During the third or fourth year of your undergraduate career, the question of your future often morphs into a monkey on your back screeching about how imperative it is to “have a plan.”
And to be perfectly honest, it is sometimes quite difficult to choose what you want to do for the rest of your life.
For instance, my parents wanted me to be a doctor. And because parents can sometimes dictate your life, I spent 13 years preparing to be a doctor. At orientation I was informed that depending on what major I chose, I would never have to take a math class or difficult science class ever again.
I decided to take that route, making my only science classes GEs. But when my parents questioned me about what I was going to do with my life with a bachelor of arts, my first response was: Go to law school.
At that point I honestly didn’t want to go to law school. I had no idea what I was going to do with my life with a degree in history. But law school had a nice ring to it, and I knew it was an acceptable alternative to medical school.
The catch was, I had always thought that attaining a law degree would require me to practice law. Then I found out I was wrong.
I joined UCLA’s pre-law fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta, spring quarter of my first year. Mostly because I thought that it would behoove me to have some law-related extracurricular activities on my resume for law school applications. I learned something that basically changed my life: You can have a law degree without having to be a lawyer.
Through several professional events on law-related topics, I have met men and women with Juris Doctorates who are law professors, are in the entertainment industry as agents, or are consultants, business executives and even artists.
So while the typical path is to go to law school, then work 80-hour weeks at a large firm, it is by no means the only path.
The even better deal with going to law school is that your major does not matter. Getting into law school is about numbers (primarily GPA and LSAT score), extracurricular activities and your personal statement.
I personally know UCLA alumni who have majored in engineering, biology, chemistry and psychobiology who are currently attending law school.
Basically, if you want to go to law school, you just need to major in the field that you think you will be most successful in. Whether this happens to be art history or astrophysics, it is completely okay.
But, just as with getting into a good undergraduate school, getting into a good law school requires good extracurricular activities.
Which is why it is so great that UCLA just happens to have a plethora of fun, helpful student organizations. For students interested in going to law school for whatever reason, there is the UCLA Pre-law Society, UCLA Mock Trial, Model United Nations, various politically affiliated groups, Justice Corps and Phi Alpha Delta.
Joining student organizations has, in my experience, not only given me something to put on my law school application to set me apart, but has also enriched my college experience (as trite as it may sound).
For example, being a part of Phi Alpha Delta has provided me with a network of alumni to assist in working on my law school applications, exposed me to a variety of professionals more than willing to help with my future and allowed me to be surrounded by people who are interested in the same field as I am.
When it comes to your life after college, of course it can be terrifying. But there really are many options in terms of career choices and jobs.
Getting a law degree is not the easiest thing to do, but attaining a J.D. opens up many opportunities to a lucrative career.
Cuadrado is the vice president of Phi Alpha Delta, a coed pre-law fraternity on campus. She is a third-year history student.