Degrees for a Policy Career: Do You Need Law School?
There is no simple way to determine what level and type of degree is best for you and your budding policy career. Don’t fret; you don’t have to have the perfect answer.
Here are three broadly applicable considerations:
1. Your degree is less important than attributes like hard work, excellent writing, confident and clear communication, relevant knowledge, and internship or work experience.
2. The institution is probably more important than the type or level of degree.
3. Generic degrees diminish your competitive edge over other candidates, but specialized degrees will limit your opportunities outside of your area of specialization. Specialize only if you are especially passionate about that area.
We’ve covered Master’s degrees and PhD programs. This week, we discuss the pros and cons of law school.
J.D.
Law school deserves a special section because it is such a common educational path for aspiring policy experts. Many wannabe policy wonks go to law school, and many corporate lawyers come out.
There’s nothing wrong with being a corporate, defense, or other kind of lawyer. But if you are passionate about policy, you should be fully aware that in general, law school limits your options; it does not expand them. The sheer cost of a JD often requires a job with a high salary right out of school to pay off loans. The salaries typical of an entry-level policy organization are nowhere near those of a law firm. Many take the law job with the intention of paying off debt and later returning to policy, but for most of them, it never happens. The reduction in salary when making the switch requires too great a lifestyle change. Unsurprisingly, this means that most law school students end up being lawyers for the rest of their lives.
There are some jobs in public interest law or legal policy that requires a law degree, but these are relatively few, especially in comparison with the large number of law school graduates seeking them.
Generally speaking, if you are passionate about a career in policy, avoid law school, at least until you have worked for a few years and have a better idea of exactly how a J.D. would help your career. The worst thing to do, which happens all too often, is to attend law school because you want to do policy but just aren’t sure what to do next. The high cost of this path is not worth the limited options afterward.
Finally, one should not seek out a given degree simply because of the perceived financial rewards associated with it. A keen interest in the field of study chosen is perhaps the most important prerequisite to success in graduate school.
Eric Alston is a JD candidate at the University of Chicago. Isaac Morehouse is Policy Programs Director at the Institute for Humane Studies. This post is an excerpt from the IHS Policy Career Guide.