Best Joint MBA/JD Program?

Graduate School Law School
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<p>Khiz - I work for a defense contractor as an engineer, but my work interfaces with some of the lawyers. You are really talking about several different options, assuming you want to work the goverment / contractor side:</p>

<p>Engineer with MBA: immediate focus on program management, with potential to work into upper management. Little to no actual engineering. Money is not much greater than an engineer at first, but better potential to grow.</p>

<p>Engineer with JD: IP or patent law, almost entirely. You will be focusing on using your law degree in areas applicable to technical areas. No engineering. Period. Money is much much better here, but it can be surprisingly hard to move up to the top - options are limited outside of law firms.</p>

<p>Engineer with JD/MBA: same as above, but it better positions you to move up into management.</p>

<p>PhD Engineer: very very technical, you will be focused on some specific area. Money is pretty good, but has the least income growth potential of the lot.</p>

<p>In general (as in, almost always), contractors make better money and benefits than government, and do nearly the same stuff. Government is in on the operational side more, so it can be more exciting work.</p>

<p>My advice? If you want to go engineering, do it. At the end of your junior year, decide if you want to be an engineer or not. If you want 100% technical, stay the course. If you want 25% technical, get the MBA. If you want to switch to law, get the JD. If you want to switch to law and make a business out of it, get the JD/MBA.</p>

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<p>Hi Khiz. Sorry to intrude. I came upon a post of yours from about a year ago in which you
mentioned possibly doing an MBA / JD. I was curious whether you ever, in fact, decided to pursue that course ? My son is a junior at Emory Univ. in Atlanta and is thinking about possibly following that route right out of undergrad. Will grad schools allow kids to do that right out of undergrad or will be they be required to work several years first ? Thanks. Marc</p>

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<p>MBA’s are useless without work experience and all the top schools all but require work experience, your son won’t even understand the realities of the types of things he is being asked without work experience. If he wants an MBA from a top school, he needs to work first.</p>

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<p>I agree with Patriot.</p>