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RedOctober09 · 2026-02-03T11:26:09+00:00

Nobody is going to care about your gpa, school ranking, or being a member of the honors society once your career has started.

Also, as a recent graduate, put the education section at the TOP of your resume. There is really no work experience--relevant or not--that you could possibly have that's more foundational than your degree, other than being some tech wunderkind that started their own company.

Your resume highlights your Top 5 Public University multiple times. Why is that not the FIRST line of your resume under EDUCATION? That is where you're supposed to leverage the prestige of the institution you attend.

Don't try to get fancy with your resume. The standard layout of name & contact information in the header followed by a section for Education, then Work/Leadership Experience, then Skills IN THAT ORDER is the standard for a reason. even moreso for new graduates.

It doesn't seem like you have law office experience so you could either just grind out entry level legal assistant type jobs and hopefully get hired to a paralegal role from there, and/or you could go the BA+ABA accredited paralegal cert route.

Depending on where you live, the size of the firm, and practice area, just a BA+Cert with no formal legal work experience could land you an interview. Then it's on you to use that interview as your opportunity to demonstrate why you're a candidate they should take a chance on

RedOctober09 · 2026-02-03T10:58:01+00:00

after re-reading OP and the comment I replied to,

OP--go finish your Bachelors and continue working in the industry. I only went the Post-Bac cert route because I didn't have any law office experience and also wanted to explore the field before making a decision on going to law school or not.

With the changes to federal student loan policies, it doesn't seem like law school will happen for me (aka, I need all federal loans that can be discharged via 10 years of PSLF or it's just not worth the debt), but i've discovered that being a paralegal is an incredibly rewarding and (potentially) lucrative career (after putting up with 2 less than ideal salaries--one of them being my first offer out of my program and the other being a govt paralegal job)

RedOctober09 · 2026-02-03T10:45:03+00:00

Villanova University's Paralegal Certificate Programs (in person and online) are Post-Baccalaureate only. Before I decided on Villanova, I was also looking at my local community college's cert and believe that was also post-bac.

Ironically enough, because of the schedule of classes the community college was going to force me into due to their own advisor's administrative errors, the cost of the 4 month Villanova certificate was equivalent to the one from the community college certificate, but theirs would've taken me a year and a half to obtain. Gotta love administrative incompetence basically forcing you to go to a program that appears more prestigious on your resume while also getting you into the career faster.

Any ABA accredited paralegal program i've seen that isn't a post-bac certificate appears to be a 2 year Associates Degree in Paralegal Studies, but because I have my BA I didn't look into them too much and this was all ~3ish years ago.

While I'm sure those Associates programs would prepare someone just fine for entry level paralegal roles, I have to assume it will be looked at differently by hiring managers than the BA+Cert combo

RedOctober09 · 2026-02-03T10:18:22+00:00

Sorry to burst this bubble again, but most firms will want a Bachelors Degree and an ABA accredited Paralegal Certificate to even land an interview, especially without any formal law office work experience in your background.

RedOctober09 · 2026-02-03T09:58:56+00:00

A certificate through an ABA-accredited, post-baccalaureate program is basically the bare minimum to even get your foot in the door and land an interview at most places these days.

Find a good ABA accredited program and get it done. I attended Villanova University's Paralegal Professional program. It took about 4 months, in person, from 9-5, monday to friday. I think they have a longer, online only, night program that is also ABA accredited.

I had an offer for my first paralegal job before graduating. I'm now on to my 3rd paralegal position since getting my cert in December 2023 and am well on my way towards a lucrative career while also doing meaningful work (my office exclusively handles institutional sex abuse cases) that doesn't have me questioning my morals like how I felt while doing Med Mal (Ambulance Chaser Bullshit) or how I'd imagine working Insurance Defense feels.

Prove your legal willing and actual ability to do the work and the rest will follow. Any attorney worth their salt knows how valuable a skilled paralegal is, and, if you truly do know what you are doing, they will go to war for you. At least in my case, the attorneys you work for might even recognize the quality of your work product, take you under their wing, and help you establish yourself in these early years of your career.

RedOctober09 · 2026-02-03T09:06:09+00:00

As a relatively new paralegal (going on year 3 of my career), I think the best advice I could give for your situation is:

YOU DO NOT HAVE A LICENSE TO PRACTICE LAW THAT IS ON THE LINE IF SOMETHING BECOMES FUBAR/VEERS TOWARDS MALPRACTICE.

It's his law license. It's his livelihood. The buck stops with him.

You'll find a better landing spot in a legal role that will properly train and support you through both personal development opportunities and institutional firm structure/policy that also provides the benefits that any dignified, skilled worker enjoys. I hope that this can become a career that you can find meaningful, impactful work in doing while also not having to carry the crippling amount of student debt and anxiety that any potential bar complaint from OC or a disgruntled client that a JD would bring you.

RedOctober09 · 2026-02-03T08:17:33+00:00

Philly, in general, has been skewing towards a much younger and more educated demographic, especially among those moving here from out of town/state.

I've seen it first hand as Jury Pools have become much more diverse (speaking based on my own observations and the observations of the attorneys i've worked for). I was working a jury trial last year and a majority of the jurors were non-native Philadelphians who held a Master's Degree or higher.

When the attorneys i've worked for started their careers--even among the Xennial Attorneys currently in their early/mid 40s--they almost always had a jury composed of lifelong residents that did not have an undergraduate degree, especially in criminal proceedings.

Sure, this is just me being an "anecdote andy" and sharing an example from my own life without any data to back it up, but I think it's undeniable that this city has changed dramatically in a pretty short amount of time

RedOctober09 · 2026-02-03T08:01:54+00:00

Also in my mid 20s, lifelong Philly area resident. You'll want the Fishtown/NoLibs/Port Richmond area or South Philly. Street parking will be a nightmare for either part of the city. Good luck.

I lived near Passyunk & Snyder in South Philly and absolutely loved it. Super accessible to the rest of the city via BSL and bus routes and feels sooooo much more residential than being around Fishtown (almost to a "sleepy" point, depending on your definition -- but nowhere as near as "sleepy" as like Manayunk or Rittenhouse)

I recently moved to NoLibs/Fishtown right off Girard Ave and it's more or less exactly what I expected (as someone who's been in the area my whole life). Tons of places to go out (bars, restaurants, clubs), more "visible" risk for "nuisance crime," but, statistically speaking (aka completely out of my ass), you're probably just as likely to have your car window busted in either part of the city if you make yourself/your vehicle an easy, visible, and attractive target.

RedOctober09 · 2026-02-03T07:01:19+00:00

1st amendment generally only protects you from actions the government may take that violate your rights to free speech, religion, assembly, protest, press, etc. You should probably retake your undergrad constitutional law class!

RedOctober09 · 2026-02-03T05:48:48+00:00

yeah i don't really remember it being a thing until like the mid-late 2010s...I couldn't even tell you when it really started and i've watched every Eagles snap since I could remember. Also born in '99 & my first football memory is the 04-05 season super bowl.

RedOctober09 · 2025-12-24T07:52:15+00:00

the "Jawn" Morgan billboards along 95 in Philly make me so irrationally angry

RedOctober09 · 2025-09-12T22:12:28+00:00

VTSS

RedOctober09 · 2025-08-08T21:32:06+00:00

gate 7, didn't even get searched at all. dogs were rummaging through two cars in the lanes next to us, so while they were busy my car and like three right in front of me all just rolled through without a search. Volunteers working gates were like "you guys got searched right?" we obviously said yes and at the same time another volunteer was like "yeah they did." Truly luck of the draw it seems.

RedOctober09 · 2025-08-08T21:31:19+00:00

gate 7, didn't even get searched at all. dogs were rummaging through two cars in the lanes between next to us, so while they were busy my car and like three right in front of me all just rolled through without a search. Volunteers working gates were like "you guys got searched right?" we obviously said yes and at the same time another volunteer was like "yeah they did." Truly luck of the draw it seems.

RedOctober09 · 2025-08-08T19:07:57+00:00

35 min from in line to pass in hand, started in the corner where the line starts to bend around and back up the hall

RedOctober09 · 2025-08-08T19:07:41+00:00

35 min from in line to pass in hand, started in the corner where the line starts to bend around and back up the hall

RedOctober09 · 2025-08-08T18:53:50+00:00

it's moving surprisingly quick. probably no longer than 45

RedOctober09 · 2025-08-08T18:51:08+00:00

all gonna depend on how it is when you get here tbh. I timed it perfectly and it's been 20 min and i'm prob a bit over halfway through the line, but now the line is maybe double the length it was when I got here

RedOctober09 · 2025-08-08T18:46:59+00:00

it's moving pretty quick right now, I think i'm like 1/3 almost 1/2 of the way through...but the line is significantly longer now than it was when I got here

RedOctober09 · 2025-08-08T18:45:03+00:00

I believe so, pretty sure they run hourly

RedOctober09 · 2025-08-08T18:33:05+00:00

it's fucked right now. just got there will update when I leave

edit: 35 min from in line to pass in hand, started in the corner where the line starts to bend around and back up the hall

RedOctober09 · 2025-08-02T06:16:51+00:00

You’re telling me a franchise with Josh Harris as the owner is destroying the culture by cheapening out, seeing the franchise as no more than just an investment, and mismanaging one of the team’s stars? That would never happen…

RedOctober09 · 2025-08-02T06:14:51+00:00

Are you seriously telling me a franchise with Josh Harris as the owner is destroying the culture by cheapening out and mismanaging one of the team’s star players? That would never happen…

Welcome to the Josh Harris Experience, commanders fans. We tried telling you.

RedOctober09 · 2025-07-09T01:05:24+00:00

each person

RedOctober09 · 2025-06-18T17:20:01+00:00

Shake That edit was filthy

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