Luggenes wrote:
1) I am a practicing attorney with 2 years experience, mixed litigation, though predominantly criminal, at a respected NC firm. A reason I am seeking my MBA is to take my legal career in a different direction. 1 year prior work experience as a manufacturing engineer. Many years of part-time work during school.
2) 730 GMAT 47/44 with 8 IR
3) Undergrad Miami Ohio- 2.4 GPA in Mechanical Engineering. No real extenuating circumstances other than 30 hours a week of work. Screwed off a lot/no ambition. Upward trend from first year 1.9 to last year 3.0
Michigan State College of Law 3.8 (top 5%) - Got my act together
4) Undergrad extras - just work. Shift manager at restaurant.
Law School - Moot Court, Journal (not Law Review) editor, Double Internships each summmer (Law firms, Federal Judiciary, State Attorney General Office)
5) NC licensed attorney
6) I began this process to shoot for the top. Target Programs are GSB, HBS, Booth, Wharton, Sloan, and then 2 alternates (going to try 6-7 apps R2)
7) R2 2014-2015. R3 if necessary. I missed the boat on round 1. My main question is submitting this post is, should I diversify more or can I shoot for the moon and do ok in R3 if I miss in R2?
8) My goal is to get a job as corporate counsel/associate general counsel for a corporation I believe in, preferably tech, or a firm that caters to such business. I Want to help guide and defend a company that is going to make a positive difference tomorrow. After that, I would like to eventually climb into corporate governance and a General Counsel/CLO role. I will need a top MBA to propel me on this goal because Google and its ilk don't hire out of MSU Law.
Thank you very much for your time and help!
Hey there!
So the good news is that Bschools like lawyers, especially lawyers with experience. Which is great. But my first question to you would be: How can you justify/explain a passage from criminal to corporate law (As you can imagine the large majority of lawyers making this change come from corporate)? There are many possible good answers, but you will need to find one.
The bad news is that your target schools are fairly unrealistic. In the last statistic I saw HBS too something like THREE candidates with less than a 3.0 and ZERO with less than a 2.5. You may have done better in law school which is great, and you have a fantastic GMAT, but the likelihood is that all Top 5 programs will be a stretch for you. And not having graduated from an Ivy/Top school will also make things tougher. So limiting yourself to just Top 5 programs is probably not a fantastic idea.
Instead, I'd suggest you open up your list to Top 20 schools, apply to one or two "long-shots" (Like HBS or Wharton), and then 2-3 more moderately ranked schools, and then one on the lower side of this range (the so-called "Safe school").
Sooo, I hope this helps, even if it may not be exactly what you wished to hear,
And if you have any other thoughts/questions, don't hesitate,
Best,
Jon