Business School Classes? Forum

[Rurik]

I'm a rising 2L at a T10 and I'm wondering whether it would be worth my time to take, say, a class each term at our business school (top 5 b-school). I'm trying to get more up to speed with the financial world, since I really think I'm going to try for corporate, private equity, m&a, etc., and thought this might be a good way to gain an intellectual foothold. If this is a good idea, are there any specific classes I should be taking? I did straight-from-UG to LS, so I'm also worried about possibly getting in over my head as compared to the b-school students. Thanks.

edit: I should also add that I am genuinely interested in the financial world and would be taking these classes for the inherent learning experience, apart from any other potential benefit.

[glewz]

I'm a rising 2L at a T10 and I'm wondering whether it would be worth my time to take, say, a class each term at our business school (top 5 b-school). I'm trying to get more up to speed with the financial world, since I really think I'm going to try for corporate, private equity, m&a, etc., and thought this might be a good way to gain an intellectual foothold. If this is a good idea, are there any specific classes I should be taking? I did straight-from-UG to LS, so I'm also worried about possibly getting in over my head as compared to the b-school students. Thanks.

edit: I should also add that I am genuinely interested in the financial world and would be taking these classes for the inherent learning experience, apart from any other potential benefit.

Soooo, Penn? If so, I hear they have a Wharton certificate that's quite popular right? No idea on specific classes though.

[Rurik]

I'm a rising 2L at a T10 and I'm wondering whether it would be worth my time to take, say, a class each term at our business school (top 5 b-school). I'm trying to get more up to speed with the financial world, since I really think I'm going to try for corporate, private equity, m&a, etc., and thought this might be a good way to gain an intellectual foothold. If this is a good idea, are there any specific classes I should be taking? I did straight-from-UG to LS, so I'm also worried about possibly getting in over my head as compared to the b-school students. Thanks.

edit: I should also add that I am genuinely interested in the financial world and would be taking these classes for the inherent learning experience, apart from any other potential benefit.

Soooo, Penn? If so, I hear they have a Wharton certificate that's quite popular right? No idea on specific classes though.

Not Penn.

[glewz]

I'm a rising 2L at a T10 and I'm wondering whether it would be worth my time to take, say, a class each term at our business school (top 5 b-school). I'm trying to get more up to speed with the financial world, since I really think I'm going to try for corporate, private equity, m&a, etc., and thought this might be a good way to gain an intellectual foothold. If this is a good idea, are there any specific classes I should be taking? I did straight-from-UG to LS, so I'm also worried about possibly getting in over my head as compared to the b-school students. Thanks.

edit: I should also add that I am genuinely interested in the financial world and would be taking these classes for the inherent learning experience, apart from any other potential benefit.

Soooo, Penn? If so, I hear they have a Wharton certificate that's quite popular right? No idea on specific classes though.

Not Penn.

Booth, if that's important.

HTH. Listed under course advice on their JD/MBA Association website. Sorry I can't provide better input - I'm sure you'll get something good on TLS though. GL!

Edit:

http://student.chicagobooth.edu/group/j ... lasses.pdf
Root site: http://student.chicagobooth.edu/group/jdmba/course.htm

[Rurik]

I'm a rising 2L at a T10 and I'm wondering whether it would be worth my time to take, say, a class each term at our business school (top 5 b-school). I'm trying to get more up to speed with the financial world, since I really think I'm going to try for corporate, private equity, m&a, etc., and thought this might be a good way to gain an intellectual foothold. If this is a good idea, are there any specific classes I should be taking? I did straight-from-UG to LS, so I'm also worried about possibly getting in over my head as compared to the b-school students. Thanks.

edit: I should also add that I am genuinely interested in the financial world and would be taking these classes for the inherent learning experience, apart from any other potential benefit.

Soooo, Penn? If so, I hear they have a Wharton certificate that's quite popular right? No idea on specific classes though.

Not Penn.

Booth, if that's important.

HTH. Listed under course advice on their JD/MBA Association website. Sorry I can't provide better input - I'm sure you'll get something good on TLS though. GL!
http://student.chicagobooth.edu/group/j ... lasses.pdf

Thanks a lot. I think that specific pdf is for business students taking a law class, although I traced it back to the root page and found the pdf for the converse. It would great if others could chime in on the general competitiveness of the classes, usefulness, etc.

[Bronte]

Yeah glewz those look like law classes. Also, there's a number of T10 law schools with T5 b-schools, Michigan being another.

This comes from my experience in undergrad b-school, so take it as you will: You'll probably find that there's a limited number of courses you can take due to prerequisites. They'll have a class called "Corporate Finance" and a class called "Corporate Accounting," or names to that effect. Those will really increase your business knowledge.

You could then take maybe two more upper level courses. It's hard to know without looking at a course catalog, but some sort of valuation class would probably be good and maybe a financial institutions course. Classes in "fixed income" and "derivatives" will tend to be harder and more mathy. In general, the grade competition is probably lighter at the b-schools since I think hiring is less grade focused, but I could be wrong. You might want to check how the grading works. I know at some schools you have to take business courses pass-fail, and I think at others you get a grade but it doesn't factor into your GPA.

[Rurik]

.

[glewz]

Yeah glewz those look like law classes. Also, there's a number of T10 law schools with T5 b-schools, Michigan being another.

This comes from my experience in undergrad b-school, so take it as you will: You'll probably find that there's a limited number of courses you can take due to prerequisites. They'll have a class called "Corporate Finance" and a class called "Corporate Accounting," or names to that effect. Those will really increase your business knowledge.

You could then take maybe two more upper level courses. It's hard to know without looking at a course catalog, but some sort of valuation class would probably be good and maybe a financial institutions course. Classes in "fixed income" and "derivatives" will tend to be harder and more mathy. In general, the grade competition is probably lighter at the b-schools since I think hiring is less grade focused, but I could be wrong. You might want to check how the grading works. I know at some schools you have to take business courses pass-fail, and I think at others you get a grade but it doesn't factor into your GPA.

My bad - let me edit my post. I clicked on the "For Law Students" link and assumed that those would be it. Sorry about that.

In any case, OP, I'm glad to see that you were able to get to the right place; it seems that the JDMBA Association is willing for you to freely contact/speak with them, which is pretty nice.

[GMVarun]

Having taken a couple Booth classes as an undergrad, in my opinion, they are worth taking if you don't have a business background and want to get some basic exposure to it. I would similarly recommend accounting, or an intro finance class. In my opinion, the Booth classes were not very hard, in fact they were all generally easier than the undergrad econ classes I took. The Booth classes tended to focus on practical, real-world skills practitioners need (i.e. in one of the finance classes I took, you do "case studies" in which you calculate FCF, DCF, etc. ... all very straightforward stuff) -- which is generally much easier than the more theoretical (read calculus-driven) financial modeling that you get in the undergrad classes. Of course, if you want to take modeling classes, you can at Booth as well.

[Patriot1208]

Yeah glewz those look like law classes. Also, there's a number of T10 law schools with T5 b-schools, Michigan being another.

Ross is undoubtedly a step below Wharton, Booth, HBS, Kellogg, Stern, Sloan, and Stanford.

[Renzo]

Yeah glewz those look like law classes. Also, there's a number of T10 law schools with T5 b-schools, Michigan being another.

Ross is undoubtedly a step below Wharton, Booth, HBS, Kellogg, Stern, Sloan, and Stanford.

You beat me to it. Unless there are like 20 B-schools in the top five, I don't think UMich makes the cut.

[Patriot1208]

Yeah glewz those look like law classes. Also, there's a number of T10 law schools with T5 b-schools, Michigan being another.

Ross is undoubtedly a step below Wharton, Booth, HBS, Kellogg, Stern, Sloan, and Stanford.

You beat me to it. Unless there are like 20 B-schools in the top five, I don't think UMich makes the cut.

and unfortunately, as with law school, only a few schools are really offering good opportunities.

[Renzo]

Yeah glewz those look like law classes. Also, there's a number of T10 law schools with T5 b-schools, Michigan being another.

Ross is undoubtedly a step below Wharton, Booth, HBS, Kellogg, Stern, Sloan, and Stanford.

You beat me to it. Unless there are like 20 B-schools in the top five, I don't think UMich makes the cut.

and unfortunately, as with law school, only a few schools are really offering good opportunities.

Yes and no. You'll never run the boardroom at Fortune 500 from a good-not-great B-school, but at least there's a range of small cap and midlevel management jobs out there--as opposed to the biglaw-or-death aspect of law school.

[Patriot1208]

Ross is undoubtedly a step below Wharton, Booth, HBS, Kellogg, Stern, Sloan, and Stanford.

You beat me to it. Unless there are like 20 B-schools in the top five, I don't think UMich makes the cut.

and unfortunately, as with law school, only a few schools are really offering good opportunities.

Yes and no. You'll never run the boardroom at Fortune 500 from a good-not-great B-school, but at least there's a range of small cap and midlevel management jobs out there--as opposed to the biglaw-or-death aspect of law school.

Meh, I really doubt the average cornell or gtown b school student is better off than the average cornel or gtown law school student over the course of a career.

[glewz]

Yeah glewz those look like law classes. Also, there's a number of T10 law schools with T5 b-schools, Michigan being another.

Ross is undoubtedly a step below Wharton, Booth, HBS, Kellogg, Stern, Sloan, and Stanford.

I was under the same impression, except in my mind, it was just Wharton (finance), HBS (management), Kellogg (marketing), Stanford (entrepreneurship), Sloan (tech),...duno about Booth, but including it.

[$$$$$$]

Yeah glewz those look like law classes. Also, there's a number of T10 law schools with T5 b-schools, Michigan being another.

Ross is undoubtedly a step below Wharton, Booth, HBS, Kellogg, Stern, Sloan, and Stanford.

I was under the same impression, except in my mind, it was just Wharton (finance), HBS (management), Kellogg (marketing), Stanford (entrepreneurship), Sloan (tech),...duno about Booth, but including it.

If we are getting picky, Booth and Stern are not in the same league either for MBA programs

[lawyerwannabe]

Just because I am curious: what are the tiers in terms of prestige and employment from b-schools in comparison to law schools?

Law schools vs. B-Schools

T13 = ?
HYS = ?

To be more concise with my question, what b-schools are considered the top of the top (e.g. the T13) and then what number of b-schools are considered head and shoulders above everyone else (e.g. HYS)?

[ajr]

Just because I am curious: what are the tiers in terms of prestige and employment from b-schools in comparison to law schools?

Law schools vs. B-Schools

T13 = ?
HYS = ?

To be more concise with my question, what b-schools are considered the top of the top (e.g. the T13) and then what number of b-schools are considered head and shoulders above everyone else (e.g. HYS)?

Generally,

Harvard/Stanford - a cut above
____________
MIT/Wharton/Kellogg/Chicago

...

the rest.

[lawyerwannabe]

So, the substantial drop-off in prestige and employment rankings happens much sooner in business school rankings than it does in law school rankings (e.g. T6 Business = T13 Law). Interesting and thank you.

Note: curious because was contemplating JD/MBA @ T13 law school.

[ajr]

So, the substantial drop-off in prestige and employment rankings happens much sooner in business school rankings

This is true, yes.

(e.g. T6 Business = T13 Law)

Though I wouldn't go this far...

[lawyerwannabe]

Can you elaborate on your previous post then? That is the impression I got from it.

[Rurik]

Just because I am curious: what are the tiers in terms of prestige and employment from b-schools in comparison to law schools?

Law schools vs. B-Schools

T13 = ?
HYS = ?

To be more concise with my question, what b-schools are considered the top of the top (e.g. the T13) and then what number of b-schools are considered head and shoulders above everyone else (e.g. HYS)?

From what I understand: HBS and Stanford and Wharton are the b-school equivalents of HYS; Chicago, Kellogg, and MIT are the b-school equivalents of CCN; and then Stern, Tuck, Haas, and Columbia, would fill out the b-school equivalent of the "T10." But it doesn't really make sense to force b-schools to this framework. A lot of people will tell you something to the effect of, "If you're not going to a top 6/7 business school, then it doesn't really matter which one" (sort of reminds me of how people say that once you're not in the T14, it doesn't really matter, except this probably actually makes more sense in the b-school context). There's nothing really "set in stone" in business schools like the T14 law schools, and some schools will be genuinely better at some things than "better" schools.

[lawyerwannabe]

Well, I am going to be attending a "T10" law school (Duke ) and was wondering about Fuqua. I saw that they are highly ranked (I believe 12th) and was wondering the value in potentially doing the JD/MBA. Thanks for the more in-depth explanation.

[ajr]

Can you elaborate on your previous post then? That is the impression I got from it.

I'm not sure that the tiers I mentioned are well accepted. In fact b-school rankings are much more subjective. This is partially because admissions to b-schools themselves are a lot more subjective.

In other words I don't know if a standard T6 etc. exists, but in my experience I have seen that selectivity, opportunities etc. fall sharply outside the top six schools...

[ajr]

Well, I am going to be attending a "T10" law school (Duke ) and was wondering about Fuqua. I saw that they are highly ranked (I believe 12th) and was wondering the value in potentially doing the JD/MBA. Thanks for the more in-depth explanation.

Duke and Fuqua are both good schools for sure. The money involved in a JD/MBA is substantial, so you should evaluate the incremental worth of each degree. Besides, you can decide at the end of 1L in most schools to pursue an additional MBA.