Decisions, decisions: Finance, Law, Workforce, School… and what it’s in between.

First and foremost, I would like to thank my fellow monkey commentators and the creators of the site for all their help and collaborative spirit. Although, I have never posted any questions before, I have taken advantage of the various wise comments on the website. As this is my first inquiry, I would truly appreciate your indulgence if any or all of my inquiries have already been answered on a previous thread or may sound a bit raw. Here is my situation:

After graduation, I joined a big four consulting firm where I had mainly served a big financial corporation on a project that involved creating and executing a compensation strategy for fraudulent foreclosures under a Fed Order. Being an international student, I had some issues obtaining my H1B “Work Visa” as I had received a Fulbright a few years back and had to fulfill a home residency requirement I was not ready to do. Thanks to my evals, language skills, and a lot of luck, I was able to transfer to the Paris office after spending a bit less than a year with the US office. As the French practice is very small and is mostly focusing on its technology practice, I was serendipitously staffed on an ERP implementation project. It has been a year now, and technology (as a function) is just not a career path I am keen on. It’s been a year now since I have had the IT consultant label and now I am trying to own and redirect my career.

At school, I majored in finance & econ and always thought I would do IB after graduation. After the crisis, I started reevaluating my career choices. I decided I would start with some consulting work to gain some business and operational knowledge, get an MBA or JD/MBA, then do PE. On a side note, I have also always considered going to Law School.

As I am tired of ERP work and living in Paris (yes, my friends… life in Paris is not as glamorous it may seem), I attempted to get my Canadian permanent residency, which I should obtain in 10 months at the latest. So, here are the options I am considering:

- Doing some heavy networking and transferring to the Canadian practice’s corporate finance branch of my consulting firm, get my MBA, then PE. Or try to join a PE directly without an MBA.

- Attending McGill for an LLB/BCL or an LLB/BCL/MBA (Keeping in mind that I would be paying close to nothing for my tuition if I am accepted… I am also leaning towards just the LLB/BCL as I am not too sure about the Desautel School of Business), while preparing for my CFA exams. Potentially, I would spend 3 years in biglaw and then may be shift to finance afterwards. I know that it is very very VERY hard to shift from law to finance, but I still remain optimistic. Even, if say that would not be possible I would not mind practicing law before doing what I want to end up doing: Entrepreneurship.

- Attending HEC Montreal for a master in Finance, then join a PE upon graduation. However, I am just not too sure about the value of the master’s degree being from HEC Montreal and just value of an MIF in general.

The thing is I am considering way more options, such as applying to other consulting firms and what not. However, I would truly appreciate your feedback regarding the 3 aforementioned options. It is also important to mention that I really want to go back to school and engage in a stimulating intellectual experience (which explains my interest in pursuing a legal education). I know that the latest trend is to do as little schooling as possible and get out of there with the least debt possible. However, I did my undergrad with zero debt and I am planning to do the same thing again for my next academic journey. So, this is not an issue.

Thank you in advance for all your insightful answers and I will remain at your disposal should you need any clarification.

Cheers.