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When I enroll in law school, I will have had 3 years of WE in government and a nonprofit + 2 good LOR's.

Already accepted to Penn Law. If I study for the next 8 months and kill the GMAT, do I have a chance at back dooring into Wharton my 1L year?

I'm much better off than the law school kids trying to get in right out of UG, right? Chances?

This might sway my choice of law school.

I don't really know what you're asking here...

FuManChusco wrote:I don't really know what you're asking here...

(1) Should he/she try to get an MBA/JD due to Wharton's prestige?
(2) Does he/she have better job prospects than fellow classmates out of undergrad?

Answer to #1 is that it depends on what you want to do, but most likely it isn't worth it.
Answer to #2 is that it depends on your experience and what you want to do.

D-ROCCA wrote:

FuManChusco wrote:I don't really know what you're asking here...

(1) Should he/she try to get an MBA/JD due to Wharton's prestige?
(2) Does he/she have better job prospects than fellow classmates out of undergrad?

Answer to #1 is that it depends on what you want to do, but most likely it isn't worth it.
Answer to #2 is that it depends on your experience and what you want to do.

If you only care about the career prospects and don't care about becoming a lawyer, I say just get the MBA. An MBA from the #1 biz school is prolly more valuable than a jd from the #7 law school.

Your law school grades or GMAT score will suffer by dividing focus. Most likely they will BOTH suffer.

If solely concerned about career prospects/strait cash homie, I would focus on Wharton.

Just a thought, though a thought from a person who could never get into Penn law.

Ok now I get it. Yes, you are likely better off than kids straight out of UG, but your GMAT score is going to be what makes or breaks you in the end since Wharton is at the tippity top. I wouldn't go for a JD/MBA. Make a career decision and get the degree that best aligns with that. The extra time, money, and stress, probably makes the dual degree not worth it.

I'm probably headed to Penn too, and noticed that there's a 4-class Wharton certificate program open to the law students. This seems like a better use of time/energy and is probably what I'll do (only 4 classes which are already covered in your law tuition, no GMAT, still get to put "Wharton" on your resume, etc).

If you're in at the law school, do you need to take the GMAT? I'm at Berkeley and some masters programs don't require it if you're in the law school.

If you want a pure law career don't bother. If you want a business career, don't do the JD.

Drake014 wrote:If you're in at the law school, do you need to take the GMAT? I'm at Berkeley and some masters programs don't require it if you're in the law school.

Yes you have to take it.

OP: If you kill the GMAT (With above 85 percentile quant score) and your work experience is substantive, you stand a good shot.

qed2011 wrote:I'm probably headed to Penn too, and noticed that there's a 4-class Wharton certificate program open to the law students. This seems like a better use of time/energy and is probably what I'll do (only 4 classes which are already covered in your law tuition, no GMAT, still get to put "Wharton" on your resume, etc).

If your goal is a biglaw transactional job, I heard (from current Penn students) that this gives you a small bump.

It won't mean that it will be easier to go corporate after a few years, businesses won't care about a certificate.

I hear Yale Law grads get jobs too.

bdubs wrote:

qed2011 wrote:I'm probably headed to Penn too, and noticed that there's a 4-class Wharton certificate program open to the law students. This seems like a better use of time/energy and is probably what I'll do (only 4 classes which are already covered in your law tuition, no GMAT, still get to put "Wharton" on your resume, etc).

If your goal is a biglaw transactional job, I heard (from current Penn students) that this gives you a small bump.

It won't mean that it will be easier to go corporate after a few years, businesses won't care about a certificate.

Right, and I'll take whatever small bumps I can get (especially if it's already covered in my tuition and I do have a math/stat background). If I wanted to "go corporate," TCR is to not do the JD at all.

AreJay711 wrote:I hear Yale Law grads get jobs too.

yeah but mostly doc review and other part time shit

qed2011 wrote:

bdubs wrote:

qed2011 wrote:I'm probably headed to Penn too, and noticed that there's a 4-class Wharton certificate program open to the law students. This seems like a better use of time/energy and is probably what I'll do (only 4 classes which are already covered in your law tuition, no GMAT, still get to put "Wharton" on your resume, etc).

If your goal is a biglaw transactional job, I heard (from current Penn students) that this gives you a small bump.

It won't mean that it will be easier to go corporate after a few years, businesses won't care about a certificate.

Right, and I'll take whatever small bumps I can get (especially if it's already covered in my tuition and I do have a math/stat background). If I wanted to "go corporate," TCR is to not do the JD at all.

In a sense almost all JD/MBAs want to go corporate at some point, so that is what I was referring to. If your ultimate career ambition is biglaw partner then its probably the right call.

bdubs wrote:

Drake014 wrote:If you're in at the law school, do you need to take the GMAT? I'm at Berkeley and some masters programs don't require it if you're in the law school.

Yes you have to take it.

OP: If you kill the GMAT (With above 85 percentile quant score) and your work experience is substantive, you stand a good shot.

I believe you're undervaluing how important work experience is for MBA admissions. "Substantive" work experience won't get you into Wharton.

D-ROCCA wrote:

bdubs wrote:

Drake014 wrote:If you're in at the law school, do you need to take the GMAT? I'm at Berkeley and some masters programs don't require it if you're in the law school.

Yes you have to take it.

OP: If you kill the GMAT (With above 85 percentile quant score) and your work experience is substantive, you stand a good shot.

I believe you're undervaluing how important work experience is for MBA admissions. "Substantive" work experience won't get you into Wharton.

+1. way more holistic than LS admissions.

Your work experience isn't very buisness-y which could hurt you but I also hear they tend to go easy on law students in that regard. I'd say you've got at least some shot if you apply first round to the 3 year program and have a compelling and explainable career reason to tie in the JD with the MBA.

Like the other posters said tho, totally not worth it unless you are going into a very specilized field where you can actually use both degrees or you need the JD to move buisness side due to weak w/e.

Do well on the gmat or GRE but it isn't as critical as the LSAT. Honestly, if you could get the LSAT score for Penn Law, that part should be cake.

First of all, do not study 8 months for the GMAT. I have no idea how you would even do that. I would budget a weekend or two to take a couple practice tests and brush up on your geometry.

Second, 3 years of W/E is near the bottom edge of acceptability at Wharton, and if these were more like "internships" than actual jobs you might have some trouble. You'd probably need some really stellar recommendations, though I hear that it's easier to get in as a 1L than as a 0L. It's hard to say more without seeing your full resume.

If you don't get in, oh well, I think you can live with a J.D. from Penn, and try to pursue an M.B.A. later in your career.

^ 3 years is not at all out of line for WE for applicants from the LS. I'd worry more about it being gvmt/non-profit work (which can be overcome if OP has a clear vision about how everything ties together and the WE was at least somewhat cool gvmt/non-profit work).

What kind of work experience is considered good work experience? (Not trying to hijack the thread )

I have 5 years of retail middle management (department manager for a retail store), then 7 years of Military (where I managed teams as small as 3 people to as big as 200 people), and now 2 years (maybe 3 if I put Law School off for another year) as a school teacher.

I am also interested in possibly getting a JD/MBA (pretty sure it won't be Penn based on my numbers ) but would my work experience not be attractive to the Business Schools?