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[retupmoc12]

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[Barack O'Drama]

FWIW, I know more than a few people who held Master's degrees and went to law school. After they seemed to have the same job prospects as the K-JDs had. It certainly depends on what type of Master's were talking about too. For instance, a Master's in History is going to be essentially useless, whereas a Master's in a scientific discipline may aid you in IP law or the like. I think the consensus is not to get a Master's with the sole purpose of it helping you gain employment prospects post-law school.

Edit: 0L take what I say with a grain of salt and let some of the vets help you if you're thinking about a Master's before law school.

[grades??]

My experience and my fellow friends with advanced degrees all struggled in legal writing. Our grades tended to be much worse, even with more published works and education. Why? Legal writing rewards the boring, dull writers. The person I know who did the best in legal writing was a science phd. Why?He's used to writing extremely dry papers.

On the whole, my masters seems to be useful. Haven't gone through OCI yet but my interviews as a 1l I found it extremely beneficial. Plus Im a little older than my classmates, more time in school. I disagree that master's students are more like KJDs. On the whole, it seems that the most mature groups of people in law school are the much older (30 year old +) group with children and the students with advanced degrees. Generally we all came to law school with a specific purpose and a goal on what we want out of our law degree and how to use our previous ones.

Overall, I think my masters was extremely useful and helpful both in and out of law school. Non-science masters. At PDV.

[$ell-o-tex]

I got a master's degree in the humanities three years before I started law school. OP, is your interest in getting a master's part of a big plan leading up to a law job, or is it more about pursuing a passion and this is the one time to do it? I did it because I thought I was on some totally different career path. My resume reflects that law school was not Plan A, so interviewers have asked why I got it. You'll need a strong answer to that question. Career zig-zagging aside, I've been able to come up with post hoc justifications for the degree because it actually has been helpful in school. Because my MA was in a writing-intensive field, I was better prepared for legal writing, even though it requires a very different style. I also felt less oppressed by the law school workload. Compared to undergrad, grad school can be much more intense and competitive, so that can either help prepare you for law school in terms of endurance/confidence/fortitude or have the opposite effect of burning you out.

On balance, it hasn't hurt, but it's a little weird being older in school and I definitely had to get over myself fast. I'm sure you've already considered this, but if you have to take on debt to do your MA, I would be very cautious, because that hole is only going to get deeper when you enroll in law school.

[Loney M. Setnick]

I'm sure you've already considered this, but if you have to take on debt to do your MA, I would be very cautious, because that hole is only going to get deeper when you enroll in law school.

I second this. In your situation, I would only do it if I had a full scholarship. As has already been pointed out, even with financial aid, the cost of law school is exorbitant. As a 0L with both a master's and work experience, I think work experience has been more helpful in strengthening my application, but my reading/writing intensive social sciences masters might be helpful in handling the workload.

[Dads707]

I had a 2.66 coming out of UG in 2012. My degree was electrical engineering and while I wanted to pursue a law degree at the time, I figured I would be better of taking a few years to work.

In pursuing this path, I enrolled in a PT MBA starting the fall after I graduated UG. I learned a lot in the program. I'll likely forget a lot of the "down in the weeds" info; however, the big picture on how to use the various business functions to my advantage both in and out of the workplace will likely stick with me as I approach problems differently than before the program.

I came out of UG with no student debt (great parents) and I was able to get about 2/3 of the MBA subsidized through work while paying the rest as I went (read: no loans). If I had been footing more of the bill, I doubt I'd be as much of a proponent of this path, but it has worked out very well in my specific situation.

I also feel that continuing to take 1-2 classes/semester helped my maintain my focus on pursuing a law degree, which I will be beginning this fall.