JD or MFA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one pays for an MFA, right?

I got a full scholarship, housing and living stipend, and I could TA and get paid. University of California school.

Same with MA in lit, also have JD. Reading and writing well are important in law; cases sometimes play out like a good short story/novella. Ha! You are writing for an audience; making the story interesting can be helpful.

Future lawyers, please do not believe this crap.

[Anonymous]

You would have to be extremely disconnected to yourself to have erred so far and so deeply. These are not compatible but for the very rarest niche.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You would have to be extremely disconnected to yourself to have erred so far and so deeply. These are not compatible but for the very rarest niche.

There are a lot of lawyers who are writers, and writers with law degrees. Tons actually. I am one of them.

Many of us chose law because we thought it would be more practical than trying to write full time - but one way or another ended up writing full time (or part time) anyway. Some are really successful fiction writers - a classmate of mine from CLS had a huge hit novel that got optioned by Anne Hathaway to make into a movie - while some others of us (again, me) are less successful fiction writers but turn to journalism and other types of writing to earn a living.

There is plenty of overlap in interests and skills, between people going to law school and people getting MFAs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Neither, just worked (I got a JD and now have a job where an MFA would be useful but not required).

Do you write true crime novels or something? Curious what kind of job would be useful for a JD/MFA

Close -- I'm a literary agent. My JD is useful but not required. An MFA would be handy both for networking reasons (other agents with MFAs have a leg up on me in terms of finding both clients and building relationships with editors) and potentially in terms of evaluating submissions, though I think my industry knowledge is more helpful than an MFA would be for the latter.

But truthfully I don't need either for my job. I got here via a law firm job and my contracts background is very useful, but I learned most of what I know on the job, not in law school. Most other agents I know wind up in the field via jobs at publishing houses, where MFAs are pretty common.

[Anonymous]

MFA seems pretty worthless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another lawyer here who also has an MFA! MFA was fun but largely useless when I decided not to go into academia.

+1000 (I'm the pp who also has both JD and MFA)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it common for lawyers to quit to become poets?

I literally did this. Working on a CNF book now, not poetry at the moment, but yes I left the law to get an MFA in creative writing. It's not "common" but I'm not the only one either.

[Anonymous]

My employer pays for school, and I have no career aspirations. I would pick whatever made me happier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would have to be extremely disconnected to yourself to have erred so far and so deeply. These are not compatible but for the very rarest niche.

There are a lot of lawyers who are writers, and writers with law degrees. Tons actually. I am one of them.

Many of us chose law because we thought it would be more practical than trying to write full time - but one way or another ended up writing full time (or part time) anyway. Some are really successful fiction writers - a classmate of mine from CLS had a huge hit novel that got optioned by Anne Hathaway to make into a movie - while some others of us (again, me) are less successful fiction writers but turn to journalism and other types of writing to earn a living.

There is plenty of overlap in interests and skills, between people going to law school and people getting MFAs.

You do not need a MFA to become a writer. The overlap you speak of is very slim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would have to be extremely disconnected to yourself to have erred so far and so deeply. These are not compatible but for the very rarest niche.

There are a lot of lawyers who are writers, and writers with law degrees. Tons actually. I am one of them.

Many of us chose law because we thought it would be more practical than trying to write full time - but one way or another ended up writing full time (or part time) anyway. Some are really successful fiction writers - a classmate of mine from CLS had a huge hit novel that got optioned by Anne Hathaway to make into a movie - while some others of us (again, me) are less successful fiction writers but turn to journalism and other types of writing to earn a living.

There is plenty of overlap in interests and skills, between people going to law school and people getting MFAs.

You do not need a MFA to become a writer. The overlap you speak of is very slim.

It's not that slim - and of course you don't "need" an MFA to be a writer. But you gain credentials and connections through your MFA that are hard to get without it.

I don't really know why you're fighting this? It sounds like you're not interested in writing - which is fine. I tell everyone I know not to be a writer if they can avoid it.

[Anonymous]

There are two different issues:

Do lawyers become writers? Of course, many do.

Doi lawyers who become writers need, or even benefit when costs/opportunity costs are considered, MFAs? Of course not. Total waste of time and money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would have to be extremely disconnected to yourself to have erred so far and so deeply. These are not compatible but for the very rarest niche.

There are a lot of lawyers who are writers, and writers with law degrees. Tons actually. I am one of them.

Many of us chose law because we thought it would be more practical than trying to write full time - but one way or another ended up writing full time (or part time) anyway. Some are really successful fiction writers - a classmate of mine from CLS had a huge hit novel that got optioned by Anne Hathaway to make into a movie - while some others of us (again, me) are less successful fiction writers but turn to journalism and other types of writing to earn a living.

There is plenty of overlap in interests and skills, between people going to law school and people getting MFAs.

You do not need a MFA to become a writer. The overlap you speak of is very slim.

It's not that slim - and of course you don't "need" an MFA to be a writer. But you gain credentials and connections through your MFA that are hard to get without it.

I don't really know why you're fighting this? It sounds like you're not interested in writing - which is fine. I tell everyone I know not to be a writer if they can avoid it.

What are some famous books that are written by MFA holders?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would have to be extremely disconnected to yourself to have erred so far and so deeply. These are not compatible but for the very rarest niche.

There are a lot of lawyers who are writers, and writers with law degrees. Tons actually. I am one of them.

Many of us chose law because we thought it would be more practical than trying to write full time - but one way or another ended up writing full time (or part time) anyway. Some are really successful fiction writers - a classmate of mine from CLS had a huge hit novel that got optioned by Anne Hathaway to make into a movie - while some others of us (again, me) are less successful fiction writers but turn to journalism and other types of writing to earn a living.

There is plenty of overlap in interests and skills, between people going to law school and people getting MFAs.

You do not need a MFA to become a writer. The overlap you speak of is very slim.

It's not that slim - and of course you don't "need" an MFA to be a writer. But you gain credentials and connections through your MFA that are hard to get without it.

I don't really know why you're fighting this? It sounds like you're not interested in writing - which is fine. I tell everyone I know not to be a writer if they can avoid it.

What are some famous books that are written by MFA holders?

I guess none. You're right, stupid degree.

[Anonymous]

I should point out here that not all MFAs are created equal. There are actually a lot of fully-funded programs where you work as a TA (for an admittedly small stipend) and your tuition is waived. I mean, you're not going to *make* a lot of money getting an MFA, but you can get one without going into debt. Unlike a JD -- there are very few ways to obtain a JD for free, even at lower ranked schools.

Getting into a fully funded MFA is usually very competitive, but it's generally based on the strength of sample work. So if you are a strong enough writer/actor/artists to gain admission to a fully funded program, then I absolutely think that makes more sense than getting a JD. There are lots of unhappy lawyers who have never made a ton of money and are stuck paying loans for a long time. Especially if their heart was actually in poetry or painting or something -- that's the person whose least likely to be able to thrive in the kind of jobs that will help you pay off your loans quickly. Many of these people would probably have been better off financially going into a much less lucrative field with no debt, which is what a fully funded MFA program would offer them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I should point out here that not all MFAs are created equal. There are actually a lot of fully-funded programs where you work as a TA (for an admittedly small stipend) and your tuition is waived. I mean, you're not going to *make* a lot of money getting an MFA, but you can get one without going into debt. Unlike a JD -- there are very few ways to obtain a JD for free, even at lower ranked schools.

Getting into a fully funded MFA is usually very competitive, but it's generally based on the strength of sample work. So if you are a strong enough writer/actor/artists to gain admission to a fully funded program, then I absolutely think that makes more sense than getting a JD. There are lots of unhappy lawyers who have never made a ton of money and are stuck paying loans for a long time. Especially if their heart was actually in poetry or painting or something -- that's the person whose least likely to be able to thrive in the kind of jobs that will help you pay off your loans quickly. Many of these people would probably have been better off financially going into a much less lucrative field with no debt, which is what a fully funded MFA program would offer them.

You clearly didn't have good LSAT scores. There were tons of places offering free tuition, but those degrees would have been just as much of a waste of time (and time=money) as an MFA.