hollinsprincess

As someone who has a JD from a firm top 30 and rising law school, I'm on this thread because I find myself applying to MPP/MPA programs due to my desire to work with policy and the fact that I feel as if my JD does not prepare me for that in the least. I find that many employers see my JD as detrimental, not a bonus. I did not find my love of policy/politics/public interest until law school; had I known I would have simply gotten an MPP/MPA. Law school is expensive, and my debt load just causes me to laugh manically (and do keep in mind I went to a public school, with in-state tuition, no grants/scholarships - used only Federal Loans (I honestly do not know anyone who had grants/scholarships from the law school -- most of us used loans exclusively), and the cost was quite reasonable in comparison to the $50k+ per year prices of private law schools). If you do NOT want to sit for a bar exam and practice law, I'd highly suggest the MPP/MPA route. Further, if you want to practice law in the public sector then you do need to keep the pay disparities in mind. I have little desire to write contracts all day at a firm -- but a recent NYT article about the dark side of law schoool mentioned that most graduates must make at least $65,000 a year to be able to pay their debts back. Just to give perspective -- the small city I live in starts their Commonwealth Attorney's (same thing as a DA) at $55,000. Still $10,000 shy of that NYT amount. Most law graduates with debt will not pay off their loans in 5-10 years, in all honesty.