3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS? Forum

Not sure where your numbers will get you? Dying to know where you stand? Come have your palms read by your fellow posters!
Post Reply
oneofthecrits

New
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:36 pm

3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by oneofthecrits » Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:42 pm

Hi folks,

I'm about to graduate from a liberal arts school with a 3.72 gpa. I just got admitted into Cambridge for an Mphil in Gender Studies. I'm looking at applying in the next few years to some JD/PhD joint degrees.

Does anyone have advice whether I should or should not pursue the Mphil at Cambridge? The only huge con is financial. I didn't get funding and would have to go in debt. I have 0 debt now, and am looking, after Cambridge, at about 20,000$ in loans.

Do you think it's worth it? Would it improve my chances at a T14?

Thanks!

oneofthecrits

New
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:36 pm

Is A Masters from an Elite School a Good Idea Before Law School?

Post by oneofthecrits » Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:44 pm

Hi folks,

I'm about to graduate from a liberal arts school with a 3.72 gpa. I just got admitted into Cambridge for an Mphil in Gender Studies. I'm looking at applying in the next few years to some JD/PhD joint degrees w/ a focus in critical legal gender studies.

Does anyone have advice whether I should or should not pursue the Mphil at Cambridge? The only huge con is financial. I didn't get funding and would have to go in debt. I have 0 debt now, and am looking, after Cambridge, at about 20,000$ in loans.

Do you think it's worth it? Would it improve my chances at a T14?

Thanks!

User avatar
Easterbork

Bronze
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 4:43 pm

Re: Is A Masters from an Elite School a Good Idea Before Law School?

Post by Easterbork » Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:53 pm

It wouldn't move the needle for the vast majority of the t14. If you are gunning for Yale and pting at 17X for the lsat then that is specialized advice I can't give you.

User avatar
CR7

New
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 10:09 am

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by CR7 » Sat Apr 01, 2017 9:29 pm

Do you want to go to Cambridge for gender studies or to boost your chances at T14?

oneofthecrits

New
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:36 pm

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by oneofthecrits » Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:00 pm

CR7 wrote:Do you want to go to Cambridge for gender studies or to boost your chances at T14?
Both. Ideally it would boost my chances, especially regarding funding. I'm looking into being an academic and Cambridge would be a great foundation for what would eventually be my first book. It's not essential but would be very useful in developing my academic trajectory. If it would make zero difference, i'm thinking it's not worth going into debt for.

Want to continue reading?

Register now to search topics and post comments!

Absolutely FREE!


User avatar
OneHandedEconomist

Bronze
Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:29 am

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by OneHandedEconomist » Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:10 pm

It won't help your chances in any appreciable way. That's not saying not to do it, but LS admissions shouldn't be a factor.

User avatar
landshoes

Silver
Posts: 1291
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 2:17 pm

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by landshoes » Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:19 pm

The idea of doing an mphil at cambridge in order to get into a US law school is kinda hilarious to me. Law school sucks so much more and is so much easier to achieve.

Anyway. Go for it, 20k is pretty much nothing in terms of academic debt.

Didn't you get into any PhD programs? Did you not apply? Why not seek out a funded PhD?

oneofthecrits

New
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:36 pm

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by oneofthecrits » Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:26 pm

landshoes wrote:The idea of doing an mphil at cambridge in order to get into a US law school is kinda hilarious to me. Law school sucks so much more and is so much easier to achieve.

Anyway. Go for it, 20k is pretty much nothing in terms of academic debt.

Didn't you get into any PhD programs? Did you not apply? Why not seek out a funded PhD?

LOL this was actually fairly comforting. I'm considering the JD/PhD split because I really want to do Critical Legal Studies (most of whom are law professors) but i'm afraid of fucking myself over through accruing a ton of debt. I want to do a PhD but don't feel QUITE ready with my undergrad experience and would really like to have one big project (aka the dissertation) under my belt to set me up for a PhD. Also, I think I have a much higher chance of securing full funding once I have the Mphil.

If anyone has any random advice around this I would really appreciate it! I'm super super conflicted over whether the Mphil is "worth it" or if I should wait and apply straight to fully-funded PhD/JD programs. I don't feel ready for that and would probably take time off, but love school so much and want to keep advancing myself in my academic goals.

Npret

Gold
Posts: 1986
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:42 am

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by Npret » Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:46 pm

I'm not an academic but isn't a MPhil at Cambridge one of those things academics love to do?

Want to continue reading?

Register for access!

Did I mention it was FREE ?


Veil of Ignorance

Bronze
Posts: 347
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2016 9:22 pm

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by Veil of Ignorance » Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:50 pm

The 20k figure signals that you've got substantial family support for the Cambridge Mphil. For what it's worth, if someone was willing to pay for most of my degree at Oxbridge, I would do it in a second. It'll be a wonderful intellectual experience.

Big Red

Gold
Posts: 3294
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2014 1:29 pm

Re: Is A Masters from an Elite School a Good Idea Before Law School?

Post by Big Red » Sat Apr 01, 2017 11:42 pm

If you want to go to Cambridge, go to Cambridge. 20k isn't the number we try to talk people out of here.

But I would strongly reconsider that JD if you consider yourself on a path to academia, but that's a conversation for a later time.

edit: are you including CoL in that debt number?

User avatar
A. Nony Mouse

Diamond
Posts: 29293
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:51 am

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Sun Apr 02, 2017 12:06 am

oneofthecrits wrote:I'm looking into being an academic and Cambridge would be a great foundation for what would eventually be my first book. It's not essential but would be very useful in developing my academic trajectory.
If you are committed to being an academic, it probably would be useful, and probably will give you the experience to better position yourself to do a PhD. I don't think it will make much difference if at all in getting you admitted to a T14, but if you want to make a plausible run at academia once you're at that T14 it will help (JD programs are not the best at actually developing an academic agenda, though admittedly if you're at a T14 and reach out to profs for help with that from the start you should be fine. But the default JD program isn't really academic at all - you have to be proactive so I would say that getting non-JD grad experience would probably be helpful).

VapidP

Bronze
Posts: 244
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2016 10:11 am

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by VapidP » Mon Apr 03, 2017 12:25 pm

Npret wrote:I'm not an academic but isn't a MPhil at Cambridge one of those things academics love to do?
For certain subjects (I think English and History) yeah. According to my friends, you want to learn the classical way of approaching these subjects, which you can only really get from Oxbridge. Then you spend the rest of your career either following in that classical tradition, or critiquing it and figuring out a new technique of analysis.

I'm not sure about what OP wants though. If I were OP, I would like reach out to students currently studying this topic and seeing if it works.

Register now!

Resources to assist law school applicants, students & graduates.

It's still FREE!


lawlorbust

Bronze
Posts: 429
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 11:50 am

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by lawlorbust » Mon Apr 03, 2017 12:35 pm

Lol at anyone trying for a profession in "critical legal studies."

SUPERCHEF

New
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat May 07, 2016 12:56 am

Re: Is A Masters from an Elite School a Good Idea Before Law School?

Post by SUPERCHEF » Tue Apr 04, 2017 11:07 am

Hey, currently doing a humanities MPhil at Cambridge and applied this cycle. I'm gonna say it's probably not going to do anything for you, but feel free to PM me.

grades??

Silver
Posts: 985
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2016 6:55 pm

Re: Is A Masters from an Elite School a Good Idea Before Law School?

Post by grades?? » Tue Apr 04, 2017 11:13 am

I have a masters from Oxbridge. It did nothing in my admissions cycle a few years ago. My cycle went strictly how my numbers would predict.

If you want to go to Cambridge, then go to Cambridge. Then reassess afterwards about law school.

SUPERCHEF

New
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat May 07, 2016 12:56 am

Re: Is A Masters from an Elite School a Good Idea Before Law School?

Post by SUPERCHEF » Tue Apr 04, 2017 4:47 pm

grades?? wrote:I have a masters from Oxbridge. It did nothing in my admissions cycle a few years ago. My cycle went strictly how my numbers would predict.

If you want to go to Cambridge, then go to Cambridge. Then reassess afterwards about law school.
Gonna add one more thing: this has been my experience as well, and I went fully-funded on a non-Gates/Marshall scholly. I would also caution against additional debt if your end goal is academia. Also 3.72 is a weak GPA for top-tier PhD programs, which are much harder to get into than top-tier law schools.

Get unlimited access to all forums and topics

Register now!

I'm pretty sure I told you it's FREE...


User avatar
Platopus

Gold
Posts: 1507
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:20 pm

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by Platopus » Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:05 am

Pragmatically speaking, a Masters, even from Cambridge, will do little to move your law school admissions needle. However, if $20K is the only debt you would incur (including CoL), I don't see the harm. Law School will always be there, and you may even find that you no longer want to practice law after a couple of years heading toward the academia path.

User avatar
jbagelboy

Diamond
Posts: 10361
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 7:57 pm

Re: 3.72 GPA, Haven't Taken LSAT- DO I GO TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MY MASTERS?

Post by jbagelboy » Sat Apr 15, 2017 2:52 pm

Veil of Ignorance wrote:The 20k figure signals that you've got substantial family support for the Cambridge Mphil. For what it's worth, if someone was willing to pay for most of my degree at Oxbridge, I would do it in a second. It'll be a wonderful intellectual experience.
Eh. I wouldn't glamorize this. Wonderful intellectual experience? I mean, maybe, but a lot of european masters degrees of this nature are not that rigorous, and the students--especially internationals--do not receive the same level of attention and educational quality as undergraduates and doctoral candidates.

Communicate now with those who not only know what a legal education is, but can offer you worthy advice and commentary as you complete the three most educational, yet challenging years of your law related post graduate life.

Register now, it's still FREE!


Post Reply

Return to “What are my chances?”