| Topic Name: |
MBA=$140,000 & JD=$SUCKERED |
| Message Name: |
JDs have more portability than MBAs |
| Date Posted: |
11/22/1999 |
| In Reply To: |
Vaultreports might be good in general, but its reports about it being a good time for being a lawyer is absolutely and totally wrong. Let me enlighten with the following true story which is typical.
A close college friend who was a liberal arts major same as I, after spending a year at a small no-name consulting firm, enrolled at a top 20 MBA program. She recently graduated after 2 years. She informed me that her business school, as is typical in many MBA programs, forbid prospective employers from requesting grades during recruitment. Thus, the competition for grades in business schools is fairly minimal, especially when compared to law schools. Of course she studied, but at a humane pace. Indeed, she spent a great deal of her time socializing and getting to know her fellow students. For her first year out of business school, she received an offer from Andersen Consulting which totaled somewhere around a $140,000, which included base salary, yearly bonus, and signing bonus. She interacts with Fortune 500 clients on a regular basis, she tells me that Andersen?s training program is top-notch, and she does meaningful work at a HUMANE pace ? meaning tolerable hours.
On the flip side, I work such long hours that I hardly ever see my family. I went to a top 10 law school that was 3 years of INTENSE work, stress, and pressure. College was nothing compared to law school. The workload and competition for grades in law school is outrageous. After 3 years of grueling preparation, I found myself at a big, prestigious law firm with an offer of $90,000, which might sound okay but it?s only a deceptive facade. There is no prestige, no money, and no learning working as a lawyer. The training at law firms is horrendous, meaning it?s non-existent. I would typically stay at the office until late into the morning hours, slaving away as a lackey document-clerk. At 1 AM in the morning, I would often ponder why it is that I needed to go through 3 years of such intense preparation in law school, so that I could collate documents and write little memos. Realistically, I could?ve done this out of high school. As I realized how meaningless lawyer work was, I could not help but look to money for comfort. After all, I?ve got to pay the ton of debt I?m in thanks to 3 years of law school. The only problem is, there really is no money in law. Lawyers at big firms work more hours than almost anyone else. Thus, on an hourly basis, I basically earn $17 dollars an hour ? before taxes. Where is the prestige in this?
And worst of all, I am sick of hearing from some of my fellow loser lawyers who rationalize with themselves about how they do not care about the money because they never went into law for the money anyway. Good point, except for the fact that what we lawyers do is absolutely meaningless document lackey work. Or maybe, they think, ?GEE GOLLY....$17 per hour....THAT?S SWELL!?. I wish my co-loser lawyers would at least be honest and brave enough to admit that our work sucks, we make no money, we do meaningless work, and we slaved away in law school for nothing. It?s better than rationalizing with oneself.
So basically, for anyone considering law school ? CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED. Perhaps law was a good field to go into many years back, but these days, it absolutely sucks without a doubt.
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| Message: |
Consider this:
MBA salaries are as good the company that is willing to pay for them. A person with a JD on the other hand can earn a salary or, in the alternative, strike it out on their own. What can you do with an MBA but shop it from door to door in the hopes that some company will hire you at the going rate?
My JD gives me freedom.
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