Law Schools with Joint J.D./M.A. History???

[omegamcgee]

So, I really want to go to Law School. I think I'll be a great lawyer and that I'll really enjoy it. However, I'm a history major now, and history is my first love. I have found a couple of schools with a joint degree program, so I could get done faster and be able to practice/get my ph.d. sooner, but I'd like to know of a few more. Anybody got one?

[kddani]

Originally posted by omegamcgee
So, I really want to go to Law School. I think I'll be a great lawyer and that I'll really enjoy it. However, I'm a history major now, and history is my first love. I have found a couple of schools with a joint degree program, so I could get done faster and be able to practice/get my ph.d. sooner, but I'd like to know of a few more. Anybody got one?

I have to ask WHY you want to do this? You really need to think about how much school this is. What do you want to do with your life? What is your ultimate career goal here? From a practicality standpoint, I don't see much in the way of advantages of getting a JD and PhD in history.

[omegamcgee]

Well, I really love history. Also, I want something (i.e. research, museum work, teaching) to fall back on in case I don't like being a lawyer. And I would really be happy with just a masters, a ph.d. would just be nice.

[valkyrie]

Originally posted by omegamcgee
Well, I really love history. Also, I want something (i.e. research, museum work, teaching) to fall back on in case I don't like being a lawyer. And I would really be happy with just a masters, a ph.d. would just be nice.

IMHO, you might be trying to do too much too soon. Law school is exhausting mentally and I'm having a hard time imagining the benefit of studying law and history at the same time. It doesn't sound like you want to do something that would require both degrees, so why not pursue one at a time? If you get a law degree and don't like practicing law, you can always go back to school then to study history.

As a side note, and I don't mean to be a downer but as someone who practiced law and then got out of it I think I'm somewhat qualified to say -- if you think there's a good chance you won't like being a lawyer (that seems to be a concern since you're making plans for if that happens) don't go to law school. If history is your first love, you'd probaby be better off to go that route.

[Taualumna]

Will this take four years to complete? The people I know who are in a law/MBA program tell me that it is stressful, stressful, stressful. A JD/PhD may be even more so as you have much, much, much more reading to do.

[kddani]

If you don't think you're going to like being a lawyer, then don't invest 3 years of your life in something that's going to make you miserable. Get exposure to what it takes to be a lawyer before you invest 10's of thousands of dollars and three years of your life.

Having a JD and an MA or PhD in history is going to do nothing for you. Pick one, figure out if you like it. If not, then do the other.

I could understand *maybe* doing a JD and MA. But a PhD and JD is pretty ridiculous if you can't use them together. I have an ex who is getting his PhD, but it's in the medical field, research-type stuff. He wants to get his JD and become a patent lawyer. That combo would be great, and his PhD would be a driving force in his successfulness.

It just sounds like you can't make up your mind.

Law school is three years that will make you miserable. No one likes it. It's not fun. It's not "something to fall back on".

Taualumna, there's no way a JD and PhD could be completed in 4 years. Most 4 year programs are a masters in something (such as business) plus the JD. PhD programs, I think, are usually around 6 years to complete? At least that's what the ex's is.

If you're insistent on doing this, i'd get the PhD first. Getting your law degree and putting that on hold for 6 years isn't practical at all, and you'll have all sorts of weird issues to get through when it comes to the bar, etc.

[Rudey]

I thought only the first year of law school was bad...no?

-Rudey

Originally posted by kddani
If you don't think you're going to like being a lawyer, then don't invest 3 years of your life in something that's going to make you miserable. Get exposure to what it takes to be a lawyer before you invest 10's of thousands of dollars and three years of your life.

Having a JD and an MA or PhD in history is going to do nothing for you. Pick one, figure out if you like it. If not, then do the other.

I could understand *maybe* doing a JD and MA. But a PhD and JD is pretty ridiculous if you can't use them together. I have an ex who is getting his PhD, but it's in the medical field, research-type stuff. He wants to get his JD and become a patent lawyer. That combo would be great, and his PhD would be a driving force in his successfulness.

It just sounds like you can't make up your mind.

Law school is three years that will make you miserable. No one likes it. It's not fun. It's not "something to fall back on".

Taualumna, there's no way a JD and PhD could be completed in 4 years. Most 4 year programs are a masters in something (such as business) plus the JD. PhD programs, I think, are usually around 6 years to complete? At least that's what the ex's is.

If you're insistent on doing this, i'd get the PhD first. Getting your law degree and putting that on hold for 6 years isn't practical at all, and you'll have all sorts of weird issues to get through when it comes to the bar, etc.

[kddani]

haha, no, that's a myth. First year, looking back, was maybe the easiest. After first year there are the pressures of having a job (working 20 hours a week right now is a struggle in time management), finding a job after you graduate, possibly being on a journal, etc. And I truly don't find the classes any easier. Some maybe even more difficult.

[Taualumna]

Originally posted by kddani


Taualumna, there's no way a JD and PhD could be completed in 4 years. Most 4 year programs are a masters in something (such as business) plus the JD. PhD programs, I think, are usually around 6 years to complete? At least that's what the ex's is.

If you're insistent on doing this, i'd get the PhD first. Getting your law degree and putting that on hold for 6 years isn't practical at all, and you'll have all sorts of weird issues to get through when it comes to the bar, etc.

Oops! I thought Omegamagee was wanted to do an JD/MA. I was guessing 4 years since that's how long JD/MBAs are.

[valkyrie]

Originally posted by kddani
Law school is three years that will make you miserable. No one likes it. It's not fun. It's not "something to fall back on".

HAHA, I liked law school. No seriously, I did.

[OtterXO]

Originally posted by kddani
haha, no, that's a myth. First year, looking back, was maybe the easiest. After first year there are the pressures of having a job (working 20 hours a week right now is a struggle in time management), finding a job after you graduate, possibly being on a journal, etc. And I truly don't find the classes any easier. Some maybe even more difficult.

I'll totally agree with you on this one. I'm in my 3rd year and there is a lot more pressure right now then I remember feeling first year. Of course, first year is hard and all that, but you're so damn scared that you expect the difficulty and if you get through it (grades-wise) you're good. At this point I'm a little tired of being in school, ready to make money and trying to juggle 15 units while working 20 hours a week. Also, like kddani said, some subjects are more difficult. I mean the more in depth you get into a subject (tax, securities, etc.) the more complex the subject becomes. First year is all survey courses, which are great, but honestly how often are you going to use Pierson v. Post or the silly wandering bull case in real life!? haha

[slickwilly95991]

I was in the same predicament when I began law school. I was also a history major and I knew a professor in undergrad who got his masters and JD at the same time and then went on to get his PhD. After the first couple of weeks in first year, I knew I wasn't going to be able to hack it. I was so exhausted that I couldn't even think of having more classes and spending an extra year at school to boot.

If you are all for it, go for it, but you really need to look at yourself objectively and decide if you can cut it. Law school in an of itself is very demanding. Here's a quick stat: There were 165 people beginning my 1L. At the end of the first month, it was down to 155, by the end of the semester 140, by the end of the 1st year 135. At graduation there were only 128 of the original 165. This should tell you how exhausting law school is. Of the 128 who graduated, only 1 was in the joint degree program, hers was for Psychology (which wouldn't be as hard as a complete different program if your law school has a Psychology program.

Hope all goes well for you. Oh, and the 3rd year is the worst.

[lyrelyre]

I am currently in my third year of law school and my school has a joint program. It takes 4 years to get a J.D. and a master's degree. (Which is what was asked about in the first place.) I opted not to do it mainly because I wanted to get my degrees at different schools. I was considering getting a master's degree in education. I now wish that I had done it, because it would have added only one year. Now I am looking at a minimum of 2 years to get a master's. At my school you do one full year of each program and then 2 years of a combination of law and master's classes. The students who do it really enjoy it.

Side note: I thought the first year of law school was the worst. I thought it got easier. There is no longer a forced curve and the professors (for the most part) are more easy-going. The only thing that makes it harder is my fading motivation to study.

I know everyone has their own opinion. That's just my two cents.

[DaffyKD]

Think about why you want to go to law school. I went for ALL the wrong reasons, the main one being to make "Daddy" happy since I once mentioned that I might like to go to LS and then had a lot of pressure on me to persue a degree. I did graduate, but could never pass the CA bar. I had always wanted to be a teacher. Years later I was teaching at our local JC and I LOVED it! When my ex left and I needed to go back into the workforce (I was out taking care of my 2 kids, one who is special needs) I started to think about being a paralegal, took refresher classes since I had been out of LS 15 years at that time, and realized how much I hated the law.

LS was a lot of work, very time consuming, very stressful, not a pleasant experience, and then when you finally get that degree, you have to deal with the bar exam. Don't know how bad the exam is in your state, but at the time it took it here in CA (6 times to boot) the passage rate was in the high 40's. Now I put out a lot of work and time and had nothing more to show for all my stress and tears.

If you love history, I say go with it. Do what you love, life is too short not to follow that dream

DaffyKD

[bruinaphi]

Originally posted by lyrelyre
Side note: I thought the first year of law school was the worst. I thought it got easier. There is no longer a forced curve and the professors (for the most part) are more easy-going. The only thing that makes it harder is my fading motivation to study.

This depends on your school and is not just a matter of opinion. At my law school we had forced curves all the way through the three years unless the class had less than 10 people in it. I had one class with less than 10 people in it in my three years.

The biggest hardship in doing a joint degree is balancing your masters or Ph.D classes with your law school requirements which can continue on even when you aren't taking law school classes like interviewing, moot court, journal editing and board work.


PS: I loved law school too and agree with what everyone else says about figuring out what you really want to do.