Law School Grades influential?

[Lawguy22]

hello,

I am thinking about applying to business school after I graduate law school or after a year or 2 of working (I am a rising 3L). I am currently at a T-20 law school and in the top 10% of the class. I would only be willing to leave to do this if I was able to get into a top 5 MBA program. I have no debt currently and would not be assuming any if i decide to get my MBA. I want to use my JD/MBA to either in corporate M&A law or in a start up environment. I went to a small liberal arts school (business admin major) where I had a GPA a little over 3.0, and then I worked at a large consulting firm for a year prior to law school. I am truing to figure out if i should take the GMAT this summer as i will have some free time. Do you think my high law school GPA will offset my very low undergrad one? Also I scored around the 90% on the LSAT. I would really like to apply to HBS or Wharton.

[CriticalSquareMBA]

Hi there,

Great question! To answer it, let's bifurcate between academic ability and stats. A high law school GPA, being in the top 10%, and going to an institution held in regard will all help with the former. Yes, your undergrad GPA is low, but if you've done well in law school, no adcom will wonder if you can hack it in bschool. If you have particularly low grades in important things like econ, stats, calc, etc. that may need to be addressed, however.

Now, as for stats, law school GPAs aren't reported. Undergrad ones are. So in that realm, you have a low GPA. However, the way to offset a low GPA is to have a stellar GMAT score.

As for applying to top 5 programs, well, that's impossible to say without the full picture. I don't know what you did at the consulting firm, and a lot of it will come down to what you do after you leave law school. Not a ton of lawyers apply to bschool in general but you can bet your bottom dollar you'll run into some stiff competition in that tier.

Overall, I'd say go ahead and take the GMAT. It doesn't hurt and if you push it off a year it'll coincide with the Bar and you don't want that. If you have a little time (and you test well) then go for it! Better to have it in your back pocket than to rush to get it later.

Bhavik