Life: Faint of Heart Need Not Apply

So, I had the most depressing conversation with a friend today. She told me that she knew what she really wanted to do, but that she couldn't put in the money to get the proper degree when she knew that finding the right job in the field would be almost impossible. In short, the risk of unemployment is just too big. She believes that it's better to find something that she kind of likes that's a guaranteed job.

The problem? There is no such thing as a guaranteed job, not anymore. When I entered law school, the motto was "It's UVA, everyone finds a job." Indeed, everyone was expected to find a job--a job at a big firm with a big firm salary. There was "no risk" in investing hundreds of thousands of dollars (emphasis on the plural at the end of hundreds) in getting said degree, because "EVERYONE FINDS A JOB." Then the economy crashed, and there are a lot of depressed people around school because not everybody is finding a job. Not all the 3Ls, not all the 2Ls, and, come spring, I suspect that there will be some very disappointed 1Ls.

Out of everyone, you know who is the most depressed? The people that came to law school because "everyone finds a job." That's, thankfully, not why I came. I came to law school because I have a passion for women's issues, for lobbying, and simply for helping people. I knew that I would be taking out a lot of loans (I could have purchased my dad's house kind of loans) and that I would not be getting a big firm salary. I knew that finding a job in the public interest sector would be more difficult. Frankly, openings in my field don't happen every year. I know that I'll probably have to defer the dream, work in something that's not ideal for a time, live off Ramen Noodles while trying to pay back my loans, but I came here anyway, and I'm still glad I did.

I'm not a risk taker in every aspect of my life. I find the prospect of failing to pay off my credit card in full every month terrifying. We won't even go into relationships and my lack of risk taking in that arena. School, however, is something I've always been willing to take risks on. No matter how tough the odds, how scary the job prospects (let me impress once again on how terrifying they are), how much debt I'll be in when I graduate, I know I will make it. Somehow, I will make it. Maybe I'll end up with a financial need deferment on the loans. Maybe I'll have to live in the basement of some old person's house and wash their smelly, wrinkly old feet when I get off work for a discount on the rent, but I will find a way.

My advice to anyone reading this? Don't settle for a job you're not passionate about. Aim high, aim for what you want to do. In my mind, it's better to be a passionate and starving artist than a semi-successful person trapped in a job that is merely tolerable.

At least my happiness doesn't depend on the state of the economy.