Top Law Schools

I have a liberal arts double major from a top 50 UG (USNWR ranked) with a business minor. Now I realize that business is really what I want to do, but I have no clear way of getting into the business world. I was wondering if a JD would be beneficial in getting me into business type positions (consulting, financial associate, HR, real estate, etc). Is it true that you can do "anything" with a JD or is that law school marketing?

No. You can become an attorney with a JD and practice law, or do part time doc review. It is not a backdoor into finance.

You have to go through fall on campus recruiting with IB/consulting at your undergraduate college. Otherwise you can try to get lucky and score work for a boutique consulting or wealth management fund, hoping that after 2-3 years you can lateral into a more mainstream financial analyst or management consulting position - or, if the lateral options seem glim, rock the GMAT & go get an M7 MBA after a couple years at the less well recognized shop.

You can search this site for information on this topic. There is no independent "business" value in terms of employment (or skills) to a law degree ITE. It's a giant time and money suck for a rather limited set of initial options. The fact that JD's are found in a variety of sectors and professions is a function of those people's careers, connections and momentum, not the value of attending law school.

jbagelboy wrote: You have to go through fall on campus recruiting with IB/consulting at your undergraduate college. Otherwise you can try to get lucky and score work for a boutique consulting or wealth management fund, hoping that after 2-3 years you can lateral into a more mainstream financial analyst or management consulting position - or, if the lateral options seem glim, rock the GMAT & go get an M7 MBA after a couple years at the less well recognized shop.

Or you can do one of the thousands of other "business" type jobs.

Fortunately, no business job requires a law degree. If you'd like to break into the financial world I'd recommend working for a retail bank, brokerage firm, or insurance company, and trying to work your way up. At that point you can move towards a variety of other business jobs (or move up further in your existing company) by getting an MBA.

I don't know anything about the value of a JD for business. But, out of curiosity, if you are thinking about graduate work to get into business why wouldn't you pursue graduate work in business?

I'd love to find financial work, but is that even possible with a liberal arts degree from a non-ivy school? Anyone have any tips?

psyduckiscool wrote:I'd love to find financial work, but is that even possible with a liberal arts degree from a non-ivy school? Anyone have any tips?

Unless you have a 4.0+leadership positions in undergrad you are probably out for most major consulting firms, HR is not a "business role", anyone can do real estate unless you mean real estate fund in which case you should probably pick up some modeling skills. Best bet to go direct to business is to apply for an Analyst I (financial, marketing, whatever) role at the large local companies. It is entry-level and doesn't truly require a business degree.

As far as using a JD to help go into business, the only major non-legal recruiters at law schools are the major 3 management consulting shops and wealth management/investment management divisions of a few large banks. These positions pretty much only recruit at top-10 schools and hire a combined maybe 20-25 law students per year. I wouldn't bet $150k on it.

psyduckiscool wrote:I'd love to find financial work, but is that even possible with a liberal arts degree from a non-ivy school? Anyone have any tips?

Get a real job for a few years, then do an MBA from an M7

Realistically, I suggest you get a job with potential, and hope it works out

guano wrote:

psyduckiscool wrote:I'd love to find financial work, but is that even possible with a liberal arts degree from a non-ivy school? Anyone have any tips?

Get a real job for a few years, then do an MBA from an M7

Realistically, I suggest you get a job with potential, and hope it works out

Try to get an operations job with a bulge bracket firm or large investment management firm. They truly do not give a shit about major usually just grades (if that). There either isn't a formal recruitment or they actively hire outside of it. The work usually sucks or is uninteresting, but it 'can' lead to front office jobs for a few special snowflakes and seems to be a pretty good resume line for schools/other jobs. If you're interested in managing people it can actually turn into a pretty good gig down the road too.

Edit: This advise is in the event that you can't find a real finance job. Definitely take an actual finance job anywhere over the operations route.

BmoreOrLess wrote:

guano wrote:

psyduckiscool wrote:I'd love to find financial work, but is that even possible with a liberal arts degree from a non-ivy school? Anyone have any tips?

Get a real job for a few years, then do an MBA from an M7

Realistically, I suggest you get a job with potential, and hope it works out

Try to get an operations job with a bulge bracket firm or large investment management firm. They truly do not give a shit about major usually just grades (if that). There either isn't a formal recruitment or they actively hire outside of it. The work usually sucks or is uninteresting, but it 'can' lead to front office jobs for a few special snowflakes and seems to be a pretty good resume line for schools/other jobs. If you're interested in managing people it can actually turn into a pretty good gig down the road too.

Edit: This advise is in the event that you can't find a real finance job. Definitely take an actual finance job anywhere over the operations route.

Going from back-office to front office does happen, but isn't likely.

psyduckiscool wrote:I'd love to find financial work, but is that even possible with a liberal arts degree from a non-ivy school? Anyone have any tips?

Like I said: banks, brokerages, insurance companies. These places will train you and put you in a position to do some interesting things down the road. If you really take a liking to the quantitative side you can work towards the CFA, which sets you up for all kinds of glory.

Tiago Splitter wrote:

psyduckiscool wrote:I'd love to find financial work, but is that even possible with a liberal arts degree from a non-ivy school? Anyone have any tips?

Like I said: banks, brokerages, insurance companies. These places will train you and put you in a position to do some interesting things down the road. If you really take a liking to the quantitative side you can work towards the CFA, which sets you up for all kinds of glory.

As an FYI, the CFA is fucking difficult. Series 7 is easy. Insurance license exams are a joke

guano wrote:

Tiago Splitter wrote:

psyduckiscool wrote:I'd love to find financial work, but is that even possible with a liberal arts degree from a non-ivy school? Anyone have any tips?

Like I said: banks, brokerages, insurance companies. These places will train you and put you in a position to do some interesting things down the road. If you really take a liking to the quantitative side you can work towards the CFA, which sets you up for all kinds of glory.

As an FYI, the CFA is fucking difficult. Series 7 is easy. Insurance license exams are a joke

Right, which is why I said you should get a job in one of those industries where getting credentialed isn't hard. Then, if you want to pursue more advanced stuff, the CFA will be an option, one only available to people with four years of industry experience.

Tiago Splitter wrote:

guano wrote:

Tiago Splitter wrote:

psyduckiscool wrote:I'd love to find financial work, but is that even possible with a liberal arts degree from a non-ivy school? Anyone have any tips?

Like I said: banks, brokerages, insurance companies. These places will train you and put you in a position to do some interesting things down the road. If you really take a liking to the quantitative side you can work towards the CFA, which sets you up for all kinds of glory.

As an FYI, the CFA is fucking difficult. Series 7 is easy. Insurance license exams are a joke

Right, which is why I said you should get a job in one of those industries where getting credentialed isn't hard. Then, if you want to pursue more advanced stuff, the CFA will be an option, one only available to people with four years of industry experience.

If you know you want to go the CFA route, I suggest starting as soon as possible. You can take all 3 exams before getting sufficient work experience to qualify, and you'll want the credential as soon as possible. Level 1 is given twice a year, and the other exams only once, so at a minimum it's a 2 1/2 year process (and it can easily take a year to study for each)

Have you tried applying for jobs? I know I graduated into a much better economy but surely it's not so bad that you can't get a white collar job in business?

.