I am currently a litigation paralegal at a white-shoe law firm in New York, but I want to do consulting. I am trying to network my way in and achieving some success in getting interviews, but if it doesn't work out, is this good enough work experience to get into a T20 business school?
I went to a very good liberal arts college and have a high gpa. I test very well and would likely do well on the GMAT.
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With a good GMAT and solid GPA, just about any work experience can get you into a top school.
Will it get you into Harvard, though? Probably not.
Not planning on law school?
I was thinking about it when I took the job but lawyers' lives are horrible.
Think bankers have it better?
1) Not trying to become a banker. More interested in consulting or asset management.
2) Even if I were, bankers have a more diverse range of options. Lawyers (at least litigators) have almost no transferable skills.
1.) AM may be a bit better, but I hear the top consulting firms are meat grinders, too.
2.) Skills always look more transferable at a distance. As a quant, about 30% of my skills are transferable. To us, it looks like 50% of a paralegal's skills are transferable, so you've got it better than I do.
I think with a good GMAT you've got a great shot at T20.
Word. Okay wow I seriously thought I was screwed b/c I don't work at McKinsey or Google.
Do you think life as a consultant is better than either a lawyer or banker? I think it's worse. You are on the road 90% of the business week. Fuck that.
Isn't the WSO consensus that anything outside of M7 is a waste of money?
Ha, many here on WSO will tell you that anything short of H or S is a waste of money.
Anyway, I'd bump the threshold from M7 up to the top 15. The recruitment dropoff after ~15, however, is pretty damn steep.
Really?
Would assume that an MBA even from a top 50 school, would be worthwhile just more regional. Example SMU MBA is roughly $50,000 and ranked in the other half of 30+ but seems to have placements in larger and regional companies in Dallas/Texas with average salaries in the 100K+ range.
I mean I agree top 15 is pretty much required for the likes of Google, Facebook, MBB, IB/PE/HF but good business jobs in general? Or at least a step up from litigation paralegal?
UMich Ross, Hass, Darden, UW-Madison, Kelley, and UT Austin (for energy) are worth their lower tuitions.
NYU, Tuck, CMU, Duke, Oxford, Cambridge, LSB, LSE, INSEAD, IIM, Cornell Johnson, maybe Rice (for energy) are all worth it too, IMHO.
But no, don't go to Fordham for an MBA.
Great thanks for all the feedback. I have a 3.8 and test well, and am perfectly fine going to NYU or Haas.
This was one of the most informative threads I've seen here so far re: paralegal background and the value (or non-value) of work experience relative to GMAT when considering top 15 schools.
I'm a corporate paralegal with a 3.0 (history major) and a lot of time to put towards the GMAT in the coming years. Thinking about transitioning into a business analyst or gov compliance role in my company to bolster my resume/app profile if I can swing it. What do you folks think of this, or will it not matter as much as just blowing the GMAT out of the water?
Also, I guess apologies for necro'ing this thread.
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