I have a pretty good idea of the kind of public interest work I want to do, and certainly I'm not looking to get rich. But as my first wave of summer job rejections comes in, I can only imagine how difficult it will be to find a way to support myself while doing work I care about after graduation, when I'm no longer funded by Columbia. I felt like the suggestion in class today was that the only reasons people don't do the work they care about is that they are complacent or greedy, and while I'm sure that's a part of it, there are also real challenges to figuring out how to establish an alternative career. So I hope that's something we can talk about on this page, and in class as well. -- ClaireOSullivan - 23 Jan 2008

Claire, You say that after graduation you will no longer be funded by Columbia -- are you thinking that you will not be eligible for the Columbia loan repayment assistance program? I don't know where you've applied geographically, but you may want to consider looking at geographic areas that don't often get Columbia Law applicants. Maybe you have reasons for staying in a particular geographic area, or maybe you've already applied geographically broadly, but if not, there's still time to get more apps out (I think). How much help are you getting from the CLS career office and PILF?

-- BarbPitman - 23 Jan 2008