If your question is how do the experiences compare intellectually, they are very different. JD here with a masters also. (So I can’t speak to the dissertation aspect of your question.) Law school requires close reading of cases which aren’t generally long. The long ones are excerpted. You don’t write many papers. You are focused on figuring out an analytical framework that you can apply to different facts. So you are using your readings to figure out an analytical scaffolding and then learning how to apply it. My masters program emphasized different skills. The reading was longer. You are building over time a body of knowledge, an area of expertise and you are focused on building knowledge of scholarship that you can use to develop your own scholarship. The comps you take at the end of your masters course work are designed to determine if you have mastered the scholarship “canon” in your field. If you are a regular JD student in law school no one cares about your scholarship and ideas.

Law school is much harder and more stressful and more unpleasant. I had a blast getting my
Poli SCI/history masters. Law school was a stressful grind and a totally different way of thinking

Anonymous wrote:Law school is much more of a grind than grad school. You seem very confused OP.

I think the op is asking a good question

Law school is essentially the same as an undergrad degree, but USA determines social status by how many years of school you can afford, so they add extra years to professional degrees.

A Ph.D. without a master’s in a reputable, American program is going to take about 7 years; 8 is more likely than 6. Law school is an easy 3, although you will have to pay for it; a Ph.D. will be funded at meager wages.

The PhD equivalent in law goes by several names. Yale for example has a Ph.D., while Harvard has the SJD and Columbia has the JSD.

They aren't really the same thing.

I have a JD and an MFA in creative writing which is a terminal degree. So my grad degree was in English with an emphasis on writing fiction -- it was 3 years of coursework, and included a thesis. I would say my reading load was about the same in both programs -- in grad school I read about 3 novels a week plus a few essays and stories. It was a lot. Obviously in law school you are reading cases instead, but I'd say the amount of reading was about the same -- just verging on too much to do, lol. In law school I was able to read less my second and third year and rely on study aids instead, but there was no way to do that with grad school -- I had to read it all (but my degree was English, of course, so that might vary with history or poli sci). Law school was far more social, I had a lot of extracurricular activities like Moot Court Board that took up at least as much time as my regular studies.

Conceptually, I found law school easier -- I naturally think like a lawyer and I'm a good test taker. As far as my MFA goes I hadn't majored in English in undergrad so there was a bit of a learning curve for me there. But that is definitely not going to be the case for everyone -- lots of folks who don't naturally "think like a lawyer" struggle a lot with law school.

As far as the bar exam and PhD qualifying exams ... I didn't do a Phd, so I don't know how that compares, but it seems like you are probably comparing apples to oranges. FWIW, I took the CA bar and found it pretty easy. But agin, the thinking like a lawyer thing comes naturally to me, I just have an analytical brain, so YMMV.

Anonymous wrote:These are very different environments that lead to very different paths. I would not focus so much on what the school experience itself entails, but where it leads. Do you want to be a lawyer? A research scientist/academic? Start there. If you don't know I would pursue neither for now.

+1. These two things aren't comparable unless you are going for a SJD (Doctor of Juridical Science). That is a degree beyond JD.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Law school is much more of a grind than grad school. You seem very confused OP.

By "grind" - is the challenge more volume or conceptual difficulty?

And I guess stress level because of the grading.

But virtually nobody drops out of law school, while doctoral programs have high attrition rates.

Anonymous wrote:Law school is much more of a grind than grad school. You seem very confused OP.

By "grind" - is the challenge more volume or conceptual difficulty?

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking about a masters or a phd? World of difference

Ph.D.

Law school is much more of a grind than grad school. You seem very confused OP.

Are you talking about a masters or a phd? World of difference

These are very different environments that lead to very different paths. I would not focus so much on what the school experience itself entails, but where it leads. Do you want to be a lawyer? A research scientist/academic? Start there. If you don't know I would pursue neither for now.

The big difference in kind of course is the dissertation. And grades don't really matter in grad school, while in law school they do.

But I'm curious if anyone can speak to the experience of both law and grad school in say, political science or history.

What's the difference in reading load like in the courses? And is law school as conceptually difficult as grad school? Law is interesting in that it is a first degree in the subject, not advanced study, but the learning curve is obviously higher than in undergrad.

Is it fair to say the knowledge base of the law degree and bar exam is similar to the PhD student up to the level of qualifying exams and without the dissertation?