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Learn what truly sets the UC Riverside MBA apart and how it helps in your professional growth
28 Jan 2012, 13:26
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I'm in a bit of a slump lately and I don't know what to do anymore. I graduated from Temple with a Bachelors in History and minor in English with the intention of going to law school, but with the legal market in shambles and experiencing life in a law firm I'm pretty sure I don't want to take that career path anymore. I basically chose it in the beginning of my undergrad career without really thinking, just chasing dollar signs that aren't really there anymore. I thought about what really interested me about the path I wanted to take, and I was always interested in the business aspect as I was planning on corporate law. I decided I wanted to be on the decision making end of the spectrum rather than the mediation end.
Right now it's pretty hard for me to find work experience due to the market and my degree, so I'm wondering if I should just sign on with a lower ranked business school so my education would be more specific and marketable compared to my History degree. I was looking at a few regional schools like Temple and Rutgers Camden (In state.) I think my focus would be on product planning/strategy as I like to be creative and bounce ideas around, which is what I really enjoyed about History. My GPA isn't that strong at a 2.84 cumulative (won't make excuses) but 3.14 from Temple, not sure if they'd take their GPA over cumulative if I applied to Temple. I took the LSAT and scored a 161 the first time around, definitely had the potential to break into the low 170's (as shown in practice tests.) I'm not sure how it would correlate to the GMAT but I know some things are similar on there.
So basically what would be your opinion on applying without experience?
Right now I feel a bit lost and I would really like to go back to school. I'm not sure which types of work experience really count or exactly how to find out which schools require experience. Age:24.
Right now it's pretty hard for me to find work experience due to the market and my degree, so I'm wondering if I should just sign on with a lower ranked business school so my education would be more specific and marketable compared to my History degree. I was looking at a few regional schools like Temple and Rutgers Camden (In state.) I think my focus would be on product planning/strategy as I like to be creative and bounce ideas around, which is what I really enjoyed about History. My GPA isn't that strong at a 2.84 cumulative (won't make excuses) but 3.14 from Temple, not sure if they'd take their GPA over cumulative if I applied to Temple. I took the LSAT and scored a 161 the first time around, definitely had the potential to break into the low 170's (as shown in practice tests.) I'm not sure how it would correlate to the GMAT but I know some things are similar on there.
So basically what would be your opinion on applying without experience?
Right now I feel a bit lost and I would really like to go back to school. I'm not sure which types of work experience really count or exactly how to find out which schools require experience. Age:24.
29 Jan 2012, 09:24
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I know most schools prefer work experience, as they feel it adds to the classroom experience. There are exceptions, however, and maybe you'd be one of them.
novanative
Joined: 16 Aug 2011
Last visit: 14 Apr 2013
Posts: 378
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 50
Status:schools I listed were for the evening programs, not FT
Location: United States (VA)
Schools: McDonough '14 (WL) Smith (A)
GMAT 1: 640 Q43 V34
GMAT 2: 660 Q43 V38
GPA: 3.1
WE:Research (Other)
29 Jan 2012, 14:07
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I myself six, seven years ago was interested in going to law school, but I wasn't 100% in for it. Therefore, I chose to work in law firms to see how lawyers did their work, etc. After working several years, the one part about the job I liked as a former paralegal is researching, and digging deep into various subjects, while putting your knowledge in briefs, and other legal reports you write back. In fact, paralegals do quite a bit more legal work than what many think, but in the end, I saw a lot of unhappy lawyers, and with a dwindling marketplace (I have friends who are lawyers and had to experience that), I decided to take my research skills to a tech company where I am now and I couldn't be happier.
If you're going to law school just because of the employment prospects and for that 160K/yr job at a BigLaw firm in New York, I don't think you should be going to law school to begin with. If you're expecting that lawyers will be like the guys you see on Law and Order, JAG, and Franklin & Bash, you'll be disappointed. Few lawyers see a courtroom often, and BigLaw associates are essentially at their desks as long as investment bankers so if you don't like investment banking because of the hours, you'll hate BigLaw. You should want to be a lawyer because you like interpreting complicated statutes for firm clients and working within them, if I had to put this into one sentence.
Unlike law school, where most students are within three or four years of college graduation, business school pretty much requires some full time work experience after your bachelor's degree as you noted. Some schools are accepting student without work experience, but I think you'll need at least two years of it. It doesn't matter where you work, but you gotta find good experience nonetheless.
As for the GMAT, because you got a 161 on the LSAT (general sentiment among people who I know who are in law school now is that the LSAT has gotten a bit harder over the last five years which may contribute in part to your score discrepancy), you already have a head start on the verbal section. You will see logical reasoning (GMAT it's critical reasoning) and reading comp on the test. The critical reasoning questions and the passages are shorter and on average simpler than what you saw on the LSAT. You still need to brush up on grammar (GMAT sentence corrections) and the math which is algebra, geometry and arithmetic. Business school wants people who have a solid quantitative grasp, though not everyone is a math wiz either. The GMAT is good for five years from the date of your test, so you can take this later this year and apply a couple years later.
Good luck.
