Mr. MBA Attorney

You must have had a good time at Lehigh based on that GPA which will give Yale SOM some pause. But you have certainly more than made up for it, with your 3.52 in law school, the 3.96 in your master of laws, and a GMAT score that is above the SOM class average of 721. You clearly have some solid experience and business schools like accomplished young lawyers in the class. More often that not, it takes lawyers a longer time to realize they hate their profession and then go into an Executive MBA program to get out of it. Your work to establish a free local medical care van will also help your candidacy at SOM. Bottom line: I think your chances of an admit are double the school’s 25% acceptance rate. If for any reason, Yale does turn you down, I think your chances at Columbia and NYU are pretty good.

Hello Mr. MBA Attorney! Thanks for posting. Krista Nannery from mbaMission here. Rebar! Have you see Ai Weiwei’s work with rebar? It’s pretty cool. I think you’re pretty cool too! If anyone has a solid case for an MBA as a lawyer, it is you. (Although I’m a little unclear on “general practice attorney” and want to make sure that you have enough real estate exposure in your professional life. It looks like maybe you only have one year of full-time work experience after law school if I assume you graduated at 22 and spent three years in law school. Not sure if b-schools will want more “seasoning” given that they know law school takes three years.)
The 2.93 gives me pause too so do everything you can to make up for that…maybe it’s taking the GMAT again or perhaps it’s doing something like HBX Core (sorry, I forget the new name…I know I should Google it!) or Math for Management at the Haas extension program. You’re in optional essay territory here so make sure b-schools understand why the 2.93 happened and know that it won’t happen again. (The law school and LLM GPAs will help but spell it out in the optional essay and don’t assume.) I do feel that Yale can be stats snobs — historically, their averages have been up there with HBS and GSB. So prepare for that. Have some good Plan Bs just in case. (Stern totally makes sense.) And rely on your recommenders to highlight your maturity and focus. I wish you all the best in this process!
Krista

Hi, this is Melisa from Stratus Admissions. You are coming to the table with 3 degrees under your belt already – which shows you are a life-long learner for sure. The drawback of this will be less work experience compared to your peers. I would want to dig into why this is the right time for you to get an MBA. And how an MBA is going to help you get a role at a development firm. It sounds like you’ve done clerking and work with your family business which you should definite build into your essays and/or an optional essay. Not knowing your verbal/quant breakdown, you will want to make sure you can show that you have the quantitative ability required for B school. If this is an opportunity, then you will want to take a supplementary course – especially if your undergrad math grades are not up to par. For Yale, you will want to make sure you highlight your community based (shared van, Boys & Girls Club) involvement as an impact on society is a part of their mission. I think your chances are better than average for Yale and your other target schools. I would suggest adding Cornell to your list as well – for their strong programs in Real Estate and Family Business. Best of luck!

Hi, this is Melisa from Stratus Admissions. You are coming to the table with 3 degrees under your belt already – which shows you are a life-long learner for sure. The drawback of this will be less work experience compared to your peers. I would want to dig into why this is the right time for you to get an MBA. And how an MBA is going to help you get a role at a development firm. It sounds like you’ve done clerking and work with your family business which you should definite build into your essays and/or an optional essay. Not knowing your verbal/quant breakdown, you will want to make sure you can show that you have the quantitative ability required for B school. If this is an opportunity, then you will want to take a supplementary course – especially if your undergrad math grades are not up to par. For Yale, you will want to make sure you highlight your community based (shared van, Boys & Girls Club) involvement as an impact on society is a part of their mission. I think your chances are better than average for Yale and your other target schools. I would suggest adding Cornell to your list as well – for their strong programs in Real Estate and Family Business. Best of luck!