I graduated from law school at the University of Tennessee in 2008, and actually visited at Seattle University Law School the third year where I finished.

In hindsight, I shot myself in the foot a little bit because rather than doing law firm internships, I was more interested in business and was helping my friends on some startup company ideas. Towards the end I started looking into internships, and came very close to getting several, but ultimately had no job waiting when I graduated. I also found my real niche towards the end, primarily in corporate, tax, and intellectual property law. These fields, of course, lend themselves to working with startups, venture capital, etc., and so after passing the bar I did this a while as a solo practitioner. Getting work was very tough, though, given the economy and the fact that a lot of that type of work is concentrated in very large law firms (which won't hire me because I wasn't top 10 in my class nor did I go to a top 10 school).

So, after a while I started thinking about an MBA... I applied to a few programs, and got accepted to Hult (with a scholarship), and Tulane. Hult seems to be a greatly emerging school with a cool multi-campus aspect, and is only one year, but may be lacking in name brand. Tulane seems to have a pretty damn good name and alumni network, but it's quite expensive and is two years long. Plus, New Orleans is very fun but I've become a bit more of a San Francisco/New York sort of person rather than a southerner, but maybe this doesn't matter as much.

I'm approaching the MBA as a way to "reboot" my lack of "real" work experience (that is, non-entrepreneurial experience, even though my entrepreneurial works were actually reasonably profitable). I figure with enough legwork I could get an internship via the MBA program, and later, a job. Whereas right now, even with a law degree and a pretty strong background in web/computer science, there seems to be absolutely nothing out there (especially in business law).

I have heard some say, however, that an MBA won't make the person nor the opportunity, ultimately... That employers will still look to your previous work experience, and if there is very little, you could still end up screwed.

Any thoughts on this? I have also considered deferring a year, and possibly applying to other programs (perhaps raising my GMAT and going for some Top 10 schools). I'm a bit stuck... Who would have thought a law degree would be so worthless!

An MBA never makes a person. If you're a star, you would still be a star - you're not a star just because you graduated from Harvard. Especially if you're talking about being an entrepreneur.

Having said that, there are better options than Hult and Tulane. Given that you're in your mid-20s, you have hardly anything to lose by deferring a year, getting extra work experience and going to a Top 10 school.

The school doesn't make you a star, just like driving a BMW doesn't make you a star. But the quality of education, networking opportunities and brand name are much better at Harvard than they are at Hult. Most importantly, recruitment opportunities for top schools are leaps and bounds ahead of lesser schools.

If you're planning to work for a decent company like Goldman Sachs or McKinsey, definitely defer, and head to a top 10. If you're just going to do an MBA for the sake of doing it, then you deserve to go to Hult.

The best judge of a school's worth are the recruitment opportunities that you get out of going there. Don't follow rankings per se (though they will offer a decent guide on which are the better schools), or what other people may say about the schools - just look at their recruitment opportunities, if you're happy with those kind of opportunities, then go ahead and go there.

Thanks for the reply. I agree with what you've said here. There are a couple of issues, though.

Firstly, there's no guarantee I'll get into a top 10 school; everyone wants that and there are only... ten of them, ya know.

Which leads to the second issue... In terms of getting experience, I don't see the next year holding much. Law firms are not hiring at all right now; they're on a total freeze, and sadly, a law degree, even with a computer background, just doesn't translate over to general business positions like MBA degrees do. It's a shame, because that probably shouldn't be the case, but that's how it is. Thus, my experience over the next year, should I forego both of these MBAs, will probably be something along the lines of waiter, construction, garbage man, or whatever. It's rough out there and a lot of my law school friends are back living with their parents or working service jobs.

So, as to your point, I'm not doing the MBA just "for the sake of doing it", I'm doing it to make myself more marketable at a time when even a law degree will not get you a job. Even though Tulane is lower than Harvard, etc, in the rankings, it seems to be only a single step below in terms of the national employer mindset... It's name still precedes itself. No, though, I'm not as interested in working for a major financial or consulting company; I'd rather work somewhere in the innovation/technology sectors (Google, Apple, etc).

So, as to your point, I'm not doing the MBA just "for the sake of doing it", I'm doing it to make myself more marketable at a time when even a law degree will not get you a job. Even though Tulane is lower than Harvard, etc, in the rankings, it seems to be only a single step below in terms of the national employer mindset... It's name still precedes itself. No, though, I'm not as interested in working for a major financial or consulting company; I'd rather work somewhere in the innovation/technology sectors (Google, Apple, etc).