Struck out at HYSCCN, and thinking about going the JD-MBA route. I have 1 year of work experience only.
I don't really understand how this works, so I have a couple questions
1. I hear you get another shot at OCI. Is that OCI with law firms, or with business firms? Can someone explain this?
2. Do you have an equal likelihood of striking out or does the MBA provide much more opportunities that it will be difficult to strike out? A lot of advice here states that JD-MBA is great for strike outs WITHOUT debt, and the most negative aspect is the debt. It seems like the comments are implying that you'll land a job but you'll lose a year + more debt. Is this generally true? I just don't want to be in the same situation as I am now (jobless) but with additional debt. I don't mind the extra cost if it's going to get me a job.
3. What jobs could an MBA open doors to besides IB and consulting?
Also, please refrain from saying whether I should go down this route or not (unless you have a concrete reason that's relevant) since I'm trying to figure out the answers to these questions first so I can make an educated decision. Thanks.
JD/MBA questions Forum
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Danteshek
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Anonymous User
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Re: JD/MBA questions
Assuming your school has a 4 year joint degree program, you should be counted as a 2L in Symplicity and be able to apply for OCI again; talk to your CSO to confirm that before taking any action, though. You should also be able to partake in your school's MBA OCI. It's tough to say exactly how much better or worse your chances will be next OCI. Part of that depends on what school you're attending, since some of the business schools in the school range you listed are better than others. Part of it depends on what you end up doing this summer. Also, if you can manage to bring your grades up this year then that will improve your odds as well. Some firms will discount 2L grades, but not all, and few will do it entirely. To the extent you can delay this decision to see your grades, you should. Another factor will be why you struck out. If it was some combination of poor interviewing, aggressive bidding, and failure to mass-mail (or not mass-mailing enough), these are all things you can fix, which again will improve your odds.
As far as the debt is concerned, that's pretty much up to your own tolerance. In your current position you aren't terribly likely to get a job that will service significant debt (obviously crazier things have happened, though). One extra year will put you deeper in debt, but you will have a much better chance at getting a higher paying job that can potentially service the debt (kind of depends just how much in debt you are, though). You also may be able to get a scholarship; I'm guessing this will be tougher at the top business schools, especially since you don't have much w/e, but I'm guessing you have a pretty decent UGPA so if you can crush the GMAT you may be able to defray some of the cost. Also, an SA will pay for a significant chunk of the extra year even at sticker.
I go to a T25 law school with a slightly less prestigious business school. I struck out, and then tacked on the JD/MBA in June after getting amazing grades 2L and an in-house job for the summer. I mass-mailed earlier and my interviewing skills had improved with practice over the past year. I got a ton more callbacks and two offers from Vault firms. Not the best cycle ever, but infinitely better than a strikeout. Of the four people in my class who did a similar thing as I did, only one failed to get a job (and that person's grades were not at all competitive for my school's OCI).
As far as the debt is concerned, that's pretty much up to your own tolerance. In your current position you aren't terribly likely to get a job that will service significant debt (obviously crazier things have happened, though). One extra year will put you deeper in debt, but you will have a much better chance at getting a higher paying job that can potentially service the debt (kind of depends just how much in debt you are, though). You also may be able to get a scholarship; I'm guessing this will be tougher at the top business schools, especially since you don't have much w/e, but I'm guessing you have a pretty decent UGPA so if you can crush the GMAT you may be able to defray some of the cost. Also, an SA will pay for a significant chunk of the extra year even at sticker.
I go to a T25 law school with a slightly less prestigious business school. I struck out, and then tacked on the JD/MBA in June after getting amazing grades 2L and an in-house job for the summer. I mass-mailed earlier and my interviewing skills had improved with practice over the past year. I got a ton more callbacks and two offers from Vault firms. Not the best cycle ever, but infinitely better than a strikeout. Of the four people in my class who did a similar thing as I did, only one failed to get a job (and that person's grades were not at all competitive for my school's OCI).
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Manhattan
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Re: JD/MBA questions
I wouldn't add the MBA if you go to Yale or NYU simply because they aren't very good programs for what you'll pay for them.
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bdubs
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Re: JD/MBA questions
1) I think this depends a lot on your school. You should ask career services.Anonymous User wrote:Struck out at HYSCCN, and thinking about going the JD-MBA route. I have 1 year of work experience only.
I don't really understand how this works, so I have a couple questions
1. I hear you get another shot at OCI. Is that OCI with law firms, or with business firms? Can someone explain this?
2. Do you have an equal likelihood of striking out or does the MBA provide much more opportunities that it will be difficult to strike out? A lot of advice here states that JD-MBA is great for strike outs WITHOUT debt, and the most negative aspect is the debt. It seems like the comments are implying that you'll land a job but you'll lose a year + more debt. Is this generally true? I just don't want to be in the same situation as I am now (jobless) but with additional debt. I don't mind the extra cost if it's going to get me a job.
3. What jobs could an MBA open doors to besides IB and consulting?
Also, please refrain from saying whether I should go down this route or not (unless you have a concrete reason that's relevant) since I'm trying to figure out the answers to these questions first so I can make an educated decision. Thanks.
2) You have an equal likelihood of striking out if your work experience is not strong. The JD employers might give you a small benefit, but only if your grades are within their hiring range.
3) The MBA might open up opportunities in rotational programs in F500 companies since those programs are generally designed to teach you a lot and don't always require a background in the industry. It's going to be an uphill battle without strong work experience to back you up though. Expect to do a lot of explaining why you made the choices that you made.
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Anonymous User
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Re: JD/MBA questions
Is there any actual evidence that a JD/MBA will hurt SA chances at OCI? What about clerkship opportunities?
0L at a T10 considering applying for MBA dual-degree (WE: 4 years as a military officer). Ultimately, I want to practice corporate/commercial litigation.
0L at a T10 considering applying for MBA dual-degree (WE: 4 years as a military officer). Ultimately, I want to practice corporate/commercial litigation.
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Cobretti
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Re: JD/MBA questions
No it won't hurt your chances at an SA. The only way it would hurt clerkship opportunities is if you sold yourself as transactional (which some will expect when they see MBA on your resume but in my experience no one went as far as to assume I was transactional).Anonymous User wrote:Is there any actual evidence that a JD/MBA will hurt SA chances at OCI? What about clerkship opportunities?
0L at a T10 considering applying for MBA dual-degree (WE: 4 years as a military officer). Ultimately, I want to practice corporate/commercial litigation.
Your work experience will be absolutely golden and will be a bigger boost to MBA admissions than it was for JD, and if you're 100% GI Bill/YRP I'd strongly consider it. Lots of firms give you a year of seniority for the MBA as well FYI.
I was enlisted and didn't get my MBA concurrently but feel free to PM me if you have other questions.
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Anonymous User
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Re: JD/MBA questions
Well, I want to add a caveat here (having been a jd/mba myself who went through OCI as a 2L jd/mba) - it will not hurt your chances for an SA the summer before you graduate, but it WILL hurt your chances as a 2L IF you have two summers left to go (i.e. in a 4-year JD/MBA program). There are certain Vault firms where you will be a guaranteed ding.Cobretti wrote:No it won't hurt your chances at an SA. The only way it would hurt clerkship opportunities is if you sold yourself as transactional (which some will expect when they see MBA on your resume but in my experience no one went as far as to assume I was transactional).Anonymous User wrote:Is there any actual evidence that a JD/MBA will hurt SA chances at OCI? What about clerkship opportunities?
0L at a T10 considering applying for MBA dual-degree (WE: 4 years as a military officer). Ultimately, I want to practice corporate/commercial litigation.
Your work experience will be absolutely golden and will be a bigger boost to MBA admissions than it was for JD, and if you're 100% GI Bill/YRP I'd strongly consider it. Lots of firms give you a year of seniority for the MBA as well FYI.
I was enlisted and didn't get my MBA concurrently but feel free to PM me if you have other questions.
I don't want to go into details about how I know this, but just trust me that this is absolutely the case.
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Anonymous User
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Re: JD/MBA questions
Cobretti - thank you for your service - I'm the anon who asked about the JD/MBA chances above. The dual degree would be completely covered by the GI Bill which is why I'm strongly considering it.
Anon above,
My program would be a 4-year program. As you alluded to, it's the second summer (with two years left) that I'm concerned about. I want to be a lawyer and would ideally spend two summers at firms, but I've heard about the effect you're referring to.
Would it be best to aim for an MBA-related internship that year? My concern is that it would make a firm look even more skeptically at my desire to be a lawyer. Anyone have any advice on how to do this?
Anon above,
My program would be a 4-year program. As you alluded to, it's the second summer (with two years left) that I'm concerned about. I want to be a lawyer and would ideally spend two summers at firms, but I've heard about the effect you're referring to.
Would it be best to aim for an MBA-related internship that year? My concern is that it would make a firm look even more skeptically at my desire to be a lawyer. Anyone have any advice on how to do this?
