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twenty wrote:As someone who did this, terrible, terrible idea for so many reasons. At the very least, do a joint JD/MA which will shave a year of costs/time off your two degrees. But also, don't do an MPA, and DEFINITELY don't do a professional masters or MUP unless you have substantial work experience in those fields.

mrshibis wrote:

twenty wrote:As someone who did this, terrible, terrible idea for so many reasons. At the very least, do a joint JD/MA which will shave a year of costs/time off your two degrees. But also, don't do an MPA, and DEFINITELY don't do a professional masters or MUP unless you have substantial work experience in those fields.

How about The Public Relation and Corporate communication degree ?

mrshibis wrote:I have recently graduated with Political Science degree from state University. My GPA is 3.63. I would like to go Law school but first I want to get my master. I am currently working and saving money. I have applied and got accepted to a few different programs as followed. Ma in Public Administration, Master of Urban Planning, Master of Public Relation and Corporate Communication.



1) Would an MA help or hinder my application?

2) Which subject would be most advantageous?
Choices are:
Ma in Public Administration
Master of Urban Planning
Master of Public Relation and Corporate Communication.

You are a degree whore. Do you want to be a lawyer or not? If so, then you don't get a Masters and THEN go to law school. You work, then go get a law degree. There is no reason to get a masters degree then a law degree. Additionally, there is no reason to get a law degree then another masters degree unless you actually realize that you don't want to be a lawyer.

Thanks for your feedback and help!

mrshibis wrote:I am very interested and fallen in love with Master of Professional Studies in MURP /and PR and corporate communication degree (I am not in a senior level PR or planning position).

I still want to go to law school afterwards.

I am just not sure if it would help or hurt me after law school.

Would it be insane to pursue it?
In addition, I am not sure it would really help me get employed in the long run.

Thanks

skri65 wrote:I had an undergrad background in the social sciences. I took a risk and spent two years getting a MS in an engineering field after undergrad, and will be doing IP work in biglaw next summer. I would not have been able to get this job without my additional degree. If you are going to get a masters degree, make it something that employers care about. Otherwise it's not worth the money.

twenty wrote:

skri65 wrote:I had an undergrad background in the social sciences. I took a risk and spent two years getting a MS in an engineering field after undergrad, and will be doing IP work in biglaw next summer. I would not have been able to get this job without my additional degree. If you are going to get a masters degree, make it something that employers care about. Otherwise it's not worth the money.

The bigger question I have is how the hell did you get into an engineering program without a STEM background?

BVest wrote:Yeah... it's not that employers give a crap that you have a Masters in engineering, it's that you have ANY degree in engineering. You could have gotten the job with a BS in a hard science as well.

skri65 wrote:

twenty wrote:

skri65 wrote:I had an undergrad background in the social sciences. I took a risk and spent two years getting a MS in an engineering field after undergrad, and will be doing IP work in biglaw next summer. I would not have been able to get this job without my additional degree. If you are going to get a masters degree, make it something that employers care about. Otherwise it's not worth the money.

The bigger question I have is how the hell did you get into an engineering program without a STEM background?

I took the prerequisites, did well in them, and applied. It helps that the degree wasn't from the most prestigious program, but the employers didn't seem to care too much...was able to play it off that I was adept at picking up challenging things quickly, was motivated, blah blah. I'm in debt hell now, but that was just part of my decision to increase my marketability.

jbagelboy wrote:

skri65 wrote:

twenty wrote:

skri65 wrote:I had an undergrad background in the social sciences. I took a risk and spent two years getting a MS in an engineering field after undergrad, and will be doing IP work in biglaw next summer. I would not have been able to get this job without my additional degree. If you are going to get a masters degree, make it something that employers care about. Otherwise it's not worth the money.

The bigger question I have is how the hell did you get into an engineering program without a STEM background?

I took the prerequisites, did well in them, and applied. It helps that the degree wasn't from the most prestigious program, but the employers didn't seem to care too much...was able to play it off that I was adept at picking up challenging things quickly, was motivated, blah blah. I'm in debt hell now, but that was just part of my decision to increase my marketability.

at the risk of sounding like a dick, and without full information on your individual choices and debt levels, you could probably have just paid $160 to retake the LSAT and "increase[d] your marketability" to large law firms just as well if not better by skipping the MA and going to a law school with stronger placement.

The above advise should hold in 98% of circumstances unless you were seriously considering becoming an engineer or you absolutely love and had to become a patent litigator.

mwallace930 wrote:Speaking as someone who has gotten a master's degree and is now applying to law school, don't listen to the people who are telling you not to go, insofar as you have a genuine interest in the master's programs you're applying to, and you're not just doing it to boost your application status to law school. If the latter is the case, then just work on improving your LSAT score.

Throughout my years as an undergraduate, I thought it was a foregone conclusion that I was going to law school immediately after. I summer interned at a prestigious Biglaw firm and worked as a file clerk at another after graduation. In one of my smartest decisions ever, I realized about that time that the only thing guiding my decision to go to law school was a desire for $$$, a certain skill set I had, and some loosely defined interests. Instead of law, I applied to a PhD program in history, and entered that.

I hated the PhD program, leaving shortly after my master's, but the time spent there was well worth it. It changed my way of interpreting the world, gave me time to mature, and led to amazing career opportunities overseas. Although I never thought I would apply to law school, seven years later, I'm doing exactly that with a much more focused idea of what I want to do. I'm also mature enough to view with skepticism people's advice of telling you "this is the way it should be done, and you're stupid otherwise."

So if you have a real passion for urban planning or public administration, go ahead and do it. At the very least, you'll have time to develop yourself and your understanding of the world. You may decide in the end that you never want to do law school. Or you may apply to law school with a very focused idea of what you want to accomplish there.

Live life a little. Experience makes you a better person. Release yourself from all pre-set expectations of "this is my five-year plan" and just apply yourself to something you enjoy and decide along the way where that will take you.