Hey guys,
This should be my last post asking for advice for a while as I think I'll have everything just about figured out. Right now, I am in law school. The corresponding business school isn't good enough to do a dual degree program, and I'd rather wait and save it anyways in case I find that I don't like what I am doing or how I am getting paid. (The law school rank isn't that stellar either) That being said, I have a question about whether it makes sense to study for the GMAT. I've already paid for the prep, so it doesn't cost me anything else to study for it, and I only lose $99 if I don't. I have prior bad scores when I took it in undergrad and studied for a two days and a week respectively. I know the GMAT is sometimes asked about, but could I just not disclose it?
The only other "valid" reason to take it I can think of is that it does last five years, and it doesn't really hurt me to study for it because I can take my time over the course of the next ten to eleven months. However, I am not sure that I would even be able to use it within five years. Law school will take me two, and so I'd only get two years of work experience before I'd begin applying(which would add up to 3 total because I had a year before law school, and I'd work after applications so I would have four by the time I entered.) The counter to that is that I'll be around 30, and it will progressively become more and more difficult to go back to school after, if not before. On that front though, I don't have anything in the works as I am single.
As far as the CFA goes, I highly doubt that I could pass two levels by the time I graduated. I'll be taking 60 hours over the next two years, and I'll have to write a 30 page paper. The 30 page paper year would most likely be due the same year as the CFA level II, and law school is setup so that April to May are ruined for anything other than law school. Whether I could or not, I think it's best to evaluate it as if I cannot complete both for right now, and I can revaluate level II if I pass level I. So, the question is whether studying for the CFA level I from now until next July is worthwhile. I don't think it will hurt my grades so long as I respect the fact that I won't be able to touch it in April to May and November to December. I am interested in hf, am, or pwm so I know it lines up there. But at the same time, I would take pe or vc in a heartbeat. So, it is possible that I'll end up taking level I and never trying level II. Will it help my cause two years from now when I go to get a job if I decide I don't want to be a lawyer?
Thanks for the help.
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Why are you going to law school?
I made a mistake going, but I've already done a year and have kickass grades and my school is cheap so there's no reason not to finish.
There's always an opportunity cost. In this case it might mostly be your time, but you could be using that time to network towards a job you actually want/launch a startup/develop useful skills.
BreakingOutOfPWM So, I am actively applying for attorney positions. However, affirmative action is especially crushing in the legal profession because of how many white males there already are in that profession. So, I am looking to hedge basically. I want to do finance law anyways; I don't see it as a huge reach to actually doing finance.
In a nutshell, I personally think that getting the CFA to hedge your bets is crazy. I know JD/CFAs who say that level II is harder than the bar exam (of course, that may depend on which state, but I've heard that from more than one). It is a massive commitment and will be even worse while you're enrolled in school. I probably studied 300-400 hours for Level II. If you were 100% set on leaving law and pursuing finance, than it would probably make more sense, but it sounds like you realize you need to be on your A game to stay competitive for law positions.
I'm not trying to sway your career goals one way or the other, I'm just warning you that the time commitment for the CFA might be greater than you think.
As an aside, I know that some HF/PE shops like attorneys, but I've only heard of them taking ones with specialized experience (I could be wrong, that's just what I've seen from the outside in). So a firm that invests in healthcare might take a former drug patent attorney or some shit like that; a hedge fund might want an attorney with relevant litigation experience to their strategy, etc. Etc etc. AM I'm not sure, I've seen a lot in PWM who transitioned after practicing but I guess it's possible they could take people right after law school who show they know what they're talking about.
The GMAT makes more sense if you're fairly certain you want to do b-school. You can always retake it later if need be. I know you took it in undergrad but from what I heard from consultants in my app process the top schools don't give a shit how many times you take anymore, they just need your top score for their metrics.
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