Top Law Schools

I am trying to decide between getting a JD at UNLV or a Ph.D at NYU. Does anyone have any thoughts?

What's the PhD in? Chemistry? Math? Go for it! Film or gender studies? Maybe not so much...

People here won't be able to help you much with this. Choosing between two law schools would be a different matter, but nobody can decide for you what you want to do the rest of your life with two paths as different as lawyer vs. whatever your Ph.D would be in. Just remember, getting a Ph.D is unlikely to benefit you much if you decide that you want to go to law school afterwards unless it's a science Ph.D and you want to be a patent attorney.

Politics

In that case I guess it depends what you want to do. If you really want to go into academia, a PhD from NYU will be infinitely more useful than a JD from UNLV.

It also comes down to money: are you getting any scholarships at UNLV? Is the program at NYU funded?

Some fields practically guarantee unemployment. I'm no expert, but my sense is that the hierarchy of PhD job prospects goes something like Hard Sciences >>>>Social Sciences>>Humanities.

I faced a similar decision (although I decided not to enroll in a PhD program first, and then applied to law school).

thechee wrote:In that case I guess it depends what you want to do. If you really want to go into academia, a PhD from NYU will be infinitely more useful than a JD from UNLV.

It also comes down to money: are you getting any scholarships at UNLV? Is the program at NYU funded?

Some fields practically guarantee unemployment. I'm no expert, but my sense is that the hierarchy of PhD job prospects goes something like Hard Sciences >>>>Social Sciences>>Humanities.

I faced a similar decision (although I decided not to enroll in a PhD program first, and then applied to law school).

Thanks! Good insight!

Get a job now >>> funded PhD in field you love >>> JD from smallish-market LS

I've always heard tenure-track market is somewhat saturated. Getting a decent job now is probably the best option, if at all possible. Retake is also a reasonable option here, especially if you do get a job.

No snobbery meant, but what does this say about JD vs PhD admissions? I was under the impression PhDs at top places were impossible to get...

CordeliusX wrote:No snobbery meant, but what does this say about JD vs PhD admissions? I was under the impression PhDs at top places were impossible to get...

Alternatively, maybe the OP didn't study very much for the LSAT, or has some great graduate experience or references. Or maybe the PhD is unfunded.

CordeliusX wrote:No snobbery meant, but what does this say about JD vs PhD admissions? I was under the impression PhDs at top places were impossible to get...

I don't think it "says" much. This is like a LR question on the LSAT -- it'd be a logical fallacy to think that, because OP got into a top PhD program and a T2 law school, any sort of meaningful conclusion could be drawn about the difficulty of JD vs PhD admissions.

We know next-to-nothing about this person. She could be wildly qualified and incredibly brilliant when it comes to her PhD field, but that wouldn't necessarily make her an uber-competitive law school applicant.

I don't understand how you got into the phd program at nyu but couldn't get into a t1 law school.

NayBoer wrote:Get a job now >>> funded PhD in field you love >>> JD from smallish-market LS

I've always heard tenure-track market is somewhat saturated. Getting a decent job now is probably the best option, if at all possible. Retake is also a reasonable option here, especially if you do get a job.

Especially from a rancid TTT like NYU.

of Benito Cereno wrote:I don't understand how you got into the phd program at nyu but couldn't get into a t1 law school.

Almost undoubtedly LSAT.

Also, in case some would-be humanities PhD students wander into this thread, your field's saturation is so legendary that I've heard about it for at least a decade. Like 100+ applicants for each tenure-track position. With all the kids running from life and into grad school, I can't imagine the numbers are improving.

thechee wrote:What's the PhD in? Chemistry? Math? Go for it! Film or gender studies? Maybe not so much...

Well... if you were going to do a Ph.D. in film anywhere, NYU is definitely be the place to be...

CordeliusX wrote:No snobbery meant, but what does this say about JD vs PhD admissions? I was under the impression PhDs at top places were impossible to get...

Not necessarily the case, depends entirely on the subject and the school. A lot of Ph.D. programs at top flight schools are surprisingly easy to get into because they're so damned long and expensive and impractical that there's just no competition; certainly far, far less selective than, say, a T14 J.D. There are exceptions (Psychology is impossible just about everywhere). For Architecture, there are a few schools that are insanely competitive; but then a school like Berkeley accepts 1 out of every 3 applicants!

MJMD wrote:

thechee wrote:What's the PhD in? Chemistry? Math? Go for it! Film or gender studies? Maybe not so much...

Well... if you were going to do a Ph.D. in Film anywhere, NYU is definitely be the place to be...

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=119193

People in that thread basically suggested it was for intellectual reasons and not really professionally marketable.

Honestly... I'd rather have any degree from NYU than a J.D. from UNLV. With a Ph.D. in politics from NYU you at least have a shot at a think-tank job or something, and you keep your self-respect (by not sullying your academic record with time served in an intellectual desert prison).

Grad programs in my field were not as concerned with one's overall uGPA as law schools seem to be.

So I could imagine a situation where someone got into a very good doctoral program (at least in my field) with an undergrad record that might not play well with a law school in the same tier or prestige register as that doctoral program (setting aside the problem of trying to compare grad school and law school).

That said, I'm afraid I have nothing useful for the actual topic of the thread. I'm attempting to go PhD-->JD, but I can't begin to advise someone about the wisdom of one sequence over another.

Actually, is that even the question? Or is it: PhD or JD, One and Done?

Is there any chance of going to NYU, retaking the LSAT, and getting into a joint Ph.D./J.D. program after one year? Because that would obviously cover all of your bases. I'd think even a tiny chance at that should rule out UNLV; plus being on campus in New York, already enrolled and with administrators to talk to every day, would give you all the insight needed to ferret out every possible way of putting forward a favourable application.

MJMD wrote:Is there any chance of going to NYU, retaking the LSAT, and getting into a joint Ph.D./J.D. program after one year? Because that would obviously cover all of your bases. I'd think even a tiny chance at that should rule out UNLV; plus being on campus in New York, already enrolled and with administrators to talk to every day, would give you all the insight needed to ferret out every possible way of putting forward a favourable application.

I like this idea. In addition to what was stated above I think that by retaking the LSAT while already being accepted in the Ph.D. program may help out your nerves when taking the test again. Essentially the test won't seem like it is deciding the rest of your life or anything... at least I know it would have helped me score where I should have been scoring. Either way I like the idea.

Go to NYU for PhD. Retake LSAT in a year or two. Complete JD/PhD from NYU. Rule world.

depending on the person, PhD can be far easier to crack than JD.

Person #1 is a "loser" (no job, doesn't do many activities on campus, doesn't participate in prof research, etc) but can ace classes and is a standardized test whiz. this person will have a much better shot at JD.

Person #2 is an academic striver (butters up to professors, seeks out every opportunity towards their research career, constantly challenging themselves) but doesn't have the logic/intellectual talent to ace the LSAT. PhD is much easier.

MJMD wrote:Honestly... I'd rather have any degree from NYU than a J.D. from UNLV. With a Ph.D. in politics from NYU you at least have a shot at a think-tank job or something, and you keep your self-respect (by not sullying your academic record with time served in an intellectual desert prison).

Pretentious.

MJMD wrote:favourable

Canadian?