Decision help. Thanks

Question

Hello,

To start off. I'm new to this website in general. Figured it would be the best place for me to ask my question and hopefully have some guidance on what my best options, if any, would be for my current situation.

A little background. I'm a Structural Engineer from a respectable engineering school, and am currently on track for obtaining my Fundamental Engineering license and onwards to my Professional Engineering license in the future. I have hopes soon after my undergraduate years of getting into a top 10 (hopefully closer to top 5) business school for joint degrees of MBA/JD.

I have extremely respectable recommendations, and work experience at both a family business for some years as well as a half year at a top engineering firm.

However, here's what i'd like to believe is the kicker to my scenario. I entered my current undergraduate school with an academic scholarship (transferred in after 1 quarter). I started off the next, and my first in this particular uni, very well with a 3.55+ gpa as a structural engineer. However, for 4 quarters straight, I hit an all-time low of a 1.81, 1.94, 2.80, and 2.94. These all came in my sophomore year after dealing with personal problems at my home (I commuted my first 2 years, 4 hours every day, to school).

Soon after moving out and actually living on campus, start of my junior year, I was able to finally gather myself to actual normal potential and have been in the high 3.6-3.7 range, pretty much hitting dean's list since then. We move on quarters, so 4 of those type GPA's. I just started my senior year, and am expected to be in the same range if not HIGHER (3.9-4.0) for the next 3-4 quarters until graduation.

It's just a shame that I know for a fact I was so close .. but I had to deal with other problems outside of school that really didn't bring out my full potential.
Will top schools recognize, even if I graph it for them, that there was a wall that I had hit - and it shouldn't in any way reflect how I am as a student, academically. 
I know I have the personality and charisma to kick ass in an interview, but I feel like my main problem right now would be to even get the interview at a top program.

To some it up. If I have:
3.6-3.8 accumulative GPA as a Structural Engineer (That is, disregarding 2,3,4 quarters that were out of my hands)
A GMAT 99% GMAT/LSAT score (PREDICTED) 
Great work related experience at a large family owned business AND a top engineering firm
Kick-ass recommendations

Do I have any chance, at all, of getting into a top business school? 
Feel free to criticize

Thanks in advance guys,

phlaym39 · Answer

Academics-wise I'd say you're fine. A GPA of 3.7 is competitive. You can always address the dud quarters in your additional essays.

But then I got confused about your WE. How are you doing your senior year now but have amazing work experience in not 1 but 2 companies? This means you were working there before you have graduated, which normally means you were an intern. This generally means you didn't really get to work on anything 'meaty', didn't get into tough situations, didn't need to make tough decisions, etc.

Family business? - is it your family or just a family owned business? If it's your family, the recommendation isn't very strong.
 
Are you planning on applying now or after you get a few more years of exp?

I'm making a lot of assumptions. Feel free to clarify or correct me if I'm wrong.

engrlawmba · Answer

No you're fine - I appreciate the response. Let me try and clear it up somewhat.

I go to school throughout my summers so I could spend about 8 months at a large engineering firm during this past fall/winter.
Yes - I was an intern. The workload wasn't as laid back as you might think though. They had me labeled in the 'corporate' department, and as a matter of fact I received work (unlike the other interns) from ALL engineering disciplines - where it be structural, mechanical, electrical, environmental, civil municipal, transportation etc, so this definitely a distinction. And had the opportunity to work along with the owner of a subsidiary business, that the firm had bought out, inside the same office on their start up structural engineering database for a majority of the time as well.

As far as the family business goes - I was in the field driving and taking blow counts for 72' steel piles (aka building a bridge) during my freshman summer year (only summer i've had). I've worked in and out of the business here and there while going to school. It's a large family owned and ran business. It goes beyond my intermediate family. Very big. Majority of what I picked up, business personality wise, I owe back to the business because it's the surrounding I grew up in - always meeting new people, and seeing the ins and outs of how a business functions and runs on a daily basis..

Thanks for the responses. I don't really have much guidance when it comes to applying for an MBA / JD so this helps.

Thanks.

engrlawmba · Answer

Bump .. not sure if they're allowed here. Thanks

dtse86 · Answer

Hey  engrlawmba

The biggest thing that appears to be missing is your motivation and career goals for pursuing a JD/MBA. What do you plan to do with these degrees? From my research and experience so far, this is perhaps the most important component to a business school application especially if you do not have any full time work experience.

Many people with excellent test scores and gpa's are denied from top schools because this part of their application is not clear.

engrlawmba · Answer

Hey dtse86,

The main reason I want to shoot for the dual degree is because my current family business deals with a lot of contract lawsuits on an annual term and I would like a to graduate from a respectable law program to help minimize potential suits and maximize business. I would like the MBA degree to help back my own personal business goals.

If it would be easier to chase one degree as opposed to both, that is also a very viable option

Just an update on my new quarterly GPAs
3.62
3.55
3.35
3.5+(expected)
In no particular order

Thanks in advance.

jz4analytics · Answer

I think MBA programs are more forgiving for a few bad semesters than law schools are. As I understand, law is more of a numbers game than business. But for business you also have a problem - work experience. Most schools want to see a few years of full-time, post undergrad work. They want people with leadership skills, varied experience, and clear goals. You might want to work for a couple years and gain some extracurriculars before you apply. Also consider top 10 programs that are more focused on GMAT than GPA, such as Columbia, Virginia, Kellogg, and Chicago.

And have you taken practice GMATs? Scores and tests? If not there are a ton of good, free, online ones you can use as a predictor.

And have you taken practice GMATs? Scores and tests? If not there are a ton of good, free, online ones you can use as a predictor.

dtse86 · Answer

As long as you maintain a high GPA and score well on the GMAT & LSAT, I'm sure you'll have a good shot at a top JD/MBA program. I'm not 100% sure how JD/MBA admissions works, but from what I can recall, you need to meet the admissions standards (standardized test scores and GPA) for admission into either school separately and sometimes you have to actually fill out 2 applications. There also comes a point when you may have to decide, would I rather go to a more reputable Law School and a slightly less B-school or vice versa. However, it may not really matter that much when looking at m7 programs because both the law schools and the business schools can be considered extremely reputable (schools I can think of at the moment are Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Northwestern, U Chicago, and Yale although the b-school is not really part of m7) Also keep in mind, JD/MBA programs are typically 4 years and I'm not sure how that affects your internship opportunities from both an MBA perspective and law student perspective. Companies like MBA's because in a year they'll be potential FTE's. Likewise with law firms, from my understanding, the majority of law students get their internships between 2L and 3L because of how close they are to graduation. Although if you intend to continue working for the family business, it may be irrelevant. You may want to reach out to other JD/MBA candidates or graduates to get their perspective and experience on this matter. IMHO, I don't really see the use of getting a JD/MBA unless you think there's a good chance that you'll actually practice law in the future or perhaps run for public office (not sure how a JD helps with this, but a lot of top political figures seem to have top JD's without really practicing law including Obama, Booker, and even Romney). From my perspective it's likely that if you want to run your own business (or eventually the family business) you can learn what you need to from experience or your own research regarding contracts without the JD. And anyways, it'd be highly unlikely that you'd draft the contracts yourself, the business probably already has general counsel or a law firm on retainer for that. Or perhaps, you'd like to work as general counsel for the business. IDK, it's up to you I guess. If you have the money, the time, and the opportunity to go for another degree, I guess it couldn't hurt. :dunnow

Anyways,

and although jz4analytics may have a point regarding the experience, I'm not 100% sure if that applies to JD/MBA candidates. I believe some b-school adcom view JD/MBA's in a different light and may just see them as primarily law students looking to do an additional year to get another degree in business before going to work for a law firm. For instance, from what I've seen at Cornell, the JD/MBA students take their classes with the accelerated MBA students and a lot of them have minimal work experience. Once again, I'd maybe confirm that by talking to a few JD/MBA's. Worst case, you end up doing the JD and the MBA completely separately with some work experience in between and it takes you a total of 5 years of school versus 4 years to get both degrees.

jz4analytics · Answer

I'll also point out that some business schools let you take classes at their respective law schools as MBA electives. Yale and Duke are two schools that I know have this option (plan to apply there myself). It sounds like business is your main focus, so taking a couple relevant law classes MAY be enough.

Decision help. Thanks

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