Tier 4 Consulting vs T14 Law School vs ???

Me: 26, B.A. PoliSci BigStateU, one year of experience post-college with AmeriCorps, no technical/financial background

My Options: Lower T14 law school or small-time CRM consulting.

Is there any way to lateral into a real consulting job? If so, how?

Would this type of work help me get into/land a job out of a top B-school?

Are there any other options I should try to explore?

Thanks!

 

Law school blows and the job market for newly minted lawyers sucks, even in the T14. And since you said T14 and not T3/T6, I'm assuming you got into a Gtown/UVA/NU type school, which would probably give you some decent options but it's still very risky. Take the consulting job, try to move up to some place better, and apply to Bschool down the road.

 
Hayek:
Law school blows and the job market for newly minted lawyers sucks, even in the T14. And since you said T14 and not T3/T6, I'm assuming you got into a Gtown/UVA/NU type school, which would probably give you some decent options but it's still very risky. Take the consulting job, try to move up to some place better, and apply to Bschool down the road.

I've been told that CRM/IT stuff is completely dead end unless you have an IT background (I don't), and won't help you land other consulting jobs because it isn't relevant. How would I leverage my time there?

 
<span class=keyword_link><a href=/resources/skills/economics>econ</a></span>:
T14 = "top" or "tier" 14?

I agree with Hayek, law school doesn't seem that great these days. Probably better to pursue a business degree.

Don't you need good work experience to get into a worthwhile program?

 
lowerT14:
econ:
T14 = "top" or "tier" 14?

I agree with Hayek, law school doesn't seem that great these days. Probably better to pursue a business degree.

Don't you need good work experience to get into a worthwhile program?

Not for an MSF, MAcc, Masters in Management, Masters in Marketing, etc. There's other master's degree outside of business that are potentially useful for employment too, like math, computer science, sometimes econ, stats, operations research, etc. I'd probably do a lot of these things instead of law school, but that's just me...

 

Do I have any other REAL options? Most of my college friends either a) majored in something useful or b) are waiting tables/bartending and hanging out with undergrads. The only jobs I see available are ones that don't even require a college degree and don't seem to have much room for advancement (retail banking, restaurant management, etc.)

 
Best Response

To be honest, I think all this discussion about exit opps is great in theory, and definitely provides a good framework for determining probabilities of success (however you define it) given certain scenarios, but ultimately you can create your own opportunities. I would take the consulting gig if I were you. Just reach out to as many people is you can. Learn as much about the industry as possible, and try to show people that you're hungry. MBB may not be possible at this point, but there are plenty of other great consulting firms where you can also do very interesting work and make a lot of money. They won't be easy to break into, but it won't be impossible either. I think law school is a terrible idea.

-MBP
 

DON'T go to law school unless you want to practice law, it is very hard to get interviews for other careers coming out of law school. Also the legal job market is brutal and even coming from a T14 is no guarantee of a job right now. Ask around to some recent graduates about deferments and other ways that offers seemed to disappear.

 

Not in industry, we'll use my powers of analysis to work this out for ya.

There's a lot of misinformation here, so let's break this down:

-You're looking at a law degree to break into finance (not as ridiculous as it sounds, I know) -You have admission to one of the top law schools in the country -You have what sounds like a meh job offer from a smaller consulting firm

There are a few of options for you:

1) Get the law degree. If you do this you have a number of areas open to you in finance (especially real estate, also some PE, restructuring IB, HFs focused on legal judgments, but most of those will want some work experience in corporate law). Where you have your main problem is in telling "your story". What this is, is showing your interest in finance and having the track record to back it up. If you go to one of these top law schools you will want to get involved with the clubs and organizations offered by the school's MBA program. When others are going to interview for 1L internships or whatever, you're going to want to try and intern somewhere in finance. You're really going to have to find a way to show your interest WHILE maintaining top grades. Graduating in the bottom quartile won't cut it. Breaking into finance with a law degree is possible, but more difficult than an MBA (which you're not a prime candidate for, it looks like)

2) Take the job offer. I honestly don't think you should do this. It doesn't sound like you're at all interested in doing it, you're just using it as a way to break in. That's fine, but unless you work your ass off to lateral someplace better, nothing will come of it. And working your ass off somewhere you don't want to be is not conducive to maintaining normal sanity levels.

3) Masters in Finance. This is what I'd do. It will show your interest in finance. It will let you into OCR. People will know this is the case when looking at your resume, but that's okay. You have to be a perfect candidate. That means maintaining a 4.0 and working an unpaid internship if you have to.

4) Go homeless and beg for money. I've actually heard very good things about this career path. You can, in some places, make as much as $20/hour. Now it might not seem like much to most WSO users, but let's be honest, when you don't have to pay for your own place you can save up a shitload of change. Try and save up ~$100k over 5 years. Start day-trading. You'll either go big and be able to afford everything us normal people can afford, OR you will go back to being homeless, which is okay because you will already have 5 years experience in industry.

Sounds like you've got your head on straight and you know what you want to do. Remember, always be networking, and always be learning.

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 
D M:
1) Get the law degree. If you do this you have a number of areas open to you in finance (especially real estate, also some PE, restructuring IB, HFs focused on legal judgments, but most of those will want some work experience in corporate law). Where you have your main problem is in telling "your story". What this is, is showing your interest in finance and having the track record to back it up. If you go to one of these top law schools you will want to get involved with the clubs and organizations offered by the school's MBA program. When others are going to interview for 1L internships or whatever, you're going to want to try and intern somewhere in finance. You're really going to have to find a way to show your interest WHILE maintaining top grades. Graduating in the bottom quartile won't cut it. Breaking into finance with a law degree is possible, but more difficult than an MBA (which you're not a prime candidate for, it looks like)

No offense to the OP, but that he will have the choice to follow the above path from a lower t14 school is not a foregone conclusion. not even when the economy was good. he might be well on the way to a 160k paycheck, but not necessarily have the latitude to choose the firm/practice. a lower T14 is not unlike a lower "top 10" MBA.

 

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"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee

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