As the title suggests, I am searching for advice in order to plan ahead. After graduating from a non-target with a BS in Civil Engineering I attempted to break into IB, unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. After a brief employment period in sales I ended up working at a boutique construction consulting firm. When I say construction consulting think E&Y Major Capital Projects Advisory, KPMG's Major Projects Advisory or Navigant's Global Construction Practice etc.
My intention was to break into finance, specifically infra/project finance where I'd be able to leverage my technical understanding of civil engineering and later on transition to the buy-side and specifically be able to focus on investing in infra assets. In short, my interests lie within reducing our infrastructure gap etc. I understand that this is still possible for me to achieve post MBA.
But, the following is where the real dilemma comes into play. I've been doing some research lately on project delivery systems, specifically P3s, and I started to notice some things; for example, the main reason why P3s have not been adapted so easily is because of legislative setbacks or just unestablished legal frameworks to allow more private investments. This realization has got me thinking about law school. Originally, I thought the best way for me to make some sort of impact in our infrastructure gap and still have a lucrative career was to end up working for an infra fund, but now I'm thinking I'd be able to make more of an input if I were to go into infrastructure/project finance law, where I would be arranging these project delivery systems, understanding the risks involved for both public and private parties etc. And of course being able to advocate on such issues.
That said, I have laid out some options and would like to hear some opinions on what would be best based on the above:
Option 1:
- Focus on an MBA and stay with original interests of working at an infra fund.
Option 2:
- Attend law school and enter the infra/project law field.
Option 3:
- Aim for JD/MBA program? My undergrad in civil engineering, with good GMAT/LSAT scores along with my story, I think I'd be a good candidate, but I have noticed WSO has some negative things to say about JD/MBAs.
Thanks,
elgodfather