Planning Ahead

For a while I went back and forth between wanting to be "a scientist" or "a lawyer" when I grew up. I had some vague ideas about wanting to do good, and wanting to work for the benefit of the environment, for wildlife, and for animals in general. I finally made a real decision during the 2003 Prairie Dog Summit and never really looked back, although I continued to take science classes along with those of a more policy-oriented nature. My favorite classes in college have been those that were very interdisciplinary, requiring knowledge of both science and policy and the desire to make the two work together.

Now, as a 0L learning about the opportunities law school will potentially provide, I'm sure I made the right choice for me. I don't think I would have been happy in a lab, or even in the field. I was thinking about this today after I attended a brown bag panel discussion on 1L summer opportunities. I had no idea that there were so many different options for 1L summers, and I only heard about 6 or 7 student's experiences.

The stories that were most exciting to me were those involving travel, externships, and research. One student had studied in Paris through a Cornell program, and he was inspired to do so by a story he had heard about another student studying in Geneva the summer before. Another student talked about how she had been an RA for two professors over her first summer, receiving both work-study pay and credit. I guess I was just excited to learn that there are more options than just the two I hear most about: Working for a firm or volunteering for a non-profit.