<p>Younghov, I think you’ve misunderstood. All other things being equal a JD is more prestigious and lucrative than a MBA, there isn’t even a question. If this wasn’t the case the market would reflect that, but it doesn’t, i.e. law school is tougher to get into than business school (LS has more demand as measured by # of apps, less supply as measured by # of schools).</p>
<p>You’re right t14 is the cuttoff for law schools, but for bschool it’s T7 at best and possibly T3 (SHW, MIT, Columbia, Chicago, and Kellogg). My point however was something entirely different–that for those JDs who have the talent, there will be a plethora of opps. in the business world, specifically finance. Having a JD won’t inherently take away any opps in business, it’ll just depend on the person. There are clearly many powerful JDs in the business world: The CEOs of the 2 most prestigious investment banks (Lazard and Goldman) have JDs, Jim Cramer is a JD, and so is Michael Milken. I work at a boutique investment bank where one of the most powerful and well compensated guys has a JD from St. Johns (not a top law school). Most top hedge funds, PEs, and VCs also have JDs in business roles. Trust me, there are plenty of JDs who don’t practice law and in no way is the degree going to restrict a person if they have what it takes to make it in the business world. </p>
<p>My other point was that a MBA itself is useless. People go to bschool to make connections, that’s really the main reason, the degree by itself isn’t going to get you anywhere. A JD on the other hand does give you specific skill sets which can be transferred over to the business world.</p>