Klarinet Archive - Posting 000839.txt from 1998/06

From: "MARY A. VINQUIST" <kenshaw@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Matthew A. Cullen's Query About College Scholarships and Law School
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 07:44:25 -0400

I was an English major and music minor who became a lawyer. I think the
combination was the ideal preparation for law school.

Law school is mostly about reading carefully and keeping at it until you
have mastered a large body of knowledge. Being a lawyer is, among other
things, about learning every aspect of your client's case and the
applicable law, and writing clearly and convincingly about it.

The English major prepared me for the reading and writing, but the music
was equally important. There's no short cut to the hours in the practice=

room mastering scales, etudes and repertoire. Non-musicians may be conte=
nt
with music appreciation, but there's no such thing as music theory
"appreciation" or scale "appreciation." Just so, there's no short cut to=

getting around the mountain of material you have to master in law school,=

or the even bigger mountains of material contained in any substantial
lawsuit.

I've been told by people in a position to know that when IBM looks for
programmers, the consider computer majors first, but music majors second,=

because music majors have actual experience mastering complex and difficu=
lt
skills made up of many small actions. Lawyering is the same.

For what it's worth, graduates of the top law schools who go to the most
prestigious firms in New York start at over $100,000 per year. I would
think that in any city, a first year associate at a good firm would make
more than almost any musician in the same city.

Remember too that as other people on the list have said, what you intend =
to
major in or do for a career when you begin college is almost never what y=
ou
end up with. An extreme example is my freshman college roommate, who cam=
e
in with a 5-year program all mapped out for a double major in math and
engineering. He graduated with a major in medieval German.

Good luck. I'd still rather be a musician.

Ken Shaw

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