Catherine Jarett, 2010 Law School Graduate
Keep Moving, Keep Learning
Catherine Jarett had an interesting career before she decided to enroll at Purdue Global Law School. Truth be told, she had two successful careers.
“My first career was actually chemical engineering. I have a master’s in chemical engineering. I went to Cornell for my bachelor’s and Berkeley for my master’s. And I did that for a lot of years. And then I totally switched fields and I started managing a contracts group for Genentech. So that’s when I got really interested in the law.”
She also had a lot on her plate with responsibilities outside of work. “I was a single mom and just couldn’t figure out how to do it. And then when my daughter went to college and was ready to graduate, I found out about Purdue Global Law School and it was perfect, because I didn’t have to stop my life, I could just keep working.”
A Non-Traditional Solution
Catherine learned that the quality of the education she achieved at Purdue Global outpaced those of even traditional schools. “It turned out to be very challenging and very good. I think I actually got a better law education than many of my friends who went to traditional law schools—it was amazing."
Experience Made Stronger
Catherine notes the extreme satisfaction she found upon completion with a sense of accomplishment. “Well, first of all, just the feeling of accomplishment of actually doing something I’d wanted to do for years and doing it well. And that was really good—it was an awesome experience.”
Being Your Own Guide
On the path to her education, Catherine had times where she needed to chart her own path. Purdue Global’s unique structure made this possible, and also let her develop skills that a traditional education possibly would not. “I think one of the other advantages of Purdue Global Law School is that because you are on your own so much, you don’t wait for people to show you how to do things. You just figure out how to do them and you go out and you do them. And you learn how to do the research and you learn how to become expert on a subject. . . . I think in a regular law school where you’re kind of on a schedule and you’re fed all those things, you’re not encouraged to develop those skills as much.
Bringing More to the Table
Among her Purdue Global experiences, Catherine mentions the advantage some students have when coming from disparate backgrounds and experiences. “At Purdue Global, you’re dealing with people who are all—have a lot of life experience and a lot of different backgrounds. And so you learn a lot of things outside of the law that really come to bear on your practice of law, and help you be a better lawyer.”
Catherine loved her experience at Purdue Global Law School and is enjoying her new—and third—career.
“I’m in-house counsel for a medical diagnostics firm. I love what I do now. I support a sales team for selling big scale diagnostic equipment. I’m their person they go to. I negotiate directly with a lot of huge organizations doing multi-million dollar contracts and it’s really fun.”