Graduate Degress: Are they worth it?

[Barrister]

It should be treated as its own unique thing - a professional degree.

The "J.D." is an artifact of civil service pay scales that gave $X for a bachelors, $X + Y for a masters, and $X + Y + Z for a doctorate.  Lawyers immediately gamed the system.  And civil service rules don't play well with "its own unique thing."

Speaking as a Legal Officer 2 (in GOA-speak), we certainly do have our own unique pay scale...

[crazy canuck]

JDs were a marketing gimmick more than anything.  Schools that offered them instead of LLBs got more applicants because the JD was considered more saleable - although they are the same thing.  That is the main reason Canadian law schools are making the switch from LLB to JD.  I can now get my JD retroactively now that my law school switched over.  But I prefer to call it what it is.

[Jacob]

JDs were a marketing gimmick more than anything.  Schools that offered them instead of LLBs got more applicants because the JD was considered more saleable - although they are the same thing.  That is the main reason Canadian law schools are making the switch from LLB to JD.  I can now get my JD retroactively now that my law school switched over.  But I prefer to call it what it is.

You of course have the advantage of a successful practice that won't be affected in the slightest by whatever you call it

For my part, I never even finished my bachelor's degree. I've worked with very successful people in games who didn't even graduate highschool - there's not that many of them, but they're generally way more competent than the dicks with MBAs.

[Phillip V]

JDs were a marketing gimmick more than anything.  Schools that offered them instead of LLBs got more applicants because the JD was considered more saleable - although they are the same thing.  That is the main reason Canadian law schools are making the switch from LLB to JD.  I can now get my JD retroactively now that my law school switched over.  But I prefer to call it what it is.

You of course have the advantage of a successful practice that won't be affected in the slightest by whatever you call it

For my part, I never even finished my bachelor's degree. I've worked with very successful people in games who didn't even graduate highschool - there's not that many of them, but they're generally way more competent than the dicks with MBAs.

You and your colleagues' failures to get degrees demonstrate the inability to follow through with anything. Thus, you will all fail personally and professionally.

[CountDeMoney]

For my part, I never even finished my bachelor's degree. I've worked with very successful people in games who didn't even graduate highschool - there's not that many of them, but they're generally way more competent than the dicks with MBAs.

Out of all our uber cyberwarriors, I think only one has a degree.  Everyone else merely attended. 
Smartest cyberwarrior I ever met didn't have a single college credit under his belt.  Which is why he left.  No upward mobility without artificial validation to hang on the wall.

[crazy canuck]

JDs were a marketing gimmick more than anything.  Schools that offered them instead of LLBs got more applicants because the JD was considered more saleable - although they are the same thing.  That is the main reason Canadian law schools are making the switch from LLB to JD.  I can now get my JD retroactively now that my law school switched over.  But I prefer to call it what it is.

You of course have the advantage of a successful practice that won't be affected in the slightest by whatever you call it

For my part, I never even finished my bachelor's degree. I've worked with very successful people in games who didn't even graduate highschool - there's not that many of them, but they're generally way more competent than the dicks with MBAs.

You are going to have to explain what the heck that has to do with the discussion of whether law degrees are properly an LLB or a JD.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I used to know a lot of IT people who made great living with no formal education. A lot of them got started in the 70s and 80s and had so much experience in big positions that by the 90s they were the seasoned pros when everyone was getting into IT and in the 2000s they were often upper management. One of them was making well into the 6-figures at Kodak as a lead manager right under the CIO (or CTO, can't recall.) Anyway when Kodak started its march towards bankruptcy a few years ago he lost his job and after about 6 months he went to school at UGA. Despite being like 45 or so and with 25 years of experience at various major companies he said he found that without a degree he was no longer able to get hired. He said he wasn't even able to get a temp job at a help desk or such because he didn't hold certain certifications.

[Iormlund]

I'm in that same situation, like a few of my workmates.

I hated studying and dropped out after I started working. I've got plenty of experience, but no degree beyond my high school diploma. I've been pondering what to do about that if I get laid off in the next couple of years.

[crazy canuck]

Some of the people I went to school with thought I was crazy spending all that time in university.  They thought it was much better to just drop out and get right into the job market...

[Jacob]

You are going to have to explain what the heck that has to do with the discussion of whether law degrees are properly an LLB or a JD.

The first part was a comment on your decision to call your qualification an LLB rather than a JD. You have the luxury (and indeed choice) to call it either; whatever you call it doesn't matter at all to your successful established practice. For others there maybe a perceived advantage to call it a JD over an LLB (or vice versa, if the people making the hiring decisions are particularly militant in their idiosyncrasies). That's a good thing.

The second part was not particularly pursuant to the law degree discussion, but rather related to the separate thread of the conversation dealing with general degree inflation.

[Jacob]

You and your colleagues' failures to get degrees demonstrate the inability to follow through with anything. Thus, you will all fail personally and professionally.

Failing with a six figure salary is okay, I think, even in this day and age.

Not that I'm making six figures. This start up business doesn't pay that well up front (and maybe not in the end either).

[Jacob]

I'm in that same situation, like a few of my workmates.

I hated studying and dropped out after I started working. I've got plenty of experience, but no degree beyond my high school diploma. I've been pondering what to do about that if I get laid off in the next couple of years.

I enjoy school, but when the job I was after became available before graduation it seemed a bit silly to stay in school.

[crazy canuck]

You are going to have to explain what the heck that has to do with the discussion of whether law degrees are properly an LLB or a JD.

The first part was a comment on your decision to call your qualification an LLB rather than a JD. You have the luxury (and indeed choice) to call it either; whatever you call it doesn't matter at all to your successful established practice.

I see.   However, you are ignoring the fact that I compete with thousands of lawyers who have the change because they think it makes them more saleable to clients who might think a JD is more prestigeous.  However, my view is that my degree should be called what it is and not some marketing gimmick.

[crazy canuck]

You and your colleagues' failures to get degrees demonstrate the inability to follow through with anything. Thus, you will all fail personally and professionally.

Failing with a six figure salary is okay, I think, even in this day and age.

Not that I'm making six figures. This start up business doesn't pay that well up front (and maybe not in the end either).

However, you are the exception are you not?  Would you counsel your kids, when you have them, to roll the dice and take the chance of being successful without a degree in their hip pocket?

[Jacob]

However, you are the exception are you not?  Would you counsel your kids, when you have them, to roll the dice and take the chance of being successful without a degree in their hip pocket?

Oh fuck yeah.

I'm not advocating not getting a degree, not at all. My kids are getting educated out the yin-yang if I, or their mom, has any say in the matter. Personally, I'd love to finish my degree and get another one, if I could find the time.