JD/MBA? Forum

[williamsmatt]

I'm enrolling into Michigan State University's college of law in the fall, and was wondering what would be the benefit of applying this fall to the MBA program? I would like to pursue this degree in conjunction with the JD because I have an interest in the overlapping areas of business and law, maybe corporate law? What are your thoughts?

[3ThrowAway99]

I think there are a number of other threads that address questions related to this that you should be able to dig up with some searching in the Forums, but you might also find some people to comment on your situation. I considered pursuing a joint-degree (law and psych), but decided that I want to focus on getting through law school first. I am really interested in psych related questions and practice, but I'm not so interested in going through all the schooling for an advanced psych degree (whereas with law I am excited and eager to study law and pursue the degree).

[Mich_Guy]

I'm enrolling into Michigan State University's college of law in the fall, and was wondering what would be the benefit of applying this fall to the MBA program? I would like to pursue this degree in conjunction with the JD because I have an interest in the overlapping areas of business and law, maybe corporate law? What are your thoughts?

@ williamsmatt:

As an alumni of the Broad MBA program at MSU, and a rising 1L this fall, I can definitely comment of your question with some special insight. First, like yourself, I was also admitted into MSU Law School (w/50% scholly) for this fall's incoming class. I ultimately chose to attend another law school (Wake Forest), mainly because of rankings and the fact that I wanted to diversify my educational experience a bit since in addition to graduating from the MSU MBA program a couple years back, I graduated from the MSU College of Engineering about nine years ago as well.

In my humble opinion, a JD/MBA, you definitely set you apart from your peers at the MSU law school in more ways than one.

(1) The MSU MBA program consistently ranks in the top 30 nationally (USNWR/Businessweek) and is a very reputable school especially because of their specialties in Supply-Chain Mgmt and HR. While MSU College of Law is no doubt a great institution with exceptional facilities and excellent faculty, you will find that it is consistently ranked in the third-tier of law schools nationally, which usually translates into lower visibility among top law firms and BigLaw salaries right after graduation. Not to mention the fact that people looking to practice outside of Michigan will have a very tough time trying to find work with an MSU law degree than say someone who went to a bigger name law school like U of M.

(2) Even in a normal economy, MSU Law grads will face an uphill battle trying to pursue BigLaw opportunities outside of Michigan and especially the Midwest. The extremely few exceptions are those who can place within the top 10-15% of the class academically, and even then it is not a shoe-in. So the MSU MBA would add significant value by allowing you to cross-over into corporate networks that an MSU Law student may not necessarily have access to (I knew a few people in my B-School class who did the JD/MBA thing and were tremendously helped out by the MBA recruiting networks (professional conferences, recruiting events, career fairs, etc...one JD/MBA guy even hired into an investment banking job out of NYC after law & business school, another JD/MBA classmate went to work for Chevron in their legal dept).

(3) It goes without saying that the economy in Michigan sucks (even more so than the US as a whole), and you would be mittigating your risk of MSU Law debt by getting an MBA which will make you stand out to MBA recruiters and Law recruiters (who are increasingly finding prior work experience more & more valuable), but will also be more portable in terms of job placement after graduation to other cities outside of Michigan and the Midwest.

(4) While there are no specific jobs or professions that are limited only to people who have both JDs and MBAs, the JD/MBA is still great to have on your resume because it will enable you to accumulate a unique combination of skillsets that an ordinary Business school student or Law student will not have. This means that when your interviewing for full time opportunities during your 2L summer & 3L fall, you will be able to capitalize on different work (b-school & law school internships) and classroom experiences (case studies, group projects) that will give you a huge leg up on your classmates, which will basically be your competitors.

Me personally: I am thinking of either doing either Investment Banking, or Corporate/Securities Law after graduation from law school. Intellectual Property Law is also an option because of my engineering background, but I have not yet decided.

Well, I could go on & on, but I think you get the picture here....Good Luck with your decision!

Mich_Guy