Have PhD, pursue JD? Forum

[thatash]

Hi all,

I am just starting to debate going to law school. I already hold a PhD in psychology and an MA in education policy. I am really interested in working on policy and think getting a JD might be a good way to get there. Are there any JD programs that might consider some of my other grad work towards completion? Do you think I'm silly for even considering this? Thanks for your advice.

[ph14]

Hi all,

I am just starting to debate going to law school. I already hold a PhD in psychology and an MA in education policy. I am really interested in working on policy and think getting a JD might be a good way to get there. Are there any JD programs that might consider some of my other grad work towards completion? Do you think I'm silly for even considering this? Thanks for your advice.

A good rule of thumb is only get a JD if you want to practice law. If you want to do policy work, the conventional wisdom is that you will be much better served by not spending 3 years of your life and, perhaps, tens of thousands of dollars to get your law degree. I imagine it would be better to get a Master's in Public Policy or just directly try to get in your foot in the door right now in some capacity. What exactly do you mean by policy work? That could mean a lot of things.

No JD program will consider any of your other graduate work to count towards the law degree, as far as I am aware.

[homestyle28]

I have 2 MAs before I went to law school. ph14's advise is pretty much dead on. Plenty of programs will give you an admissions bump (how big is debatable) for having a PhD, but that won't factor into aid. Getting a JD isn't like a PhD in terms of funding, so chances are you'll have to incur debt to get you JD, hence the solid advice of "get a JD if you want to be a lawyer." There are other routes into policy work without getting a JD you should explore first.