Dilemma - drop out for law school or stick it out?

[allcaps]

(Dear mods, I'm very sorry if this is incorrectly placed - not sure where else to put it so feel free to move.)

 

Hi everyone,

 

I have a bit of a dilemma on my hands, and I would really appreciate your advice. (I posted this over at a law school forum as well without much response, so I'm hoping people in academia might have some input on my current situation.)

 

I graduated in 2010 with a B.S. in Mathematics, worked for 2 years, then started a Msc. in Finance in Europe (I'm American) on scholarship, with the intent of pursuing a PhD in Finance and then going on to law school. Long story short, I'm not cut out for academia, and certainly not cut out for academia in finance. I'm in my second year, and I've been applying to law school, which I'd intended to do all along - just after I did my PhD. My undergraduate grades are good and my LSAT score is decent, and law school is mostly a numbers game, so barring odd circumstances/bad luck I should be able to get into somewhere worth going.

 

My question is, if I were accepted, would it completely ruin my resume to not finish my degree? I regret not having dropped out in the 1st year - at the moment, I'm 90% sure I cannot fit in the required language exams, dissertation, and internship into the remaining time period, it looks like there's almost no way I can finish my Msc in 2 years (most people in my program do not, anyhow), but the Msc is supposed to be a 2 year degree, so I'm wondering how weird it would look for me to have spent 2 years in the program and emerge diplomaless. At the same time, though, if I dropped out right now without a job lined up, that would leave an unattractive gap on my resume as well.

 

My current idea is to just try really hard to finish by next spring, but just go to law school in the fall if I do not. However, again I'm worried about how to explain 2 years in a Msc degree to future employers... I just don't want to defer law school and spend another year (where I'd have to pay tuition) doing something I hate that doesn't further my career goals in any way.

 

I'm sorry this is so long, and thanks a lot to anyone who reads this! Again, sorry for the length and possible incoherency - I've been mulling over this far too much recently.

[juilletmercredi]

No, it wouldn't ruin your resume not to finish the degree.  You don't even have to put it on the resume if you don't want, although you will need to explain the missing year if you're not otherwise working.  If you do leave it and are asked to explain, you can simply say that you discovered that that field was not for you and left the program before it was complete to do law school.

 

But I can't help feeling like you're falling from the frying pain into the fire, so to speak.

[manduke]

My thought: finish your masters. I went to law school and have been practicing law a few years. The job market is very tough in most states. Your masters is an advantage over your competition I wouldn't give up when you're so close. Besides, you never know how you may feel after you've gone through law school. I never pictured myself in academia, but now I'm applying to grad school because the law is eating my soul. A masters might give you career flexibility you might find helpful later if you end up feeling like me.

[jdsoc28]

As an attorney looking at graduate study, I would second manduke's advice.  Your concern about employers is not really at issue, since most legal employers will not care.  But you are looking at three years of additional study for a professional degree in a tight market, and one that requires an additional professional examination.  And remember, each state has its own bar examination and the minimum period for reciprocity is three years.  You are making a very significant commitment when you a) choose to go to law school in any particular place and choose to take the bar examination in a particular location.  In recent years, a few states have made the bar examination more difficult, probably to erect barriers to entry.  We've also seen that moral character and fitness committees are increasingly using debt as a basis for rejecting applications, in my opinion to make the market better for current attorneys. 

 

 Now, I think that the legal practice will be fine in the long run because, unlike some other groups, lawyers can actually generate the demand for their services in ways that others cannot.  That does not mean that the traditional models (particularly the large firm, hourly rate model) will not be changed, but there will be jobs out there if you make appropriate choices and sacrifices.  But as manduke said, you will be much more competitive with a finance degree.  I would add that you probably have a shot at doing well in the NY market and  you would be extremely competitive in the DC market, which is one of the few markets that isn't experiencing the same awful crunch other states are coping with.   

 

 Also remember that in law school you are ranked against other students and competing for spots on journals or to be in the top 10-25%.  It is not much like graduate school. 

 

 Also if you go to a highly ranked program your chances of landing an academic job would be markedly better with the actual Msc degree. 

 

 Good luck!

[nugget]

Are there any law school programs that begin in January rather than September? If you could fulfil your MSc requirements within this timeframe, perhaps a good compromise between beginning law in Sept 2014 and Sept 2015 would be to finish your MSc by Dec 2014 and start your law degree in Jan 2015. It's another option to consider, anyway.

Edited January 23, 2014 by jenste