@judahtravis Hi, everyone. Just returning to this. So that no one has to take my word for it, here is some reporting from Wired about the state of work and the next-steps of layoffs. The article states, "Anyone who can afford to leave is hoping to be laid off and receive the 16 weeks minimum of severance and 18 months of paid health care that come with it."

https://www.wired.com/story/meta-layoffs-bad-vibes-mark-zuckerberg-ai/

Four months of severance. Add onto that the value of stocks you might get to walk away with (there are always rules about this.) Add onto that, the Unemployment compensation you may receive in your state. Tighten your budget if you can, and you can eek it out to 8 to 12 months. Twelve months of security for you, your family if you have one, and paid-for study time!

I'm in WA State, which calculates Unemployment this way: your weekly benefit amount equals the average of your two hightest quarters average income x ~43%, converted to a weekly distribution. Currently the max is about $1.050 for about 26 weeks-ish. Consider what you can do with that time: $4,000 per month for aprox. an additional 26 weeks.

Just sayin'. xo

Don't quit. Do both. Study. Get your 165, apply, and get admitted, but don't quit. Work on parallel plans. If you're swinging between trees, don't let go of one branch before you have the next branch firmly in your grasp.

I've been a senior corporate recruiter for 12+ years and have worked for FAANG companies, so I know the participants, patterns, and outcomes. We are experiencing historic, tectonic shifts to reduce headcount in hiring, work allocation, job responsibilities— all of it, everything about work— driven by AI (or what companies think they can do with AI) and will remake entire industries. Already, in workforce analysis circles, social sciences, OPsych, and HR groups, they are drawing a line of demarcation between "before AI" and "after AI." The shift AI will bring to the workforce is nothing short of the Industrial Revolution.

If you're a project manager, the impact on your job and other similar jobs cannot and must not be underestimated.

Apply to your favorite schools, and if you get in, go for it. If you don't get in, stick it out with your job. If you get RIFd before you can apply again, you'll get a juicy departure package that can fund your life for six months or maybe a year if you're frugal, effectively paying you to study for the LSAT for the next cycle. Either way, you'll have a plan, be focused, and be funded.