Really trapped... How to get an econ degree or equivalent skills/knowledge after law school?!
Here is a tragic story to amuse you monkeys:
I am an international student who have studied law during undergraduates (we have law school for undergraduates), and is now a second year JD at T10 law school here. My parents are successful law professor and lawyer in my home country, and I found myself studying law before I even realized what I truly love, i.e. math and econ... and finance ... (I realize this now though...yet too late). After I had my first corporate finance class and got very close to a professor with an econ phD, I knew I belong to econ/finance world, which excites me the way law never did.
Now I am really struggling here, trying to teach myself about everything about math, econ and finance. But, being a pure law student, I had zero exposure to college math and econ before. It baffles me that law professor does not require advanced level of math of students for the corporate finance course, and by advanced level, I mean college math 201, 202 etc (correct me if I am wrong). Though I passed the exam, I felt solid math background is needed to at least understand the formula. So, I am not sure whether basic college math is enough, i.e. math 201, 202, though many people say you don't need to to be a math major to do finance.
I am desperate to find a program to help me switch to the finance/econ world. I don't care about the sunk cost , and I think I do love econ and finance. How I wish time could fly back, and then I would choose econ as my major. I have consider phD in econ, but good program literally does not admit students without previous related background. Also, I just can't wait for 3 yrs to accumulate work experience to get an MBA, and MBA is not as solid as an econ major from an academic perspective.
I really want to get into the field as soon as possible, but I lack all the required knowledge, and there is no proper program for me. I was even thinking about reapplying for college, but they won't admit. Or maybe I should just teach myself about the four-year econ curriculum, but I may not be as good as you guys.
Guess what I am really trying to ask is What I should do to have a good command of econ and finance as those who major in them and have spent 4 years studying them?
CFA is a good route to obtain a broad knowledge base in finance, econ, and math. The material doesn't go too deep into any of the areas though, but will provide a good crash course. I am similar to you in that I graduated law school and wanted to pursue a career in finance. Getting my CFA charter definitely helped not only from a knowledge base point of view but also showed employers I was serious about a career in finance.
Second the CFA program. However, as a math/econ undergrad, I can tell you this much: 1. Just as mentioned above, the curriculum from level 1 to 3 is noway a substitute a for degree in each discipline. 2. In fact, in math, it doesn't even delve into basic linear algebra - which is a prerequisite for most undergrad math program and the foundation for optimization problems and more theoretical math. 3. In econ as well, the curriculum doesn't cover anything deeper than superficial economic fact sets (not enough econometrics, micro theory, game theory etc.) 4. Therefore, say you want to get into algo trading by working out complex mathematical formulas, CFA won't help. Same for the fields that require very deep understanding of macro/micro economics; it won't help. Otherwise, if it is just for basic understanding of these disciplines, the curriculum may be a good fit.
Honestly, I personally haven't learned much out of the curriculum
P.S. undergrad law program sounds like South Korea
Second all of this. If you are looking for the academic route in Econ you'll need up to differential equations and probably some upper level stats courses. You could always take classes somewhere as a non degree seeking student, downside there is I think prices are the same and you can only take three class s a semester up To so many credit hours before you have to declare a major.
In theory it could look something like this:
Pre-calculus Macro econ Micro Econ
--- you may need a J-term or summer calc course in cal 1 here, some schools require completion of cal 1 before intermed Econ
Calc 1 Intermed macro Intermed micro
Your two semesters after this would include economic stats calc 2, the pre req for econometrics, cal 3 and econometrics.
Most schools have other courses you are required to take as pre reqs for their econ courses so there will be gaps in this but I think it would look something like this if you were to go this route.
I am from China haha.
Sad sad story: how to break into econ/finance world as a pure law student? (Originally Posted: 07/24/2017)
Here is a tragic story to amuse you monkeys: I am an international student who have studied law during undergraduates (we have law school for undergraduates), and is now a second year JD at T10 law school here. My parents are successful law professor and lawyer in my home country, and I found myself studying law before I even realized what I truly love, i.e. math and econ... and finance ... (I realize this now though...yet too late). After I had my first corporate finance class and got very close to a professor with an econ phD, I knew I belong to econ/finance world, which excites me the way law never did.
Now I am really struggling here, trying to teach myself about everything about math, econ and finance. But, being a pure law student, I had zero exposure to college math and econ before. It baffles me that law professor does not require advanced level of math of students for the corporate finance course, and by advanced level, I mean college math 201, 202 etc (correct me if I am wrong). Though I passed the exam, I felt solid math background is needed to at least understand the formula. So, I am not sure whether basic college math is enough, i.e. math 201, 202, though many people say you don't need to to be a math major to do finance.
I am desperate to find a program to help me switch to the finance/econ world. I don't care about the sunk cost , and I think I do love econ and finance. How I wish time could fly back, and then I would choose econ as my major. I have consider phD in econ, but good program literally does not admit students without previous related background. Also, I just can't wait for 3 yrs to accumulate work experience to get an MBA, and MBA is not as solid as an econ major from an academic perspective.
I really want to get into the field as soon as possible, but I lack all the required knowledge, and there is no proper program for me. I was even thinking about reapplying for college, but they won't admit. Or maybe I should just teach myself about the four-year econ curriculum, but I may not be as good as you guys.
Guess what I am really trying to ask is What I should do to have a good command of econ and finance as those who major in them and have spent 4 years studying them?
Finish your JD, go into Corporate Law, Securities Law, or M&A Law. Put in a couple years and if you want to get an MBA, go get it after you have a few years experience. Then, you can jump into the business side of things.
If you're at a T10 law school, you might want to try to get into a law firm like WLRK. It will look good on your resume.
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