I'm new to the forum - great info/advice on a lot of threads. I'm looking for insight regarding my situation. PM if you'd prefer, and sorry in advance about the length!
Background: Ivy. non-URM. Numbers would be considered splitter for Y (LSAT > GPA), decent match at HS assuming softs and other factors work out too. I have what is, based on feedback from multiple reliable sources, considered a compelling story or passion. ECs are above average. Am considering applying for post-grad grants/scholarships. PhD fields of interest include economics, political science, political economy and government, the like.
My main concern is lack of evidence of a coherent academic path - I took up my true academic interest late in my college career. Unfortunately, this also meant less time to explore my interest, and I am now unsure of what route I should take after college. My dilemma is that while I am drawn to the content/structure and research-intensive, specialized nature of the PhD, I am not really interested in a career in academia, think tanks, government, or any of the traditional post-PhD routes. So it seems that although I would enjoy earning the PhD more so than earning the JD, I would be far more well-placed in practical terms if I pursued the more generalized, multi-purpose JD.
I also feel that I am more of a "doer" than a "thinker/student." Or, more specifically, I really love to learn, but learning purely for the sake of learning, only learning and doing nothing more, would make me feel inert, constrained, and finicky; I love learning enough to do a PhD, even with no expected immediate application, for the very specific reason that I think that learning will make me a more informed, intelligent, and (hopefully) better actor. My "dream route" would be to get a graduate degree in something I really love and then get into entrepreneurship - I love brainstorming, having to be resourceful and creative, working under pressure, having my ideas attacked and tested, and having to work to toughen and fortify them. (This sounds uncannily like academia, I know!
)I've been looking at all the different sorts of routes people have taken - PhD before JD, JD before PhD, dual-degree programs, SJD, read Prof. Mankiw's excellent posts
, etc., and even talked to a bunch of such experienced people, but it hasn't helped me come to a decision. I don't mind staying in school for a few more years, and am ready to foot the bill for the degree(s), even though it will likely mean more loans, as long as I get to study something I really love, and as long as the graduate degree I get won't preclude segueing to a different career, quite possibly outside of the traditional ambits of both legal academia and practice. Maybe corporate stuff, maybe entrepreneurship, maybe something else altogether. I think that part of the problem of not being able to pick a graduate degree is because where I want to be at the very end is not gotten to via a "traditional" career route; in that sense, neither a PhD or JD would be of very much help formally, although they might be useful intellectual training and just a good degree to have as a backup/job safety. So I know the end point, and I know what comes before that (job/corporate/entrepreneurship), but I don't know what degree to get before THAT. I'm wondering how people who were in my shoes made their decisions regarding graduate school. What were the reasons that swayed you in one direction or another? What helped you figure these reasons out - was it working at a think tank, doing independent research or fieldwork for a few years after graduation, opening an NGO or non-profit? What time-sensitive factors (the potential future decaying of structure in academia/the PhD job market, monetary concerns, etc) would you emphasize to me in retrospect?
Any help is very much appreciated, thanks in advance!
