Finishing advanced degree helpful or harmful?

[law2pharm]

Hi,
Looking for advice, especially from those involved or knowledgable about the admissions and especially the hiring process. Feel free to disregard the background info- I know it's not very succinct.

Background:
I had always intended to go to pharmacy school, but I was scared away by the saturation. I worked as a tech at both cvs and a hospital's retail pharmacy, so I know exactly what I'd be getting into.
I can't handle blood/bodily fluids/hospitals and have no manual dexterity, so other health professions seemed a poor fit. I ended up going to law school because I received a large scholarship to a top 14 school and was told I was pretty much guaranteed a prestigious job as a corporate or patent lawyer. I really was excited about big pharma law.
Fast forward to today- I'm halfway through and HATE it. I had numerous breakdowns in school from the first month where I felt I was out of place and wanted to apply to pharmacy, but I was told the actual lawyer work would be so much better. I'm on my second internship and have realized it's torture. I should've realized there was a reason I avoided writing courses all throughout undergrad (which also makes me feel at a severe disadvantage here). I keep trying to do science-y and health-y things here to fulfill the void (my upper level paper is about non-FDA approved dietary supplements-seriously?!)
Also, after getting married and having a baby, my dreams are just different. At 21, making 160k working on billion dollar finance deals in NYC sounded like a dream. Now, I just want work-life balance and would much rather live in a rural area that's affordable and where I don't have to worry about my daughter taking the metro to elementary school in a few years. Also, working 70-80 hours a week and taking work home with me sounds miserable now that I have a family to consider.
Debt is definitely a concern, and even with a 25k/year scholarship I am still paying 25k/year for tuition as well as the exorbitant living expenses here. I do everything to minimize expenses (extreme couponing, amazon subscriptions, getting rid of my car, etc.) and I have looked into being a visiting student at a public institution in my state that would make my final year cost around 30k with all expenses included. I'm still not sure if it's worth 30k to finish the degree, but it's hard to just quit after so much sunk time and cost already and no guarantees of where I'll end up with pharmacy.
Finally, I don't really think I want to use the JD if I do complete school (and I've found patent law is impossible without an advanced chemistry or engineering degree). I would consider trying to do doc review contract work or something, but it seems like part-time attorney work (during pharm school) would be impossible, even if it exists somewhere.

Questions:
Does it look better to finish the JD for both admissions and future employment purposes, or do I look confused/overeducated/some other negative? I am anticipating applying next year so I would start in 2016 regardless of finishing the degree.

I've talked to a couple different schools and heard wildly varying things (it looks better to dropout now because it shows your true passion and risks you'll take to be a pharmacist vs. dropping out makes you look lazy/unable to handle professional school), so it would be nice to hear from others.

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Thestrugglez]

First of all, are you 100% positive that you absolutely DESPISE law? You have already invested a lot of time, energy and money into your JD. I think getting an engineering masters and being a patent lawyer is a much better career path than being a pharmacist. You get paid a LOT more and only 1/100 lawyers are qualified to be a patent lawyer (from what I heard from a friend who at one point was doing patent law). However, I do understand your plight. Lawyers have to write so much that being a mediocre/bad writer basically means that it takes twice as long to finish your work.

If you are set on pharmacy, then I would just dropout now. If your grades in law school are good, then obviously, you're dropping out not because you're lazy/unable to handle professional school, but because you want to chase your true passion. If they are not so good, then the adcom might find it suspicious. Ultimately, if you don't intend to do anything law related, why waste more money? I would only finish the degree if I plan to use it. If you don't plan to do anything law related, why bother spending another ~35k on tuition + living expenses?

As for the hiring process, I'm not sure if having a JD would help you or not. Hope my advice helps (even if its only a little).

 

[law2pharm]

Thanks for your reply! It means a lot
Some days I think it could be okay, but most days I abhor doing legal work. For some reason I believed being in the corporate or patent realm would shield me from much of this work so long as I avoided litigation, but I've realized this is what the bulk of my career would consist of.
I don't think patent law is viable for me at this point. On campus interviews take place the summer before 2nd year, and those job offers usually turn into full time post-grad positions. I've already gone through OCI as a non-patent student. Additionally it would be almost impossible to just get an engineering masters degree now (barring the fact I haven't taken calc 2 or beyond to even be admitted to a masters program). Plus there are plenty of law students with PhDs in physical sciences and engineering now, and even more with industry experience.
Also, for what it's worth, I don't really care about the money (and even so, 160k to live in Silicon Valley or NYC doesn't seem worth it over ~100k in a less populated area).

I have heard before that law degrees can add some value because of the way you are taught to think rationally, advocate and so on. I was wondering if that at all would add any value to my resume, especially with the saturation, or if it's just wasted energy and money.
I also worry that it'll look like I'm wishy-washy (but I guess it could look like that regardless) or if I would be at a disadvantage because I would be 24 when applying and 25 when matriculating (compared to those starting after 2 years of pre-reqs, that's old!)

 

[KidPharmD]

I cannot imagine seeing having a JD as a negative in any situation, unless someone is going to try and get you to do something illegal anyway.

That being said, most job interviews will see it as something interesting but neither a positive or negative unless you go into a regulatory/law related pharmacy field.

The only consequence I can see with a partially finished degree is a lot of questions of why you quit. After you get a pharmacy degree, you won't really have to mention the partial degree again.

Starting at 24 or 25 isn't really that old. Plenty of people start older than that.

 

[OmiPharmD]

Are you totally against finishing your JD? It sounds like you've put a lot of time and money into it already. Saturation is becoming a very real issue - a PharmD/JD is still unique and could perhaps help open doors for you down the road.

 

[oldstock]

Finish your JD and then go to pharmacy school if you are so set on becoming a pharmacist. PharmD/JD combo would open a lot of doors, I agree, including teaching pharmacy laws in pharmacy schools. Saturation is real in pharmacy, esp at the crazily uncontrolled rate that new pharmacy schools are opening (there are 139 schools now and still more new ones popping).

But if you can do well w saturation in laws, you would prob do well in the pharmacy job market then. Just be aware that you might not get much from scholarship for pharm school (most I know is about 3-10k max). So you might have to look at a minimum of ~150k of student loans for your entire pharmacy education.

And you are not old. Super young in fact

Are you totally against finishing your JD? It sounds like you've put a lot of time and money into it already. Saturation is becoming a very real issue - a PharmD/JD is still unique and could perhaps help open doors for you down the road.

First of all, are you 100% positive that you absolutely DESPISE law? You have already invested a lot of time, energy and money into your JD. I think getting an engineering masters and being a patent lawyer is a much better career path than being a pharmacist. You get paid a LOT more and only 1/100 lawyers are qualified to be a patent lawyer (from what I heard from a friend who at one point was doing patent law). However, I do understand your plight. Lawyers have to write so much that being a mediocre/bad writer basically means that it takes twice as long to finish your work.

If you are set on pharmacy, then I would just dropout now. If your grades in law school are good, then obviously, you're dropping out not because you're lazy/unable to handle professional school, but because you want to chase your true passion. If they are not so good, then the adcom might find it suspicious. Ultimately, if you don't intend to do anything law related, why waste more money? I would only finish the degree if I plan to use it. If you don't plan to do anything law related, why bother spending another ~35k on tuition + living expenses?

As for the hiring process, I'm not sure if having a JD would help you or not. Hope my advice helps (even if its only a little).

Hi,
Looking for advice, especially from those involved or knowledgable about the admissions and especially the hiring process. Feel free to disregard the background info- I know it's not very succinct.

Background:
I had always intended to go to pharmacy school, but I was scared away by the saturation. I worked as a tech at both cvs and a hospital's retail pharmacy, so I know exactly what I'd be getting into.
I can't handle blood/bodily fluids/hospitals and have no manual dexterity, so other health professions seemed a poor fit. I ended up going to law school because I received a large scholarship to a top 14 school and was told I was pretty much guaranteed a prestigious job as a corporate or patent lawyer. I really was excited about big pharma law.
Fast forward to today- I'm halfway through and HATE it. I had numerous breakdowns in school from the first month where I felt I was out of place and wanted to apply to pharmacy, but I was told the actual lawyer work would be so much better. I'm on my second internship and have realized it's torture. I should've realized there was a reason I avoided writing courses all throughout undergrad (which also makes me feel at a severe disadvantage here). I keep trying to do science-y and health-y things here to fulfill the void (my upper level paper is about non-FDA approved dietary supplements-seriously?!)
Also, after getting married and having a baby, my dreams are just different. At 21, making 160k working on billion dollar finance deals in NYC sounded like a dream. Now, I just want work-life balance and would much rather live in a rural area that's affordable and where I don't have to worry about my daughter taking the metro to elementary school in a few years. Also, working 70-80 hours a week and taking work home with me sounds miserable now that I have a family to consider.
Debt is definitely a concern, and even with a 25k/year scholarship I am still paying 25k/year for tuition as well as the exorbitant living expenses here. I do everything to minimize expenses (extreme couponing, amazon subscriptions, getting rid of my car, etc.) and I have looked into being a visiting student at a public institution in my state that would make my final year cost around 30k with all expenses included. I'm still not sure if it's worth 30k to finish the degree, but it's hard to just quit after so much sunk time and cost already and no guarantees of where I'll end up with pharmacy.
Finally, I don't really think I want to use the JD if I do complete school (and I've found patent law is impossible without an advanced chemistry or engineering degree). I would consider trying to do doc review contract work or something, but it seems like part-time attorney work (during pharm school) would be impossible, even if it exists somewhere.

Questions:
Does it look better to finish the JD for both admissions and future employment purposes, or do I look confused/overeducated/some other negative? I am anticipating applying next year so I would start in 2016 regardless of finishing the degree.

I've talked to a couple different schools and heard wildly varying things (it looks better to dropout now because it shows your true passion and risks you'll take to be a pharmacist vs. dropping out makes you look lazy/unable to handle professional school), so it would be nice to hear from others.

Thanks!

 

[Leapyear0208]

I will matriculate when I am 27, in 2016. So not too old. I will also have a Masters degree as I am 2.5 classes away from graduating currently straight As, hope to finish off that way. I wanted to go to pharm school pretty much right out of high school (I took a lot of dual enrollment courses to get prereqs done) but life happened a different way for me. I now have 2 kids, a bachelors and almost masters in Psychology. When it came time to pick a doctorate route, I knew right away it would be pharmacy. I am finishing up my last few prereqs now and this coming year (fall 15/spring 16 if needed) and applying next cycle. Personally I would finish off the JD program.