public interest student dealing with big law or bust friends
i’m really just posting this to see if i’m thinking too much because i am a pretty sensitive person, full disclaimer. but i go to a pretty high ranked school where most of the student body is big law or bust (or maybe that’s all law schools?). & obviously that’s totally fine, BL has just never been my thing and i came to law school solely to work in the public sector. ofc most of my friends are BL focused.
my issue is they make it a habit to throw in my face that i’m not getting paid pretty frequently. i’m a 2L that landed bronx defenders in NYC for the summer, which is my dream location after law school, and almost every single congratulations has to come with “but not getting paid is crazy work.” or they’ll say how public defense is interesting they just can’t imagine not making money, that they HAVE to make money after graduation and couldn’t see themselves doing what i do, etc. like okay i get it…but damn am i wrong to say i wouldnt say things like that to somebody? i feel like i just move with more tact. like damn can people just say congratulations and move on 😭😭 i’ve had someone ask how i feel about NOT getting paid and im like “yeah it sucks, but im doing what i love” and the response was “couldn’t be me.”
it’s becoming such a common occurrence where i don’t even want to talk about career/work things anymore bc i know the responses. i do wish people (mainly my friends) would stop throwing the monetary aspect in my face, it’s like it dims my mood or whatever, but then again i can def be overthinking and idk if they even mean to do it intentionally :/ i also don’t know if it’s worth saying anything in fear of sounding jealous that they’re getting paid and im not so idk how to kindly ask them to stop LOL. thoughts anybody? any other PI students deal with this?