Law and Math Combo?

[Somnius]

I posted a few weeks ago with my situation and got some great guidance. I have a new question for you well-informed, reasonable individuals.

Quick recap, I'm 24 now, I graduated 2006 with a Psych degree, took time off and applied while starting an internet company. Got full scholarships to my choice schools in Florida and California...living in Canadian weather so long kinda gets to you. However my corp was doing well (mixture of websites and now doing quite well in poker) so I took more time off, and now, I want to keep riding out what I'm doing until about 27, I picked that age because 3 more years will be more then enough time to really see how my future in internet entrepreneurship/poker may look. Also, if I want to go to law school, I can be out of there by 30, which is still a fine age to begin...I think/hope, maybe younger is better I don't know.

Here's the thing, I will be taking this time to work on my business, however, I miss school.....a lot....a lot a lot. I've always liked math, not just studying it, but there are a lot of careers that look pretty dam interesting too, like statistical arbitrage, behavioral finance, and a host of others that combine quantitative sciences with my psych.

Basically, learning about what Bill Chen and Brandon Adams do is pretty interesting, of course actually working in the field is not the same as reading about it so I simply want to satisfy my curiosity.

So, I think, I want to study a math field at U of T this september. Some sort of econ/stats combination, or, well I haven't decided exactly yet...but, I'm now basically just confused. Questions going through my mind 24/7 as I live with my neurotic self.

Would it be better to just keep establishing the business/playing poker for 2 years and head straight to law school, get out by 28 and start the career, when established, I probably wouldn't care about my interest in math, if it is really there...?

To help answer that, looking at the finances is really important.

Last month was my first really established business/poker month. I made 5k, about 3k from sites, 2k from poker. This month, I'm on par to make over 6k, 3k from sites, over 3k from poker...and this is just 50NL, so I'd really like to see what happens if I move up.


If I do the math, then decide to go to law school, or work in the math field and do law school part time and get the degree...is it foolish to think that more doors would be open for me....?

Do math fields give a crap about you having a law degree, and more importantly, do legal jobs give a crap that I can work with market derivatives etc...?

I'd assume they'd have the cream of the crop for each if needed, not a jack of all trades position....am I just basically "wasting time" by doing this then if I go into law, the math studies would have been basically just a potential addition to my working with my personal finances and not utilized in my future law career?

Finally, growing up I wanted to be a "hotshot" lawyer as early as possible, raise capitol blah blah, of course when we grow up, the dreams might not change but we realize we have other interests and it's not just as simple as go as quick as possible...

However, not sure if it's my conditioning or actually grounded in reason...but I can't help but feel a little depressed about the fact that if I take this entrepreneurship/math path until 27, and then graduate law school at 30...I will be around young twenty somethings, and firms may look more kindly on them...or I will have to start at a similar salary to them at 30...of course if all goes well I'll have capitol saved up from my business/poker...

Still though, if the math won't really add anything potentially to my salary as a lawyer through some sort of interdisciplinary position that pays more...then well that kinda stinks.

Basically, lots of questions, confused as hell...please help...thanks for any thoughts/kindness.

Regards,
Somnius

[Lanzalot]

Graduating law school at 30 will be no great problem. The average graduate is probably something like 28 years old and if you have spent the time b/w the end of undergrad and the start of LS doing something productive and interesting, that actually will help you at interviews.

That being said, it isn't clear to me that you should go to law school because it really sounds like you enjoy the math field so much. Do what you enjoy and then you don't have to work another day in your life. I would caution you against buying into the lawyer mystique that seems to be reflected by your using phrases like wanting to be a "hotshot" lawyer and the like. The practice of law is not glamorous or a particularly romantic endeavor. If you do decide to go ahead and study graduate level math and then also go on to lawscool your qualifications for becoming a patent attorney are going to be pretty good. Perhaps that is an area of the law that you would enjoy and one where you could imbibe both of your passions. My advice would be to look into what that's like and see if it's something that might be of interest. Just go into it knowing that that the words hotshot and patent attorney are rarely if ever used in the same sentence.