Urgent Help from a disillusioned law student

Question

Hi! Im a first year law student at a top 5 law school. My topic says that Im "disillusioned" but Im not sure that's the best word choice. I like it okay, but it's just "okay." I find myself extraorindarily excited for the business related classes. I want to take as many classes from the B-School as possible. I want to work in mergers and acquisition or capital markets or whatever in order to be as close to the business world as possible. Im in the early stages of starting my own business. Everything is pushing me to the business side, yet here I am in law school.

I will admit that I didnt put enough thought into this before I applied. But here I am, so that's irrelevant. I realized for the last month or so, Ive been surpressing the feeling of: man, I wish I went for my MBA instead. I dont hate it, but I really dont want it as much as I do to business. I have no real answer when interviewers ask "so why a JD?" and I squirm internally everytime that they do.

I have thought about getting a joint degree, but it's already coming up on too late for that, isnt it? I'd need to study for the GMAT in order apply, and law school destroys your life and I have 0 free time to devote to studying for the GMAT.

So one of the things Im thinking about doing is dropping out... like THIS WEEK. And devoting myself to the GMAT and applying very late in the cycle. OR, in the alternative, working for a year, and then applying.

I would be most interested in the finance side. My days are defined by law school, so often times I'll find myself watching bloomberg live tv while in the library pretending to read for law school.

Im lucky enough to be a vetaran, so I have minimal debt at this point.

My stats:

3.8 GPA from a Big 10 School
5 years in the Marine Corps with multiple leadership positions and 3 combat deployments
1 semester (so far) of law school at a top 5 program, where Im about in the middle of the pack, but maybe a bit lower (top 60% ish).
27 years old

My questions:

Would I be handicapped applying this late?
Where can I get in?
I know a good bit about finance, but I have 0 background in it. How does that work, generally? I know this is a broad question.
With my above stats, would I be able to get a job on wall street for 1 year prior to MBA?
WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Sorry if this is muddled, but this hit me like a ton of bricks today after I finished reading crim law. And Im in a bit of panic because it's february of spring semester!!!!!!!

Please respond!!!!

mileson · Answer

Does your law school have a business program? I believe it is easier to get into an MBA program from law school if you are doing well there - then you can get the joint degree and not waste the time you have alread invested in law school. Just a thought...

juj122 · Answer

Yes, it does, but the timeline is impossible for me. I **** myself.

CobraKai · Answer

I'll try to answer these in order:

Would I be handicapped applying this late? 
Yes. Seeing as you haven't taken the GMAT yet and most schools deadlines are in March and April, you don't want to throw together an application just for the sake of getting it in. Also, at the last round, it's a crap shoot since a lot of students have already put deposits down and schools are picking and choosing to fill out their class. If they're short on veterans, sure, they might take you, but if they feel like they have enough, they probably won't take you.
 
Where can I get in? 
Really broad question. Given your GPA and USMC experience, I would say if you can get a 700+ on your GMAT, nothing is off the table - from there it'll be all about executing your pitch, because your profile will be there. I would aim for top 15 schools.

I know a good bit about finance, but I have 0 background in it. How does that work, generally? I know this is a broad question. 
I know nothing about finance. Next question.

With my above stats, would I be able to get a job on wall street for 1 year prior to MBA? 
That's a tough one...I don't know, but I doubt it. Have you considered using a head hunter like Lucas Group?

WHAT SHOULD I DO? 
Believe it or not, dropping out is a viable option, especially since you're a veteran and you've decided this isn't for you. Don't waste any more time on this if you don't have to, plus, if you're eligible for the 9/11 GI Bill, you don't want to use to much prior to the MBA.

If I were in your position, I'd use a head hunter to secure a job that's relevant to your USMC experience...don't worry about getting a finance job, that's what the MBA is for, right? Get something to be a gap between now and the fall. Crush the GMAT, then get ready to roll in Round 1...deadlines are in October, HBS has theirs in September. Make contacts with former bosses in the USMC. Chances are if you land a job that employer won't be too keen on recommending you for an MBA, so you may want to line up two former supervisors just in case.

Best of luck!

kingfalcon · Answer

Could you enroll in the JD/MBA program next year? Given that you haven't taken your GMAT yet, you are way too late to the game to enter Fall 2013, so you'd be looking at starting in Fall 2014.

Plus, to get into business school, you need to know what you want to do, or at least be able to convince the adcom that you do. At this point, it just sounds like you know what you don't want to do: law. The reason I bring this up is this: if you decide you'd like to break into consulting, you can recruit for positions with a JD, too. Since you said you go to a "top-5 law school," I'm going to assume you either go to Columbia, Chicago, or NYU. Among those schools, NYU has the weakest business school, but I'm pretty sure all consulting firms recruit on campus there, too.

Even if you can't get into the JD/MBA program, you may have a shot at a career in business with a JD. Otherwise, yes, there's always the option of dropping out.

Edit : The above line of thinking is (obviously) based on the assumption that you would be interested in consulting. I don't know anything about finance recruiting with a JD, though. If you're sure you want to do finance, it may be true that dropping out is your best path forward as my man CobraKai already touched on.

CobraKai · Answer

When I interviewed at Tuck, I met a guy who was a first year at Harvard Law applying to do a JD/MBA with Tuck. That program was going to take 4 years. Even in a 3 year JD/MBA, you sacrifice your MBA electives in order to finish the JD, so it should be viewed as getting the JD with some business education, vice having an MBA with some law education. I'd personally rather do an MBA in 2 years with the classes I want to take, and I get the vibe that the OP does too.

aerien · Answer

There have been a few recent threads on the topic of law school to bschool or JD/MBA. Hope these help!

Stopping Law School, Realized Want MBA  
  1L to MBA  
  Any Lawyers Headed to Bschool?

Ward2012 · Answer

Your headline made me think of this article in today's NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/us/la ... wyers.html

CobraKai · Answer

Or this... https://essaysnark.com/2012/10/considering-law-school-instead/

kingfalcon · Answer

I hate to heap on the dog pile, but... this too: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... be/272729/

Seriously though, OP, I think you need to schedule a meeting with your law school advisor and an advisor at the business school. They can probably give you more actionable advice than we can (although we love to help).

Urgent Help from a disillusioned law student

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