Value of a JD/PhD Forum

[1984]

In your opinion, what is the value of a JD/PhD-Political Science on the job market right now? 4-5 years from now?

My state university has a good PoliSci program and our law school is T30.

[A. Nony Mouse]

A PhD is only useful for academic jobs. It has no value at all on the regular legal market.

(Unless you're talking about a STEM Ph.D. and want to go into IP...but that's not the case here.)

[rad lulz]

What job do you want

[twenty]

I don't think people understand the financial side of a JD/PhD. Unless the PhD fully funds the JD (as is the case at Stanford), your law school loans will still be accumulating interest and you won't qualify for LRAP if you take a job that really only gets use out of the PhD.

Also, the political science PhD market is pretty bad for the stuff you probably want to do if you're also considering law school. Theory/practice is the equivalent of wanting to practice "international law", and philosophy is roughly equal to "space law." The only Poly-sci PhDs getting employed right now are quant-heavy, and maybe some top IR.

[suralin]

Political science is a flame. (At least w/r/t employment prospects.)

[jump_man]

Click here for an interesting perspective on theJD/PhD world from Brian Leiter

TL;DR - Do you really want to spend 7-8 years accumulating debt?

[1984]

Thanks for all your responses!

[cahwc12]

In your opinion, what is the value of a JD/PhD-Political Science on the job market right now? 4-5 years from now?

My state university has a good PoliSci program and our law school is T30.

This is a thought experiment for you and anyone else who stumbles on this thread:

Create a list of potential employers who would say something like "you know, what we really want is someone with a PhD in Political Science."

If the list is too short, try "you know, what we really want is someone with a degree in Political Science."

[suralin]

In your opinion, what is the value of a JD/PhD-Political Science on the job market right now? 4-5 years from now?

My state university has a good PoliSci program and our law school is T30.

This is a thought experiment for you and anyone else who stumbles on this thread:

Create a list of potential employers who would say something like "you know, what we really want is someone with a PhD in Political Science."

If the list is too short, try "you know, what we really want is someone with a degree in Political Science."