Hey everyone,

I know I’m probably going to get flamed for this but I’m looking for some detailed advice from some fellow Fatwalleters who might have made, or thought about making the decision I’m going through.

Here's my situation, I’m going to be a junior in college graduating with a degree in Finance and minor in Economics. From the start of my college career I have looked toward eventually going into law school and my competitive academic record and gpa make this a very achievable goal, however I also am struggling with the fact that I could go on to get an MBA. I've been told that the majority of people who get an MBA do so after spending time working, and I’m reluctant about that since once I start working I might not get around to it like I will if I commit to something right out of college. So here are my questions:

1. Has anyone been in this situation and made a choice one way or the other?
2. I know law has a high degree of dissatisfaction among people who are lawyers. I think I would enjoy law but it’s very hard to know without actual experience in the field. Does anyone know of/work in a field of law that has a lot to do with finance, since it's a major interest of mine?
3. For those of you with MBAs, has anyone entered straight out of college, and if not, how easy was it for you to return to get an MBA once employed?
4. I know they are very different degrees, and because of the high dissatisfaction in the law field, what advantages would a law degree hold if I went to law school but instead of practicing law directly, used my Finance/Law background to work in the area of Finance?
5. Money. What's more cost effective? I know its very hard to gauge how much one would make with an MBA over a JD because you can be a one man show in a rural town or a big partner in a huge firm. But in your opinion, which is the more valuable degree with more potential for increased income.

I appreciate everyone who is willing to help me out with his or her knowledge and advice. I have had very little in the way of first hand advice from those who are actually in the field and hope this thread can help to expand my knowledge (and others in my situation).

Study for and take the LSAT and see how you feel afterwards. As tired and beat up after that 6-8 hour ordeal is (if I remember correctly, with breaks here and there), imagine feeling like that every day for a year or longer if you decide to stay.

Also, imagine having professors intellectually beat up the students on a daily basis and feeling like you're in front of a firing squad and getting no grades on anything all semester until final exams which last 3-4 hours each and you will have no clue what exactly will be on the test and how exactly to frame your 10-20 pages of essay answers.

Then after 3 years of that imagine taking a series of tests that take two weeks long.

I will be looking at Graduate school myself in the next year. I will have a BA in Business: Marketing from SDSU (one of the better schools for business is the state compared to public and even some private schools). I want to become a pilot and while I could just go on from the BA to a specific training with an authorized instructor, I am trying to figure out if it would be better to have the MBA as a fall back plan as oppossed to the BA. But the opprotunity cost is the time wasted I could have been training.

Now you will probably get flamed for mentioning the law school part, except for by CN47, but I have only seen it to be a personal situation from one individual to another. No one can really tell you how to run your life or what is better because the biggest cost of this is not the money, but the time. My mother just graduated last semester from a NorCal Univ. (NO NOT THE 91 YEAR OLD IN THE NEWS!) with her MBA and says she wishes she would have done that right out of college but had my sister and then me and this was the first she really even needed the MBA to move up in her job. Unfortunatley, hindsight is 20/20 following you decision, but good luck making the right one.

PS I flamed you

BillRHIT said:But, ask any lawyer is he'd trade his job for a job at McDonald's making 1/5th or so of the money. My bet is no one would.

If I could make 1/5 of my salary for a job at McDonald's... Wait, what would I be doing at McDonald's? If I'd still be practicing law, then forget it. Flipping burgers, you've got a deal.

thejuice said:Stiggzz said:Study for and take the LSAT and see how you feel afterwards. As tired and beat up after that 6-8 hour ordeal is (if I remember correctly, with breaks here and there), imagine feeling like that every day for a year or longer if you decide to stay.

Also, imagine having professors intellectually beat up the students on a daily basis and feeling like you're in front of a firing squad and getting no grades on anything all semester until final exams which last 3-4 hours each and you will have no clue what exactly will be on the test and how exactly to frame your 10-20 pages of essay answers.

Then after 3 years of that imagine taking a series of tests that take two weeks long.

I cannot agree with these sentiments as a recent law school graduate (5/06) myself.

Can it be hard work? Yes. Are there long days? Sometimes. But it's not always grueling and intense (and I was as "busy" as they're supposed to come - law review, law review editorial board etc).

On the whole, I found the experience to be quite rewarding. I love my job, I love my work - it's been a great experience thus far. The biggest drawback for me personally was the cost. I went to a private school that is incredibly expensive - so do consider the cost of schooling before your dive in.

Also, as you may find out through responses on here and elsewhere: people either loved law school and being a lawyer, or can't stand either experience. I think much of this has to do with one's general demeanor and personality. For instance, as a first-year, when everyone has the exact same amount of work to do - you'll find that some 1Ls will complain about their workload to other diligent, content, and non-complaining 1Ls (with the exact same amount of work).

You should cautiously listen to the responses re: law school/legal jobs, and look at the overall personality of the person when weighing their responses. Miserable people will be unhappy whether they're a lawyer or not, and those who complain will do so no matter their situation. Good luck no matter your choice.

Don't confuse a person's personality with work ethic. I worked my tail off, was one of the quiet ones, was told my argument on my first appellate brief was one of the best my professor had heard (got an A on the brief too) and got a 3.3 for the year. And I still hated it. Lots and lots of practicing attorneys are alcoholics (higher % than the regular population). It's not for everyone isn't the same as it's only for the hard workers.

One thing to consider with law school is that only the top schools, and top graduates get the jobs at the big firms... There are a lawyers that don't
make that great of salaries...

A good friend of mine graduated in the top 3% of his class in chemical engineering at UT, and then went to UT law, and graduated top 5%... He came out with 135,000 in student loans, lived hella cheap and paid them off in 1 year with a large firm salary... He works 70 hours a week...

If you can get into a top school and graduate at the top you can do very well, but will work a lot of hours.... What do you want out of life?

Geo123 - I was sharing my experience in law school with the OP - not looking for you to pick apart every word I say line by line. It's a discussion forum. Discuss (not attack). The attack forum is probably what you do for a living, given your defensive response to my post - and your nasty reply shows another lovely trait of lawyers which I won't mention here as I'm sure your mother tells you often.

Feel free to click the little negative button, as I will with you.

Cut and dry this is a personal decision. You told us your major, but what are your aspirations in life? All I get from your post is money (although you hint at finance...but after only two years in Ugrad, do you really know. Have you even taken an upper-level class yet?).

An MBA or JD can lead to the same ends, and neither have to be management or law related, respectively. But IMHO, any potential employer you interview with after attaining either advanced degree is going to want to see some related experience, especially in the corporate world...practicing law, maybe not so much beyond interships during the summers; a JD working at an accounting firm or tax firm, most definately.

Working for a few years after Ugrad is not such a bad thing, and will give you a better idea what you may want to do in life. Either degree is a large financial and or time commitment, and at the outset the whole experience may seem glamourous, but it really is not. Your family and friends might be impressed with you, must most do not feel that way while going through it.

I cannot speak for the MBA programs out there, but Law school can be a humbling experience to those that excelled in other areas of higher education; it is a trudge through your first year, then a slow winding road the rest of the way. Even the most diligent student can get burnt out competing against the best of the best from our nation's various colleges (someone give me a push...just one more year to go). Ugrad to me was just about making an effort, as most students are not prepared or willing to do so...as long as you try and put forth a real effort, you can get that A. Advanced degree programs are another story. Everyone is willing to work; everyone wants the opportunities that come from graduating at the top of your class. Those few that do not work hard fall to the bottom or drop out.

I think in the end, with either an MBA or a JD you will have many more opportunities than most with just a 4-year BA or BS degree. But it all depends what you do along the way and what you do with the degree once you have it. Graduate from a top school, the doors open for you; graduate at the top of your class from a good school, some doors open, others do not. Graduate from a good school in the middle of your class or from some unknown regional school, you better create your own doors or know how to push your way in somewhere.

Stiggzz said:Geo123 - I was sharing my experience in law school with the OP - not looking for you to pick apart every word I say line by line. It's a discussion forum. Discuss. Feel free to click the little negative button, as I will with you.Again, what specifically about your experience that you disliked? Drawing a false analogy between the exhaustion one feel after taking a standardized test and the way the OP will feel "for a year or longer" doesn't tell us much. Instead of telling us just how miserable you were, list some of the REASONS that you felt that way. What are these series of two week long tests that you refer to?

The hours in law school are exhausting. My class lectures were about 3 hours each, twice a week per class. When you go home you get to read cases (edit: TONS OF CASES, 2-3 hours of reading per class) which for the most part can be summarized by your professor in 2 minutes. All but two of my professors used the rapid fire questioning that was very stressful (yes it prepared one for the career) but it was a shock coming out of undergrad to have a nasty torts professor sticking her finger in your face acting as if you were the defendant in the case at hand if you said the wrong thing. I compared it to the LSAT because both were time consuming, stressful, unenjoyable (wastes of time) in my life.

I stuck it out a year because I got a free ride just to show myself I could do it - but I would never personally go back to law school. It's hell in a classroom.

And FYI the state association for all the lawyer drunks in my state came to our 2L ethics class and talked about how lawyers are a bunch of angry bitter drunks, which is why I say proceed with caution and leave if you don't like it when talking about law school.