<p>I'm a senior in high school and am trying to decide whether or not I should apply to undergrad business schools (to go into IBanking) or just apply to the schools' regular arts/science program and go from there (and probably go into law afterwards). But what I dont like about going to law school right after college is that I'm going to be broke, esp. because of college loans. If I am in law school full time, I won't be working right?? I have to wait till after I graduate law school to start getting some type of income?
So a few minutes ago I told myself "hey, what about go to an undergrad business school, become an analyst for 2 years and get a good income, and instead of going to business school to continue a career in IBanking afterwards, go to law school and become a lawyer (which is what i'd rather do in the long run)?"
I know I'm making everything sound very simple, but I just wanted to know if I will be at a disadvantage when applying to Law School because I took that 2-year break. And will I be at a disadvantage when taking the LSAT because of that break?
What do you guys think of my idea? Is it at all realistic?</p>
<p>First of all, kill the idea that taking time off hurts you for law school admissions. It's utter nonsense. </p>
<p>One of my friends followed that route - i-banking to law. Apparently, admissions was impressed with that part of the resume. </p>
<p>You can take the LSAT whenever you want. You could take it right after undergrad - that might be a good idea, as you'll still be in the habit of test-taking. Whatever you do, spend enough time prepping for the LSAT to do well - you should only take it once. I-banking won't leave you enough time for studying, so plan accordingly.</p>
<p>By "plan accordingly," I mean to put thought into this in a few years.</p>
<p>Note that you do not need a business degree for i-banking. Everyone I know who is in the field has some other degree - quantitative economics, history, government, etc. What they have in common is that they went to top schools and did well.</p>
<p>Sakky might be able to answer some of your questions, as he has some knowledge of i-banking.</p>
<p>thanks so much for responding. I wanted to go into IBanking, but not if I would not be able to do something outside of business afterwards. And even though I dont have to major in anything business to go into IBanking, i'd be a lot more confident coming out of an undergrad business school (if i can even get into a top one). Even if I don't end up doing that, at least now I know applying to a couple business programs won't be completely senseless for me.
thanks again.</p>
<p>To the OP:</p>
<p>You seem pretty confident in yourself in thinking that you will get into banking. The vast majority of people who want to get into Ibanking don't get an offer. </p>
<p>However, in answer to your specific question, I'll tell you what. I've heard of people who went to top law schools after spending years doing things unrelated to the law. For example, I've heard of people who entered doctoral programs right after undergrad, before entering law school. Some of them finished their doctorates and then went to law school, but some of them actually dropped out of their doctoral programs to go to law school. </p>
<p>In fact, I've heard of stories even more egregious than that. One guy I know basically took off after undergrad to drive around and bum around the United States in his motorcycle for 2 years, including serving short stints as a bartender and bouncer in Florida, and still managed to get admitted to several top 15 law schools (he decided not to go). It also reminds me of the story of Robert Rubin, who after graduating from Harvard College, enrolled at Harvard Law but dropped out 3 days into the term to spend a year nominally enrolled at the London School of Economics, but he admits in his own autobiography that he really spent that whole year just basically bumming around Europe. After that, he got admitted to and went to Yale Law.</p>
<p>So hey, if these guys can be, by their own admission, just loafing around and still get into top-flight law schools, I'm sure you should experience little problem.</p>
<p>Lol.......</p>
<p>If my dated experience is any indication, getting into i-banking is more difficult than getting into a top law school. I went 0 for 4 in my applications to i-banks my senior year at Stanford; a year later, I was offered admission to Boalt, UCLA, NYU, Michigan, Northwestern, and Penn. (When you come right down to it, Harvard's basically an i-bank, too, so their decision on my application was consistent with their industry peers.)</p>
<p>Thanks for your input sakky and greybeard. So, basically taking a couple years off after undergrad is no big deal if i want to go to law school. and i know (especially from what i've read in the message boards here at cc) that it is extremely hard to actually get into ibanking, so if i can, great (get a good salary, making my "break" more worth it), but if not, i guess i can always do something else with my accounting/finance/watever degree before going to law school.</p>
<p>nothing wrong with taking years off before going to law school, especially if you're working. remember that LSAT scores last 5 years, so you can take the LSAT maybe your junior or senior year in college and it'll still work when you apply for law schools after 2 years of i-banking. also, a good number of law students have work experience and do come from many fields, including business. just draw up a story about how you want to do corporate law or whatever law that relates to your i-banking experience. </p>
<p>on another note, entry-level salary+bonus for i-banking firms are roughly the same (maybe a little lower) as entry-level salary for top law firms.</p>
<p>Thank you kfc4u. I didn't know that LSAT scores were good for 5 years. I was going to ask if a good score on it would be less meaningful because it was teken years back, but i guess it doesnt matter as long as it was taken no more that 5 years ago.
and yea, i would probably go into corporate law. that would make more sense, having a type of business degree.
as for the salary thing, i could only get an entry-level position at a law firm after law school, am i right?</p>