How low should I go? Forum

[Dr. Strangelove]

I don't want to go into too much detail but I've been accepted to a one year masters program which is for a field with a reasonably high job security and it's in a field I'm very interested in.
Entry-level salary is only around $60K after graduation but there are more jobs in this field and there's a lot of opportunity to earn more later on.
[If I work my tail off- I can become a partner and earn a lot of $$$ or at the very least be promoted enough to earn a salary to make myself "one of the upper class".]
Also, given its location- I have a very good chance of working in NYC which is my top choice, in terms of markets.

It will also be useful if I want to go into tax law later on.
If I take on this program, I'd likely put off law school for at least another three years or may never go to law school.
It's in a slightly less lucrative field than BigLaw but still it's a great way to earn a living.

I currently applied to fourteen law schools..I won't be hearing from anywhere till January- since I still have to take the December LSAT.
Which law schools would still be worth going to over the other grad school and which ones wouldn't be?
My goal is simple. It is strong financial security. Also, I'd strongly prefer to work in New York which this grad school will allow me to do.

My list
Cornell
Duke
Georgetown
Michigan
UVA
Wash U
George Washington
Illinois
Fordham
Washington & Lee
Cardozo
Miami
Florida State
Buffalo

[gdane]

Go with the 60k job. No question about it. It's entry level, which means that you'll have plenty of opportunities to make more if you work hard enough.

Good luck!

[Grizz]

$60k now duh.

[whymeohgodno]

$60k

[hokie]

yea dude; definitely $60k now

[gbpackerbacker]

I disagree. You already have 599 posts on TLS; you're committed.


Judging you list, I would only turn down that offer for a t14 or Fordham....

[AreJay711]

I disagree. You already have 599 posts on TLS; you're committed.


Judging you list, I would only turn down that offer for a t14 or Fordham....

FIFY

[WVUCelticFan]

Judging by your description, I'm guessing the job is a Big Four accounting position? I'm in a similar position at the moment. Here is what I decided, for what its worth.

I'm not 100% sure whether I want to wind up in business or in (business-related) law, but I know that I won't want to go back to school after I begin working (unless I hated the job). If you can get through a good law school with a minimum amount of debt, and law is a serious interest, go for it. Big Four jobs will certainly still be there in three years, with additional opportunities for some with the JD (esp if you have the CPA as well).

If the described job was something completely different, disregard all the above.

[bergg007]

Judging by your description, I'm guessing the job is a Big Four accounting position? I'm in a similar position at the moment. Here is what I decided, for what its worth.

I'm not 100% sure whether I want to wind up in business or in (business-related) law, but I know that I won't want to go back to school after I begin working (unless I hated the job). If you can get through a good law school with a minimum amount of debt, and law is a serious interest, go for it. Big Four jobs will certainly still be there in three years, with additional opportunities for some with the JD (esp if you have the CPA as well).

If the described job was something completely different, disregard all the above.

it's gotta be big 4, I'd say go to law school if you want to or be a slave for Deloitte/PwC/KPMG/E&Y. my cousin works for PwC in NYC and he hates life, he grew up there and loves the city but he is dying to get out of bean counting. You could always get a JD/MAcc and make fat bank as a tax attorney in NYC. I guess the real question for you is opportunity cost. Does Big Four money for the next three years trump 160 +bonus in the first year at Big Law with greater possible future cash. If you are a golddigger, Law. If you want safety, Big 4

[s0ph1e2007]

Judging by your description, I'm guessing the job is a Big Four accounting position? I'm in a similar position at the moment. Here is what I decided, for what its worth.

I'm not 100% sure whether I want to wind up in business or in (business-related) law, but I know that I won't want to go back to school after I begin working (unless I hated the job). If you can get through a good law school with a minimum amount of debt, and law is a serious interest, go for it. Big Four jobs will certainly still be there in three years, with additional opportunities for some with the JD (esp if you have the CPA as well).

If the described job was something completely different, disregard all the above.

it's gotta be big 4, I'd say go to law school if you want to or be a slave for Deloitte/PwC/KPMG/E&Y. my cousin works for PwC in NYC and he hates life, he grew up there and loves the city but he is dying to get out of bean counting. You could always get a JD/MAcc and make fat bank as a tax attorney in NYC. I guess the real question for you is opportunity cost. Does Big Four money for the next three years trump 160 +bonus in the first year at Big Law with greater possible future cash. If you are a golddigger, Law. If you want safety, Big 4

Those companies are huge and you have to find yourself the right position to be happy. I know people personally who work for those companies who are extremely happy. Additionally (I think it's US news) that has PwC ranked as the best work environment in the country to start a career.
You can make a lot more money in business than in law-- on the other hand, without an MBA there is a ceiling to how high you can climb in those companies. Bureaucracy keeps non-mba people in lower positions.
If you like both equally, then definitely start your career and stay put.
If you want to be a lawyer then, by all means, apply to NYU and Columbia and GULC and Penn and shoot for the NYC legal market (although corporate law in NYC is basically the worse version of NYC business in my opinion)

[lawschoollll]

I don't want to go into too much detail but I've been accepted to a one year masters program which is for a field with a reasonably high job security and it's in a field I'm very interested in.
Entry-level salary is only around $60K after graduation but there are more jobs in this field and there's a lot of opportunity to earn more later on.
[If I work my tail off- I can become a partner and earn a lot of $$$ or at the very least be promoted enough to earn a salary to make myself "one of the upper class".]
Also, given its location- I have a very good chance of working in NYC which is my top choice, in terms of markets.

It will also be useful if I want to go into tax law later on.
If I take on this program, I'd likely put off law school for at least another three years or may never go to law school.
It's in a slightly less lucrative field than BigLaw but still it's a great way to earn a living.

I currently applied to fourteen law schools..I won't be hearing from anywhere till January- since I still have to take the December LSAT.
Which law schools would still be worth going to over the other grad school and which ones wouldn't be?
My goal is simple. It is strong financial security. Also, I'd strongly prefer to work in New York which this grad school will allow me to do.

My list
Cornell
Duke
Georgetown
Michigan
UVA
Wash U
George Washington
Illinois
Fordham
Washington & Lee
Cardozo
Miami
Florida State
Buffalo

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yea, it's Big 4.
Thanks for all of your advice!
The opinions I've been getting from all over is to only still consider law school (at this point of time) if it's one of the top law schools.
Unless I can bring my LSAT score up a lot this December, I don't think I'm getting anywhere in the T14 due to my current GPA.
Tax law is my main interest in the legal field so the Big 4 could even help out with that if I decide to go to law school at a later date.

[gambelda]

Go with what makes you happiest. I know you said financial security is extremely important, but we only have 1 life to live and I would suggest using it to do whatever you truly enjoy. No sense wasting your young years to do stuff you absolutely hate to have financial security.

If it makes you feel better, I'm giving up 62K/yr at 23 yrs old if I go to law school. People have given up more before. Do what will make you happy.

[lawschoollll]

Go with what makes you happiest. I know you said financial security is extremely important, but we only have 1 life to live and I would suggest using it to do whatever you truly enjoy. No sense wasting your young years to do stuff you absolutely hate to have financial security.

If it makes you feel better, I'm giving up 62K/yr at 23 yrs old if I go to law school. People have given up more before. Do what will make you happy.

How is your making a terrible decision going to make him feel better?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Thanks for all the advice!
I still have some thinking to do but I think I'm going to enjoy eventually being a CPA, if that's the route I take.
Unless I get a nice discount from a non T14 which isn't Fordham.. I don't think I'll be going to law school next year.

[Stringer Bell]

Go with what makes you happiest. I know you said financial security is extremely important, but we only have 1 life to live and I would suggest using it to do whatever you truly enjoy. No sense wasting your young years to do stuff you absolutely hate to have financial security.

If it makes you feel better, I'm giving up 62K/yr at 23 yrs old if I go to law school. People have given up more before. Do what will make you happy.

How is your making a terrible decision going to make him feel better?

Why do you say they made a terrible decision? Do you have any idea what their job entails or what potential for advancement they have? Giving up $62k a year for the potential to make millions more over a lifetime isn't necessarily insane.

[concurrent fork]

$60k now duh.

+1

Judging you list, I would only turn down that offer for a t14 or Fordham maybe a T6

I guess the real question for you is opportunity cost. Does Big Four money for the next three years trump 160 +bonus in the first year at Big Law with greater possible future cash. If you are a golddigger, Law. If you want safety, Big 4

0L fallacy. No one can count on biglaw right now except maybe from YLS. Not to mention OP has 165/3.0.

Unless I get a nice discount from a non T14 which isn't Fordham.. I don't think I'll be going to law school next year.

Wise decision.

[vanwinkle]

I don't want to go into too much detail but I've been accepted to a one year masters program which is for a field with a reasonably high job security and it's in a field I'm very interested in.
Entry-level salary is only around $60K after graduation but there are more jobs in this field and there's a lot of opportunity to earn more later on.
[If I work my tail off- I can become a partner and earn a lot of $$$ or at the very least be promoted enough to earn a salary to make myself "one of the upper class".]
Also, given its location- I have a very good chance of working in NYC which is my top choice, in terms of markets.

I stopped reading here. Go do this. Decent pay, less debt on graduation, job availability, and a field you're interested in? Hells yeah. If you want to go to law school later you can still do that, and the legal job market might have stabilized by then.

You're not gonna get in a school worth attending right now. Go do this.

[HeavenWood]

I don't want to go into too much detail but I've been accepted to a one year masters program which is for a field with a reasonably high job security and it's in a field I'm very interested in.
Entry-level salary is only around $60K after graduation but there are more jobs in this field and there's a lot of opportunity to earn more later on.
[If I work my tail off- I can become a partner and earn a lot of $$$ or at the very least be promoted enough to earn a salary to make myself "one of the upper class".]
Also, given its location- I have a very good chance of working in NYC which is my top choice, in terms of markets.

I stopped reading here. Go do this. Decent pay, less debt on graduation, job availability, and a field you're interested in? Hells yeah. If you want to go to law school later you can still do that, and the legal job market might have stabilized by then.

You're not gonna get in a school worth attending right now. Go do this.

Try working for a few years, and if you still want to be a lawyer, retake, get a 170+, and ED to NU.

[nyankees51]

Thanks for all the advice!
I still have some thinking to do but I think I'm going to enjoy eventually being a CPA, if that's the route I take.
Unless I get a nice discount from a non T14 which isn't Fordham.. I don't think I'll be going to law school next year.

I am just finishing up my MS in Accounting right now. I am planning to go to law school next year but I definitly think getting the Masters first was a great idea. Especially since in NY to sit for the CPA you need 150 credits. Just my opinion though.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I'm 99% sure that I'm taking the accounting route next year..and will probably work for at least two years.
I'm actually excited about working in this field- especially with plans of obtaining a CPA.
Got the same score again in December..I felt like I did better..in a sense, I did (significant improvement in LR), but I did worse on the LGs this time around.

If I decide i still want to go to law school- here would be my plan.

1.) Take LSAT prep course. [Took LSAT twice w/o test prep..might help.]
2.) Retake LSAT.
3.) If get less than 170, be pessimistic about prospects.
4.) If get 170+, ED to Northwestern.

The plus is that my GPA will likely be around ~3.1 by the time I graduate..

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yea..no point in me going to law school at this point of time.
Even if I can potentially make more money as a lawyer than a CPA..the chances are only decently high at the law schools I haven't been getting into. [And I'm not even talking about W&L..more so places like UVA/Fordham].

Whatever..I'm happy with the path I'm going on now!

[gbpackerbacker]

Congrats?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Congrats?

Yes. Thank you!

[730]

Why do people keep saying fordham like fordham places well into biglaw. Is this thread old?? because everyones information is outdated.