Recently, I was at a reception with people who work in business and finance. Many of the attendees earned MBA degrees, and people discussed their educational backgrounds, including their experiences attending business school, while engaging in small talk at the event. At one point, one of the MBA graduates tried to liken business school to law school in order to express commonality with the fact that I had a law degree. Although I entertained this notion for a while to be polite, it should be apparent to anyone that law school and business school are extremely different, and earning an MBA and a law degree should not be compared.
Perhaps the biggest reason why law school and business school are not similar is since law school is a barrier to entry to becoming a lawyer whereas the business world does not really have hard and fast barriers. Indeed, most states require graduation from law school to be eligible to sit for the bar exam. There is no such barrier to entry to entering the world of business. Anyone can learn on the job and be promoted regardless of whether they attended business school. Sure, business school can help job candidates earn jobs and be promoted (this definitely helped Ryan in “The Office”), but few jobs in the business world are closed off completely because someone does not have an MBA.
Moreover, the dynamics of law school and business school make these two programs extremely different. Law school is typically three years long whereas business school is usually two years long. This might not seem like much, but a year is a really long time when it comes to assessing careers and opportunity costs. Moreover, an extra year of schooling can cost a fortune, especially when you factor in costs of living, interest on student debt, and other expenses.
In addition, most law schools are graded on a curve, which leads to a bitter environment and tough competition. From my own research, curves are less prevalent in business schools than in law schools, which must have a huge impact on student life. Moreover, while law students live and die by their grades in law school, it appears as if grades might be less important to business school graduates (depending on where they attend) than who they know. This must lessen the level of stress business school students experience since they do not need to freak out as much if they underperformed in a given class.
Several of my friends who attended business school tell me that one of the most important parts of attending business school is networking. People try to network with business school classmates so that they can have help when it comes to securing a job or moving from position to position later in their careers. Moreover, students want to be a part of an alumni community, since people who are also part of a given alumni community may favor their own and try to help fellow alumni secure jobs in the future.
Networking is definitely important to law students, and individuals can secure clients and job opportunities based on the connections made in law school. However, networking seems less important to law students. My business school friends tell me that a real emphasis that doesn’t really exist at most law schools is placed on going out and attending networking events in business school. In this way, law school is a more traditional professional program in which the primary goal of attending school is to learn skills that will be helpful when practicing law.
Nothing in article is intended to minimize business school programs or people who hold MBAs. Such programs can be an important way for individuals to obtain a credential that may be helpful as they embark on a career in the business world or finance. However, some people have a tendency to lump categories of people together to find commonality of experiences. With few exceptions, business school and law school are very different and should not be compared.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothman.law.
