Any advice to give a recent college grad who is taking a gap year before law school? Should they work in the legal field or try something different. What do you wish you would have done before ls?

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Once you work in law - you will get SO much experience. I say explore your passions and interests before you get a full time job. Travel, etc...

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This 💯

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Take multiple years, not just “a gap” year, doing something/working hard in areas other than law/law-adjacent. Do interesting things, learn how to interact with other human beings to build the human interaction muscles (preferably with others who are not exactly like you, to build better muscles), and recognize that grad school will be there.

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Totally agree. I wish I hadn’t been in such a rush to get to/through law school. The more outside experience you have, the better.

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Remind them they still have time to not go to law school

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You read my mind.

I wish I traveled more, and worried about internships less.

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Travel as much as you can/work abroad.

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I worked in a fishing yacht for a summer. Best summer of my life. If I had worked in a law firm that summer, I wouldnt be any better off than I am today. Enjoy yourself

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Honestly I would recommend working at a law firm even if only part time. From someone with no attorneys in my family I would’ve like to know what I was getting into. But definitely take the trips and enjoy!

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3rd year associate at big law. I took a gap year and bartended, worked out, went to the pool, and traveled. Oh, and studied for the Lsat. Best year of my life. No regrets. My advice is have fun and pursue passions before you have to join the “real world” for too long. Trust me. Taking all that time to study for the LSAT may have helped too. I jumped 8 points my second time taking it which is extremely rare.

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I worked at a think tank and as a fishing guide in the Alaskan wilderness during my gap year between undergrad and law school. 1000% do something different than law. You'll get 40 years of that soon enough.

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Agreed with general tenor of this thread - go teach English in a foreign country or get some weird adventure odd job. At a minimum, do something relatively fun/relaxed and enjoy the time before the grind

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Do you and don’t worry about law related work unless it’s an actual passion for you (in which case I have some concerns about you but that’s for another post). You’ll have plenty of days in law school and at work wistfully wishing you had the freedom to do whatever you wanted to...this is at least something you can look back on fondly during those moments (trust me, you’re going to need it some days).

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Take two years. One year to travel or live in a city you’ve always wanted to experience for a year. Spend the other year working in a firm or being exposed to legal work.

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Take the time off to travel and literally enjoy life! I did law school in a different country for this reason and sure, I missed OCIs and all that but I travelled to 15 countries and had the best time of my life. Legit I could die tomorrow and feel like I lived fully as dramatic as that is lol. That would never have been possible for me had I just taken the traditional law school path right after undergrad then went straight into full time work. Now firms I’ve interviewed/worked with have taken an interest in that experience. There’s lots of time to gain legal experience.

Wish someone reminded me not to go to law school

Do whatever you want/makes you happy. Use the year to rest, when you can, and do things that fill your cup! If that’s a job in the law, great.

Ditto everyone else. I took 1 year in between, did nothing related to law at all, and my only regret is that it wasn't more. In addition to all the advice about traveling during your gap time (which you totally should do), consider taking a non-law job. I actually think I would have performed better in law school and ultimately been a better client advisor if I'd taken the time to experience different roles in a business setting firsthand.

Don’t work for a psychiatrist who has “diagnosed herself with ADHD” but in reality probably has Narcissistic Personality Disorder and gaslights you to the brink. Otherwise, do whatever just don’t get arrested have fun

I was a bartender during my leap year. That job taught me lot of professional social skills that I still use regularly. Don’t do something law related, he/she has the rest of her career to do that, and doing a law job won’t give her any meaningful advantage in law school/post law school.

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