should i go back for a second master's? Forum

[JhonSmythe]

29 URM male, entry-level news producer for major network. lower-Ivy undergrad 3.5 (think Darmouth/Brown/Columbia) with a master's from a top j-school (think Columbia/Newhouse/Northwestern) and anticipating a low 170s LSAT based on preptests.

I have my heart set on YSL, applying 2022.

If my company is willing to pay for coursework, should I go back for a master's in poli sci at and use that as a launching pad to law school?

I'm salaried, but only work weekends. This feels like a limited-time opportunity window re: freedom to really throw myself into law school applications that likely won't come around again.

What would you do?

[LSATWiz.com]

29 URM male, entry-level news producer for major network. lower-Ivy undergrad 3.5 (think Darmouth/Brown/Columbia) with a master's from a top j-school (think Columbia/Newhouse/Northwestern) and anticipating a low 170s LSAT based on preptests.

I have my heart set on YSL, applying 2022.

If my company is willing to pay for coursework, should I go back for a master's in poli sci at and use that as a launching pad to law school?

I'm salaried, but only work weekends. This feels like a limited-time opportunity window re: freedom to really throw myself into law school applications that likely won't come around again.

What would you do?

It ordinarily won't impact admissions in a meaningful way, but because you're URM, if you do hit a >170 it's possible you'd get Yale or Stanford despite holding a GPA that meaningfully wouldn't get you into those schools. It just seems like a lot of work to do for law school admissions considering it may not impact law school admissions. Graduate school takes a lot of time and is what you're devoting your life to for a few years, and not gaining money for work and time is tantamount to losing money so only do it if you'd derive some benefit from it whether that's intrinsic joy or something of the sort.

[The Lsat Airbender]

A master's degree is not a launching pad for law school in any meaningful way. If you have a good amount of free time on your hands then you should grind at LSAT preparation because that is by far the most important factor which you have any control over. Low 170s is a great place to be but 173( + URM) would mean some pretty great opportunities.

I'd recommend not getting hung up over any one law school, especially one where you're never going to have great chances because of your uGPA. There's nothing you can achieve from Yale that you couldn't also achieve from Harvard, and you'll be set up pretty well for the latter if you get the right LSAT score.

[nixy]

Yeah, if you have the time/money and really want to do the degree for yourself, the master's is fine, but it's not going to do anything for law school that a high LSAT score won't do better. In fact, you might start to look like someone who wants to escape the real world and keeps getting degrees.

The only possible exception is if you think you want to go into legal academia - then the poli sci master's (especially depending on where you do it) might possibly help in developing the kind of research/publication agenda (and connections) you need to succeed in academia. Although really a PhD would be better.

What do you want to do with a JD that you think an MA in polisci would add to?