JD/MBA if already have an undergrad degree in business? Forum

[egs]

I am going straight to JD from undergrad with little work experience. My undergrad degree is in Finance and I keep being told that JD/MBA would be a great idea. I know that I want to pursue law, not finance. Most of the forums I have read say that an MBA is great for the business side of law (building your own firm etc.) or for going into corporate law. I have already taken multiple courses in accounting and finance in undergrad. I know that I want to go into litigation, negotiations, or possibly corporate law. Should I go for the extra degree or is my undergrad enough to navigate the business side of law?

[Danger Zone]

Undergrad is more than enough. MBA is useless unless you have post-UG work experience. Don't listen to people that tell you JD/MBA is such a useful combo because that's a crock.

[Candy Wrappers]

^ i agree

i have an UG biz degree as well. and when i was debating if i wanted to get an MBA prior to deciding the LS route, my prof from biz class told me its basically the same thing. you won't learn anything more. unless you have work experience or you run a biz so you can use the class time to discuss real life biz issues with your classmates.

[Instinctive]

Depends on where you're going.

I did this same analysis and found very few combos that I decided were worthwhile.

YLS + M7
HLS + HBS
HLS + Sloan
Chicago + Booth
Columbia x2
Stanford x2
HLS + Tuck
YLS + Y SOM Silver Scholar

To some extent, UVA + Darden and Duke + Fuqua. I'm sure NYU x2 works also, but I didn't really like anything about NYU.



And if you actually plan to go into law and practice law, then it matters way less. I'm looking at my path as more of an MBA to which the JD and a couple years of practice is additive.

[kartelite]

Depends on where you're going.

I did this same analysis and found very few combos that I decided were worthwhile.

YLS + M7
HLS + HBS
HLS + Sloan
Chicago + Booth
Columbia x2
Stanford x2
HLS + Tuck
YLS + Y SOM Silver Scholar

To some extent, UVA + Darden and Duke + Fuqua. I'm sure NYU x2 works also, but I didn't really like anything about NYU.



And if you actually plan to go into law and practice law, then it matters way less. I'm looking at my path as more of an MBA to which the JD and a couple years of practice is additive.

I've also done a lot of research (and am going to one of the joint programs you listed), but wanted to say that YLS/SOM should definitely be on anyone's list. People need to put their US News rankings aside and take an objective look at SOM, as it really is a fantastic program - plus you get to go to Yale Law. It is a little less traditional in terms of focus and employment outcomes as a lot of people self-select into social enterprise, etc., but employers are way less worried about who's in the top-10 of some ranking and you're really not shutting any doors by going to SOM over an HSW/M7 school (I attended an admitted students' event, and it seemed like many of the people there had those options). Penn/Wharton and Northwestern/Kellogg are also great choices btw (and like Yale can be done in 3 years).

[rad lulz]

With little to no work experience don't get an MBA

[Instinctive]

Depends on where you're going.

I did this same analysis and found very few combos that I decided were worthwhile.

YLS + M7
HLS + HBS
HLS + Sloan
Chicago + Booth
Columbia x2
Stanford x2
HLS + Tuck
YLS + Y SOM Silver Scholar

To some extent, UVA + Darden and Duke + Fuqua. I'm sure NYU x2 works also, but I didn't really like anything about NYU.



And if you actually plan to go into law and practice law, then it matters way less. I'm looking at my path as more of an MBA to which the JD and a couple years of practice is additive.

I've also done a lot of research (and am going to one of the joint programs you listed), but wanted to say that YLS/SOM should definitely be on anyone's list. People need to put their US News rankings aside and take an objective look at SOM, as it really is a fantastic program - plus you get to go to Yale Law. It is a little less traditional in terms of focus and employment outcomes as a lot of people self-select into social enterprise, etc., but employers are way less worried about who's in the top-10 of some ranking and you're really not shutting any doors by going to SOM over an HSW/M7 school (I attended an admitted students' event, and it seemed like many of the people there had those options). Penn/Wharton and Northwestern/Kellogg are also great choices btw (and like Yale can be done in 3 years).

I have YLS + Y SOM on the list see above.

Penn and NW are great also, but K/JD isn't going to get into NW, and it didn't seem likely at Penn either (to me). That colored my evaluation.

[AllTheLawz]

Depends on where you're going.

I did this same analysis and found very few combos that I decided were worthwhile.

YLS + M7
HLS + HBS
HLS + Sloan
Chicago + Booth
Columbia x2
Stanford x2
HLS + Tuck
YLS + Y SOM Silver Scholar

To some extent, UVA + Darden and Duke + Fuqua. I'm sure NYU x2 works also, but I didn't really like anything about NYU.



And if you actually plan to go into law and practice law, then it matters way less. I'm looking at my path as more of an MBA to which the JD and a couple years of practice is additive.

I've also done a lot of research (and am going to one of the joint programs you listed), but wanted to say that YLS/SOM should definitely be on anyone's list. People need to put their US News rankings aside and take an objective look at SOM, as it really is a fantastic program - plus you get to go to Yale Law. It is a little less traditional in terms of focus and employment outcomes as a lot of people self-select into social enterprise, etc., but employers are way less worried about who's in the top-10 of some ranking and you're really not shutting any doors by going to SOM over an HSW/M7 school (I attended an admitted students' event, and it seemed like many of the people there had those options). Penn/Wharton and Northwestern/Kellogg are also great choices btw (and like Yale can be done in 3 years).

Ehh.. not that it really matters but I have to point out that this evaluation of SOM is quite a bit optimistic. For elite employers (i.e. the employers for which relative "prestige" actually matters) SOM is well behind HSW/M7 and well below Tuck/Ross/Darden. I'm sure you met people at admitted students events who told you they had HSW/M7 options but that would be a fairly small pool of cross admits. Yale is perfectly respectable but more likely to be competing with a good but not elite school like an Emory or UNC for cross-admits. People serious about a MBA+YLS combo usually do it with HBS or another top school (the most common Ive seen is YLS+HBS)

[kartelite]

Depends on where you're going.

I did this same analysis and found very few combos that I decided were worthwhile.

YLS + M7
HLS + HBS
HLS + Sloan
Chicago + Booth
Columbia x2
Stanford x2
HLS + Tuck
YLS + Y SOM Silver Scholar

To some extent, UVA + Darden and Duke + Fuqua. I'm sure NYU x2 works also, but I didn't really like anything about NYU.



And if you actually plan to go into law and practice law, then it matters way less. I'm looking at my path as more of an MBA to which the JD and a couple years of practice is additive.

I've also done a lot of research (and am going to one of the joint programs you listed), but wanted to say that YLS/SOM should definitely be on anyone's list. People need to put their US News rankings aside and take an objective look at SOM, as it really is a fantastic program - plus you get to go to Yale Law. It is a little less traditional in terms of focus and employment outcomes as a lot of people self-select into social enterprise, etc., but employers are way less worried about who's in the top-10 of some ranking and you're really not shutting any doors by going to SOM over an HSW/M7 school (I attended an admitted students' event, and it seemed like many of the people there had those options). Penn/Wharton and Northwestern/Kellogg are also great choices btw (and like Yale can be done in 3 years).

Ehh.. not that it really matters but I have to point out that this evaluation of SOM is quite a bit optimistic. For elite employers (i.e. the employers for which relative "prestige" actually matters) SOM is well behind HSW/M7 and well below Tuck/Ross/Darden. I'm sure you met people at admitted students events who told you they had HSW/M7 options but that would be a fairly small pool of cross admits. Yale is perfectly respectable but more likely to be competing with a good but not elite school like an Emory or UNC for cross-admits. People serious about a MBA+YLS combo usually do it with HBS or another top school (the most common Ive seen is YLS+HBS)

I can guarantee you that a lot more people do YLS/SOM than YLS + all other MBA programs combined. And YLS/HBS? I doubt that happens more than once every few years, if ever - my brother went to HBS and I actually asked him about this, he said he'd never heard of anyone going concurrently to a law school other than HLS. I have no reason to be a shill for SOM, as I was admitted to so-called "M7" schools and am attending one (YLS waitlist made that decision easy), but both the students and the opportunities coming out are much more comparable to M7 than UNC/Emory.

[AllTheLawz]

I've also done a lot of research (and am going to one of the joint programs you listed), but wanted to say that YLS/SOM should definitely be on anyone's list. People need to put their US News rankings aside and take an objective look at SOM, as it really is a fantastic program - plus you get to go to Yale Law. It is a little less traditional in terms of focus and employment outcomes as a lot of people self-select into social enterprise, etc., but employers are way less worried about who's in the top-10 of some ranking and you're really not shutting any doors by going to SOM over an HSW/M7 school (I attended an admitted students' event, and it seemed like many of the people there had those options). Penn/Wharton and Northwestern/Kellogg are also great choices btw (and like Yale can be done in 3 years).

Ehh.. not that it really matters but I have to point out that this evaluation of SOM is quite a bit optimistic. For elite employers (i.e. the employers for which relative "prestige" actually matters) SOM is well behind HSW/M7 and well below Tuck/Ross/Darden. I'm sure you met people at admitted students events who told you they had HSW/M7 options but that would be a fairly small pool of cross admits. Yale is perfectly respectable but more likely to be competing with a good but not elite school like an Emory or UNC for cross-admits. People serious about a MBA+YLS combo usually do it with HBS or another top school (the most common Ive seen is YLS+HBS)

I can guarantee you that a lot more people do YLS/SOM than YLS + all other MBA programs combined. And YLS/HBS? I doubt that happens more than once every few years, if ever - my brother went to HBS and I actually asked him about this, he said he'd never heard of anyone going concurrently to a law school other than HLS. I have no reason to be a shill for SOM, as I was admitted to so-called "M7" schools and am attending one (YLS waitlist made that decision easy), but both the students and the opportunities coming out are much more comparable to M7 than UNC/Emory.

No problem, didn't mean it in an offensive way at all. Just as an FYI for the OP, HBS is pretty open about doing a design your own program deal with other law schools. I know at least four people personally who have done it (3 YLS+HBS, 1 UNC+HBS). Its not completed concurrently, you do a full year and a I think a third semester at the B-school and another 5 semesters at your home law school (I'm not sure of these details). Here are the ones I know off the top of my head:

http://www.wlrk.com/LBSchwartz/
http://www.ropesgray.com/biographies/a/ ... adams.aspx
http://www.mckinsey.com/global_location ... les/harold

[Instinctive]

Depends on where you're going.

I did this same analysis and found very few combos that I decided were worthwhile.

YLS + M7
HLS + HBS
HLS + Sloan
Chicago + Booth
Columbia x2
Stanford x2
HLS + Tuck
YLS + Y SOM Silver Scholar

To some extent, UVA + Darden and Duke + Fuqua. I'm sure NYU x2 works also, but I didn't really like anything about NYU.



And if you actually plan to go into law and practice law, then it matters way less. I'm looking at my path as more of an MBA to which the JD and a couple years of practice is additive.

I've also done a lot of research (and am going to one of the joint programs you listed), but wanted to say that YLS/SOM should definitely be on anyone's list. People need to put their US News rankings aside and take an objective look at SOM, as it really is a fantastic program - plus you get to go to Yale Law. It is a little less traditional in terms of focus and employment outcomes as a lot of people self-select into social enterprise, etc., but employers are way less worried about who's in the top-10 of some ranking and you're really not shutting any doors by going to SOM over an HSW/M7 school (I attended an admitted students' event, and it seemed like many of the people there had those options). Penn/Wharton and Northwestern/Kellogg are also great choices btw (and like Yale can be done in 3 years).

Ehh.. not that it really matters but I have to point out that this evaluation of SOM is quite a bit optimistic. For elite employers (i.e. the employers for which relative "prestige" actually matters) SOM is well behind HSW/M7 and well below Tuck/Ross/Darden. I'm sure you met people at admitted students events who told you they had HSW/M7 options but that would be a fairly small pool of cross admits. Yale is perfectly respectable but more likely to be competing with a good but not elite school like an Emory or UNC for cross-admits. People serious about a MBA+YLS combo usually do it with HBS or another top school (the most common Ive seen is YLS+HBS)

I can guarantee you that a lot more people do YLS/SOM than YLS + all other MBA programs combined. And YLS/HBS? I doubt that happens more than once every few years, if ever - my brother went to HBS and I actually asked him about this, he said he'd never heard of anyone going concurrently to a law school other than HLS. I have no reason to be a shill for SOM, as I was admitted to so-called "M7" schools and am attending one (YLS waitlist made that decision easy), but both the students and the opportunities coming out are much more comparable to M7 than UNC/Emory.

Not that I'm an expert, but as someone who was admitted to YLS and SOM among many other schools: There are multiple people doing degrees with YLS and Stanford GSB as well as with HBS. So, not to impugn your brother's good name, but he's straight up wrong. YLS has been exceedingly helpful putting me in touch with their students doing the MBA at other places to help with my decision.