investment banking after law school? Forum

[psiovana]

Since I have not decided on my post-graduate plan yet, I am now considering the possibility of attending a law school. How hard is it to break into IB or consulting with an undergraduate econ+a JD at a T14 law school? Does law school worth the investment? Since I am an international student I am not sure if I can actually get a job in US...

Thank you!

[dingbat]

Since I have not decided on my post-graduate plan yet, I am now considering the possibility of attending a law school. How hard is it to break into IB or consulting with an undergraduate econ+a JD at a T14 law school? Does law school worth the investment? Since I am an international student I am not sure if I can actually get a job in US...

Thank you!

If you want to do IB, go to business school, not law school

[Anonymous User]

Since I have not decided on my post-graduate plan yet, I am now considering the possibility of attending a law school. How hard is it to break into IB or consulting with an undergraduate econ+a JD at a T14 law school? Does law school worth the investment? Since I am an international student I am not sure if I can actually get a job in US...

Thank you!

If you want to do IB, go to business school, not law school

This is the most asinine and oft-repeated comment on TLS. First, it points out the obvious - of course going to business school would be the best and ideal option. But for one reason or another, OP is not in business school or is not contemplating business school in the near future. Most likely, they don't have the work experience to get into a good enough/worthwhile business school. Telling them that they should have gone to business school doesn't help them one bit.

That being said, I would still shy away from law school as an investment if you want to go into business. From a financial perspective, it is still much better to do some entry-level work for a few years because you actually make money and then apply to business school. Even if you have a shitty liberal arts degree from a non-target, if you hustle enough you can still find meaningful work that is sufficient to support a single young person's lifestyle and still look good on a resume. A former colleague of mine worked at our firm for 3 years (it was not a F500/ibank/consulting firm), graduated from Wesleyan in poli sci, and is now at Columbia for her MBA. Sure, it's not wharton or HBS, but it's still good and will most likely net her some awesome job opps.

[dingbat]

it's also a really stupid question.
If you want to be an accountant, you don't go to veterinary school
If you want to be a dentist, you wouldn't consider going to law school
If you want to be a doctor, you wouldn't consider going to business school
if you want to be a lawyer, you wouldn't consider going to medical school

while it is possible to go to law school and then go to Ibanking, it's not a smart way to do it (not quite as stupid as the examples above, but still close to it)

[FlightoftheEarls]

Since I have not decided on my post-graduate plan yet, I am now considering the possibility of attending a law school. How hard is it to break into IB or consulting with an undergraduate econ+a JD at a T14 law school? Does law school worth the investment? Since I am an international student I am not sure if I can actually get a job in US...

Thank you!

If you want to do IB, go to business school, not law school

This is the most asinine and oft-repeated comment on TLS. First, it points out the obvious - of course going to business school would be the best and ideal option. But for one reason or another, OP is not in business school or is not contemplating business school in the near future. Most likely, they don't have the work experience to get into a good enough/worthwhile business school. Telling them that they should have gone to business school doesn't help them one bit.

That being said, I would still shy away from law school as an investment if you want to go into business. From a financial perspective, it is still much better to do some entry-level work for a few years because you actually make money and then apply to business school. Even if you have a shitty liberal arts degree from a non-target, if you hustle enough you can still find meaningful work that is sufficient to support a single young person's lifestyle and still look good on a resume. A former colleague of mine worked at our firm for 3 years (it was not a F500/ibank/consulting firm), graduated from Wesleyan in poli sci, and is now at Columbia for her MBA. Sure, it's not wharton or HBS, but it's still good and will most likely net her some awesome job opps.

I appreciate how you just elaborated on the exact same conclusion that you anonymous slammed the previous poster for stating. That was oddly impressive.

[dr123]

Since I have not decided on my post-graduate plan yet, I am now considering the possibility of attending a law school. How hard is it to break into IB or consulting with an undergraduate econ+a JD at a T14 law school? Does law school worth the investment? Since I am an international student I am not sure if I can actually get a job in US...

Thank you!

If you want to do IB, go to business school, not law school

Dont need to go to B-school to get into I-banking, they do a lot of hiring straight out of UG.

[rad lulz]

Since I have not decided on my post-graduate plan yet, I am now considering the possibility of attending a law school. How hard is it to break into IB or consulting with an undergraduate econ+a JD at a T14 law school? Does law school worth the investment? Since I am an international student I am not sure if I can actually get a job in US...

Thank you!

If you want to do IB, go to business school, not law school

Dont need to go to B-school to get into I-banking, they do a lot of hiring straight out of UG.

So OP, purchase a time machine.

[Anonymous User]

I am willing to give OP the benefit of the doubt and assume that he/she already knows the most obvious route is to go to business school (and yes, you can go straight from UG, but your chances are slim if you don't come from a target UG with a good GPA). But, like i said, not everyone can get into a quality B-school - at least, not yet. The question OP asked is whether law school would be a worthwhile investment in the alternative. My problem isn't the response's conclusion (don't go to law school for i-banking), but its lack of nuance and detail.

[Na_Swatch]

Since I have not decided on my post-graduate plan yet, I am now considering the possibility of attending a law school. How hard is it to break into IB or consulting with an undergraduate econ+a JD at a T14 law school? Does law school worth the investment? Since I am an international student I am not sure if I can actually get a job in US...

Thank you!

If you want to do IB, go to business school, not law school

This is the most asinine and oft-repeated comment on TLS. First, it points out the obvious - of course going to business school would be the best and ideal option. But for one reason or another, OP is not in business school or is not contemplating business school in the near future. Most likely, they don't have the work experience to get into a good enough/worthwhile business school. Telling them that they should have gone to business school doesn't help them one bit.

That being said, I would still shy away from law school as an investment if you want to go into business. From a financial perspective, it is still much better to do some entry-level work for a few years because you actually make money and then apply to business school. Even if you have a shitty liberal arts degree from a non-target, if you hustle enough you can still find meaningful work that is sufficient to support a single young person's lifestyle and still look good on a resume. A former colleague of mine worked at our firm for 3 years (it was not a F500/ibank/consulting firm), graduated from Wesleyan in poli sci, and is now at Columbia for her MBA. Sure, it's not wharton or HBS, but it's still good and will most likely net her some awesome job opps.

I appreciate how you just elaborated on the exact same conclusion that you anonymous slammed the previous poster for stating. That was oddly impressive.

Hahaha i was just about to say the same thing. Anon Poster:

What a crappy, dumb comment, who are you to tell the OP to go to Business School?

Oh and also OP, let me tell you something: Go to Business School.

[shotsfired12]

They play baseball in puerto rico.

[dingbat]

it's also a really stupid question.
If you want to be an accountant, you don't go to veterinary school
If you want to be a dentist, you wouldn't consider going to law school
If you want to be a doctor, you wouldn't consider going to business school
if you want to be a lawyer, you wouldn't consider going to medical school

while it is possible to go to law school and then go to Ibanking, it's not a smart way to do it (not quite as stupid as the examples above, but still close to it)

It's also true that the law school/consulting/ibanking overlap is not nearly as ludicrous as the examples you've put up. Management consulting firms do hire (not often, but a significant minority of the time) JDs and give them the same compensation they would give to an MBA. There is also a lot of overlap between transactional law and ibanking, paving the way to the latter as a reasonable exit option. Again, OP's odds are still a lot better off taking the conventional routes to IB/Consulting, but the contrast is still not as stark as the examples above.

Practically speaking, if you know what you want to do before you go to law school/business school (or any other school for that matter) go the direct route and don't go the long way around.
If you go to law school because you don't know what you want to do (which seems to me to be more common in law school & business school than any other graduate school) then it's nice that there are other options.

I used the extreme examples to make a point, btw. I understand the difference

[Br3v]

Since I have not decided on my post-graduate plan yet, I am now considering the possibility of attending a law school. How hard is it to break into IB or consulting with an undergraduate econ+a JD at a T14 law school? Does law school worth the investment? Since I am an international student I am not sure if I can actually get a job in US...

Thank you!

If you want to do IB, go to business school, not law school

Dont need to go to B-school to get into I-banking, they do a lot of hiring straight out of UG.

So OP, purchase a time machine.

...and attend HYP/some big NYC school

[A Purple Cow]

.

[A Purple Cow]

...and attend HYP/some big NYC school

Not helpful to OP, but just wanted to note that IB/consulting target plenty of schools outside HYP/NYC schools. Other Ivy league schools, top liberal arts colleges (e.g. Williams/Amherst/Swarthmore), and other top universities are heavily targeted.

[PDaddy]

Unless you just want to have a JD in your back pocket, get an MBA! I will say that a JD can do pretty much anything an MBA can, but an MBA cannot practice law, i.e. represent someone at trial, become a judge, etc. Don't listen to anyone who tells you that pursuing the JD route is a bad way to go to reach your business goals. From the way your original post reads, it certainly isn't the "best" route, but that's a far cry from saying that getting a law degree is a dumb move for someone with business aspirations. It depends on your financial situation, level of commitment, age, etc. Only you and a really good advisor who knows your story will know whether the JD route is at all appropriate.

[gokumax]

Law to IBanking is a stupid idea because you waste more than three years and alot of money to do something you could have done in less time and less money.

Law school is not a panacea for your inability to get the job you want.

[psiovana]

Thanks to all the replies, whether positive or negative. What I am concerned about is this: almost all successful candidates to b-schools have 3-5 years of work experiences(there are only a handful of exceptions, though). Therefore, as an international student and due to the bad economy, I literally dont know if I can get a job in U.S. Without these work experiences, it is unlikely that I will get into a good MBA program.

So law school can be an alternative.

BTW, what is the career path in a law firm?(like analyst-associate-VP-ED-MD in ibanking?)

[ahnhub]

Thanks to all the replies, whether positive or negative. What I am concerned about is this: almost all successful candidates to b-schools have 3-5 years of work experiences(there are only a handful of exceptions, though). Therefore, as an international student and due to the bad economy, I literally dont know if I can get a job in U.S. Without these work experiences, it is unlikely that I will get into a good MBA program.

So law school can be an alternative.

BTW, what is the career path in a law firm?(like analyst-associate-VP-ED-MD in ibanking?)

it's one of these alternate realities:

1.
fail at OCI-->killself
OR
Biglaw associate-->hate your life-->killself
OR
Biglaw associate-->get pushed out the door early-->killself


2.
Biglaw associate-->wonderful and prestigious exit opportunity (maybe even i-banking!)
OR
Biglaw associate-->Biglaw partner, enjoy your baller life

Who knows.

Also--can you get a job overseas somewhere?

[rayiner]

You don't necessarily need a job in the US. A bunch of JD-MBA's at Kellogg that I know have work experience abroad.

That being said, you need to keep things in perspective. Right now, investment banks are firing people, not hiring people. They're maintaining only their barest recruiting needs, and targeting top people at HYPW is enough to fill those needs.

[CanadianWolf]

Consider a joint degree--JD/MBA. Some only take 3 years.

OP: Since you've just finished your freshman year of college at Vanderbilt, you have time to select an appropriate major. Ask for advice from your school counselor.
Also, ask whether or not Vanderbilt is a target undergraduate school.

[psiovana]

So, is Vanderbilt considered a target or not? How's the law firm recruiting now?