Why law school over MBA? Forum

[rayiner]

^^Dingbat/Rayiner - so if all of this is true. Why do we so often hear the remark on TLS that "if you wanted to get rich you should have gone into finance and not biglaw"? Is that just hyperbole and the typical TLS "grass is greener" attitude?

In that context "finance" means GS/MS/JPM and larger PE/HF/VC firms. There are dudes at trading desks buying $1m houses five years out from undergrad. Only a fraction of finance jobs pay this kind of money, just like only a fraction of law jobs pay big law money. The difference is that these top finance jobs are even more scarce than big law. Look carefully at the HBS data. 27% of the class is going into IB/HF/PE, and not all of these are the top jobs. And once you get out of the Harvard/Stanford/Wharton range of schools, placement into those top jobs plummets.

You can do a lot of really cool things from an M7 business school. But it's not guaranteed models and bottles. By and large, you missed the models and bottles boat when you weren't top 10% of your class at HYPS UG (with a sterling personality and amazing interview skills to boot).

[dingbat]

^^Dingbat/Rayiner - so if all of this is true. Why do we so often hear the remark on TLS that "if you wanted to get rich you should have gone into finance and not biglaw"? Is that just hyperbole and the typical TLS "grass is greener" attitude?

When people say that, aren't they talking about the kinds of finance jobs one can get out of UG? (assuming the right school/grades, which is pretty rare)

They're talking about pie in the sky jobs, akin to saying one should be an actor (except most people realize thè majority if actors don't make bank)

Yes, there are some finance jobs that pay buckets, but they're very rare. Yes, I know someone who made Director at a bulge bracket firm before turning 30.
Want to guess how many people out of his class did likewise? Hint: one of the guys he trained under never broke 6 figures (luckily he lateralled out before getting shitcanned in the great recession; unfortunately the boutique he transferred to closed up shop)

Most people here have no idea how the finance job market works (like how many people think every lawyer is gonna be rich). I've been in this industry for 8 or 9 years, and I'm not a gazillionaire (but I did some really cool shit)
I'm fairly confident Rayoner knows what he's talking about and there may be a few more, but the majority of people here don't know anything about it

[TrialLawyer16]

^^Gotcha. That's what I figured, so I thought it was strange to see that said so often here.

[dingbat]

^^Gotcha. That's what I figured, so I thought it was strange to see that said so often here.

On that same note, not all doctors make bank either, although I'm not the appropriate person to discuss (my knowledge is rather limited)

[SuperCerealBrah]

^^Gotcha. That's what I figured, so I thought it was strange to see that said so often here.

On that same note, not all doctors make bank either, although I'm not the appropriate person to discuss (my knowledge is rather limited)

This is very true.

[vdog]

Since we're discussing monetary prospects, drug dealers, manicurists, and gay porn stars make just as much money as lawyers (after tax, of course). Why waste your time going to law school at all?

[dingbat]

Since we're discussing monetary prospects, drug dealers, manicurists, and gay porn stars make just as much money as lawyers (after tax, of course). Why waste your time going to law school at all?

Paging Paratactical

[jmjm]

^^Dingbat/Rayiner - so if all of this is true. Why do we so often hear the remark on TLS that "if you wanted to get rich you should have gone into finance and not biglaw"? Is that just hyperbole and the typical TLS "grass is greener" attitude?

When people say that, aren't they talking about the kinds of finance jobs one can get out of UG? (assuming the right school/grades, which is pretty rare)

Harvard's b school employment data.
http://www.hbs.edu/recruiting/mba/data- ... stics.html

Is this directed at me? What does that have to do with the straight out of UG folks who avoid the risk/reward cycle altogether?

Sorry it was not intended to be directed at you and instead was for the original topic in this thread. Corrected the previous post.