The Application Process

Hi there,

Well, I believe your username says it all, eh? This is an interesting position you find yourself in and I'm going to give you my opinion. I'm sure there will be other who post after me either in agreement or disagreement. However, there are a couple of key questions that would be great if you would answer.

1) What was your undergrad degree in and where did you go?
2) What did you do between undergrad and law school? Or did you go straight into law school?
3) What kind of law?
4) How old are you?

The fact of the matter is, given that you just graduated last year from law school, this puts you in a difficult situation. Essentially, the question that naturally comes to mind is, A) why did you go to law school and B) after a year, how do I know you're not quitting and are truly passionate? From a perception standpoint, it's something you will have to articulate clearly. Keep in mind, 9 out of 10 times when they see someone even mention "law" it has to do with a dual MBA/JD degree.

Your undergraduate GPA is great and your average performance in law school won't matter as much as you think. Your GMAT is great (congrats!) so that'll check that box as well. Essentially, they won't question if you can handle an MBA.

The components of your application you will have to focus on is:

Story: Like I mentioned above, why an MBA after a law degree? I won't rehash this but suffice it to say they will scrutinize this. The bright side is that it seems through the type of law you practice you can advocate for exposure to business resulting in your passion. That's definitely something to move forward from and something adcoms can sympathize with!

Professional Experiences: This depends on what you did before law school (if anything) and what kind of law you do now. Essentially, you need to be able to speak to concrete and impactful leadership experiences. Preferably these wouldn't come entirely from an extracurricular standpoint. You would need to be able to point to your career and say "this is why I'll be an effective business leader"

Extracurricular: You haven't mentioned any of these. If you were working between undergrad and law school, were you involved? Were you involved in undergrad and law school? Have you been involved since?

If you can give me a little more information I'd love to answer your question about your actual candidacy! Or you contact me directly and we can talk through it if you're not comfortable sharing more information on the forum.

Bhavik

Hey there!

Way to hijack the thread

No, just kidding, happy to help! I'm going to respond to your 2nd post in a roundabout way so stay with me here.

Firstly, let's talk about scholarships. They're primarily driven by unique profiles and GMAT scores. This is why women tend to have a slightly easier with scholarships than men because their competitive pool is smaller and for the top quartile they're in hot demand. So if you do get a 730+, that will help. Try to crush it - every step up will help.

Now onto where you'll likely get scholarships (and a close to full one to boot). Unfortunately, you're aiming a little too high. Ross is going to be a tough nut to crack. They have a decent sized scholarship fund to pull from but it's a top program (let's ignore ranks as that varies by source). UCLA you might have a better shot at but here's the real key to this. Do a little research on the 12 - 25 ranked schools - look at their incoming class profiles. See where you, as an attorney, are underrepresented and where you could bring something valuable to the classroom. That's going to be a good start to determining where you have a better chance. Cross reference that with available scholarship disbursement information and try to find places that have looser purse strings.

Now - let's not forget this: the schools you find will have to meet your goals (I'm not sure what they are just that it isn't finance or consulting).

If your primary concern is funding, then you have to look lower. They're inversely related.

I hope that helps - let me know if you have any questions!

Bhavik

Hey there,

I didn't realize you were an alum at Ross. You're right in that Ross is a little more generous with its scholarships but it's not a sure thing. As an alum you may have a slightly better shot. UCLA, like I mentioned, you have a slightly better shot at.

Here's the big thing - you're looking for significant assistance, right? At Ross or UCLA you might be able to get a little bit of assistance with a stellar GMAT and a great story, but it won't be a full ride or even close.

That's my main point here - it's not to discourage you or say no one at a higher ranked program will give you money, but that the level of funding you're looking for is significant, right?

As for this information - your best bet is the schools themselves. Their reports, websites, etc. will get you part of the way, but whatever you can't find, pick up the phone and ask. They'll give you the information and then you have to play detective to put together the pieces.

Thoughts?

Bhavik