. Forum

[Pontifex]

Thank you.

[cron1834]

Proposed - you trade lives with me from this point on, and I'll relieve you of this burden of deciding.

[malleus discentium]

Yale does not have a great business school. If you actually want an MBA, don't get one there. But why do you want an MBA in the first place? They're not degrees you just tack on. "Career goals are wishy washy. I've seen many hints about these quasi-legal executive roles with good salaries and low hours, but I don't quite know how to get there" is not a real reason to get an MBA.

[rpupkin]

Consider retaking the LSAT. A higher score could open more doors.

[dabigchina]

Hi everyone! I'd appreciate your help since the deadline is fast approaching.

Career goals are wishy washy. I've seen many hints about these quasi-legal executive roles with good salaries and low hours, but I don't quite know how to get there. I do have more than a few personal/professional interests, but I'm happy to compromise all of them for a comfortable lifestyle. I don't care where I live broadly speaking. However, I'm an outdoorsy kind of person, so I don't really like big cities.

I'd take Yale if you aren't dying to do anything with the MBA (sounds like you aren't).

Also, wtf are these quasi legal roles with good salaries and low hours? I would like to know so I know what I am missing out on/will never get.

[Pontifex]

Yale does not have a great business school. If you actually want an MBA, don't get one there. But why do you want an MBA in the first place? They're not degrees you just tack on. "Career goals are wishy washy. I've seen many hints about these quasi-legal executive roles with good salaries and low hours, but I don't quite know how to get there" is not a real reason to get an MBA.

Good question. But that applies to law school as well to be honest. I only applied this year because I had a high LSAT score leftover from the past. I want to go somewhere else and be doing something else. My job applications to roles I want have failed over the past year, so here I am.

[curry1]

Consider retaking the LSAT. A higher score could open more doors.

He should also look into getting some work experience. It will really help come OCI.

[malleus discentium]

Yale does not have a great business school. If you actually want an MBA, don't get one there. But why do you want an MBA in the first place? They're not degrees you just tack on. "Career goals are wishy washy. I've seen many hints about these quasi-legal executive roles with good salaries and low hours, but I don't quite know how to get there" is not a real reason to get an MBA.

Good question. But that applies to law school as well to be honest. I only applied this year because I had a high LSAT score leftover from the past. I want to go somewhere else and doing something else. My job applications to roles I want have failed over the past year, so here I am.

You're right, you should not get a JD either.

[Pontifex]

Yale does not have a great business school. If you actually want an MBA, don't get one there. But why do you want an MBA in the first place? They're not degrees you just tack on. "Career goals are wishy washy. I've seen many hints about these quasi-legal executive roles with good salaries and low hours, but I don't quite know how to get there" is not a real reason to get an MBA.

Good question. But that applies to law school as well to be honest. I only applied this year because I had a high LSAT score leftover from the past. I want to go somewhere else and doing something else. My job applications to roles I want have failed over the past year, so here I am.

You're right, you should not get a JD either.

Yep, that's also something I'm considering. Thanks!

[appind]

Hi everyone! I'd appreciate your help since the deadline is fast approaching. Thanks in advance!

I've been accepted to just the law schools. I'm reasonably confident in gaining acceptances to Booth and SOM (near perfect GMAT, fairly good professional background in i-banking on the research side) after law school starts.

For the law schools, I have the Rubenstein for Chicago and I've been offered nearly full financial aid to Yale ($40,000 for the first year - to clarify, I worked overseas, so my salary has been fairly low). For just the law schools, debt upon graduation would be roughly $30,000 versus $140,000. On that basis alone, I think I'd already commit to Chicago, but the MBA complicates matters. Getting merit aid for SOM seems easier than getting it for Booth. Plus Yale can be finished in three years. Chicago is a mandatory four.

Career goals are wishy washy. I've seen many hints about these quasi-legal executive roles with good salaries and low hours, but I don't quite know how to get there. I do have more than a few personal/professional interests, but I'm happy to compromise all of them for a comfortable lifestyle. I don't care where I live broadly speaking. However, I'm an outdoorsy kind of person, so I don't really like big cities.

Schools I've already eliminated: Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia. I don't think I have the right stuff for GSB and HBS, and Columbia did not give me as much merit aid as Chicago. I think I can beg my way back in, so let me know if I was wrong to cut these from my shortlist.

why do you think you may not have the right stuff for gsb or hbs? do you have acceptances to som/booth, and sls/hls?

[deepseapartners]

Yale does not have a great business school. If you actually want an MBA, don't get one there. But why do you want an MBA in the first place? They're not degrees you just tack on. "Career goals are wishy washy. I've seen many hints about these quasi-legal executive roles with good salaries and low hours, but I don't quite know how to get there" is not a real reason to get an MBA.

Good question. But that applies to law school as well to be honest. I only applied this year because I had a high LSAT score leftover from the past. I want to go somewhere else and doing something else. My job applications to roles I want have failed over the past year, so here I am.

You're right, you should not get a JD either.

OP seems like the exception to the general rule - a Ruby is nothing to sneeze at, especially if OP is reasonably confident that they can also get into Booth. Like if you're going to be wishy-washy about your future career prospects, getting a tippy-tippy-top JD/MBA without incurring much, if any, debt seem like a pretty safe road forward.

[Pontifex]

why do you think you may not have the right stuff for gsb or hbs? do you have acceptances to som/booth, and sls/hls?

Only the law schools. It just seems that my work experience is not unique or outstanding enough for GSB and HBS. A few years in research at a non-target bank just won't cut it. I think I can maybe worm my way in, but I don't want to take that risk.

[malleus discentium]

Yale does not have a great business school. If you actually want an MBA, don't get one there. But why do you want an MBA in the first place? They're not degrees you just tack on. "Career goals are wishy washy. I've seen many hints about these quasi-legal executive roles with good salaries and low hours, but I don't quite know how to get there" is not a real reason to get an MBA.

Good question. But that applies to law school as well to be honest. I only applied this year because I had a high LSAT score leftover from the past. I want to go somewhere else and doing something else. My job applications to roles I want have failed over the past year, so here I am.

You're right, you should not get a JD either.

OP seems like the exception to the general rule - a Ruby is nothing to sneeze at, especially if OP is reasonably confident that they can also get into Booth. Like if you're going to be wishy-washy about your future career prospects, getting a tippy-tippy-top JD/MBA without incurring much, if any, debt seem like a pretty safe road forward.

No, OP is a perfect example of the general rule: Don't go to law school because you don't know what to do with your life. Sure, it wouldn't be catastrophic for him because he has a Ruby, but that doesn't make it a good idea.

[barkschool]

Yale's giving outside shots at POTUS this year, medium salary, hours are what you make it.

[RandomDude]

Yale lets you do your JD/MBA with Stanford, Harvard, or Wharton. Pretty awesome opportunity if you don't mind moving around. Don't waste a near perfect GMAT + IB experience on SOM.

[Pontifex]

I'd take Yale if you aren't dying to do anything with the MBA (sounds like you aren't).

Also, wtf are these quasi legal roles with good salaries and low hours? I would like to know so I know what I am missing out on/will never get.

I wish I knew. In past JD/MBA discussions on this board, people would occasionally mention these kinds of jobs without elaborating.

No, OP is a perfect example of the general rule: Don't go to law school because you don't know what to do with your life. Sure, it wouldn't be catastrophic for him because he has a Ruby, but that doesn't make it a good idea.

I must push back gently on this point. I know what I want to do with my life. I'd like to start a family with my SO, take care of my parents (my aid amount is high because my parents are not well-off), and have enough time and money for my own trivial interests. Where I am now does not get me to that future. These schools would lift my earning potential and allow me to recast my career. I'm indifferent to the exact contours of my professional life.

Yale lets you do your JD/MBA with Stanford, Harvard, or Wharton. Pretty awesome opportunity if you don't mind moving around. Don't waste a near perfect GMAT + IB experience on SOM.

I wish that were still the case. Wharton disallowed that two years ago, and HBS is closing ranks starting this year I believe.

[malleus discentium]

No, OP is a perfect example of the general rule: Don't go to law school because you don't know what to do with your life. Sure, it wouldn't be catastrophic for him because he has a Ruby, but that doesn't make it a good idea.

I must push back gently on this point. I know what I want to do with my life. I'd like to start a family with my SO, take care of my parents (my aid amount is high because my parents are not well-off), and have enough time and money for my own trivial interests. Where I am now does not get me to that future. These schools would lift my earning potential and allow me to recast my career. I'm indifferent to the exact contours of my professional life.

Why do you think being a lawyer will give you time for your interests or for starting a family (!) especially if you are also getting meaningful money from being a lawyer?

[star fox]

Get the Booth MBA and forget law school.

[tirakon]

I'm at YLS, not doing an MBA.

There is, I believe, a secret to Yale's three year JD/MBA. Unlike YLS, Yale's SOM gives merit aid—including full rides. And because YLS is a much better school than SOM, the YLS cross-applicants are usually at the very top of the pile when SOM gives out its merit aid.

Since Yale doesn't add any extra tuition for a joint degree, in effect many JD/MBA's are actually getting, in addition to an MBA, a free year of tuition. In other words: two years of tuition total, two degrees.

Please don't just take my word for it, though. Ask the admissions office to put you in touch with the the YLS/SOM students and see what they say.

But if I'm right, I imagine that could significantly change your financial calculus.

[rpupkin]

I'm at YLS, not doing an MBA.

There is, I believe, a secret to Yale's three year JD/MBA. Unlike YLS, Yale's SOM gives merit aid—including full rides. And because YLS is a much better school than SOM, the YLS cross-applicants are usually at the very top of the pile when SOM gives out its merit aid.

Since Yale doesn't add any extra tuition for a joint degree, in effect many JD/MBA's are actually getting, in addition to an MBA, a free year of tuition. In other words: two years of tuition total, two degrees.

Please don't just take my word for it, though. Ask the admissions office to put you in touch with the the YLS/SOM students and see what they say.

But if I'm right, I imagine that could significantly change your financial calculus.

This is a clever little finaid-hack. But the OP is already getting $40K of need-based aid from YLS. If OP gets merit-based aid from some other source, the law school will likely lower its need-based offer accordingly.

[Eastboundndown]

Get the Booth MBA and forget law school.

[BernieTrump]

.

[stig2014]

You have some amazing opportunities, so congrats on that. I think you need to narrow down your goals a bit though.

If you decide law is what you want to do, why not just go to Yale now for your JD and if later on in your career you need an MBA, you'd have a competitive profile for HSW. My thoughts anyway.

[KissMyAxe]

Post Deleted

[Pontifex]

Thanks for the input everyone! I will turn down both.

I felt constrained because I didn't apply to b-school yet (only took the GMAT two weeks ago), and I hit my main goals with respect to law school applications. That is indeed a bad context for making this kind of decision. I'll stay put for another year, apply to round one for business schools and maybe revisit this discussion in 2017.