MBA or Law Degree?

[sygyzy]

I think both degrees are sort of played out. I mean they are both so popular with the IT crowd that they've been diluted.

Edit: Despite this, I'd love to do either/both.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: TheAdvocate
The correct answer here is: patent attorney.

1. Go to law school
2. Summer after year #2, take the Patent Bar
3.
4. Profit ($100k+ bonuses, bare minimum, work for a firm doing IT related litigation)

Why go through the trouble of specializing when industry standard associate pay is $125k.

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: gopunk

Originally posted by: ChiBOY83

Originally posted by: Strk

Originally posted by: ChiBOY83
Oh yea. TONS (edit: maybe not exactly TONS) of places are offering them. Most of the big schools in the midwest offer such programs (Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern).

I would DEF look into that avenue. NOBODY will FU*K w/ you w/ those two degrees!

Except you run into two issues: 1) a lot of schools treat them separately (I.e. you have to get into both the business and the law school) and 2) most MBA programs want at least two years of work experience.

1. that is completly true, gotta take both hte LSAT and GRE and apply seperately
2. It is still possible to get in w/o the job experience, talked to many MBA admissions people in deciding if MBA was right for me. Its not a strict guideline. Furthermore, they are more willing to accept the joint law and MBA students w/o the job experience

gmat, not gre for bschool...

in my opinion, neither are really worth it unless you can go to a top school... avg salary for lawyers is 40k, and i don't think it's going to be much higher for mba's.

Which is why many will take the LSAT then decide whether they're going to law school or not

 

[teddyv]

Definitely JD/MBA, most decent Universities offer the joint program.

 

[TheAdvocate]

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: TheAdvocate
The correct answer here is: patent attorney.

1. Go to law school
2. Summer after year #2, take the Patent Bar
3.
4. Profit ($100k+ bonuses, bare minimum, work for a firm doing IT related litigation)

Why go through the trouble of specializing when industry standard associate pay is $125k.

Pardon, but are you confusing average salaries with average starting salaries? As a Patent attorney, you will be making (as a first year associate) the same amount as a very experienced and competent attorney makes. The Patent Bar and an EE degree w/ a pre-law school internship made one of my best friends the most emplyable man in my law school class. He was being courted all over the country as a 3L, while I was out working the interview process and getting really frustrated about finding something I wanted to do. My buddy now owns his own firm and could buy and sell me a dozen times over, and he's only been doing it for a few years.

PS - The average starting salary for your first year of rpactice out of law school is probably $40K-$50K, unless you're in a very large city. Public Defenders and ADA's make much less than that. And the degree IS played out.

 

[JS80]

I think this has been banged on the head many times...MBA from less than top 15 is generally worthless (i.e. bad ROI)

 

[SampSon]

Law, MBA's are a dime a dozen.

 

[Ranger X]

Get a law degree. You don't necessarily HAVE to go into law after getting your degree. Any field you go into, having knowledge of the law only benefits you and makes you that much more valuable. Business schools pump out so many MBA students, it's ridiculous. I've spoken to several MBA graduates and they've all told me that they don't feel as if they can manage significantly better than they could have from the start of the program. It's all about the on-the-job experience.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: TheAdvocate

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: TheAdvocate
The correct answer here is: patent attorney.

1. Go to law school
2. Summer after year #2, take the Patent Bar
3.
4. Profit ($100k+ bonuses, bare minimum, work for a firm doing IT related litigation)

Why go through the trouble of specializing when industry standard associate pay is $125k.

Pardon, but are you confusing average salaries with average starting salaries? As a Patent attorney, you will be making (as a first year associate) the same amount as a very experienced and competent attorney makes. The Patent Bar and an EE degree w/ a pre-law school internship made one of my best friends the most emplyable man in my law school class. He was being courted all over the country as a 3L, while I was out working the interview process and getting really frustrated about finding something I wanted to do. My buddy now owns his own firm and could buy and sell me a dozen times over, and he's only been doing it for a few years.

PS - The average starting salary for your first year of rpactice out of law school is probably $40K-$50K, unless you're in a very large city. Public Defenders and ADA's make much less than that. And the degree IS played out.

he probably meant avg starting salaries for T14 (which are 125... might be going up to 135 soon as a lot of firms are raising their salaries)... i don't think patent is really worth it either if you're coming from a T14. you might make like 10k more than you would have otherwise, but it seems like the career options might be more limited (probably would be harder to get appointed to a federal court or make it in politics)

 

[Ranger X]

Originally posted by: JS80
I think this has been banged on the head many times...MBA from less than top 15 is generally worthless (i.e. bad ROI)

So true. But the same can be said about law degrees except graduates have more of a leeway than the top 15 restriction. As a student, you should do your best to get into a 1st tier school. Maybe some 2nd tier schools are okay but for the most part, you might be an ambulance chaser if you go to an inferior school.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: Ranger X

Originally posted by: JS80
I think this has been banged on the head many times...MBA from less than top 15 is generally worthless (i.e. bad ROI)

So true. But the same can be said about law degrees except graduates have more of a leeway than the top 15 restriction. As a student, you should do your best to get into a 1st tier school. Maybe some 2nd tier schools are okay but for the most part, you might be an ambulance chaser if you go to an inferior school.

ambulance chaser maybe... but it's more like if you go to a lesser school you will have to get better grades to get well-paying firm jobs and you are pretty much limited to your school's geographic region. so it's not like you can't get a high paying job, it's just that it's harder and your options are somewhat limited.

edit: nm, i misread your post

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: TheAdvocate

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: TheAdvocate
The correct answer here is: patent attorney.

1. Go to law school
2. Summer after year #2, take the Patent Bar
3.
4. Profit ($100k+ bonuses, bare minimum, work for a firm doing IT related litigation)

Why go through the trouble of specializing when industry standard associate pay is $125k.

Pardon, but are you confusing average salaries with average starting salaries? As a Patent attorney, you will be making (as a first year associate) the same amount as a very experienced and competent attorney makes. The Patent Bar and an EE degree w/ a pre-law school internship made one of my best friends the most emplyable man in my law school class. He was being courted all over the country as a 3L, while I was out working the interview process and getting really frustrated about finding something I wanted to do. My buddy now owns his own firm and could buy and sell me a dozen times over, and he's only been doing it for a few years.

PS - The average starting salary for your first year of rpactice out of law school is probably $40K-$50K, unless you're in a very large city. Public Defenders and ADA's make much less than that. And the degree IS played out.

I thought it was understood that the industrry standard (as in what all big firms pay since there are no secrets and they want to remain competitive) is $125K out of law school. This is verified big DigDug (?) and my roommate who are in the same position. I guess if you are only going to be making 40K then sure, you should put in those extra years and cost for additional schooling (Patent Bar, EE, MBA, etc) to get up there. Otherwise, you can just be an ordinary lawyer and be pulling in over 100K.

 

[CellarDoor]

Originally posted by: Strk

Originally posted by: ChiBOY83
Oh yea. TONS (edit: maybe not exactly TONS) of places are offering them. Most of the big schools in the midwest offer such programs (Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern).

I would DEF look into that avenue. NOBODY will FU*K w/ you w/ those two degrees!

Except you run into two issues: 1) a lot of schools treat them separately (I.e. you have to get into both the business and the law school) and 2) most MBA programs want at least two years of work experience.

This isn't necessarilly true anymore. Of course, with more experience you have a better chance of getting in, but in the last few years salaries for most people have been pretty poor and a lot of people couldn't afford to go to b-school. As such, a lot of b-schools claimed they were looking for more diversity and people with all types of work experience. It really depends on the school though. A lot of schools require experience, whereas most recommend it. You can still get into the schools without full time work experience. If you are going to go that way, make sure you demonstrate leadership ability in college. You should join clubs, do volunteer work, intern etc.

 

[axelfox]

Originally posted by: TheAdvocate

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: TheAdvocate
The correct answer here is: patent attorney.

1. Go to law school
2. Summer after year #2, take the Patent Bar
3.
4. Profit ($100k+ bonuses, bare minimum, work for a firm doing IT related litigation)

Why go through the trouble of specializing when industry standard associate pay is $125k.

Pardon, but are you confusing average salaries with average starting salaries? As a Patent attorney, you will be making (as a first year associate) the same amount as a very experienced and competent attorney makes. The Patent Bar and an EE degree w/ a pre-law school internship made one of my best friends the most emplyable man in my law school class. He was being courted all over the country as a 3L, while I was out working the interview process and getting really frustrated about finding something I wanted to do. My buddy now owns his own firm and could buy and sell me a dozen times over, and he's only been doing it for a few years.

PS - The average starting salary for your first year of rpactice out of law school is probably $40K-$50K, unless you're in a very large city. Public Defenders and ADA's make much less than that. And the degree IS played out.

WINNAR!

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: mribnik1

Originally posted by: Strk

Originally posted by: ChiBOY83
Oh yea. TONS (edit: maybe not exactly TONS) of places are offering them. Most of the big schools in the midwest offer such programs (Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern).

I would DEF look into that avenue. NOBODY will FU*K w/ you w/ those two degrees!

Except you run into two issues: 1) a lot of schools treat them separately (I.e. you have to get into both the business and the law school) and 2) most MBA programs want at least two years of work experience.

This isn't necessarilly true anymore. Of course, with more experience you have a better chance of getting in, but in the last few years salaries for most people have been pretty poor and a lot of people couldn't afford to go to b-school. As such, a lot of b-schools claimed they were looking for more diversity and people with all types of work experience. It really depends on the school though. A lot of schools require experience, whereas most recommend it. You can still get into the schools without full time work experience. If you are going to go that way, make sure you demonstrate leadership ability in college. You should join clubs, do volunteer work, intern etc.

Personally, I think business schhool is one of the few places where work experience is absolutely necessary. I point and laugh at 22 year old kids that have their MBA. Who are you fooling? If you owned a company, would you hire Joe Blow, the kid MBA or some guy who has his MBA at 30 with 10 years of experience?

 

[cchen]

JD/MBA FTW

 

[everman]

Get your JD. I've met and know of quite a few businessmen who are very successful who got their JD, but do not practice law. It certainly gives them an advantage though.

 

[Babbles]

The usefulness of MBAs has sort of been fading in the past few years. US News and World Reports had some article about how so many CEOs or otherwise executive type officers do not have MBAs but rather have advanced degrees in the industry they work in.

On the other hand don't pursue a JD just to have one, the work would be pretty tough and the starting salary for attorney's is surprisingly low.

 

[Rumpltzer]

I took the PhD EE route, but even now I think about the law degree.

One of the guys in my research group back in Illinois had spent forever in grad school doing nothing. He had a very impressive pedigree, though. His parents were Harvard profs, and he had a Harvard undergrad and a Princeton masters in physics. He then spent about nine years at UIUC working on his PhD in EE (semiconductors). When he finally got around to looking for a job, none of the research firms or companies wanted to hire him because he was odd and quirky and talked too much about his personal life and crap like that (i.e. telling the interviewer about coming home and finding his ex in bed with another guy--yeah, he really did that!).

He was quickly snapped up by a Chicago law firm, though. They put him on the books at $60K a year (plus his tuition) to go to school and then take the bar. I understand that $60K isn't a lot, but they're paying him to go to school! I'm not sure if he ever made it, but I was amazed.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
I really don't think there's a great future in the nitty-gritty details of IT, especially the more I read about how middle-aged IT veterans find themselves easily jobless because newer, more freshly trained grads are half the cost. My mentor really suggested I take a good hard look at these two avenues and pick one based on what I want do in life. Either way, I'd probably have to earn it at night while working my first "good job" during the day.

I have just as much of a penchant for buisness as I do for law, so it's really a tossup. I was really wondering what you guys thought.

I do have an easy avenue to get an MBA. My university offers a "tech MBA" which emphasizes how technology is managed. I could get that degree in my sleep, but I'm not sure if it's okay to get a master's degree from the same school you got your BS (it's a state system school).

I'll probably end up doing both, a lot of schools now offer a 4 year program that will get you your JD/MBA. BTW, what was your major in college? If it was Comp engineering, or some other sort of engineering degree you could do Intellectual Property law, and they make a ton of money, a friend of mine got hired to a big firm here in Florida in IP and is making close to $200k a year. It's long hours and boring work though.