Should I go to grad school?

[LinusK]

@even_sven

Sure you talk about nuts and bolts and complain. But how often do you deep dive into groundbreaking ideas in law? Or spend hours untangling the philosophy of it? Maybe you guys do, but that’d be unusual.

As for interests-- yes, your peers will be in the same field as you, but you don’t just study economics. You study one particular corner, and you may not get much out of other peoples corner.

To give an example, I went into grad school wanting to pin down a particular phenomena in Zambia. My program seemed like a good fit. But when I got there, I discovered my program had a bizarre obsession with Peru. Every case study, every research opportunity, every anecdote in class, every off the cuff remark was about Peru. I read thousands of pages about Peru.

It was all useful and relevant, but it was a lot of time learning about Peru and zero time learning about Zambia I managed to wedge-- sometime awkwardly-- Zambia into my work, and I eventually wrote what I needed to write on Zambia. But it wasn’t a direct route and much of the journey down Zambia road was solo.

I’m not saying don’t go-- lord knows I did. But it’s not an intellectual paradise. It’s a grind, like any other. An occasionally very rewarding grind, but a grind none the less.

I get the general thrust of what you’re saying.

I’m sort of an introverted, intellectual type. Success in my field - financial success - depends a lot on marketing, advertising, and salesmanship. (Something they definitely don’t tell you in law school.) And some would say, just outright lying. These are things I’m not good at. And part of why I think what I’m doing is probably not a good fit for me. And why I’m looking to make a change. I can see my future walking the halls of the courthouse, and it’s not where I want to be.

Here’s some good elevator jokes lawyers like to tell each other:

What did the criminal defense lawyer say when he won the lottery?
I guess I’ll keep practicing until I run out of money.

What’s your retirement plan?
To be dead when I hit the ground.

The Zambia/Peru issue may be a problem at some of the other schools, other than UMKC, I mean.