Under Time Crunch--BU($$$) vs Emory ($$$) vs ND ($$$) Forum

[gatorfan163287]

Hello everyone,

I posted a topic similar to this a week or so ago but since then I have eliminated BC and ND gave me a call and I have to decide on my intent to enroll or not by the morning and have been trying to decide between the 3 and need some advice/help.

I currently have 2 deposits down at BU as well.

I am from Florida but have no wish to work here in FL in the future as I have been in FL my whole life and would like to get out and experience new places. My goals are to be in a large metropolitan city (other than Miami) anywhere on the east coast preferably. My optimum job placement would be in biglaw/midlaw, however I would be happy just in a firm job or working for a business in corporate law or something similar. I loved Boston when I went and visited and I also enjoy Atlanta and could see myself living in either city and being happy (along with NY, DC, ect). I have never been to South Bend but have heard good things about ND's facilities and campus.

My parents would help with the COL expenses and after factoring in my scholarships I get the following COA's

Boston University- $30k/yr scholly - COA - $55,335 (10 year repayment option), $40,070 at graduation
Emory- $31k/yr scholly - COA - $61,948 (10 year repayment option), $44,848 at graduation
Notre Dame- $28k/yr scholly - COA $76,331 (10 year repayment option), $55,273 at graduation

I am very torn with this decision and if anyone could help me decide between them that'd be appreciated.

My stats were 3.67/165 and I just retook LSAT a couple weeks ago just to see what I could get. Will get my score in a little over a week.

I am also looking to pursue a JD/MBA degree as my undergraduate degree was Finance and I am looking to further that education as well.

[jbagelboy]

Did you post elsewhere as well? I recall a similar BU/BC v Emory thread before.

To me, the BU and Emory COAs are both fair game, so you have to just decide 1) whether you want to practice in new england or the south, and 2) how important b-school is to you. Emory is the only one of these three with a respected and employable MBA. If you want the dual degree to have any additional significance, its your best option.

[jselson]

Did you post elsewhere as well? I recall a similar BU/BC v Emory thread before.

To me, the BU and Emory COAs are both fair game, so you have to just decide 1) whether you want to practice in new england or the south, and 2) how important b-school is to you. Emory is the only one of these three with a respected and employable MBA. If you want the dual degree to have any additional significance, its your best option.

And there ya go.

[gatorfan163287]

Did you post elsewhere as well? I recall a similar BU/BC v Emory thread before.

To me, the BU and Emory COAs are both fair game, so you have to just decide 1) whether you want to practice in new england or the south, and 2) how important b-school is to you. Emory is the only one of these three with a respected and employable MBA. If you want the dual degree to have any additional significance, its your best option.

Yea I posted a week ago or so but in my first paragraph on this one said that. Have eliminated BC since then and ND called with their offer off the WL so figured I'd make another post just to see if ND being added changed any of the advice I was given.

[BigZuck]

All seem reasonable. I wouldn't really expect to get big/midlaw out of any of those schools however, and you probably won't get placed somewhere where you don't already have existing ties (maybe Boston if you choose BU or Atlanta if you choose Emory but that's probably about it).

Retake if you want a decent chance at fulfilling your career goals. Moving to a new place to work and study for the LSAT sounds like the best course of action for you, that will allow you to develop some ties and get into a school that gives you a good shot at biglaw.

[grace123]

I would 1) retake first, and if you're not willing to sit out a year, then 2) go to Emory, it has a very strong JD/MBA program. Know that all 3 of your schools are regional though, so really it's all about where you want to live and practice.

[jingosaur]

How important is the MBA for you? I've looked at JD/MBA programs too and from what I've seen, it's not really worth the fourth year unless you're going to a top program (Cornell or better). Did you apply to MBA programs yet or are you just going to apply as a 1L? Do you know how the scholarships will be affected if you get into your school's MBA program? If you don't get in, would you still be content with finishing out your law degree with no MBA?

As far as which law school to attend, I agree with the previous posts.

[jbagelboy]

How important is the MBA for you? I've looked at JD/MBA programs too and from what I've seen, it's not really worth the fourth year unless you're going to a top program (Cornell or better). Did you apply to MBA programs yet or are you just going to apply as a 1L? Do you know how the scholarships will be affected if you get into your school's MBA program? If you don't get in, would you still be content with finishing out your law degree with no MBA?

As far as which law school to attend, I agree with the previous posts.

Cornell's MBA program isn't any better than Emory's tho.

both are significantly more useful than BU. and I agree with the reasoning above more generally

[jingosaur]

How important is the MBA for you? I've looked at JD/MBA programs too and from what I've seen, it's not really worth the fourth year unless you're going to a top program (Cornell or better). Did you apply to MBA programs yet or are you just going to apply as a 1L? Do you know how the scholarships will be affected if you get into your school's MBA program? If you don't get in, would you still be content with finishing out your law degree with no MBA?

As far as which law school to attend, I agree with the previous posts.

Cornell's MBA program isn't any better than Emory's tho.

both are significantly more useful than BU. and I agree with the reasoning above more generally

Cornell has a 3 year program so it's one less year of COL and opportunity costs and the law school is better than Emory's. Cornell's MBA program is ranked slightly higher, but an Emory MBA is respected much more in the south. I know nothing about BU's business school and ND's business school, but I assume that ND can't be that bad because of the alumni network.

[jbagelboy]

How important is the MBA for you? I've looked at JD/MBA programs too and from what I've seen, it's not really worth the fourth year unless you're going to a top program (Cornell or better). Did you apply to MBA programs yet or are you just going to apply as a 1L? Do you know how the scholarships will be affected if you get into your school's MBA program? If you don't get in, would you still be content with finishing out your law degree with no MBA?

As far as which law school to attend, I agree with the previous posts.

Cornell's MBA program isn't any better than Emory's tho.

both are significantly more useful than BU. and I agree with the reasoning above more generally

Cornell has a 3 year program so it's one less year of COL and opportunity costs and the law school is better than Emory's. Cornell's MBA program is ranked slightly higher, but an Emory MBA is respected much more in the south. I know nothing about BU's business school and ND's business school, but I assume that ND can't be that bad because of the alumni network.

I mean yes, I would go to Cornell JD/MBA over Emory, but that's not one of OP's options. If I was just going to attend B-school, I wouldn't go unless it was M7.

[radar714]

I wanna echo the opinions being shared on the JD/MBA. I was looking at a JD/MBA at Goizueta for a little as well, and I ultimately decided that for me a JD/MBA is pretty much not worth it at any school that doesn't have a M7 or at least a top 10 business school (which just so happens to be pretty highly ranked law schools).

I wanted the knowledge of business and that's why I was so interested in it (I wasn't business/economics/finance UG) but after looking into course catalogues for a lot of Law Schools I noticed that many of the courses I was interested in were actually cross-listed for credit (i.e. you can take it at the business school but it will still count towards law school credit) and that many of them were directly available in the Law School as well.

Ask yourself what you want to do with the MBA. To me the added value is really only in the network + the knowledge, as the added MBA won't make a crazy amount of difference in getting a job (unless its non-legal, in which case you don't have to go to law school). And seeing as you were finance already, you probably have already have a decent understanding of business.

Will it affect your lateraling options later and your ability to go into business out of a legal job? Perhaps it will. But I think really at that point it has a lot more to do with your career accomplishments, and that while an MBA can certainly help, the cost/benefit of an added year might not be worth it.

I agree with Jbagelboy that Goizueta is the only one of these B-Schools that you should seriously consider attending if you to a JD/MBA, but I think in most cases its not worth the added cost as you can pick up a lot of the skills in cross-listed classes or even 2L/3L law courses.

GL with your decision! And these are all essentially peer schools pick the region you'd prefer to be in (although it seems like BU has a bump on LST in biglaw)

[gatorfan163287]

Thanks for the responses guys. Yea after what everyone has said about the JD/MBA and Emory being my only real option with the JD/MBA in mind I did a little more research into what a dual degree would actually do for me and now I am leaning towards not getting one after all, which should make the choice between the schools more about where I want to end up as they are all pretty close in terms of their law schools by themselves and the employment data.

I guess I had never really delved into why I was thinking of doing the dual degree and after the research have found that it would really only be useful if I was interested in switching up careers later in life out of law or if I was hoping to make partner in a firm and having a dual degree could help there as well in distinguishing you from others. In my mind I thought it would really help me in the field of corporate law to be a better lawyer but as I have found that is absolutely not necessary at all.

To answer one of the responses above, I have not applied to an MBA program yet anywhere and haven't even taken the GMAT (what I was planning to study for this summer before school) and was going to go to law school and talk to people about whether the MBA is worth adding on and would've applied my 1L year to the MBA program if I deemed it worthy to do which I am now having second thoughts about doing.

[nebula666]

I picked Notre Dame only because I think it is the most national of the three options and are you aren't sure where you want to work. Neither are bad options for the price. Go where you are happiest living for three years.