Here’s a talk with Craig Carter, JD/MBA candidate at UPenn’s Law School and Wharton Business School, who plans on using his dual degree to create change in the public education system. Thank you Craig for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us!

This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring interviews with current MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at top MBA programs. We hope to offer you a candid picture of student life, and what you should consider as you prepare your MBA application.

Accepted: First, can you please tell us a little about yourself: Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? 

Craig: I was born in Brooklyn, NY, but I grew up in Baltimore, MD. I studied Industrial Engineering at Northwestern University.

Accepted: Penn’s combined JD/MBA degree program is a three-year program. Can you break it down for us? When do you do what? 

Craig: Sure, the University of Pennsylvania has developed the premier accelerated JD/MBA program, providing a comprehensive education from two leading schools: Penn Law School and the Wharton School.

In your first year, you go through the complete first-year law curriculum. During the summer between year one and year two, you have a mini-semester of law school, inclusive of three classes, and a mini-semester of business school, inclusive of two classes. In year two, you go through the complete first-year business school curriculum and take one additional law school class each semester. The second summer is reserved for an internship. In the third year, JD/MBA students split the year between the law and business schools. Typically, students take three classes at Wharton and two classes at the Law School first semester, then do the reverse second semester.

Accepted: So how’s the law school component going so far? Is it as you had imagined it? Any surprises?

Craig: Law school is going surprisingly well! I expected to not enjoy it and just survive until the business school component of the program. However, the material is very interesting, the challenge is exciting, and the people are wonderful! I was surprised by the level of collegiality and cooperation among the students. Penn Law is known to be the most collegial Law School of the top tier institutions, but that reputation is an understatement. As a Penn Law student, you do not feel the high-level of competition that you experience at other institutions. Instead, you are overwhelmed by the family atmosphere that pervades the students, staff, and faculty.

Accepted: What past experiences (work or otherwise) have you had that motivated you go head back to school and pursue this rigorous dual degree?

Craig: Prior to returning to school, I worked two years as a management consultant for Oliver Wyman, and then served for three years as Chief Financial Officer for Urban Prep Academies, a non-profit that operates three Charter Schools for Boys in Chicago.

My experience at Oliver Wyman helped develop my business acumen and desire to hone my “CEO’s toolkit” through a comprehensive management education. My experience at Urban Prep helped give me a profound understanding of the structural inequities in public education. My passion for education and the African American community has led me to obtain legal training in hopes of leading our country’s overhaul of urban education.

Accepted: What do you plan on doing once you receive your JD and MBA?

Craig: In the short-term, I would like to pursue a career in Investment Banking or Private Equity. Long-term, my desire is to leverage the resources, relationships, and experiences acquired at Penn and during a successful professional career to become a public servant who leads legislative initiatives to structurally change public education.

Accepted: Did you consider any other programs? Which ones? 

Craig: I considered the accelerated programs at Northwestern and Yale, and the four-year programs at Harvard and Stanford.

Accepted: Why was Wharton’s program the best place for you?

Craig: Penn’s interdisciplinary curricular focus with an emphasis on experiential learning and leadership development was the best opportunity for me to develop in professional school. Wharton’s preeminent finance education and Penn Law’s cross-disciplinary approach to legal education created an unmatched combination of business and law school. I feel that my peers and I will be invaluably prepared to impact this world and attack some of our country’s most perplexing problems.

Accepted: Can you offer some advice to our applicants who are considering applying to a JD/MBA program?

Craig: All the typical advice applies – do well on standardized tests, write good essays, and get quality recommendations from people who know you well. Some more nuanced advice is create and develop a brand early. Decide who you are/want to be and pursue experiences that will enhance or augment that brand. These experiences will not always be a higher rung on the ladder, but in the end will help create a unique value proposition for professional schools and future employers.

For one-on-one guidance on the UPenn application, please see our Wharton School of Business School Packages. For specific advice on how to create the best application for UPenn, see Wharton 2013 MBA Application Questions, Deadlines, Tips.

This article originally appeared on the Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog, the official blog of Accepted.com.

Accepted.com’s experienced admissions consultants can help you create the most impressive application possible with comprehensive packages, or provide targeted assistance from picking perfect programs to designing a dazzling resume, constructing engaging essays, or preparing for intense interviews…and more! Accepted.com has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top MBA programs since 1994 – we know what works and what doesn’t, so contact us to get started now!

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Students will spend their first and third years taking courses at Columbia Law School and their second year at Columbia Business School. Elective courses will be available throughout the three years at both schools. Students will take a heavier load throughout the programs, but will be able to work during the summers between their first and second years and their second and third years in the program. There are optional late-August intensive courses through the law school that are designed as to not interfere with summer work.

There is already an existing four-year dual-degree JD/MBA program which will continue to run “for students interested in a broader course curriculum.”

One benefit for three-year students is the opportunity to enter the workforce a year earlier than were they to complete the four-year program. Students in both the three- and four-year programs are considered full students at both the law school and business school and have access to all facilities and services at each, including career services, networking opportunities, and academic options.

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Northwestern and Penn both offer three-year, combined MBA-JD programs, however those programs require summer classes that preclude summer internships. The Yale program does not require summer classes and participants in Yale’s program will have two free summers so they can work in one or both of their chosen fields.

Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh explains that the accelerated program, “Will prepare students for the increasingly complex intersection of business and law. Students will master analytical and quantitative skills that will be of value for a business law-related practice but also more broadly for careers as entrepreneurs and managers in business and non-profit organizations.”

It will be interesting to see how Yale squeezes what is most commonly completed in five years (when studied separately) into three years. If successful, one has to ask why does the JD and the MBA typically require three and two years respectively.