Intern in IB-M&A

Is the JD/MBA or the HBS/HKS dual degree harder to get into than the pure MBA?                       

As far as I know you have to apply to HLS / HBS separately.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

This isn’t right. Maybe from a lower ranked institution, but you are out of your mind if you don’t think most peoples reaction isn’t, “holy shit, this individual handled and has contacts at two of the highest ranked professional schools?” 
 

Again, whether it’s worth the cost is a whole different conversation, but it’s factually wrong to say your recruiting outcomes are hurt by having a jd/mba compared to just one of the degrees. The personal opportunity cost may or may not be there, but no one views the degree as someone who was conflicted, they view it as someone who bizarrely had the ability and willingness to do both.

 

It is absolutely ridiculous to say it is harder to get into HBS than HLS. Normally your points on law school being a waste, it not being a great path to earnings, the work sucking, etc are all on base, but you are out of your mind to argue this lol. From a test score/ gpa basis and from a knowing personal individuals and their intelligence, HLS students are a completely different caliber than HBS. Sure, HBS students are older and have more years of work experience, but they are just dumber and way shittier students on average. They make more and are more confident and likely politically are less of a nut job in part because they are older, but come on—you really are going to sit there and act like most HLS students are gender studies majors who fell into a 175 Lsat? Give me a break. For every person who gamed their gpa and waitered for a year to study for the Lsat, there is some clown who secured an offer in IB by networking unusually early and knowing the right people and falling upward in PE due to name brand. On just a skillset basis—I’m pretty confident I could prep the average university student for pe interviews than to take the LSAT and get a 174+.

 
T30Alumnus

Lol all they do is read for three years after two years of lsat studying (which is grammar and basic logic and is more learnable than any other standardized test………)

I've studied for a lot of tests including the CFA, LSAT, GMAT, GRE, MCAT and found the LSAT the most 'fun' to study. The worst exam to study for was the MCAT. I think some medical people are just geniuses and they 'get' the MCAT.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
Most Helpful

How about you compare the same years chief:

7% for HLS 

Roughly 9% for HBS

That said, I think yield/ acceptance rate is actually a bad comparison. There are more less talented people that choose to do business than untalented people that choose to do law. Every clown fratstar dies into business, many people self select out of law school (although again, that might be a smart decision). Basically every lawyer tries to get into HLS and not every business person tries to go to hbs. Heck, generally the most successful individuals in business never even go to b school. 
 

I think the larger point I am making is while I agree being a lawyer is a path that leads to less interesting work, lower earnings, and more debt, those that do a jd/ mba program aren’t hurt by the degree. T30 seems to think so and I’ll chalk that up to his insecurity given the fact that he is clearly so bitter about his law experience. Is it a waste of time to his point—potentially. But when evaluating recruitment outcomes I think ultimately it’s a hard question to answer because there is some pretty crazy self selection that happens—those that pursue a JD/MBA are usually very unique and have interest and discipline to study both business and the law and are able to do both, which is abnormal. They also likely come from money because the cost of the degree is pretty outrageous. From the individuals I know, (one very closely at one of the top programs) they have all said it was the opposite experience to what t30 said. Instead they described it as an auto interview and preferential treatment at almost everywhere they interviewed. I think the scholarship at K&E really provides a great example of my point—they wouldn’t have a whole scholarship and one page dedicated to recruiting jd/MBA’s if they didn’t like them or were trying to not hire them. I don’t doubt that t30 has a negative view of jd/MBA’s and that some individuals/firms might agree with his skewed view, but to say that’s a collective belief in the field I think is a big jump. 

 

I disagree with like 90% of the comments ITT.  Overwhelmingly the JD/MBA people from b school were noticeably more intelligent and put together than the pure business school people (not sure what T30 is talking about).  Also, knowing two of them decently well, neither had any issues getting jobs and both went to name brand big law firms now.  M7 business school with a T10 law school if it matters.  I’m not an analyst I need to change that

The actual question in the OP has been answered though - you apply to all of these schools separately.  HKS is probably the easiest to get into of the three, but look at admissions stats to figure it out.

 

I get what you’re saying and agree that there are way more options outside of law but these two dudes are going to be just fine.  It sounds like you worked in big law and hated it - no judgment there I’m sure it sucks.  One of my close family members has been a lawyer for 20+ years though and genuinely loves it - different strokes.

 

I wouldn’t do a dual degree except HKS and only then if you wanted to do pub fin, government or government related business (defense contractor, public sector consulting). Everyone I know who was JD/MBA is firmly on one side or the other, either in business or law. Also you’re not going to learn to be a lawyer in law school, you’ll learn to “think like one”, which is honestly damaging for businesses. Lawyers always think in terms of downside risk.

Also the practice of law sucks, the big law lawyers I interact with have the world’s most boring job turning a bond transaction into legal documents, I would hate to be drafting the millionth boilerplate document at 2:00 AM. It’s necessary work for sure, but it’s not the fun part of a transaction. And that assumes big law, also most people don’t make partner and wind up going in house making somewhere between a senior analyst and an associate assuming MCOL or HCOL locations (200-350) and that’s after several years as a big law associate.

 

HKS is a joke.

Although perhaps HBS would be more likely to admit you if you were on the cusp and they knew they could get the university an extra $100k+ from admitting you into a dual degree program.But HKS is still known as "Harvard for everyone."

As far as dual degrees go, it's not super respected.As for HLS and a potential JD/MBA, it's respected as both programs are difficult to gain admission into, but makes no sense. It will give you no leg up in recruiting for any job (law or business), and as Harvard does not have integrated programs, it'll not only cost more $$$ but more importantly, take substantially more time - 4 years in total.

Basically amounts to a prestige circlejerk that makes no sense even if it's fully funded. I would avoid dual degree programs unless they're fully funded and fully integrated (i.e., no extra time and no extra money). Even then, it's more work, so would want to be certain there's some benefit post grad.

 

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