Laura

Laura is a 26-year-old graduate of Brooklyn College of Law. Since graduating in June and passing the New York state bar exam, Laura has been unable to find work as a practicing attorney. She has moved back to her mother’s house in Michigan to save money and has not been able to find a job there either. Despite owing $120,000 in student loans, Laura is considering going back to school for a nursing degree, a field in which she feels that she would have better luck finding employment.

My Story
When I started law school, the economy was at a peak. The promotional materials from my school boasted an employment rate for graduates of 98 percent three months after graduation. Now, that percentage is about 45 percent.

I didn’t go to law school to graduate and make a lot of money. In fact, I’m really interested in public-interest law. But I still need to be able to pay off my staggering student loans which amount to about $120,000. I’ve been able to defer them for a little while, but I am so scared that I’m not going to be able to pay them once they do kick in.

So I moved back home to Michigan to cut down on my living expenses and try to find a job there. I haven’t had much more success. I’ve been able to get a sporadic amount of contract work, but nothing full time. And since the contract work is temporary, I’m not eligible for unemployment insurance. I’ve been living without health insurance since graduation as well.

Even though I passed the bar exam in New York, I still wasn’t able to find work there. One job that I applied for with the government (a job that paid about half of what a typical first-year lawyer would make) had 2,500 applicants for three positions.

I feel like I made a huge mistake. The three years that I spent in law school could have been spent employed. Now I feel like I’m starting from square one. And the longer you’re out of law school, the more difficult it is to find a job because prospective employers question what you’ve been doing since graduation.

I know I’m not alone out there. I’ve met so many law school graduates who are in the same position as me, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I’m now contemplating going back to school for nursing—a field that I initially started out with in undergrad—but again, that would be three more years before I can start a career and even more debt.

I feel like things can and will get better, but one of two things need to happen—either Bush needs to realign his economic priorities and concentrate on creating good jobs for America, or we need a new person in the White House.