might be making a serious, serious mistake, here.
I have a classmate who had a 4.0 UGPA and a 173 LSAT. I'm not particularly worried about her future. I sincerely doubt that she would do poorly in law school.
However, I think we can agree that students like her are by far the exception. (I also suspect that she had the best admissions numbers in our class.)
Even if a person had demonstrated phenomenal ability at, say, sales in the past, I'd say that gives them a shot. Even with weak academics, they might be the type of person who gets out there and gets clients.
However, again, to reiterate, the JD, alone, won't do it. Contrast to the MD, which we've discussed at length. An MD, alone, DOES do it. Maybe not in the exact neighborhood you'd like, but your financial future is essentially assured.
I'm not saying that NOBODY SHOULD PRACTICE LAW. I imagine that even right now, people are pulling down major coin right out of school.
I'm just saying that the market is exceptionally difficult. As difficult as it is for sociology majors? Maybe not, but it certainly isn't as good as it is for, say, computer scientists, nurses and engineers right now.
So before you go six figures in debt to pursue this, you (in a general sense, not "you" individually), should probably sit back and see if you have what it takes to out-network, out-work and out-think everybody else in your law school class to get the top 10% of jobs that are out there if you want to do well, and at the least, to outperform the bottom 40% to get a job at all.
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