ROI on MBA / LAW Degree, both from Top Schools?

<p>Just wondering....what's more advantageous in terms of return-on-investment with the tuition, number of years in grad school, and the salaries 5 years out for MBA/LAW students?</p>

<p>Which is the better investment? Right now I'm leaning towards law school, after taking both the GMAT and the LSAT (low GPA, Ivy undergrad), both landing over 98th percentile....not sure if b-school is a better investment over law school? Right now I'm set on law school after considering MBA for a long time...so hopefully the bias on this forum can convince me otherwise :D</p>

<p>You’re not likely to get into a top law school with a low GPA. Do well at a good job for several years and a top business school seems more likely.</p>

<p>This is not an ROI decision. It’s a life decision. Figure out what you want to do in life and do it. If you graduate from a top business or law program you will be making a TON of money. Salaries vary a lot though…so, I don’t think an avg ROI would really help you.</p>

<p>As for your GPA, that could cause you issues for law school. If you don’t know what you want to do, you can always apply for law now and then apply for business in a few years if you don’t get into a top law school.</p>

<p>Technically speaking, if you wanted the best ROI, then they way to do that is to make your denominator (cost) as close to zero as possible.</p>

<p>Ceteris Paribus</p>

<p>i was just thinking this as well. is the money higher for MBA or Lawyers down the road? anyone have stats or a sight that would back this up?</p>

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<p>These are not magical degrees that you earn and suddenly fall into money…</p>

<p>Of those I know who would be considered very successful in business and comparatively successful in big law, the business people make considerably more. Of course there are lots of MBAs making little and lots of personal injury lawyers making millions.</p>

<p>Ok listen up cause you may not find this anywhere else without paying for it and I am in pretty much the exact same boat as you:</p>

<p>The answer is simple:</p>

<p>L-school
[LLB</a> and Diploma in Law - University of London LLB - External System - Key points](<a href=“Study with the University of London, anywhere in the world”>University of London)
[note: Scheme A 12 3-8 years; Scheme B 12 4-8 years. If you intend on practicing law anywhere or don’t want trouble being accepted in to U.S. Graduate Schools take this route]</p>

<p>[Executive</a> LLM Program – IE Law School](<a href=“http://www.executive-llm.ie.edu/]Executive”>http://www.executive-llm.ie.edu/)<br>
[Northwestern & Instituto de Empressa in 1 year – enough said]</p>

<p>B-school
[Global</a> MBA Online - IE Business School](<a href=“http://www.gmba-eng.ie.edu/]Global”>http://www.gmba-eng.ie.edu/)
[ ‘THE’ Top Dog for ROI of all B schools for 2008. Doubt if they have slipped that much in a year]</p>

<p>Now sure you can go straight through at U of L [that’s University of London, not Louisville] Complete with MBA and LLB do your 6 months to a year as basicly an apprentice or intern/ and sit for the British Bar for England and Wales. But if I remember correctly, you have to be licensed and practicing good standing for quite some time before you can consider applying for a Local Bar Association license state side – and even then you have to seek an LLM here in the states. </p>

<p>So why not do the LLB - which will qualify you for a LLM program pretty much anywhere [word is, there is zero mercy on U of London LLB distance learners in part because they expect you to be a better {read: BETTER or Meld yourself into BETTER – PDQ} student than your in-class cohort. They have a reputation as a good school system in general and great Law program, and they plan on keeping it that way so no free lunches here, kid], and then do the LLM & MBA from IE [the LLM is a joint program with Northwestern U]. The only caveat is the LLM is not as vacation friendly a distance learning course as the other two. The time away from work would probably kill you if you don’t have 5 weeks of vacation stored up. But it is all High-end, high ROI and barrier to entry for U of L is relatively low as respected law schools go [from what I have read]. But then, it is the getting out with a good GPA that matters - and might give you a heart attack in the process.</p>

<p>Again, you can go straight through with something similar from U of L, complete with LLB, MBA, and LLM but when it comes to MBA ROI, it is really hard to argue with Instituto de Empressa [I.E.]:</p>

<p>[Ranking</a> Return On Investment](<a href=“http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/roi_rankings/]Ranking”>http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/roi_rankings/)</p>

<p>And IE + Northwestern for an Extra year? I don’t think I need to tell you how good these schools are. And be sure to Look up U of L. You might be really surprised – ex: LSE is apart of that system.</p>

<p>I mean I am pretty sure you you could make a cost argument that would be fine if you stayed in London or the Carribean… but if you plan on moving or doing business in the states… well…</p>

<p>Anyhow. Do what you want. I’ll let you know how it goes for me in about a year when I enroll at U of L. Got to finish up some IT certs to make the leap though. And no, I am not yet a student, nor am I am employed by the school. </p>

<p>I am Technical Support Engineer for Veeam Software. Great title, lots of challenging work, but the pay is not on par for the title. Besides, I want to move into Financial Engineering for the Futures & Forex Markets [Think CTA, Managed Futures and Commodity Pools] sometime soon, and retire as a Securities Law Professor – so I kind have no choice…</p>

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<p>Don’t make a decision on whether to get a JD or MBA based on which will bring more money to you through the rest of your life. That is a sure-fire way to not enjoy whatever job you end up getting if that’s what the decision is based on. Any stats you would uncover would be only an average, extremely variable, and not suited to your personal outlook (unless whereever you can make the most money is your sole personal outlook). </p>

<p>Even with a relatively low GPA of ~ 3.0, this in concert with an LSAT in the top 2% could still lead you to a BU, BC, Emory, ND level of law school, which still has the potential of allowing you to gain access into BigLaw if you can do well in law school.</p>

<p>These are not magical degrees that you earn and suddenly fall into money…</p>

<p>hahaha honestly… why waste time going on about what the OP never asked? We’re all assuming he is otherwise well rounded and competent in the necessary areas…</p>

<p>Anyway, to the op- A law degree + undergrad econ/finance/mba or both = gold mine. So it’s the same, the question is how/which way you choose to do it? There are accelerated routes with different degree combinations, etc. I recommend “llm-guide” < google that or do specific google searches such as " llm-guide: law mba" (or any other double/single degree combinations) , that should come up with a couple of entries. Basically you need to know what kind of programs are on offer globally and which route you’d like to follow. Best of luck, and don’t forget to credit me in a few years :p</p>

<p>And please, guys…I think we can infer from the Op’s post that he/she has an affinity for that which brings money. OP is not asking what you’d rather do/not do.</p>