Wall Street Vs. Law School Vs. Graduate School

[dutchbrodymoss]

So. I'm about to wrap up college this summer. And I'm trying to decide on what I want to do with my life. I'm currently attending a top-ten school, and my grades put me in the top 25% of my class. However, I have no idea with what to do with my life.

I've had limited internship experience, and so far I have yet to start searching for jobs (I'm finishing school in three years).

I'm wondering, at this point in time, which career option would be best. I want to have a job where I will earn a decent amount of money, so i'll have some capital to start up a business at some point in time. So that's where the debate between law school and working on wall street comes in.

At the same time, sometimes I'm really sickened by the materialism that drives our culture. Hence graduate school, and giving something back to the world.

what do you guys think?

If i go work on wall street, i'm thinking about applying to some entry level stock broker. I might check out some finance firms, but I have no econ background. What would you guys recommened?

so yeah. basically, the question is...

law school vs some sort of job on wallstreet (and if you recommend wall street, what would you recommend vs getting away from all the nonsense and going to grad school and getting a phd of some sort.

what are your thoughts?

[HDPM]

IMO only go to law school if you want to be a lawyer. I know a lot of people disagree with this, but that is what I think. Law school IMO should be a trade school, not a particularly intellectiual venture. If you want to do something else I don't get the allure of law school. Dull, hard work at times, obnoxious people.

And get over the give back to the world thing. You will be happier. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[player24]

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At the same time, sometimes I'm really sickened by the materialism that drives our culture. Hence graduate school, and giving something back to the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

It is great that you want to contribute to the common good ("giving back"), but it is not correct, in my opinion, to assume that making money in your career will somehow hinder this objective. It is much easier to be philanthropic if you have a high income.

If you want to make a hands on contribution to society, law might be the better option. For example, as an attorney, you can choose a career path which is focused on solving social issues (such as prosecuting criminals or defending the accused, depending on your point of view). On the other hand, Wall Street pays much better than law...and some of the most philanthropic people in the world work on Wall Street.

[Maulik]

here's what you NEED to do: all those jobs are going to be long arse hours and hardwork and apprenticeships for some time. Find out what you LIKE or in this case least despite and go from there. no one can tell you where to go, career oppurtunities will abound from each choice.

[eternalnewbie]

I would echo what others have said about do what you like. With that said, though, I'm a 3rd year law student at a top-10 school (which seems like what you're looking at) so maybe I can offer some perspective:

Cons - Law school is expensive. I have $120K in debt from law school and at a lot of good schools I would have a bit more. This means that by the time you graduate you would probably need to make 6 figures to live comfortably.

The work is long and hard. Whether or not it is boring or not will depend on your personality. I personally don't find it boring because I work on very complicated transactions for sophisticated clients. I'm a small town kid and I still find all of this fascinating.

Pros - The going rate for first year attorneys in big firms is $125K and that is before bonus. I'm in the top quarter of my class and didn't have too much trouble getting that (although it is harder now than it was before). This could, of course, go down, but history suggests that that is unlikely.

Upshot - If you can get into a top 10 lawschool, you will most likely make more in law than going onto Wall Street. True, you have the possibility of making more on wall street, but it is much riskier. Also, think of it this way - partners at big law firms don't make as much as MDs at an I-bank or hedge fund managers, but they do make $1m or more a year. So sure the ceiling is lower than on wall street but you can still make more than you know what to do with.

Also, I don't mean to be a snob (I have no reason to be - I was probably very lucky in getting into the school I got into), but if you get much out of the top 10 for lawschool (actually top 20 is probably fine) I think the picture is much different. You would really have to kick butt in school to get a good job and you would come out with the same debt.

One final point - Law school itself, in my experience, is pretty easy (not at all like movies or books would suggest). The curve is very tight - meaning that you can slack off a lot and still get good (enough) grades. Thus, if you want to have hobbies for the next 3 years, law school is an ok choice. If you want to have free time after that, though, law isn't a good field to be in.

Sorry for the rambly post, but I hope that helps.

[midas]

Couple of points:

Neither Wall Street or Law Street will get you the experience to start a business. You need to learn the ropes in an industry you like then take the leap.

Where are you going to school? Take some econ or business classes to get your feet wet and see if you like it. In my opinion, most people who go to law school don't realize what it takes to be a successful lawyer in the long run and that it is the same for most other business - you have to learn how to bring in business in order to succeed.

Good luck and live the good life while you can!!

[HDPM]

I essentially agree with you. However, you are somewhat different from most lawyers in that you are doing well at a top law school and have a high paying job lined up. You also like the work you do. I like the work I do for the most part and liked the stuff related to that in law school. But there was a whole lot of boring stuff in there too. I do agree that a lot of times law school isn't very hard, which makes it boring IMO. I do agree people overstate the work involved. Being a lawyer is hard though. Harder than most people think. Your debt is fine and you will get it paid back quickly enough. Where I think people make a mistake is when they go to an expensive law school that isn't a top school, particularly when they don't want to practice law. they better want to in order to pay it back, and often times they have a tough time getting a job that pays enough to cover the massive debt.

I never understood the people who went to law school for just somethng to do or because they didn't know what they wanted. I think that is a recipe for unhappiness. People end up practicing law to pay loans back and don't like it. If you don't know what you want and don't get into a toip school, I say go to a cheap school at least.

[xtravistx]

It's way too late to apply for most wall street jobs, as well as law schools or reputable grad schools. My advice would be to get some meaningful experience in the next year in one (or perhaps two) of the fields that you mentioned and see how you like the work. Then, when wall street recruiting season and law and grad school applications roll around in 6 months, you'll know what you want to do better.

Another idea is to apply to all 3 and see which positions you get/schools/programs you get into, and then decide from there.

-xtravistx

[parttimepro]

I'm getting a Ph.D. in neuroscience at a top school. Not sure if you realize this, but graduate school is basically training to become a professor. Some schools make noises about "preparing students for careers outside of academia" but this is basically an add-on. Your classes and day-to-day research are oriented almost entirely towards mastering a small segment of knowledge and adding your pebbles to the mountain of human knowledge.

Career path: If you go for academia, your life looks like this. 4-7 years of graduate school, followed by a postdoc (glorified graduate student) or two of 2-5 years. If you've done good research in a growing field, you'll get an assistant professorship, where you can work your ass off teaching and researching to get tenure in 7 years. This is for the sciences. My understanding is that for the humanities, it's more like 6-8 years grad school, then be a teaching adjunct for an indefinite period. At any point you can drop out and work for someone else in your field (if you're in science) or in the growing field of fast food service (if you're in the humanities).

Lifestyle: It varies a lot. I know some people who claim at least to work 60 hour weeks. Personally I have time to post on 2+2 at 1:50 on a Tuesday. Still, you're going to work a lot, and you need to like the process of research. If you haven't done any research as an undergrad, you may have a hard time getting accepted to grad school.
By far the best part of grad school has been meeting other people who are a lot like me. It's kind of like college, without the dumb people.

Money: You get paid to go to school. Not much, but I can live comfortably and won't graduate with debt. Postdocs make 30-45 depending on experience. Assistant profs start at 60 or so. If you're interested in business, some profs are able to start businesses based on their research, which can be quite rewarding. I believe engineering is generally the best field for this (better than basic sciences).
Alternately, a Ph.D. does prepare you for several other careers. One thing I'm considering is management consulting (a la McKinsey). Some companies just try to hire smart people, regardless of the details of their credentials.

[player24]

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Neither Wall Street or Law Street will get you the experience to start a business.

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Unless, of course, you want to start your own law or investment management firm.

Also, Wall Street analysts often become very knowledgeable about the companies/industries they cover. This knowledge can be useful when you start a business. Although, I agree, it is usually necessary to have hands on experience with the product or service you wish to offer in your business.