On the other hand, if you can get into a top-tier law school (and there about half a dozen of those in the US), I would hesitate to call it a mistake.
Yes, there are still top tier law firms, and you have a chance of getting hired by one if you go to a top tier law school.
My point is more that even conditioned on knowing that you would survive law school and make it into a top tier law firm, it’s not obvious to me that law is the best path to take: options in other industries may be far more valuable. (Consider claims about how doctors only get rich in real estate, or compare physics PhDs in academia and quantitative trading, or Peter Thiel narrowly missing out on a Supreme Court clerkship and founding a company instead.)
it’s not obvious to me that law is the best path to take: options in other industries may be far more valuable
It all depends, of course. Each path has its risks and its rewards. However, if—and that’s a huge if—you can get admitted to a top-tier law school, get hired by Biglaw, and spend a few years in, say, a white-shoe NYC law firm, that doesn’t sound like horrible fate to me (subject to the sensitivities of your soul, naturally).
Yes, there are still top tier law firms, and you have a chance of getting hired by one if you go to a top tier law school.
My point is more that even conditioned on knowing that you would survive law school and make it into a top tier law firm, it’s not obvious to me that law is the best path to take: options in other industries may be far more valuable. (Consider claims about how doctors only get rich in real estate, or compare physics PhDs in academia and quantitative trading, or Peter Thiel narrowly missing out on a Supreme Court clerkship and founding a company instead.)
It all depends, of course. Each path has its risks and its rewards. However, if—and that’s a huge if—you can get admitted to a top-tier law school, get hired by Biglaw, and spend a few years in, say, a white-shoe NYC law firm, that doesn’t sound like horrible fate to me (subject to the sensitivities of your soul, naturally).