22 Jun, 2006
Think About Public Sector vs. Private Sector
Some talk on Law.com Blog Network of how student loan debt relates to students' decision to either work in the public sector or private sector. You probably know the general characterization of the differences between the two: public sector leaves more time and energy for things outside of work
for less pay, private sector means longer work hours for more pay (edit: I originally typed the opposite of what I meant...corrected).
It is especially important to contemplate these career alternatives before deciding where to attend law school. If you are like me when I was deciding to go to law school, you will hear and read a lot of advice that suggests attending the highest ranked law school to which you are accepted regardless of scholarship offers and tuition costs. Of course, this advice is not always right. But it is especially wrong in the case of a person who wants to go into the public sector.
Because of the likely lower salary, the lower ranked and/or less expensive school must garner even more consideration if you decide you want to work in the public sector. I can imagine it is a bad situation where a person has his/her heart set on public work coming into law school and then, because of the "psychic cost" discussed in the link above, that person feels forced into the private sector based on the tremendous amount of debt acquired law school.
This brings up another topic I have been meaning to touch on...scholarships in law school.
"private sector leaves more time and energy for things outside of work for less pay, public sector means longer work hours for more pay"
I think you reversed those. :)
Posted by Dave! 22 Jun 2006, 11:51