Harvard Law School Increasingly Favors Applicants With Real-World Work Experience

"If you want to get into Harvard Law School, you should probably spend some time working in the real world before you apply to hit the books in Cambridge.

Law School Assistant Dean for Admissions and Chief Admissions Officer Kristi L. Jobson ’06 said in an interview that the school is placing a greater emphasis on applicants’ work history than it did in the past. In recent years, the vast majority of successful Law School applicants have boasted at least one year of work experience. Eighty-two percent of this year’s incoming first-year class worked for at least 12 months prior to starting school, Jobson said." …

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/9/13/law-school-work-experience/

ALL professional schools favor work experience.

^^^Some professions require a Master’s degree (or more college credits than a BS degree) before people can get licensed in the field and as a result they do not expect applicants to have full time work expereince. That was the case for both of my kids – one in accounting (don’t need a Masters degree, but need 150 credits to be a CPA so many go on for a one year MS) and one in speech pathology.

As far as Harvard Law School goes, seems to me that has been the case for quite some time.

there is a difference between “expect” and ‘favor’. Even the business/accounting schools, (and Big 4 Accounting firms) would favor work experience. It just looks better to clients.

Ditto speech path and other medical disciplines. In this case, work experience in health care is huge plus factor.

My post is accurate.

Interesting to note that among the growing field of one year masters degrees in business, several programs limit eligibility to recent graduates with less than one year of work experience.

@bluebayou I am a CPA who worked (and did some recruiting) for a Big 4 accounting firm for many years and my S is currently a manager at a Big 4 firm. The Big 4 accounting firms typically hire directly out of college/grad schools for their audit/assurance departments. New hires have summer work expereince (often as interns for the firm) but that’s about it. The firms do extensive in-firm training. The big accounting firms will not hire anyone who does not have their education component (150 college credits) complete which is why many go directly for a masters degree. I would agree that some work expereince could be helpful for those looking to be employed in the consulting arm of a Big 4 company.

Speech pathology also does not look for work expereince for students getting a masters degree. There are a few people that change careers and have expereince in a completely unrelated field but the vast majority go directly from undergrad to a masters program. One cannot get ASHA certification without the masters degree so a MS degree must be earned before a speech pathologist will be hired and get work expereince in the field. Students do get experience in placements as part of their educational programs but cannot work as a stand-alone full time employee.

The idea I was trying to get across is that for some fields a Masters (or 150 college credits) is required before a person can be certified in a field. That fact leads students to go directly for a masters degree without first getting work expereince. They simply cannot be certified in the field and hired without the necessary education.

Anyway, we are getting off topic. I just happen to be very familiar with these two fields from my background and my daughter’s background.

@happy1: Glad to see that you limited your comments to audit/assurance practice area at Big 4 accounting firms as what you wrote is not accurate for tax, consulting & advisory divisions.

FWIW: Audit/assurance tends to be the lowest paying division at all Big 4 firms.

@publisher I believe we are in agreement. I specifically mentioned that experience can be helpful for consulting hires at accounting firms. Tax hires are a mixed bag (to include some lawyers). While audit/assurance is typically lower paying that is the division where the majority of CPAs at a Big 4 firm start their career and my comments were primarily directed towards the relationship between masters degrees with no work experience and CPAs.

@happy1: We are in total agreement. I apologize if my earlier post suggested anything else.

P.S. I think that you made very important points.