Thinking about Grad School

I'm still in the same job, as a paralegal with Scholastic, that I started back in December of 2007. The problem with being a paralegal is that there's no clear-cut route to advancement. And there's the rub: I don't like my job very much, nor do any of my friends' jobs seem appealing, nor does any other job that I've come across.

And so the idea of grad school pops back into my mind. Many people have told me that I should take time before I make a decision regarding grad school. Well, it's been one full year so far, and the fact is that by the time I would end up matriculating it will have been two years. Applying to schools takes a lot of time and effort, and I'm afraid that if I don't really start thinking about it now, I'd have to wait at least another two years before getting out of my entry-level rut (the economic downturn isn't helping me here).

I've thought a lot about taking the LSAT's and going to law school, but I realized that at this point I'm not willing to sell myself out yet, if you know what I mean. My dad's a lawyer so I've had long talks with him about it, and it has never really struck my interest the way that normal graduate school has. I know it would be interesting intellectually and very profitable...but I just don't get a good feeling about doing that right now.

I'm also not totally sure about going into academia. Though my undergraduate interests were initially focused on literature, I found that as time went on my focus naturally shifted towards the historical side of things. That means, I think, that if I were to go into graduate school, I'd do it in history. But then I think about other, more classic history types (i.e. the Rachel McCool's of the world, who write 100 page senior theses and go to Cambridge) and I wonder if my interests would even lead to a job. And of course, seeing young professors’ difficulties finding good jobs makes me pause and consider the practicalities of academia.

But even so, being a professor still strikes me in a way that no other job/profession has thus far. I generally feel that I would be undercutting myself if I didn't at least make the attempt to pursue a graduate degree.

Either way, I've contacted the Dickinson career center to help me start the process of researching graduate programs. We'll see what happens.