JD/MA (and Academia/Job Hunt) Forum

[lot49]

Hey, I apologize if anything like this has been asked before. Purely from a speculative position (as I'm too early on in this process to be claiming I'm capable of accomplishing anything like this), I'm curious how the role of additional degrees can help boost one's chances of landing an academic spot at a law school. I'm definitely aware of the hyper-competitive nature of legal academia. I know that, for the most part, one has to land a spot in one of the tip-top schools to have a chance of getting into that field and has to have some ridiculous scholarly work and/or clerking experience. But I'm curious if anyone has a clue how having an additional degree (in this case an MA in Economics) would affect one's chances of breaking into the profession. I have a lot of interest in both fields and feel like there's definitely some useful overlap between the two if I were to attempt a JD/MA, but I'm not sure how this would play out in the job hunting process. As cool as an academic job would be, would law schools give any weight to an additional degree? I feel almost certain that non-academic employers wouldn't think too highly of someone who has two "half-degrees."

I've struggled to find much useful information about the JD/MA and am just curious if anyone has any insight on this. As wonderful as it may be to pursue knowledge for knowledge's sake, the current state of legal employment is making me hesitant to invest that kind of money on something that nobody would care about.

[Mack.Hambleton]

Do you have HYS numbers

[tww909]

the best description I've heard of the role of advanced degrees in academic hiring is this: the PhD or MA is useful in that it is an opportunity to produce substantial scholarship. In other words publications > degrees when you go on the market.

[twenty]

the best description I've heard of the role of advanced degrees in academic hiring is this: the PhD or MA is useful in that it is an opportunity to produce substantial scholarship. In other words publications > degrees when you go on the market.

This.

The fact that you have an MA in Economics is not going to make up for the fact that you didn't attend HYS.

[Danteshek]

Any time anyone reads your resume for an academic job, they will ask why that MA is not a PhD

A PhD in economics is a serious degree; an MA is not

[Snuffles1]

Yeah, unfortunately I think an MA wouldn't do much for you. If you're HYS (especially Y) and otherwise good in terms of ref letters, clerkships, publications, etc (pick whatever combination of plus factors you like) the MA isn't going to be necessary. And if you're not HYS, the MA will not be worthwhile inasmuch as it won't do enough. Very few people publish their MA theses and most of your time in an MA program will be spent taking classes (so the publication box is less likely to be checked via a non-thesis work than in a PhD program). Plus -- and I say this as a non-Econ person, so fistful of salt etc -- I think there are enough JD/Econ PhDs on the market now that an MA in Econ just won't mean much.