I wanted to get some of your thoughts on whether it makes sense to apply to law school given my background. As a preface, I am not interested in a law school unless it is at an “elite” school. Prestige is a very real force in our society and it seems to preserve its value on a resume. This is the only thing that I really need to polish off my resume, coming from a state university (this is also a bit vain, I know). I do plan on practicing business law and have aspirations to profess after I have earned my stripes in practice. The alternative to law school is an elite business school, which is redundant with respect to coursework because I have already learned the nuts and bolts of business in my major. Paying obscene amounts of money merely for a name, and a slightly better network, is not entirely appealing to me. I would rather use my dollars to actually learn more. Note that this is all predicated on the assumption that I get in and I know things do not always go so smoothly.
Nevertheless, on to my stats:
My background: I am a graduating senior and have a cumulative GPA of 3.9 from a California state university. Ergo, I will be graduating Summa Cum Laude. My major is accounting and I have a minor in philosophy. I have been heavily involved in extracurricular activities. I have signed with a company and will start working in two months. I will be doing management consulting at a blue-chip tech company—in their M&A group. I am planning on doing this for two years, and using it as leverage for my law school application.
Anecdotal experiences and tacit knowledge is usually beneficial. Let me know your thoughts.
The 3.9 is excellent, but the missing component is test score. What was your SAT/ACT (as a proxy for test-taking ability)?
A 3.9 and a bottom quartile LSAT/GMAT will not likely get you into an ‘elite’ professional school, absent a hook.
@ManAndAcquire: For admissions purposes I cannot improve on bluebayou’s post, so I won’t try. What leaps out to me is an ambivalence between a JD and an MBA, which are very different paths. I highly recommend you try to get some experience (working in M&A business-side should give you access to lawyers you can talk to about legal-side) as to what the day-to-day life of each is like.
@bluebayou I never touched an SAT book and took the exam without preparation. I believe I had over an 1800. I was a competitive athlete in high school and did not take academics seriously (this feels unusual to type, provided how disgustingly serious I take academics now). I decided to eliminate sports from my life in my senior year of high school, which happened to be one of the most pivotal decisions I have made. I also decided to pursue accounting when I entered college, which was against the will of my parents (who pushed sports). This was six years ago (I took a year after high school to study on my own and decide on a fitting major).
The above was a back story.
To the point: I am far less worried about the LSAT than I have been with the last four years of my life as an accounting and philosophy major and minor, respectively. Having to maintain a grade point average close to a 4.0 was extremely difficult. Nevertheless, I plan on pouring hundreds of hours into studying for the LSAT while I work as an M&A consultant–over the course of the next year. That is my strategy–assuming I decide on the law school route.
@Demosthenes49 This was sound advice and I have heard the same from my professors. I will be working close with the corporate development (ex-investment bankers) and litigation M&A groups (I am am in the strategic consulting and integration M&A group), and will likely learn more about which side to pick through hands-on experience. However, I still incessantly contemplate which option is best–JD or MBA.
@ManAndAcquire, the basic answer is to figure out what you want to do: practice law or go into business, and get a JD or an MBA based on that choice. If you are on the fence, then I’d go with the route that offers the most prestigious degree. Your resume jumps off the screen as a classic MBA candidate, not a JD candidate, and so you may be a stronger admissions prospect for an MBA. So if I were you, before devoting hundreds of hours to LSAT preparation, I’d take a GMAT and an LSAT practice test and see which one gives you a higher score, and consider that, too.
Why not work for the blue chip for a couple of years, then attend a university that offers an accelerated 3-year JD/MBA dual degree? A number of top universities offer it now - Yale, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Northwestern, Villanova - as well as some universities that would be a little easier to be accepted at.
@HappyAlumnus I have taken portions of both the LSAT and GMAT. These were untimed attempts that were taken during a summer internship (over a year ago) when I had spare time between client-work. I also took an abridged GMAT diagnostic and my score was on par with Ivy average scores. With respect to the LSAT, I have taken sections of AR and reading comp and missed one to two questions on each of the sections. Again, these were untimed attempts and I expect time limitations to be the most demanding aspect of each exam; hence, managing time will be where the majority of my studying time will be allocated (as well as sections that are not as familiar to me, such as the logic games component on the LSAT).
That is true, I do fit in with the profile of an MBA candidate more than a JD candidate. However, the types of law that I am interested in (M&A law, tax law, transactional law, and general business law) require business acumen and I do bring that to the table. I hope that my background is more conducive to these types of law than perhaps a background in English or political science might be. If I do choose the MBA route, then I will probably fit right in with the status quo. I believe the majority of MBA candidates come from financial consulting backgrounds.
@Defensor You are the first to say what I have had resting in the back of my mind as a possibility. I was worried about surrendering an extra year of time and income in order to complete a JD/MBA. The accelerated programs look very appealing. Thank you for pointing me in this direction.
I just read over this: https://www.law.yale.edu/studying-law-yale/degree-programs/joint-degrees/jd-mba-program
and this: https://www.law.upenn.edu/crossdisciplinary/jdmba/
I think that this is what I want to do. Excellent suggestion.
Also, I will be working at the company for several years before I continue my education, and they are willing to help me financially.
@Defensor This line from Penn’s JD/MBA program description struck a chord with me. “The degree prepares students for careers in corporate law; public governance; investment banking; private equity; entrepreneurship; hedge funds; and much more.”
I do think your LSAT score will be the key to whether you can get into a T20 law school that has this joint offering. You have or will have everything else in your resume. I say T20 because given the continuing glut of people with law degrees, going to a top school and graduating in the upper quarter or so is important to having the best offers.
@ManAndAcquire, the types of law that you’re interested in DO NOT require business acumen. I am a corporate lawyer but what we lawyers do it help get the business deal done, once the business people have decided to proceed with a deal. They have the business acumen; we don’t. We just try to find legal ways to accomplish what they want and to reduce risks.
If you want to do business, get an MBA. If you want to do law, get a JD. But if you do business, you won’t be doing law, and if you do law, you won’t be doing business. I know how deals work since I negotiate and paper them, and I know sort of what business people are looking for in deals, but I don’t have the sixth sense that business people should have in order to be successful.
Benefit #1 of a JD/MBA: your grad school makes more money.
Benefit #2 of a JD/MBA: see #1.