<p>Where's a good place to start on knowing about MBA admissions? I'm currently a sophomore at Yale and am becoming interesting in doing a joint JD/MBA program (preferably at Harvard). I am so torn between law and business right now....</p>
<p>I would love to practice some type of contract law (litigation if possible), but I would also love to be in finance somehow as well. Am I correct in understanding that many lawyers switch back and forth between finance and law and that it doesn't affect your salary levels in any significant way? Would it be possible to start off banking right out of college for 1-2 years, then go to law school/business school and start law?</p>
<p>There are a number of admissions consultants who post there as well as a lot of people who are quite familiar with top 5 business schools. </p>
<p>The vast majority of business schools, Harvard included, require work experience. Generally, you need 2-3 years of post-undergraduate work experience in order to be competitive. </p>
<p>There are exceptions though to this. I have heard of an occasional student going straight from undergrad to business school at Harvard, Penn, Stanford, etc., but this is by far the exception and not the rule. From what I've heard these students have significant and very, very impressive internships, entrepreneurial experience, very high GPA, very high GMAT, etc. I saw the resume of one such student who was attending Wharton and they were an Olympian and had competing internationally for years at a very high level. </p>
<p>There are a few JD/MBA threads on the site, just do a search. Most cut the time to 4 years rather than 5. Northwestern's takes only 3. You pay both school's tuition and must be accepted to both schools independently. Also, they also say that acceptance to one doesn't guarantee acceptance to the other. Check each graduate school's website for the nitty-gritty stuff. </p>
<p>If you want to do finance than why not do some finance-related internships? They could help you test the waters and are necessary for many post-undergraduate finance positions. If you were to work at say an Investment Bank for a few years after graduation you would not be hurting your chances to get accepted to a top law school (unless you screwed around or something). You would also be learning finance and be building some necessary work experience for business school.</p>