<p>Hi, I had a question about this. What would be smarter in your opinion, to get an MBA or J.D. first? I want to get both but not as a J.D./MBA program, but rather two seperate degrees in different schools (3 years + 2 years). Law School is my priority so I think I need to get that out of the way first, but could I go to business school afterwards? Would it be too tough on my career? </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>It would be much better to just pick one or the other and decide which field you want to go into rather than getting both. In the extra time that it takes to get the other after you get one you could've been working at a firm (business or law) and advancing your way up through the ranks rather than being in school and in all likelihood starting off in the same position and rank that you would've without going to school again. To sum up, pick one and use the time you would've spent to get the other to advance yourself in that field. You get a large maginal salary increase from getting either one or the other that definitely justifies the expenses to get them whereas the marginal salary increase from having both really doesn't justify the added expense of obtaining them nor the lost opportunity cost of working.</p>
<p>What are your reasons for wanting to get both a JD and an MBA but not in a joint program? What is your career objective?</p>
<p>Assuming that he has good reasons for wanting both, your resume looks a little bit sharper and your alumni network is (more or less) twice as large if you do them at different places.</p>
<p>For example, if somebody goes from Yale undergrad to Yale Law to Yale SOM, then he has something to talk about whenever he runs into a Yale alum of any kind. But if he goes from Princeton undergrad to Harvard Business to Yale Law, then he can have something to talk about with somebody who attended any of those three schools. "Oh, yeah, the law school's across the river, but I used to study in the undergrad library all the time! No kidding!"</p>
<p>I really don't have a good reason for not getting the joint degree, to be honest.
Pretend for a second that I'm a fantastic student, and I can get into any school I want to. I would go to Stanford Law and Columbia Business School.
Stanford for the intellectual property emphasis, and Columbia for the media business emphasis. I want to work in the movie industry as one of the studio suits.</p>
<p>5 years isn't all that much different than 4 years I would think, but perhaps choosing one field over the other is more important. </p>
<p>What do you guys think, could I work as a suit in a movie studio if I only had a J.D. (even if it was in entertainment law)? </p>
<p>Regardless, thanks for all your input. Looks like I'll have some decisions to make in the near future.</p>
<p>
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I really don't have a good reason for not getting the joint degree, to be honest.
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Most high ranking MBA programs want their students to have work experience. Some will let students substitute advanced education such as law school for some of the work experience. The most efficient route would be to go to law school first and then get your MBA. If you don't have a good reason for not getting the joint degree, you should get the joint degree and save yourself an extra year of coursework, tuition, and lost salary opportunity. </p>
<p>If you want to work in a movie studio, you might want to look to see what degrees others have in the position you see yourself holding.</p>
<p>J.D.'s are not awarded in a particular subject. </p>
<p>There are lots of "suits" working in movie studios who have J.D.s and no MBAs. </p>
<p>The producer of the "Jackass" movies (who was the R.A. in my college dorm) is a lawyer who worked for an entertainment law firm before moving into fil production.</p>
<p>There are lots of "suits" working in movie studios who didn't go to law school or business school.</p>
<p>Thanks for those replies. </p>
<p>razorsharp: I looked up a lot of those big movie studio people and many of them have JDs. I guess the joint degree would be good, but the other thing I'm worried is whether I can get into an MBA program (at the location of my law school) since I don't have a substantial amount of work experience.
Also, I feel that 4 years instead of 5 maybe churning out half-assed (so to speak) experts in law and business. </p>
<p>Greybeard: That's very reassuring. I don't really want to work in law forever, and I always thought it could be a starting off point for either a business or film career, and I think you've made it clear that a JD can get you there as well.
I think if I took a lot of classes in corporate and entertainment law I could do without the MBA. </p>
<p>Thanks a lot to all of you for clearing this up, I'll talk with some counselors maybe but I think I know all that I need to.</p>
<p>A professional degree is a means to an end, not an end in itself. It's reasonable to get a BA or a BS just for kicks without any career goal in mind. Not so for an advanced degree.</p>
<p>Unless you happen to be independently wealthy and have absolutely nothing better to do. In that case, you might as well get an MD first, then a JD, then an MBA, then a PhD. And a certificate from Devry while your at it :)</p>