Law vs. History Pros and Cons

Law
Pros:
-Challenging work
-High compensation
-Geographic flexibility (can live basically anywhere)
-Respectable
-High-pressure, high-responsibility
-You can easily see the end results of your work (contracts, deals, laws, etc.)

Cons:
-Ridiculously long hours (at least at first)
-Drudgery
-Lack of creativity
-People don’t like you
-Deal with inept people in positions of power
-Not necessarily “worthwhile”
-Sit in an office your entire career
-High-pressure, high-responsibility

History
Pros:
-More interesting material
-Around young people
-Live on college campus (cultural events, etc.)
-Teaching/influencing people
-More diverse crowd
-Chance for work to evolve over time
-Write books
-Very respectable
-More “worthwhile”
-Summers off
-Low-pressure, moderate-responsibility

Cons:
-Lower pay
-Really hard to get a good job – might have to relocate, might never find one
-Office politics (publish or perish, tenure, etc.)
-Might have to work on subjects/methods that you don’t enjoy
-Writing tons of lesson plans/grading tons of papers
-Harder to see concrete results of your work
-Low-pressure, moderate-responsibility