Experiences working full time and law school part time at night?

[albanwr26]

I'm currently and electrical engineering undergrad going into my senior year. I plan on going into patent law. Right now I am studying up for the LSAT in October.

My question is, do you have any sort of life outside of school when working full time and going to law school at night? I have a very serious girlfriend whom I have been with since my first year and I do not know whether I should just commit full time to law school or not. Right now, if I got a job with the Federal Gov't I would take it because getting a job is priority number one. Also I don't think my girlfriend will be getting any sort of job that would be able to support both of us right away.

So is it manageable to do all three; full time work, part time law school, be in a relationship?

[larenzo]

People manage it. I cannot tell you if you will be able to manage it.

[abraham90]

Whether you are able to handle it, I don't know, because I don't know you.

However, it is possible to do. I just graduated from law school, and I had many classmates who worked full time during the day, went to class at night, and had spouses and even children at home. I don't know how they did it, but they managed. I will say that it will take a massive amount of work, commitment, and sacrifice from both you and your girlfriend.

If you are concerned about it, ask the law school you plan on going to if there's a way you can speak to some evening students in a similar situation. Many students (at least at my school) would be more than happy to help somebody in your situation, and the law school is likely going to want to help, too.

[adaya]

Rather than risk my long-term personal relationship, I quit my EE job and went to law school full time before becoming a patent attorney. However, I did not PLAN on becoming a patent attorney and probably would have remained in EE (and retired earlier), had I known what it was going to be like in the firms.

If you think law school is going to be hard on a relationship, wait until you're a first-year associate.