Went to Harvard Law School and still feel like a failure.
Hi, I’m new and the title sounds quite depressing, so not a great first impression. But basically as the title reads, I have a JD from Harvard Law School and graduated last year. My academic journey has gone from, Kings College London BA Philosophy (originally Religion, Philosophy and Ethics, but switched course), MA in International Policy from Stanford University, JD Harvard Law School, now possibly considering a PhD from Harvard or Yale, or have even been researching doing another undergrad degree. Yeah I know, I’m collecting academic qualifications and everyone was supportive up until my JD, and now my friends and family are basically screaming at me not to go back to school.
However, the problem I found is that, when I was 18, I basically missed my offer to Cambridge and I wanted to retake my A-Levels and reapply during a gap year (as I needed to bump up my grades to get in, got ABC, yes I know actually awful and caused some trouble during undergrad, so had to clutch up with literally everything else.) But even after those grades, everyone told me not to reapply, and hence I did not, but I really regretted that and so all through my undergrad I basically made sure that I did everything possible to get into a good masters programme and eventually Law School. But I still feel like that decision literally makes me feel so resentful for not reapplying. My course at Cambridge was Theology, Religion and Philosophy of religion as well, as that is where my heart lies and the only reason I chose to switch my course from Religion at KCL was because I knew that a Religion degree at KCL (despite being top 5 in the UK) was not going to cut it for me if I wanted to get into a masters in the US for something non-religion related, and back then I wanted to just earn money.
I know that KCL is highly ranked and everything, but there were 12 people from my school who went to Oxford or Cambridge when I left school at 18, and I really regret not being one of them. Even if I didn’t get in during the gap year, maybe it wouldn’t haunt me as much if I had tried? But saying that, it was this rejection that has fuelled me to literally do everything I have, 100% would not have worked as much otherwise, as the rejection literally put me in a depressive state when I was 18 and I often still get that nagging feeling.
But my point leads on from this, I really want to get into Investment Banking or Trading, is this even possible? I don’t mind doing another MA or an undergrad (as you can tell haha) in something finance related? I am currently working for a top 3 law firm in international law, and have previously worked for an IGO. I’m afraid that if I don’t pursue it I will end up having this grudge and constantly be plagued by the fact that I did not enter IB as I have been wanting to since beginning my JD but was not about to drop out of Harvard law.
Yes, you can get into RX IB with your background, and maybe even without a MBA coming from Harvard Law. But you need to figure out if it's even what you want to do, and if it is, you will need to do the legwork to get opportunities. Harvard Law will get people to take your calls, but it won't be a walk in the park. Look into restructuring, see if it interests you, and then if it does start putting in the legwork.
Thank you!! I am going to start exploring some options to see if this is actually what I want to do but definitely won’t be easy, alas that’s life.
What even draws you to IB? You seem very prestige-focused so i'm wondering why you wouldn't just keep at it at your law firm and progressing.
holy autism
Right? He has an MA from Stanford and a JD from HLS and is still bitter about not going to Cambridge at 18 lmfao.
beside, he went to HLS on top of completing 53 other degrees and still can't put an issue and ask in 3 sentences without losing the essence
because again, what the fuck is this shit
you are good enough as you are. the issue is your mindset and your neurotic obsession with prestige and past choices. nobody cares where you went for undergrad. if having kings college, stanford, harvard, and now big law on your resume can’t make you happy, investment banking wont.
Getting another degree would be a huge waste of money and time - it negates all value from your past 2 degrees, and it also has a literal NEGATIVE marginal benefit in terms of signaling, as it takes you from “smart lawyer who took a while to figure out what they wanted” to “person who can’t commit to actually working and needs to live as a teacher’s pet”.
Assuming money/risk/resume strength isn’t an issue as your relative can give you a mini investment banking internship and you can get 3 private degrees in a row, it’s still a bad choice.
If you do switch to investmen banking, you’ll have less sleep and less money. Then you’ll decide that it isn’t prestigious enough (because frankly it isn’t particularly impressive) and that you need to work at Google or as a quant or a startup founder or some other metric.
Then you’ll realize most quants failed at academia, and decide you need a Nobel prize or fields medal or tenure track at MIT to have true prestige.
Or you’ll spend your time comparing yourself to people who started IB at 22, or people who were born into wealth and have been in the circle since their Ivy-feeder preschools.
Be happy with your big law job. Go buy a gucci bag to scratch your prestige itch and go to therapy. Go bribe someone to give you a Raya referral and fuck some european royalty.
On the off-chance you actually just like learning from skilled people and are muddling it with craving prestige, do skilled hobbies part time on the side of your job, and do things that are actually difficult for you - public speaking classes, dancing, cooking, boxing, whatever.
If u need to bribe someone for a raya referral u not fucking royalty anytime soon lmao
Lmao this comment is so real but tbh if this is how the poster is asking for life advice I feel like they have a lot more underlying problems.. I have a friend whose like this who was really insecure about her academic achievements and so has continually pursued degrees without figuring out what she actually wants to do with her life. Anecdotally she is an Asian woman (I’m guessing OP might be too), and as someone who also has Asian parents this seems to be a common theme based on the kinds of values/expectations they set for their kids growing up. Some therapy might be better than WSO lol
Totally agree with this. Adding another degree would be detrimental to any kind of professional career OP is seeking. The only way it makes sense in my mind is if you want to go back to academia and never leave (PhD).
IB sounds like a bad idea to me because it appears you are only doing it for the prestige factor. I have no idea what a “mini” IB internship is, did you have a real IB internship or not? I ask because I wonder if you even understand the type of work you will be doing? Living in Excel and re-arranging PowerPoint presentations doesn’t sound like it would be a good fit for someone whose personal passion has been philosophy/religion and whose professional experience is international law. That being said, if you are dead set on IB, I would recommend pursuing a Restructuring/Insolvency legal role, getting some experience there and really understanding what living in the distressed world entails, then pivot to Rx IB.
But more important than all the above I would try to figure out how you can get past this borderline neurotic need for external validation and prestige.
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