Struggling between applying to t14 law schools and t15 mBA Programs
Hey guys,
Ever since I was 7, it was my dream of becoming a lawyer. My uncle and aunt work in biglaw, and I always felt it was a natural path as I am super strong in writing, reading, being logical/analytical. I graduated from a T25 undergrad with a 3.75 GPA in History, and got a 171 on my LSAT. The past 3.5 years, I've been working in commercial real estate, and because of that, the MBA option has also opened up. I was initially interested in a dual JD/MPP, so I took the GRE and have a score of 163Q and 169V.
I'm pretty sure I will be competitive for T14 law schools and have a good chance at T15 MBA programs. Hopefully with law schools at least I could get a better scholly at the lower T14s. That said, law school is an additional year (not to mention the opportunity cost), and the more I've learned, the more crazy it sounds. For biglaw, you need to got a T14, and there you need to get into the top halfish of the class in terms of grades (although to be fair you do get more leeway the higher up you go in the T14). And being in the top half is no assured thing - grading is harsh - for most classes, your entire grade is determined by the end of the semester final exam which is curved, meaning you can't be good in the absolute but must beat your peers. And that it's extremely grueling. And then you have to take the bar and go through that whole rigorous certification process. And while the actual work of biglaw litigation sounds interesting to me, and biglaw in NYC pays $190k out of law school, you'll spend the first years in biglaw doing monkey work basically, including dreaded "doc review." All while working pretty damn long hours. And you have to pay off $300k in loans if you pay sticker. And law school is bimodal where if you strike out of Biglaw either due to poor grades or shitty interviewing, you could likely end up with a $50k or $60k jo. In-house corporate law jobs that pay six figs with better work/life balance are usually for ex-BigLaw associates who got burned out. BigFed also pays lower with better work life balance but hard to crack straight out of law school. And prestigious public interest law jobs don't pay well.
Meanwhile, with an MBA, you have a much broader range of options. Yes, you have management consulting and investment banking with insane hours (especially IB, more so than biglaw, and consulting has draining travel), but both have exit opps into in house options like biglaw (corp strat and corp dev respectively) with good pay and better work life balance. At H/S (maybe Wharton) cool VC/PE/HF type jobs also open to you.
But an MBA opens doors to many six fig jobs with great relative work life balance like CPG brand management, tech product management, PMM in tech, general management/rotational programs/LDPs at f500 companies, potentially corporate strat type jobs, HR LDPs, etc. MBA programs in the T15 are hard to get into, but once you're there, grades don't matter with grade non disclosure so the environment is a lot more lovey dovey let's have fun and party rather than law school where everyone is crazy serious. Recruiting at MBA programs can be quite intense though, but a lot of people call the MBA one of the best times of their lives and a two year paid vacation. And it's one year less than law school so less debt + lower opportunity cost + more versatility in terms of job options including ones that pay six figs while maintaining good work life balance.
I just wanted to get your guyses thoughts, because for so long, I thought my skillset of being good at liberal arts and being logical/analytical lent itself well to being a biglaw corporate lawyer. But now I'm seriously consider the MBA route. Thanks!
PS: I've considered the MBA/JD dual degree route, but most people say it's a waste of time and money as 99.9% of the time you'll end up only utilizing one degree. And if you're say a corporate lawyer wanting to learn more about business you can learn everything yourself or just take MBA classes, and if you're an MBA, a JD won't help with anything.
I never considered law as strongly as you did, but there was a time when I did consider it. Couple of random thoughts I have:
Nearly every lawyer I've talked to seems to hate it. Whether its the client facing aspect, the monotony, it seems like a fair amount of lawyers are miserable. While there are a share of bankers/consultants who don't love their jobs, I feel like I get the "I hate my life" sentiment from people in business less
Financially speaking, law pays less than most business functions and will likely trail in terms of earnings for a long time. Big Law is very structured in terms of pay. You can look it up on sites like above the law. Year 1, you'll make about 200k and by year 8/9 you'll be at $350k or so. Of course, if you make partner the earnings can go up tremendously but if you compare banking or consulting salaries to that, they outpace it by a lot. With that being said, if you enjoy law more, the money won't really matter in the long run. Personally, I gravitate more towards finance, so even tough I'd hate to be a life-time banker, I'd rather be a banker than a lawyer.
Law school is a grind, it's going to be tougher and more academically rigorous than an MBA and it seems like you've identified that.
Law is more prestigious, if that matters to you.
As much as a JD/MBA doesn't make sense for anyone, if you think you want to scratch the intellectual challenge itch of getting your JD, do a three year JD/MBA program. Yes, it will cost you a little more and you'll work harder, but at least you'll 100% know whether or not you want to be a lawyer or not. You'll do 1 year of law school, get a big law internship and then you'll get to do a year of MBA and an MBA internship and you can decide after that. It sounds to me like you know rationally that law doesn't make as much sense, but you're still slightly intrigued by it and kind of want to try it given your family experience and general academic orientation.