Hello! I'm a Y1 Law student at
SMU and an avid follower of this thread. I've really valued all the advice given by school seniors and working professionals so far and would like to submit my own dilemma for direction and enlightenment.
Some background: I'm a person with no specific interests in life, and I draw a blank whenever someone asks me what I want to do/be in the future. I'm in Law because
- I never expected to get in and was too excited to think twice when I did
- I've always enjoyed reading and fared better with words (as opposed to numbers)
- I wanted financial security, and a straightforward career path which risked no further indecision
- I was deliberating between
NUS &
SMU, so this gave me a perfect reason to choose
SMU (I didn't apply for
NUS Law).
After studying Law for about half a semester however, I came to realise that this degree/career may not really be the one for me. Here's another bulleted list detailing why:
- There's basically no use of creativity (at least not in the life-changing ways I would like) due to statutes/stare decisis
- Readings are boring and endless, apart from some especially messed up criminal cases
- I feel restless arguing over petty things like a particular word in the statute
- I want to
play in my last few years of education, not
suffer
- There's a glut of lawyers I'm not sure I can beat
- ...which raises the issue of (decreasing) salary
- I want to travel a lot in my future job, but the legal profession seems to be very local- and desk-bound
But of course, where there are pros, there are cons (to transferring):
- Complications with the Tuition Grant
- ...which will force me to fit 4 years' work into 3.5 or less
- Starting one semester late, meaning no friends/hall/basic knowledge
- I'm planning to take Business, but I'm terrified of the mathematical aspect of it
-
SMU's new School of Law building AND Law library will be opening next sem!!! It'd be a waste if I leave right before I get to enjoy these new facilities
- I appreciate
SMU's defining programmes e.g. their career training workshops, compulsory community service/internships & high number of overseas learning opportunities (86% of their students go overseas compared to
NTU/
NUS' 70+%, if I'm not wrong) but have not experienced all of them yet (of course I can do the same in
NUS, but competition seems tougher + internships/community service being optional may cause me to slack off instead)
Anyway, for those of you who couldn't be bothered to read everything, I hope you can nonetheless provide answers to the following questions:
1. I've read articles that posit that the glut will not adversely impact the chances of
local law graduates, just foreign ones (from less renowned schools) - to what extent is this true?
2. Can the law degree really open many doors? The way I see it, companies will be better off hiring actual business graduates than law ones due to their education and experience in that area.
3. Are law firms really biased against
SMU graduates? What explains our slight edge in the Graduate Employment Survey, then? (I'm just curious!)
Thanks in advance everyone!