Will weapons development help? Forum

[Warbrick]

So here is the deal, I am in the first semester of my junior year of undergrad and I would like to pursue a JD/MBA (hopefully very soon, if not directly after graduation). My GPA is hanging out around 3.5 and I have some tough decisions to make. Right now my time is split between my pregnant wife, renovating my home, school, employment and a weapons development project I have been working on for around a year (this isn't my first, just the one I'm pursuing currently).

My question is, since I can't exactly abandon my obligations to my wife or home, should I cut down my extracurriculars (weapons development) to make sure my GPA is at a more comfortable place by the time I graduate? Or would a lower GPA with some real world experience to back it up be more enticing to a school?

My assumption is that either path would depend on particular schools, and that experience (even to the magnitude of successful product launches) isn't going to matter if I end up with a 2.5 and a 150 on the LSAT. Nonetheless, I would like to hear from the experts and get an idea of what my options are.

Thanks for the help!

[PDX4343]

Your GPA / LSAT are going to be the most important factors in your application. A good way to look at your admission chances at any given school is to view it as 90% dependent on your raw numbers, with something like 10% coming from extra-curriculars like weapons development projects. So focus on getting your GPA and LSAT as high as possible above all else.

I just realized you want to pursue a JD / MBA. The above advice is from a JD standpoint, someone else might have better advice on the MBA side of things.

[Warbrick]

Yeah for just the JD I understand GPA/LSAT are pretty much the be-all-end-all. I decided last night (in a 3am delirium) that I am going to seriously consider cutting out work and begin studying for the LSAT as my "job". I figure that if a year dedicated to LSAT study either gets me into my dream school (more on that in a bit), or gets me into a lower ranked school on a full ride than the investment is well worth it.

As far as my dream school goes, both the president and provost of my university went to Harvard. They are both great people and since my school is small they are very accessible, so I don't think I will have any problem getting them to mentor me.

Another benefit of starting on the LSAT now would be extra study time for the GMAT, which I am almost more concerned about of the two.

[tk421991]

I'm very intrigued and curious about this, but if it's something proprietary, never mind.

[Wipfelder]

Am I the only person who wants to ask: "What do you mean by weapons development?"

[Warbrick]

Try not to judge the site too harshly, both graphics guys I had hired flaked out and I am trying to be more careful about getting a new one-- www.cubicarry.com is the current project, and trademark registration should be completed any day now.

The sad thing is that there is another project I was working on a couple of years ago (that I can't share the details of) and was offered a partnership by a CEO of a NASA/Army contract company to develop together. Rookie mistakes cost me what now would be a truly amazing product. At this point I bet the IP surrounding it is gobbled up, and even if it wasn't I would need sizeable funding to develop it.

I have a few other designs that I believe would be great products for the military (and the tacticool crowd). I would say my current project is quite... tame?

[dabigchina]

your ammo design reminds me of what H&K tried to do with the G11, except less ambitious.

Anyways, if you are really that confident in your skills as a gunsmith/weapons designer why do you even want to go to law school. Just hire an IP attny next time so you don't get screwed out of your due.

[tk421991]

your ammo design reminds me of what H&K tried to do with the G11, except less ambitious.

Anyways, if you are really that confident in your skills as a gunsmith/weapons designer why do you even want to go to law school. Just hire an IP attny next time so you don't get screwed out of your due.

Guy said he wants a MBA/JD together. This isn't gunsmithing, he's not operating a small shop and having a stream of customers (aka income/revenue) coming in and asking for things to get repaired or having guns or parts finished or trigger jobs.

Do you have any youtube videos on these things in air? While there have been successful non-rotating projectiles, the bullet will need some sort of stabilization, like fins. A 4-bore and a 2-bore are accurate to an extent, however they were designed to basically put down large, dangerous games at "oh crap!" distances, sort of like how Alaskan guides will carry rifles like the .375 H&H Magnum or bigger. How's the recoil as well? Because the bigger the projectile and powder charge, the bigger the recoil. While it won't matter so much in a concealed carry or home defense situation, it will matter on the range, in competition and in training classes where you're shooting 500 to 1,000+ rounds.

[Warbrick]

I figure that a JD/MBA, while not having the absolute certainty of being vital to my success in life, can only really help my chances. So its no as much a lack of confidence in my designs as it is a realization that having a larger network, a prestigious education that lends credibility, and the experience/knowledge that comes from a rigorous program would be highly beneficial.

To be honest, the gentleman (CEO) I was dealing with was completely fair. Without going into deep detail it was due to inexperience and follies on my end that caused the problems, not IP theft or anything like that. It began to make more and more sense why you always read about it being an entrepreneur's umpteenth idea that finally took off-- it takes a long time to work out the kinks, so to speak.

Recoil is lower than modern cartridges of similar caliber, and the current design uses weight-forward stabilization. While I appreciate input on the weapons development side of things (and I am being completely genuine in this-- your never too old/smart to learn from another) I would really like to keep focused on how I need to be allocating my time now to give me the best chances to getting in to my desired program.

[pancakes3]

if the endgame is to launch this company, getting a JD would be a waste of time. JD/MBAs in general aren't of much use.

[dabigchina]

your ammo design reminds me of what H&K tried to do with the G11, except less ambitious.

Anyways, if you are really that confident in your skills as a gunsmith/weapons designer why do you even want to go to law school. Just hire an IP attny next time so you don't get screwed out of your due.

Guy said he wants a MBA/JD together. This isn't gunsmithing, he's not operating a small shop and having a stream of customers (aka income/revenue) coming in and asking for things to get repaired or having guns or parts finished or trigger jobs.

.

im frankly uninterested in the semantics of this argument.

op: get an mba. Jd isn't going to do anything for you.

this is especially true if you want a network. Mbas are basically a 2 year long networking event. Jds are too busy reading or being aspie to network.

[Warbrick]

The president of my university went the JD/MBA route. I have my own reasons for wanting to, but I have decided schedule a meeting with him and get an idea of how the JD component has helped him. He has done most everything you would expect of someone with those type of degrees from that type of institution (headed a nano-medical company, etc), so I think his counsel will the most applicable of those I have access to.

If anyone else familiar with what JD/MBA programs look for most (Harvard in particular) would like to chime in I would still love to hear it.

[UnicornHunter]

You know who also runs companies? People with MBAs. A JD is absolutely worthless if you don't want to be a lawyer. Don't take his advice on this, because there's a good chance it will be shaded by confirmation bias.

JD programs care about your GPA and LSAT and basically nothing else. MBA programs care about more. Because the MBA will be more useful for your career objectives than the JD, you should continue trying to revolutionize the way people kill people to maximize your chances of getting into a good MBA program.

[Warbrick]

Upon going to schedule the meeting with a member of the staff, the staff member told me they could probably save me the trouble of actually meeting and relay what they had heard on multiple occasions from the president himself regarding the subject to other students. I don't exactly know where the president's advice ended and this staff member's began (for what its worth they are both knowledgeable sources on the subject) but essentially the take away for me was a.) If I really want to go to Harvard it needs to be my #1 priority from now until application time, and even then it may not happen and b.) there are other programs (whether JD/MBA or straight MBA) that are a better "investment" in terms of amount of work needed to get in vs. benefit.

I need to do some soul searching and discuss the options with my wife. In the mean time I am going to keep my GPA a top priority and see what can be done to improve my WE. I would still love any information/ opinions Harvard applicants, students, or graduates can provide on the matter.

Thanks

[heythatslife]

HLS student here. Most of the JD/MBAs that I know of at this school and others seem to be aiming for some form of investment gig (PE and VC in particular), consulting, or less frequently business- or finance-oriented practices at large law firms.

Getting a JD for some minor benefit of being able to take care of your own legal affairs to a limited degree at your own business really is an overkill. Keep in mind that doing JD/MBA is expensive too, which probably explains in part why a lot of them would want to start off in those lucrative careers out of school so they can take care of student loans first before they venture off into doing whatever they really dreamed of doing. These are also the types of jobs where having that JD in addition to the MBA may actually help. In your situation, though, with a kid on the way and a business that you want to launch, you'd just be racking up debt unnecessarily doing law school for very little benefit.