[ummbikes]

I'm graduating in the spring and looking at my options for the future.

I have always been drawn to both law and education.

I have had the full battery of personality tests and they all indicate that either profession would work for me.

Law school will run about 80-90K for three years.

A "fifth year" teacher certificate will run me about 5K.

My wife has been a teacher for 10 years, so I know about the pros and cons of teaching.

The market for newbie lawyers is tight and the student loan payments will be steep. Plus the only people I know who practice law work hella long hours and sure they have nice stuff but they never get to use any of it because they work all the time.

So for those who have high paying jobs and not so much time is the trade off worth it?

And those who have very cool jobs that give them time to do other stuff but not big dollars how is that working?

 

[Serial Midget]

Ah... you know where I stand. Picture yourself and who you want to be at 60. I know plenty of old guys and gals who have chosen a life of active leisure - they tend to look and act far younger than their age would suggest.

Do you prefer your quality of life to be expressed primarily in wealth or health? It would be nice to think you could have both but few people are actually able to swing it.

 

[Heidi]

In my opinion, time is more important than money.

 

[spincrazy]

Originally posted by Heidi
In my opinion, time is more important than money.

AMEN.

 

[Serial Midget]

Uh oh... I couldn't resist.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd someone more to say.

 

[Squeak]

Originally posted by Heidi
In my opinion, time is more important than money.

Agreed 110%.

I have also realized (with experience) that my priorities have been a little out of whack in regards to career and what will make me happy.

 

[Heidi]

Originally posted by Squeak
Agreed 110%.

I have also realized (with experience) that my priorities have been a little out of whack in regards to career and what will make me happy.

NO, YOUR'S are right on! Everyone else's are out of whack.

 

[golgiaparatus]

Originally posted by Heidi
In my opinion, time is more important than money.

Far more important!

 

[LoboDelFuego]

Time is money. Everybody knows that.

I would become a teacher. I want to be a teacher because i think it is a job that actually lets you do something productive and help out. Both my parents are teachers and even if you do nt make much money, it is still enough to live a nice life and have plenty of free time for a side (bike?) business or tutoring. My mom tutors spanish for $80 an hour and my dad does math for $100. How does that sound?

 

[ummbikes]

The money from teaching is fine. I make nothing now so 30K will be lotto like cashflow at my house. If I coach I can pick up a few extra thousand a year.

The plus for me is the schedule. I have always worked jobs that required me to bust butt during the holidays. I can tell you that couple weeks off at the end of the year sounds like heaven to me. Then work a few more months and another week off. Then work a couple more months and two months off. Repeat cycle for 25 years and then off Arizona to ride and golf until I die.

I already have plans for my M.A. in administration if I do go the route of teaching.

I would work 2-5 years in the classroom and then become an assistant principal. You lose a little time off during the summer but gain much cash and even more important than that you get a chance to implement some ideas and see them work!

So anybody here a admin. in a school?

 

[Mocha]

Sounds like you've realized what's important to you and already made your decision, UB

It would be nice to have the same schedule as your wife...being a teacher.

Have you written the LSATs, and been accepted into law school yet? Obviously, the decision would be made very fast if you don't get in first time around.

 

[Serial Midget]

Originally posted by Mocha
Have you written the LSATs, and been accepted into law school yet? Obviously, the decision would be made very fast if you don't get in first time around.

Armondo is at the TOP of his class.

 

[ummbikes]

Originally posted by Serial Midget
Armondo is at the TOP of his class.

Lets not get too crazy. Getting in to law school is never a given but I am sure it is there for me if I want it.

I have atempted many LSAT sample tests and done well.

I could choke during an actual test.

They are really pretty basic IF you study a few things: namely informal logic, logic games and reading comprehension.

I have no idea about the GRE. That test is probably more of a challenge for me personally as it has a math component and I haven't taken any math at all since pre-calculus five years ago...

I am told that the GRE basic test only covers algebra and geometry and I think if I re-read my old math books I might be able remember something.

I'm not a big fan math.

AHHHHHH!!!!!

I hate this.

I have a daughter who will entering kindergarten next fall and I sure would like to not uproot the whole family.

Plus my wife LOVES her school and has great adminstration above her.

And moving would take me farther away from my spirtual/fashion advisor Serial Midget.

So...




I still don't know.

 

[Jr_Bullit]

I agree with Heidi and the rest of the above that say Time is more important than Money....but I also agree that Time is money and to some extent, depending on your goals in life and what you want in the long run for living standards for yourself, your wife and your children, you need to put in the time and the pain in order to make the money that will allow you to do this.

Law school would probably put you in debt, and there's no guarantee that when you got out your debt would be swiftly paid off by the job you end up taking. However, I do know some lawyers who put in their time in school and their first few years at their firms, and now have tons of free time in the evenings and the afternoons (these are not high paid lawyers, but certainly make far more than I...lol).

I'm fighting a similar battle but have promised myself I'll suck up not having free time for a year to complete my degree, even though I'm working about 60 hours week at my job. The recent promotion is rapidly leading to an average of 12 or more hours per day. When my degree is complete in a year however, I'll sit back and reevaluate what's most important and where I want to be and probably move on and move out.

Good luck! Tough choices.