There are some people who have known that they wanted to be lawyers since they were kids, or perhaps met a lawyer in high school or college who encouraged and inspired them to apply to law school. However, that’s not always how life works out.

I didn’t personally know any lawyers growing up. Even though I had always loved to read and write, I never had anyone put those pieces together for me and say that I should consider a career in law. It simply never posed itself as a viable career path. I went through college, studying communications and political science, and ended up at the University of Glasgow in Scotland to get a Master’s Degree in International Politics. It was during my graduate program that I ended up in an International Law course, and something sparked in me every so dimmly.

I moved back to the States and began a career in international higher education. I worked with international students who came to the United States on F-1 visas from up to 40 different countries, and I loved it. I loved helping students sort out complex issues with their immigration status, or just talking to them about adjusting to life in the US. On a different plain, I was doing the sort of work that lawyer’s do for their clients every day: I listened to them, I assessed their options, communicated those options, and advocated for them to USCIS. It was through this job that I also began working with immigration attorneys, whom I frankly realized I was just as smart and capable as. With some deliberation, I decided to take the LSAT and apply to law school.

This was the best decision I could have made for myself. The law opens doors to career paths I could have only imagined having access to prior. It expands your mind in new and exciting ways, but it uses the building blocks of your past education and former career to strengthen those skills. Coming into law school with prior experience allows you to contextualize what you’re learning in deeper ways and makes you appreciate the work you have already done in a new light.

All that to say, is that it can be scary to leave a job or consider taking a huge leap in changing your career path. Three years sounds like a big commitment. However, not only does three years fly by in an environment like law school, if you really want what’s on the other side, there is nothing more worthwhile.

Have you ever felt like everyone else knows exactly what they want to do career wise and you are the only one who doesn’t have it all figured out? Avoid panic; you’re definitely not the only one who doesn’t have a clue, and that’s okay!

I have always been someone who was interested in so many subjects, careers, and areas of law that is too hard for me to choose exactly what I want to do. If you find yourself in a similar situation, my advice is to try as many different classes, internships, and other experiences as possible so you can begin to eliminate what you DON’T want to do.

I went into undergrad as an undeclared student. It took me over a year and a half to finally declare my major and I narrowed down my choices by trying out classes in different subject areas, talking to professors about their careers and interests, and testing several campus jobs and internships. I eventually landed on political science as my major and later decided to apply to law schools. Once I started at Widener, I found myself facing the same problem that I had faced in undergrad. I had no idea what type of law I wanted to practice after graduation.

It was frustrating at first because it seemed like every other student I spoke with knew exactly what they wanted; for example, that they wanted to be a criminal defense attorney or that they wanted to be a family law attorney and specialize in divorce. It seemed like I was one of only a few students who didn’t have anything figured out and it was overwhelming. To narrow my choices, I first visited with Widener’s Dean of Career Development who was able to help me realize that there were quite a few areas of the law that I already knew weren’t the right fit for me. For example, I had interned with a small private family law firm after graduation from undergrad and that experience helped me determine that family law isn’t a fit for me, but it also helped me realize that perhaps transactional work would suit me best. I also had an internship with a local county collections department and that experience helped me determine that I wasn’t interested in criminal law. Once I realized what I didn’t want to do, I focused on finding an internship for 1L summer that would expose me to something completely new, so I could determine if it may be a fit for me.

During the summer of 2022 I interned with the Office of General Counsel: Department of Environmental Protection. From this experience I learned that government work is really interesting to me and that may be something I want to pursue in the future, and at the same time I learned that environmental law is also not my strong suit.

The moral of my story is to try as many things as possible if you aren’t sure where you want to end up. Every experience I’ve had has been extremely valuable to me, even if after that experience I decided that that job was totally wrong for me. It is sometimes better to determine what you don’t like before you settle on a career path. If you ever feel lost or overwhelmed about finding an internship/externship that will be beneficial to you, reach out to professors and the staff at Widener to help you narrow your choices.  It’s OKAY to not know what you’re doing! You’ll find the perfect fit eventually!