Top Law Schools

Ok decided to repost here, since another thread seems to be dead.

I am a top 2% in low T14 + full ride. I am also a CPA. HAving read this forum for a few years now, I heard several people talking about an "exit strategy". The times, 5-10 years from now, when you can not take all those crazy hours in Big LAw any more. I also met a few of such people myself. Graduates of T14 schools, they were done with big law in 3 to 5 years. One of those exit strategies is MBA, that opens doors to corporate world and makes your landing there a little softer. As a matter of fact i have just received a letter of acceptance to a JD/MBA program. No scholarship though. Sticker. $85K. Another thing is transfering to Yale and eventually teaching. Risky, even with my grades. Twice as expensive as an MBA in my school. Dont ask me what I like more. My question is about VALUE. What has more value - an JD/MBA for $85K or transfering to YAle (2 years, 75K a year = $150K). And my second question is - I realize my chances are pretty high, but still... what are my risks?

90 people have viewed the topic and nobody wants to offer an opinion.. Hmmm.. Am I the only one who thinks about exit strategies and value of transferring?

What? Just stay where you are and get a job. Why take more costs when you don't need to? You can cross the MBA bridge when you come to it- after biglaw.

If you aren't set on academia, just working, then get the biglaw job and address the issue when you burn out (if you burn out). Instead of asking about school rank and JD look at firm exit options.

I looked at EOs but I was hastings --> Stanford. It was an easier decision. T14 with no debt is a harder call and depends more on your prefs. Do you like research? (That's 76% of academia). Then mebbe Yale. Do you want to be in pxtc? Then get a firm job you like and if you want an MBA later it'll be there.

Also why the "90 people..." hoopla? Just bump. Most people aren't seriously giving advice here yet bc no one knows their post-1L rank yet (unless some school finishes crazy early that I don't know about?).

Edit: I can't spell

solo3888 wrote:90 people have viewed the topic and nobody wants to offer an opinion.. Hmmm.. Am I the only one who thinks about exit strategies and value of transferring?

I personally looked at this thread b/c of my FAscination w/ the QUestion at HAnd

Anonymous User wrote:I am a top 2% in low T14 + full ride. I am also a CPA. HAving read this forum for a few years now, I heard several people talking about an "exit strategy". The times, 5-10 years from now, when you can not take all those crazy hours in Big LAw any more. I also met a few of such people myself. Graduates of T14 schools, they were done with big law in 3 to 5 years. One of those exit strategies is MBA, that opens doors to corporate world and makes your landing there a little softer. As a matter of fact i have just received a letter of acceptance to a JD/MBA program. No scholarship though. Sticker. $85K. Another thing is transfering to Yale and eventually teaching. Risky, even with my grades. Twice as expensive as an MBA in my school. Dont ask me what I like more. My question is about VALUE. What has more value - an JD/MBA for $85K or transfering to YAle (2 years, 75K a year = $150K). And my second question is - I realize my chances are pretty high, but still... what are my risks?

I won't try and do a one-man recap of the JD/MBA vs JD debate; search for those threads if you want a more detailed breakdown of that. I will say that obtaining an MBA five to ten years before your ever plan to use it seems to me to be a complete waste of time and money. Do you really think you're going to be qualified for anything other than an entry level job with five-year stale MBA and 0 business experience? Any mid-level business related job is going to be filled by someone who's coming from a mid-level business background, not someone who earned their MBA as a one-year add-on five years prior. If you want to have the MBA ready so you can start your career over in 5 years, go for it, but there is no reason to believe that entry-level business jobs are easier or less stressful than entry-level legal jobs.

As for the teaching route, you can pretty much drop that idea right now. Unless you want to be teaching at a TTTT for-profit shithole, the idea of "falling back" into a tenured position at a respectable law school is laughable. A tenured track position at a T50 maybe even T100 school is far, far more competitive than any BigLaw associate position and they are generally reserved for academic lifers. There is very little attrition among law school faculty and thus when there are openings, they are sought after by hundreds of extremely well-qualified candidates; BigLaw burnouts hardly stand a chance. Unless you're planning to throw in a Ph. D or SCOTUS clerkship on top of your resume or planning on gunning for academia from the moment you graduate, you essentially have no chance of becoming a full-time law professor at a major university. Not saying it's impossible coming from Yale, but after five to ten years in BigLaw, it certainly is very rare. In short, academia is not an exit-strategy, it's an entirely separate career path.

IMO, from where you are now, paying more money for your legal education will never be more valuable to you. Get your JD with your impressive grades and cross the exit strategy bridge when you come to it.

KidStuddi wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I am a top 2% in low T14 + full ride. I am also a CPA. HAving read this forum for a few years now, I heard several people talking about an "exit strategy". The times, 5-10 years from now, when you can not take all those crazy hours in Big LAw any more. I also met a few of such people myself. Graduates of T14 schools, they were done with big law in 3 to 5 years. One of those exit strategies is MBA, that opens doors to corporate world and makes your landing there a little softer. As a matter of fact i have just received a letter of acceptance to a JD/MBA program. No scholarship though. Sticker. $85K. Another thing is transfering to Yale and eventually teaching. Risky, even with my grades. Twice as expensive as an MBA in my school. Dont ask me what I like more. My question is about VALUE. What has more value - an JD/MBA for $85K or transfering to YAle (2 years, 75K a year = $150K). And my second question is - I realize my chances are pretty high, but still... what are my risks?

I won't try and do a one-man recap of the JD/MBA vs JD debate; search for those threads if you want a more detailed breakdown of that. I will say that obtaining an MBA five to ten years before your ever plan to use it seems to me to be a complete waste of time and money. Do you really think you're going to be qualified for anything other than an entry level job with five-year stale MBA and 0 business experience? Any mid-level business related job is going to be filled by someone who's coming from a mid-level business background, not someone who earned their MBA as a one-year add-on five years prior. If you want to have the MBA ready so you can start your career over in 5 years, go for it, but there is no reason to believe that entry-level business jobs are easier or less stressful than entry-level legal jobs.

As for the teaching route, you can pretty much drop that idea right now. Unless you want to be teaching at a TTTT for-profit shithole, the idea of "falling back" into a tenured position at a respectable law school is laughable. A tenured track position at a T50 maybe even T100 school is far, far more competitive than any BigLaw associate position and they are generally reserved for academic lifers. There is very little attrition among law school faculty and thus when there are openings, they are sought after by hundreds of extremely well-qualified candidates; BigLaw burnouts hardly stand a chance. Unless you're planning to throw in a Ph. D or SCOTUS clerkship on top of your resume or planning on gunning for academia from the moment you graduate, you essentially have no chance of becoming a full-time law professor at a major university. Not saying it's impossible coming from Yale, but after five to ten years in BigLaw, it certainly is very rare. In short, academia is not an exit-strategy, it's an entirely separate career path.

IMO, from where you are now, paying more money for your legal education will never be more valuable to you. Get your JD with your impressive grades and cross the exit strategy bridge when you come to it.

Thanks. That does seem to be the trend for the professors I have asked. There is a professor of business law, however, who did work in the corporate world for years before becoming a professor. He That is something I would like for myself as the best case scenario.


UPDATE: In at Harvard. I will be accepting unless I get into Yale. The coming week will show.

Anonymous User wrote:

KidStuddi wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I am a top 2% in low T14 + full ride. I am also a CPA. HAving read this forum for a few years now, I heard several people talking about an "exit strategy". The times, 5-10 years from now, when you can not take all those crazy hours in Big LAw any more. I also met a few of such people myself. Graduates of T14 schools, they were done with big law in 3 to 5 years. One of those exit strategies is MBA, that opens doors to corporate world and makes your landing there a little softer. As a matter of fact i have just received a letter of acceptance to a JD/MBA program. No scholarship though. Sticker. $85K. Another thing is transfering to Yale and eventually teaching. Risky, even with my grades. Twice as expensive as an MBA in my school. Dont ask me what I like more. My question is about VALUE. What has more value - an JD/MBA for $85K or transfering to YAle (2 years, 75K a year = $150K). And my second question is - I realize my chances are pretty high, but still... what are my risks?

I won't try and do a one-man recap of the JD/MBA vs JD debate; search for those threads if you want a more detailed breakdown of that. I will say that obtaining an MBA five to ten years before your ever plan to use it seems to me to be a complete waste of time and money. Do you really think you're going to be qualified for anything other than an entry level job with five-year stale MBA and 0 business experience? Any mid-level business related job is going to be filled by someone who's coming from a mid-level business background, not someone who earned their MBA as a one-year add-on five years prior. If you want to have the MBA ready so you can start your career over in 5 years, go for it, but there is no reason to believe that entry-level business jobs are easier or less stressful than entry-level legal jobs.

As for the teaching route, you can pretty much drop that idea right now. Unless you want to be teaching at a TTTT for-profit shithole, the idea of "falling back" into a tenured position at a respectable law school is laughable. A tenured track position at a T50 maybe even T100 school is far, far more competitive than any BigLaw associate position and they are generally reserved for academic lifers. There is very little attrition among law school faculty and thus when there are openings, they are sought after by hundreds of extremely well-qualified candidates; BigLaw burnouts hardly stand a chance. Unless you're planning to throw in a Ph. D or SCOTUS clerkship on top of your resume or planning on gunning for academia from the moment you graduate, you essentially have no chance of becoming a full-time law professor at a major university. Not saying it's impossible coming from Yale, but after five to ten years in BigLaw, it certainly is very rare. In short, academia is not an exit-strategy, it's an entirely separate career path.

IMO, from where you are now, paying more money for your legal education will never be more valuable to you. Get your JD with your impressive grades and cross the exit strategy bridge when you come to it.

Thanks. That does seem to be the trend for the professors I have asked. There is a professor of business law, however, who did work in the corporate world for years before becoming a professor. He That is something I would like for myself as the best case scenario.


UPDATE: In at Harvard. I will be accepting unless I get into Yale. The coming week will show.

Congrats on Harvard. May I ask though, aren't you concerned with value? How do you reconcile your decision to attend Harvard over staying top of your class + LR + full ride at a T14 with your value consideration? Harvard is Harvard, but how long will it take to recoup the extra 150k?

Benjamin1987 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

KidStuddi wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I am a top 2% in low T14 + full ride. I am also a CPA. HAving read this forum for a few years now, I heard several people talking about an "exit strategy". The times, 5-10 years from now, when you can not take all those crazy hours in Big LAw any more. I also met a few of such people myself. Graduates of T14 schools, they were done with big law in 3 to 5 years. One of those exit strategies is MBA, that opens doors to corporate world and makes your landing there a little softer. As a matter of fact i have just received a letter of acceptance to a JD/MBA program. No scholarship though. Sticker. $85K. Another thing is transfering to Yale and eventually teaching. Risky, even with my grades. Twice as expensive as an MBA in my school. Dont ask me what I like more. My question is about VALUE. What has more value - an JD/MBA for $85K or transfering to YAle (2 years, 75K a year = $150K). And my second question is - I realize my chances are pretty high, but still... what are my risks?

I won't try and do a one-man recap of the JD/MBA vs JD debate; search for those threads if you want a more detailed breakdown of that. I will say that obtaining an MBA five to ten years before your ever plan to use it seems to me to be a complete waste of time and money. Do you really think you're going to be qualified for anything other than an entry level job with five-year stale MBA and 0 business experience? Any mid-level business related job is going to be filled by someone who's coming from a mid-level business background, not someone who earned their MBA as a one-year add-on five years prior. If you want to have the MBA ready so you can start your career over in 5 years, go for it, but there is no reason to believe that entry-level business jobs are easier or less stressful than entry-level legal jobs.

As for the teaching route, you can pretty much drop that idea right now. Unless you want to be teaching at a TTTT for-profit shithole, the idea of "falling back" into a tenured position at a respectable law school is laughable. A tenured track position at a T50 maybe even T100 school is far, far more competitive than any BigLaw associate position and they are generally reserved for academic lifers. There is very little attrition among law school faculty and thus when there are openings, they are sought after by hundreds of extremely well-qualified candidates; BigLaw burnouts hardly stand a chance. Unless you're planning to throw in a Ph. D or SCOTUS clerkship on top of your resume or planning on gunning for academia from the moment you graduate, you essentially have no chance of becoming a full-time law professor at a major university. Not saying it's impossible coming from Yale, but after five to ten years in BigLaw, it certainly is very rare. In short, academia is not an exit-strategy, it's an entirely separate career path.

IMO, from where you are now, paying more money for your legal education will never be more valuable to you. Get your JD with your impressive grades and cross the exit strategy bridge when you come to it.

Thanks. That does seem to be the trend for the professors I have asked. There is a professor of business law, however, who did work in the corporate world for years before becoming a professor. He That is something I would like for myself as the best case scenario.


UPDATE: In at Harvard. I will be accepting unless I get into Yale. The coming week will show.

Congrats on Harvard. May I ask though, aren't you concerned with value? How do you reconcile your decision to attend Harvard over staying top of your class + LR + full ride at a T14 with your value consideration? Harvard is Harvard, but how long will it take to recoup the extra 150k?

Thanks man.

Several reasons. First is, as you said, Harvard is Harvard. Attending it has always been sort of a dream of mine. Second is that I actually dropped rank at my school from top 2% to around top 5%, which might actually make me more competitive if I transfer. Third is that HYS definitely boosts chances for academia, which is something I am interested in. And finally, my parents will help me cover part of the debt so it should be somewhat less than 150k.

So, many factors. But mainly it's the braggin' rights.