I am writing with an odd request. I am a non-traditional candidate in that I am an attorney (and a non-traditional lawyer in that I am actually quite happy with my job!) on the older end of the spectrum for most schools. Further, I am planning to apply not now in 2011 but in 2012 in order to improve my work experience and receive extra education in the interim.

As an attorney, I already have a solid footing for a career. I began law school certain that I would go into litigation only to stumble into - and find that I loved - the corporate world. While I would love to get an MBA to have the flexibility to better explore the corporate world generally (and the areas of consulting and business finance in particular), taking the 2 years off to get the education will make the most sense if I can attend a top-20 school.

I guess what I'm asking is, do I have a shot? Should I just buckle down and stick with my J.D. or follow this through? I already anticipate that it will be a bit of a challenge to "sell" my experience to the admissions boards. My dream schools in no particular order are:

Cornell
Duke
Dartmouth
Yale
UT Austin

An exhaustive profile follows:

White male
U.S. Citizen
Age at time of planned 2012 application: 31

GMAT: Best guess based on practice testing for the last few months: 690 - 710, skewed in favor of the verbal section. I will take the GMAT in a few months, allowing plenty of time to retest if needs be.

Undergraduate
School: In top 75 USNWR
Undergraduate Major: Political Science, 3.7 GPA
Undergraduate Quantitative: Very limited - A single, very difficult, Economics course (B+), light statistics in a Political Science Course (B+), Deductive reasoning course (B+). I did receive a W - "withdrawal" - in a math course. I was forced to withdraw due to personal issues rather than any academic performance problems. I did not retake the course.

Graduate
J.D. from top 50 Law School
GPA: 3.3 (School has a 3.3 average)
LSAT 166

Planned Education:
Online courses in accounting, business finance, and possibly statistics from my UG alma mater.

International Experience
Languages: Spanish, French
Travel: 2 1/2 years in South America, 3 years Europe. All time in Latin America is work experience, either with the US Government or with NGOs.

Work Experience:
- Pre J.D., I interned with the State Department
- Total post UG work experience at time of application: 3 1/2 years
- Law Clerk experience on various civil matters
- Corporate counsel for mid-sized software company, primarily handling contract negotiations with large institutional customers. Contract values are frequently in the $1M+ range. This requires close work with sales and finance departments to handle customer-facing and revenue recognition issues.
- Presently looking for work with a financial institution in part to bolster my application but primarily due to shifting interests


Thank you in advance for reading this exhaustive profile and for any advice you can give.

Hi Scott,

Thanks for writing in, happy to help. Making the switch from practicing lawyer to MBA student is not unheard of, but it can be an uphill climb. The schools will want to really understand why you are making this move and need to believe not simply because you are dissatisfied with the job/profession. You hint at the "why" in your post but you really will want to expand and clarify this in your essays, as it is the crux of your profile.

Putting your JD-profile aside, I think you're looking at a good range of schools for your profile, assuming you get a 700 GMAT. You'll be on the older side of applicants, which can be easily explained by your law degree, but here is where you have to make the transition into why you are now seeking an MBA.

Since you have an extra year I encourage you to immerse yourself in business wherever possible -- through your job, community activities, online quant courses, etc., to help sharpen your profile for the transition.

Good luck!

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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