Where do I go from here?

LegacyUser

Just wondering, I'm in the middle of a Masters degree and becoming increasingly unsure about what I actually want to do.

The problem is that even when I'm finished the Masters I'm still only at the beginning of a very long road to qualifying (Law) and feel that if I don't decide to do something now I'm just going to hit a sort of "Comfort" zone and keep going but on the other hand if I want to do something else it hasn't really given me that many transferable skills so it means starting all over again.

Has anyone had the same doubts or is it just me getting sick of of how long its going to take to finish?

Any help appreciated

sobriquet

Uncertain wrote:

Has anyone had the same doubts or is it just me getting sick of of how long its going to take to finish?

Hi Uncertain,

I can speak to one part of your question. I've been in a similar situation, and had doubts, and acted on them.

About this time a year ago I was half way through an MSc, and I dropped out of it last january. It was an excellent subject, that suited me down to the ground. Seemed perfect, but I had serious doubts about whether I'd stick with the subject as a career at all. As it is, I'm back working in the industry because I need to earn a crust, but a career change is still on the cards.

I'm still glad I made the decision I made, and cut off a whole lot of stress that was going to be of no benefit to me.

In your case it's a bit different - you're on a much longer career path that takes a lot more time. Are you sick of it? I dunno, no-one can answer that but you. Can you arrange the program to be deferred for next year? You could travel, or work at a couple of other things, see what your options are? Whatever you do, best of luck with it.

padser

Uncertain wrote:

Just wondering, I'm in the middle of a Masters degree and becoming increasingly unsure about what I actually want to do.

The problem is that even when I'm finished the Masters I'm still only at the beginning of a very long road to qualifying (Law) and feel that if I don't decide to do something now I'm just going to hit a sort of "Comfort" zone and keep going but on the other hand if I want to do something else it hasn't really given me that many transferable skills so it means starting all over again.

Has anyone had the same doubts or is it just me getting sick of of how long its going to take to finish?

Any help appreciated

I'd suggest posting in the legal discussion forum also. You will find quite a few ppl there considering and doing law masters.

While its definitely true that you have a long road ahead of you with a masters behind you there is a pretty good chance of getting taken on by one of the big law firms next yr, and although you will still be training you get paid pretty decently (around 30K AFAIK), so in a sense its not like your still a student.

That said the FE1s are meant to be rough, and there is no denying that oppertunities in law are not as plentiful as they used to be. That said i have a few options for you to consider

~ Go abroad, any common law system is meant to be relatively easy to convert to, with a masters you should be able to get into most countries and train easily enough

~ Go into a company. Many people dont realise the legal oppertunities that exist within companies. Big companies like Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan have massive legal depts employing really smart people, but smaller companies like Bank of Ireland etc etc also have legal depts as well (in BOI its called 'group legal'!). Getting into law this way is something few ppl consider.

Finally, the route no one ever thinks of

~ Accountancy. All the big four (well at least Im certain EY, PWC and KPMG do so I assume Deloitte does as well) have the oppertunities to qualify as a solicitor through their tax dept. No one ever thinks of the fact that tax work is basically legal work (with some figures thrown in for good measure)

Hope this helps

Black Swan

You would probably get more qualified opinions on the legal forum? Having said that, I am a faculty brat and enjoy living around books and people spouting a lot of hot air. You are young. You have gone a long way towards achieving something, why don't you finish it? Even if you don't love it anymore, at least it would give you a fallback position? Plus, law translates into other career pursuits. Maybe also chat with a career counselor at your law school? Whatever you do, don't jump ship until you have investigated all the alternatives.