<p>I'm a law student at Fordham and I'm considering switching into the JD/MBA program. The general idea here is this: Fordham is a top-tier (albeit not T14) law school. The MBA program, on the other hand, does not seem to be the strongest in the nation--can you B-school folks confirm or deny this? Here are my pros and cons, and I'd like to see what the general view on these is.</p>
<p>Cons:
Extra cost (to the tune of $60k)
Longer time commitment (1 extra year, plus summer classes)
Not the most prestigious of B-schools
Little value of extra degree--this is the one I need most help with. I wonder if there IS any value to the MBA.</p>
<p>Pros:
Longer time commitment. Yes, this is a pro. The NY legal market is a bloodbath right now, and will hopefully recover in a year. The extra shot at on campus interviews could be nice.</p>
<p>MBA degree allowing for more career flexibility. I don't see law as <em>the</em> profession I want to practice, but it's one I like and would be willing to do... which is why I'm in law school to start with.</p>
<p>This is not clear cut but an MBA may give you the push it takes to get in the door of some firms. Sounds like you plan to head for a corporate firm. I’m assuming though that Fordham grads are not looking at Cravath, Skadden or the firms that mostly handle M & A and other corporate finance work. So you need to look at the firms your grads go to and see if they do enough finance work to make the MBA pay off.</p>
<p>I also wouldn’t look at 1 year more in school as a pro. Things are not going to be enough better in a year for this to matter. Major firms were having trouble before the downturn. First year salaries are being permanently reduced. Making partner just keeps getting harder.</p>
<p>The thing I would do is figure out what I could study for the extra year that would make immediate job prospects most likely. A technical degree that makes you desirable for patent law? A counseling degree that gives you insight into family law as divorces are way up during this meltdown? Focus on what you want to practice and what would truly differentiate you.</p>
<p>Prior to this economy hit, about the top 25% at Fordham got the larger firm gigs, while the other 25% got midsize-large. Fordham did pretty well in the now-devastated NYC market. The remaining guys went between public interest and other sort of stuff. I’m indecisive about where exactly I want to end up–I actually have a lot of interest in tax law, but I’m also interested in federal work (MBA would be worthless in this regard). I don’t think I will be able to pin down a specific legal career goal for another year or so, which is too long of a time for me to figure out whether I want to go into the MBA program.</p>
<p>EDIT: Oh, and as far as the extra year. Given my interest in tax law, a tax LLM is beneficial… the tradition is that you first get into a firm before you go for the LLM though. This is where the problem arises. Fordham so far has about a quarter of employers scheduled to interview on campus this summer as compared to the same time last year. So I’d like an extra shot at OCI, and MBA seems to give me that shot. Problem is that Fordham MBA seems mediocre (US News doesn’t rank it) and I don’t really want to expend the money on a worthless MBA. I guess I’m curious just how worthless it is, and whether it has any added benefit to a JD at all. Seems like it might even be detrimental if I were to consider pursuing a federal career path.</p>
<p>Listen, dter, I think you really need to stop referring to the Fordham MBA as “worthless” if you expect to get any feedback from Fordham MBA students.</p>
<p>Many Fordham graduates work at the major investment banks in NYC, incl. a managing director at Goldman Sachs who just donated $5 million to the Fordham GSB last year. Weren’t you paying attention?</p>
<p>The Fordham GSB program was just ranked 21st in finance and 30th as a part-time program by U.S. News and World Report. Weren’t you paying attention?</p>
<p>Maybe as a future lawyer, you should learn 1) how to research and discover facts and 2) some basic manners.</p>
<p>By the way, I’m in the “worthless” Global Professional MBA program at Fordham, class of 2012.</p>
<p>I know for a fact that Fordham is far from worthless in any regard. My cousin has an outstanding career and is a Fordham Law grad. She does not have her MBA, but really did not need it seeing as she makes over 150k and is only in her third year out. She networked the hell out of her years there and was working in a top Manhattan law firm almost immediately after she finished. The only draw back is the 80 hour work weeks.</p>
<p>Fordham MBA is well known and well respected in the NYC-metro area. Employers, including the big finance firms in NYC, hire out of Fordham MBA. The fact that it is not in the top 50 or even 100 MBA programs in the US does not appear, in any way, to be an issue to local employers. </p>
<p>No, it’s not Columbia, but it’s far from worthless. It’s got a strong rep in the region, and outside the region, it benefits GREATLY from the rep of Fordham as an overall university. People know Fordham, and they respect it. It’s far from a no-name MBA, rankings be dam… er… darned. </p>
<p>But that doesn’t matter just yet. What matters is that you need to figure out possible career paths, and then research whether or not having an MBA will get you where you want to go. Be very specific in your research re: which positions, types of careers, and etc. If yes, then get it. If no, then do not. </p>
<p>And in the end, if you have no true interest in an MBA, focus on law school instead. Do everything in your power, as part of your JD experience, to set yourself up as an excellent candidate for a position, so that you will be one of those few that the firms do hire. So… Moot Court, Law Review, pro-bono, get to know professors, do internships for a private firm and for the government, do a clerkship if you can, etc. Network your a** off. Make your CV so darn shiny that if firms only hire two people from Fordham the year you come out, you are one of the two.</p>