Law
After graduation with an undergraduate degree I plan to attend law school. Having a Political Science degree will allow me to pass the Law School Aptitude Test that is requited to get into law school. Following law school there are many different opportunities and career paths from which I can choose. While there will be many different options for me, I have decided that I will take the most traditional route and become an attorney. There are several different types of lawyers that I and other graduates will be able to become.
Types of Attorneys
There are many types of attorneys. There are too many to list them all. The four types of lawyers that I am interested in possibly becoming are criminal defense attorney, civil rights attorney, family attorney, and corporate attorney.
Attorney Job Description/Qualifications
Being an attorney is a difficult job. There are many specific skills one must have to become a successful lawyer. It has been said that the seven qualities needed are, good communication, judgement, analytical, research, and people skills, perseverance, and creativity (Grymer 2018).
In order to become an attorney, one must first graduate from law school with a Juris Doctor. They must then pass the bar examination within the state they wish to practice. As far as qualifications go, beyond the bar exam, it is different for each state. The South Carolina Office of Bar Admissions, for example, does not require you to complete an undergraduate study but does require you to go to an American Bar Association approved law school (“Steps to Become”).
Assessments
In order to fulfill multiple assignments given for my University 110 class, I had to take multiple assessments. These assessments varied in type but mostly had similar underlying themes. I took an interest, a personality, and a values assessment on TypeFocus. Based on my results to these assessments, TypeFocus provided a list of jobs and career paths best suited for me. The next assessment I took was through Clifton Strengths. This assessment provided me with a list of strengths that I exhibit. The results I received on all of these assessments had a lot in common. Based on these results a career as an attorney is well suited for me.
TypeFocus Results
TypeFocus required me to take several assessments in order to receive a list of careers ranked from best fit to worst fit. I completed an interest, a personality, and a values assessment. TypeFocus says that based on my interest assessment and my values assessment I should pursue a career in the path of administrative law judge, adjudicator, or hearing officer. These are all in the same career field as attorney. The values assessment told me that the most important values to me are recognition, achievement and relationships. Recognition requires a job that has room for advancement and promotions. Achievement requires a job that will let me use my strengths in order to feel accomplished. Finally, relationships require a job that allow me to work with people and help them.
The results for the interest survey ranked my top three qualities as social, conventional and investigative. TypeFocus says that because of my socialness I should pursue a career involves a great deal of helping and teaching others. According to the result of conventional I should find a career that involves very strict routines and set ways of going about things. The last result of investigative suggests that I should follow a career path that involves using my mind to solve problems.
Clifton Strengths
Clifton Strengths was a survey that allowed me to acknowledge my top five strengths. My results were restorative, achiever, intellection, context, and responsibility. Restorative means that I am good at identifying problems and quickly solving them. Achiever means that I have a great work motivation and I work hard at everything I do. Intellection means that I like to engage in intellectual conversations. Context means that I base things off of what has happened in the past and I like to examine history. Finally, responsibility means that I am able to take responsibility for things that I say and do.
Why Attorney?
Based on the results of all the assessments that I took attorney seems like a great fit for me. With TypeFocus says that my interests and values will offer me a great career in the field of law. Having a career as an attorney would allow me to use all of the results I received for my interest survey such as, solving difficult problems, helping others, and following a strict routine. This career path would also highly correlate with the results I received for my values such as, having the opportunity to work my way up, and being able to use my strengths to achieve great things. My top two strengths on Clifton Strengths were identifying and solving problems and working hard, both of which are must have qualities to be a lawyer. Also, as of right now, I am pursuing a Bachelor degree in Political Science which will lay a study foundation for getting accepted to law school and making my career in the law field. Based on my results to these assessments and the degree that I am pursuing a job as an attorney would be best suited for me.