Hi there, 

That's a nice problem to have :)

I've seen people go in both directions. I've had plenty of candidates that used to work or currently work as lawyers. And I've had colleagues in McK who went on to study law (one is actually at Yale now). 

In short, there's no answer that anybody can give you. You need to decide for yourself based on who you'd want to be in 10-20 years and the work that you'd like to do. 

I see at least 3 ways of doing that:

1. The easiest is to just take a long walk / vacation and think through your past and what you wish for the future. Make a decision and go with it.
2. Speak with an expert/counselor to think together through these options and figure out which one would make you happiest
3. Try both of them. Start in consulting with an internship. Go on to study law. See which one feels better for you. Trying both and then deciding might seem slightly inefficient but if you think in terms of a 30-40 year old career, a couple of years don't make a huge difference.

Sharing with you here a couple of articles that will help you understand the job of a consultant better. Hope you'll find them helpful!

• What Do Management Consultants Do? 
• The Truth About Consulting Work Hours: What You Need to Know
• How to Survive Your First Year as a Management Consultant

Best,
Cristian 

(edited)

Hi Emma,

Two fantastic options, honestly! I don't have a background in law, so I can't weigh in on your questions fully, but I'll give you my two cents based on my experience + that of people I know:

• Both careers open a lot of pathways! Most people who get into consulting straight out of undergrad end up working there for a few years, and then pivoting (to business school, managerial positions in other businesses, PE, startups, or really pretty much any other career trajectory you can think of). Generalist consulting doesn't really close many doors. My understanding is that law keeps a lot of doors open too, both within the legal ecosystem and other professions.
• Regarding your point about lawyers being unhappy and dissatisfied, I suppose it depends on exactly what you had in mind here, but many consultants face similar stresses in terms of having to work very long hours, a lot of travel, little work/life balance, etc. (more true for MBB, less true for smaller, boutique companies). There may be less of an ‘up or out’ culture, in the sense that making partner is not the only path to success (and most people exit by choice way before then). I can't speak to the lawyer side here of course, but I think both careers can be stressful in their own ways.
• Finally, I would take some time to think about what interests you most. They are both great options that will open doors for you, but what are you ultimately most interested in? What skills do you want to build? What kind of environments do you want to work in? And so on. The day-to-day work, problems you work, and people you interact with will be very different in these two career trajectories. So I would think about which one appeals to you more personally, besides the opportunities for career advancement and more objective pros and cons that they offer.

Hi there,

Me again as well!

First of all, incredible. What an amazing opportunity! By  the way, try not to get decision paralysis…think if you had just one  of these offers. You would be ecstatic!

Now, what may be helpful is to know which consulting firm you have an offer for? An offer from MBB is of course ging to be different to an offer from a boutique.

In terms of career path, you truly need to speak to many people on the phone and in person. A Q&A can help but nothing beats actually speaking to consultants and lawyers AND JDMBAs.

Please don't let what I say next to bais you, because ultimately this is your choice. Most lawyers I know regret doing law. Most are unhappy and do not enjoy it. It is quite rigid work and very demanding. Additionally, it is an industry in high risk. That said, I do know a few laywer who enjoy what they do.

Half of consultants I know hate consulting. Another half live and breathe it.

What's my point? Get talking to people to truly figure out which role matches YOU.

Again, just to add, if you have an MBB offer, that is also going to be different to a boutique offer…so pelase let us know which it is!

Final point: You could 1) Ask this consulting firm to delay your start date or 2) Ask Yale to delay your matriculation date

This mimizes risk…good luck with your decision :)

Hi Emma,

Q: I'm just starting on my consulting interview journey and I'm deciding between that and matriculating at Yale Law School in the fall. I'm curious if anyone here has done both careers or know people who have, and can weigh in on

It seems you have (i) secured Yale Law School already and (ii) not have a consulting offer. If that’s the case, I would not drop the Yale Law School opportunity unless you are sure you don’t want to do that, as the other alternative is not secured there.

In terms of which is the best option: it is highly subjective and related to what you want to do. My recommendation would be to:

1. Find alumni of your undergrad that went through the two career paths (you want to target alumni as this will increase the response rate). Be sure they spent several years doing that
2. Organize a call with them
3. Ask questions related to your goals and see which option gets closer to that

You will most likely get a good idea of which path could be more interesting after a few calls.

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi there,

congratulations on getting accepted. If you can see yourself working as a lawyer, it sounds like you are on the best path for that. It also sounds like you can get some good first-hand intel from your mom and her network on how it's like to build a career as an attorney. So if you haven't already done it, ask the same questions to them.

As for going into consulting, one immediate difference would be that you'd start earning a pretty good salary right away rather than taking on more law school debt that you will have to spend years paying off (unless you are loaded with scholarships of course). Consulting also offers you the chance to go broad first, try out different areas and then choose to specialize in a field where your empirical evidence proves that you actually like it. In case you still want to further your education later on, many consulting firms sponsor MBA programs for high-performers.

A few things are pretty certain though: 

• If you start out as a consultant, you likely will never work as a lawyer
• Happiness matters - you might be able to grind through something you don't enjoy for a few years but it is not sustainable
• Neither career offers the best work-life balance setup - it will become relevant at some point - for some people sooner rather than later

All in all, it's not really an apples-to-apples comparison and there are many variables. You have to first prioritize the aspects most important to you and then evaluate the pros and cons against these criteria.

Best of luck

Do you actually have an admit to Yale Law, or is this hypothetical?

If you do, I wouldn’t turn it down. It’s one of the most prestigious schools in the world, and the most prestigious law school. You can do MBB after graduating if you still want to. Yale Law will open many more doors than that.