Top Law Schools

I graduated a year ago with a Bachelor of Business Administration in economics. I have accrued one year thus far of valuable work experience. I took the February LSAT and scored 177, and I recently sent my undergraduate records to LSAC, which computed a 3.3 gpa for me.

When I punched in both gpa and LSAT numbers in LSP, it showed several T-14's where I would be a Consider/Strong Consider.

I am trying to decipher whether I should go to law school. If I do, I would want to apply early this Fall, around October.

My interests are: Corporate Law, Investment Banking, and Economics and Business.

My undergrad isnt a prestigious one, so I would never have a chance of working at a top investment bank with what I have so far, and do you think if I pursue a JD at a Top-14 school, and employers would see I have a JD from a prestigious institution, coupled with a Bachelors degree in Economics that I would have some prospects in banking?

I have thought of pursuing a top MBA, but they require several years of work experience, plus they rank the value of your undergrad, quality of your work experience, which makes admission difficult for a top MBA school.

Has anyone with a business or econ undergrad, pursued a JD, and gone into banking?

I would appreciate any advice I could get

Dumbest idea ever.

Teoeo,

Thank you for your reply, and giving your opinion that you feel it isnt a wise decision. May I ask why you think its an unwise idea? I am not finding fault, just curious. I know there are even individuals that graduate from UPenn with a comparable business degree, and they get hired, in banking, but since I have a business degree but not the quality of institution as they do, wouldnt a top 14 , JD, compensate for the undergraduate institution I went to, and I already have a business and economics background?

I don't know if JDs work like that. You want to get a degree that had very little, if any, to do with IB? Don't think it'd be worth the cost.

"Banking" covers a pretty big field. If you're talking about getting a bulge-bracket bank, then the answer is probably "no." Banks aren't interested in JD's, even ones from top schools. Especially with the cutbacks post-recession, banks have a long list of people from target schools that they're rejecting for jobs, who would've squeaked in before the recession. People at HYP whose grades weren't quite good enough, etc. They have no need to consider JD candidates.

If you're talking about smaller banks, then I don't know. My guess is no, again because JD's provide no value to them. FWIW, the only person I know from my T14, who wasn't a JD-MBA, That went into banking does private wealth management. If that's your interest, then maybe.

No, a JD is not a backdoor into finance. Where you went to college and what your grades were in college will still matter.

It is possible to go into some varietals of "banking" or private equity after some time in big law, or with a JD, but mostly as counsel, not as an investment banker, per se. It is possible to transition onto the finance side of transactions, but you need prior experience in the field, an MBA, or some very serious connections through your UG network.

Do not go to law school if you do not want to practice law. If you want to do transactions from the legal side, a 177/3.3 can get you there (but it will probably be something iffy like NYU at sticker or NU w/ $60K). If you want it from the banking side, you basically missed the boat on that by not going to a feeder university and doing on-campus recruiting with the banks and consulting firms.

Top investment banks recruit out of top 6 law schools, but they take very few people and almost all of the people they do take have MBA-quality work experience prior to law school.

With a 3.3, decent work experience, and a strong GMAT score, you'd have access to some B-schools (UVA, Duke, Michigan, NYU, etc.) that will quadruple your chances of landing IB at a much lower cost.

jingosaur wrote:Top investment banks recruit out of top 6 law schools, but they take very few people and almost all of the people they do take have MBA-quality work experience prior to law school.

With a 3.3, decent work experience, and a strong GMAT score, you'd have access to some B-schools (UVA, Duke, Michigan, NYU, etc.) that will quadruple your chances of landing IB at a much lower cost.

This is the credited response.

economicsgrl8302 wrote:Teoeo,

Thank you for your reply, and giving your opinion that you feel it isnt a wise decision. May I ask why you think its an unwise idea? I am not finding fault, just curious. I know there are even individuals that graduate from UPenn with a comparable business degree, and they get hired, in banking, but since I have a business degree but not the quality of institution as they do, wouldnt a top 14 , JD, compensate for the undergraduate institution I went to, and I already have a business and economics background?

It isn't a wise idea because you are going to spend a bunch of time and money on a degree you have no interest in actually using. A J.D. is a practical degree. If you have no interest in practicing law, it is almost always a bad idea to get one.

This has been discussed ad nauseum on the WallStreetOasis.com. A couple of threads --LinkRemoved--

--LinkRemoved--

Bottom line is you are much better getting an MBA than trying to make the jump from law to finance at a low level. If you are at H/Y/S it might be a different story but still very difficult. The difference is that a lot of people from good but not ultra-elite MBA programs (Duke, UVA, Cornell, UCLA, UT Austin) get banking jobs, but their law counterparts would strike out.

If you want to do IB an MBA or even an MFIN (Although I doubt most on this board have the math background for an MFIN) would be ideal.