Deferring for another year? Forum

[brownpride]

I applied straight out of undergrad and was accepted into HLS, but deferred for a year to complete a masters degree in public policy (which I'll begin this fall). My reason for doing so what that my career goal is to work in internationally-oriented policy, and thus I wanted a strong international relations/policy background as well as the legal skills I hope to develop in law school. However, due to a lack of international relations opportunities in my city and a lack of funds to travel/work abroad, I don't really have any experience in any facet of international relations (though that's what my undergrad degree is in). As this is definitely the field in which I want to work, I'm contemplating looking for a job after my masters degree and working for a year, thus deferring law school for a second year. I'd only defer if I could find work with a top-rate institution (i.e. I'd be searching at top IR think tanks, UN positions, and at top management consulting firms). But I'm not sure if it's worth working in IR for a year to help kick-start my career after law school considering that I'll have one IR-related internship in my masters program and another in law school. Thoughts/suggestions?

TL;DR - Deferred law school for a year to complete a masters but have no experience in field I want to work in; wondering if I should defer for a second year to get some experience.

[Grazzhoppa]

no

[sunynp]

Can you defer another year? If so, when do you have to decide?

[mr.hands]

no. just no

[brownpride]

To those who replied no, thanks - but could you provide some rationale please?
And I'm not 100% sure that I can but they convey the strong impression that it's likely. I'd have to know by early January.

[sunynp]

To those who replied no, thanks - but could you provide some rationale please?
And I'm not 100% sure that I can but they convey the strong impression that it's likely. I'd have to know by early January.

Eh if you don't have to know until January I would start worrying about this in November. If you want experience, when do you have to apply for those jobs? What kind of work would you do?

More importantly - do you want to be a lawyer? You might want to get some experience in a law firm.
Not really sure how to advise you here.

[ilovelawtays]

If I were on the HLS admissions board, I'd start thinking you were non-committal or didn't have your shit together, or even that HLS wasn't high on your list of priorities.

Would it be possible for you to get your Masters while interning at an org or firm that focuses on international policy?

I don't know anything about getting into the field of international policy, but can you really get that much experience in one year? Maybe the Masters and some interning, plus a Harvard degree and some experience abroad would be enough to open some doors for you.

[r6_philly]

Why couldn't you have done a joint degree with Kennedy?