Law Degree Losing Its Luster?

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Law degrees get a ton of attention, but I think this is happening to a LOT of degrees. Now that most entry-level salaried jobs require a bachelors (and have for a while), everyone has a bachelors. So everyone goes for masters degrees, like that is the thing that will make them stand out. In return, lots of schools are adding masters programs, and making them non-research degrees in fields that have typically required a thesis. Thus, the masters has just become an extended bachelors.

On the whole, I think there is a glut of degree holders. Maybe law gets all of the attention because of its former prestige, and the expense of a law degree compared to other programs.

It's definitely happening across the board. One of the reasons universities LOVE Master's programs is because, for the most part, they're not expected to provide any, or much, funding. A non-research Master's program also requires little full-time faculty and resources--but the school is getting cold hard cash.

My graduate program was a bit of a cash cow program like that. It was once fantastic but it had fallen by the time I got there and was riding off its previous glory. Nevertheless, a lot of kids were impressed by the University's name and were perfectly content to take out the max in loans and not work or look for internships. Those are the same people who had a hard time finding a job afterwards; some never took off in the field and are doing other things. Those of us who took advantage of what the University, and the city, had to offer and pounded the pavement for jobs are doing very well.