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Just curious about this.

Let's say I go through law school, get my JD, then decide I would rather get some kind of masters (econ, international relations, MPP, etc) instead of practicing law. Does attending law school help you get into these programs? Or does having the JD hurt you?

Forgive my cluelessness, I'm just genuinely curious if people who strike out/decide they don't want to be a lawyer go onto other kinds of grad school and the impact their JD has, if any, on their prospects.

Assume JD is from T1.

I mean it really depends on the applicant themselves and the type of program it is - there's no blanket admissions rule to all master's programs. Admissions is going to want to know "why" you're applying for the program you're after, so you'd probably need a compelling story - if you were a dance major who's suddenly coming off of a JD to study a master's in econ, they're probably going to want to know wtf is up. And if you're a K-JD who's deciding to go straight into a master's, I think the concern would be that you're pulling a Van Wilder and don't really know what to do so you're just staying in school.

Also, are talking about a scenario where somebody gets their JD, takes the bar and works in law for a bit, and then comes back to school? Or are you asking about somebody who goes straight from JD to masters? The former probably will have an easier time explaining what's going on: "practiced law, didn't like it". The latter might be a little bit more difficult - what, you decided you didn't want to work as an attorney... but still finished the degree? It just seems like the specifics of the student probably are going to matter most - it'd be less skeptical if somebody's background is, say, politics, and they're wanting to pursue a MPP because that's more in line with what they want to do.

There are like a million unemployed JDs who do exactly this to stay on the student loan gravy train while they pray that the legal economy gets better, so no it won't really help you stand out. At least not in a good way.

Unless you actually practiced doing something respectable and didn't like it or whatever, like the dude above mentioned.

And T1 JD is in no way distinguishing. If whatever the Masters degree feeds into is your end career goal, you'd do way better finding an entry level job related to that field and getting some experience. No need to waste three years and, presumably, tens (or hundreds) of thousands in debt to get something you don't actually need.

Calculate how much money it will take to get a JD and Masters. Then consider that the JD will really be useless if you're not practicing or doing something else that requires the JD. If you don't have a problem with the cost, follow that dream. Also, pay off my loans.