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[A]

Hello,

I should first thank everyone who has been answering questions on this forum. It's great help to all of us who are looking at career options and have a million questions about them.

My situation is that I have a Master's degree in EE and have been working for a successful company for the past 5 years. I have even applied for 5 patents, working with attorney's from big law firms who helped me draft the patent applications.

I want to move up in my career (and make good money), and am considering further studies if that would help. I am currently debating between a JD and an MBA. I am hoping that you could through some suggestions my way and help me with my decisions.

Two industries I feel that have good money & interesting jobs are Venture Capital & Law (M&A or IP). Looking at Bio's of various VC's I see that some of them have a JD, however most of the rest have an MBA & an entreprenuership background. So, If I go for an MBA, I'm considering my first job out of school would be to work for (if not start) a start-up.

Could you throw some light on JD (M&A  or IP) vs. MBA? Long-term does law make a steady and high pay-out? Does M&A department in a big firm pay very well? Or, do you think it is easier to get into IP for me because of my background (EE & patents). Or, should I go the MBA route target VC industry?

I appreciate your help & Suggestions!

Thanks
A

PS: Dont know if this matters, I'm of international origin but a Permanent Resident of US, been here for the past 8 yrs.

[JimIvey]

I don't know how common these programs are, but UC Berkeley offered a combo JD/MBA program when I went there.  It was a 4-year program (JD alone was 3 years).

The people in the program that I met told me that the MBA classes were much less intellectually rigorous than the law classes -- the perception was that the MBA portion of the program didn't add too much effort and stress to the whole process.

If I had been in that program, the first 10 years of my career would not have benefited much from the MBA (although perhaps my career would have gone differently).  However, now opportunities present themselves such that I kinda wish I had the MBA (or at least a more thorough understanding of business management).

I hope that helps.