Michigan Law (JD) vs. Yale SOM (MBA) Forum

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[DerrickRose]

I have no overwhelming desire to be an attorney

I stopped reading right there.

Go anywhere but law school.

[gochrisgo]

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[FlightoftheEarls]

Kinda curious on the $80k-85k figure - how did you get this COA? A half-tuition scholarship will put you around $70k in tuition, with about another $51k in COA. And I'm fairly sure we don't offer anything above 1/2 tuition unless you're a Darrow (and then it's either 1/2 or full, isn't it?).

I'm not sure if I'm reading this right, so help me out: You're deciding if you'd like to do law school since you casually read GTM and a Torts E&E, but you've already taken the LSAT/GMAT and applied to both Law and Business schools already? Or is this all entirely hypothetical? The COA calculations are throwing me off here. Also, do you like to write? A lot?

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[Bosque]

I have no overwhelming desire to be an attorney

I stopped reading right there.

Go anywhere but law school.

[Hopefullawstudent]

You don't want to be an attorney. Okay. Then don't go to law school. But you also seem to be worried about earning power/earning potential. A Michigan Law degree is more likely to earn you more money than a Yale MBA, all else equal. That should be widely agreed upon.

[SHARK WEEK!]

Yale business is a top #25 school, RARELY is it considered a top 10.

In terms of the money: UM Law > Yale MBA

[JimboJones]

If you show interest in finance through summer jobs or past employment, you can get the same jobs in the financial world with a Michigan JD and a few finance electives. If you do well and want to be an investment banker, then you can easily go be an investment banker. People that scoff at the value of a law degree and push the power of a non top-10 MBA are foolish. Just look at the employment rates and average salaries of Yale SOM vs. Michigan Law. The only reason youd go to Yale SOM would be so you can say that you went to Yale. Yale SOM is a terrific school, but relative to a top 10 JD, I don't think it can hold a candle.

[BLAKE_REMKUS]

Seriously? MBA

All perspectives are greatly appreciated here, just trying to gather as much information as possible. I'd appreciate the reasoning for your choice if you can offer it. I'm currently deciding between Michigan Law (3yrs @ ~80-90K total cost of attendance) vs. Yale SOM (2yrs @ ~95-105K total cost of attendance) as the poll indicates.

I have no overwhelming desire to be an attorney but (naively?) think I would enjoy the challenge of law school & I'd pursue Big Law (transactional) if the JD route is chosen with an eye towards exit opportunities in finance down the line.

Would pursue Consulting/Finance if the MBA is chosen with an eye towards working abroad.

Any thoughts, assuming compensation edges out job satisfaction in relative importance at least initially (i.e. 5-7 yrs out) ?

On the MBA side, Yale is a top 10-15 MBA program with starting salaries near $100k and bonuses near $24k on average, a bit higher for consulting. Hard to get a firm read on salary progression given different career paths.

On the JD side, Michigan is a solid top 10 program and here's a (conservative?) salary scale for Big Law from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_firm#United_States):

Year Salary (US$) Bonus All-In
First 145,000 17,500 162,500
Second 155,00 20,000 175,000
Third 170,000 22,500 192,500
Fourth 190,000 25,000 215,000
Fifth 210,000 27,500 237,500
Sixth 225,000 30,000 255,000
Seventh 240,000 32,500 272,500

Long term goal is to branch out on my own in some fashion (maybe internationally). I'm also pretty sure I'd like to work abroad for a few years at some point, and I'd love to be able to bounce between sectors (private, public, nonprofit). I have a decent quant. skill set so arguably the natural fit might be business school but on the other hand after reading Getting to Maybe and some of the torts E&E, I have a hunch that I'd enjoy legal reasoning/some legal clinics/legal research and writing but I'm not so sure about the practice of law -- I've never done it or anything close to it so I can't say either way.

All thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!

[meowmeow]

IMO, I think the best fit for u would be cooley...