Arts/Law > Careers?

[miaow]

Hey guys,

I have a couple of questions to throw out into the world.

I've been trying to decide on a course to study after year 12 next year. And I'm in struggle town tbh. For about a year I've been thinking Arts/Law is the way to go. I do have a couple of reasons for this, but they might not be that solid. English/Humanities areas are undoubtedly my strong points, and my interests lie in literature/politics/history/philosophy. I know VCE isn't that relevant but favourite subjects by far in that respect: English, Literature, Australian History and in particular Legal Studies. Arts/Law seems to be a degree I would enjoy, have interest in and probably I'd find more success in that than I would in other areas, or so I am inclined to believe. The problem lies in the fact that I do not know what I want to do career wise. I have absolutely no idea. Maybe I want to be a lawyer, but I don't know and I feel like I don't know enough about the big wide world just yet to be making those kinds of decisions. So I guess, what I'm asking, is could Arts/Law be an appropriate choice for me? Are there any other degrees or areas of study I should be considering? And what can you do with an Arts/Law degree? I know the job market for solicitors is totally saturated, but what else is there? Also - I'm from the country. Happy enough to move to Melbourne for Uni but what's the job market like in rural areas, if anyone knows, and outside of the state? (South Australia, Northern Territory..?) Also I've heard of people pursuing journalism through Arts/Law - is this a decent way to go about that? Say you study journalism subjects in the degree, can you then pursue a journalism degree and are you disadvantaged compared to peoples who did a Bachelor of Journalism?

I think Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Law sounds like it covers my interest areas enough that I can figure out what I want to do once I'm in it. Trouble is, according to my family, a degree is just job training and its designed to get you a specific job. So if you don't want to be a lawyer don't study law. (Arguments against this would be much appreciated?)

Sorry that this is so long and convoluted.

[zhenzhenzhen]

To the first half and last question of your post, Arts/Law or Commerce/Law?

Maybe message ninwa for the rural areas question.

Ask monash for the difference between the Arts (Journalism Practice) / Journalism.

[mahler004]

Science student, but both my parents did Arts/Law, and a couple of friends are doing Arts/Law or law double degrees. Thought about doing a JD myself, but that would have to wait a few years...

Law is increasingly becoming less of a vocational degree (i.e. do law = become a lawyer.) Obviously, that's an option, but Law opens up a lot of other pathways. As you've indicated, the competition to get to be a solicitor is pretty intense, and the work hours/work life balance is also pretty intense (90 hour weeks are hardly uncommon.) Law degrees are a bit of work, but very flexible. It's not so much 'study law = become a lawyer = profit' any more.

Another major destination for (arts)/law grads is the public service (the federal and various state) public services. The usual way in here is through the grad programs. Pretty competitive, but a bit less then becoming a solicitor. Obviously, working for the APS (federal) will necessitate living in Canberra, but you could apply for the SA public service (I'm not sure if the NT has a grad program, or even a public service for that matter ). So yeah, government/public policy is where quite a few law grads end up.

Not really able to comment on journalism. But I wouldn't worry too much about actually doing a degree called journalism. With the right work experience/internships during undergrad you could set yourself up just as well as a journalism graduate. There's probably a journalism major within the arts degree as well, but be careful not to focus too much on it - don't want to put all your eggs in one basket.

[ninwa]

Sounds like your interests would align with arts/law

Re what else you can do - read this
what can I do with a law degree?

A law degree definitely doesn't constrain you to a life of being a lawyer.

Re journalism - I don't know that much about journalism, but my boss at my old job used to work for News Corp and according to him the industry is saturated and shrinking - there are massive cuts in all of the major news companies so it's tough.

I think you can do a journalism major in your arts degree but (I'm pretty sure) you would have to travel to Caulfield campus for your classes so that might be a bit annoying.

Re rural law - depends on what you want to do - I think it'll be slightly easier to get a job in a rural area but only if you're happy handling minor matters e.g. traffic infringements or divorce applications. If you want to do big corporate law or significant criminal law kind of stuff then rural is probably not a good choice. But again I don't know that much about it - have a read of the resources on this website if you're interested - http://rrrlaw.com.au/

Pretty sure the market in all major cities will be about the same i.e. dismal lol. If you're particularly interested in Indigenous law then NT might be the place for you - had a friend who did an internship with the Aurora program and really loved it - the only downside is the heat lol

[Fyrefly]

I think you can do a journalism major in your arts degree but (I'm pretty sure) you would have to travel to Caulfield campus for your classes so that might be a bit annoying.

Re rural law - depends on what you want to do - I think it'll be slightly easier to get a job in a rural area but only if you're happy handling minor matters e.g. traffic infringements or divorce applications. If you want to do big corporate law or significant criminal law kind of stuff then rural is probably not a good choice.

Monash has a free shuttle bus between Caulfield and Clayton campuses. So getting between these two campuses is not as bad as you'd first imagine if you went to google maps and looked up the public transport route.

Nina's rural lawyers comment reminded me of this.

[brenden]

Caulfield is also only like 13 minutes on the train from Huntingdale so like 17 minutes travel time all up, which is pretty quick considering.

[miaow]

Thanks for the replies guys! Definitely a few things to think about. I've been struggling with a bit of self doubt and uncertainty, so much appreciated 

[chasej]

Monash has a free shuttle bus between Caulfield and Clayton campuses. So getting between these two campuses is not as bad as you'd first imagine if you went to google maps and looked up the public transport route.

Nina's rural lawyers comment reminded me of this.

Even without the shuttle it isn't to bad. In fact I go through Caulfield campus/station everyday to and from uni and often it quicker to take the train than the shuttle given the shuttle goes every 16 minutes and can be held up by Dandenong Rd traffic at peak times.