Grant

The Short List met Grant when he was a high school sophomore. Even then, it was apparent that Grant had many academic interests: business, history, liberal arts… Boston College allowed him to explore all of them. During college, Grant interned in financial services and law firms and spent his junior year studying in Rome, Italy. Wherever he worked, lived, or studied, Grant had a quest to learn and take in as much as possible.

Near the end of college, Grant decided to pursue either an MBA or a law degree. Together, we reviewed the requirements for both. Grant could see that it would take quite an effort and he wanted to do it right, so he decided to take a year off after graduation to research schools. Always one to challenge himself, Grant decided that he couldn’t decide between the two degrees and would instead pursue a joint JD/MBA.

Most joint programs require that you be accepted to one program before applying to the second. Grant focused on schools that had equally strong law and business programs, and The Short List helped him implement a strategy to increase his chances: We encouraged him to attend events and network with key personnel so they knew him before he applied. We also emphasized the importance of the entrance exams. Grant spent the summer traveling two hours each way, twice a week, to prepare to take the exams in the fall. He scored high on his LSAT, so he decided to apply to law schools first and worked to make his law school applications as strong as possible.
Grant received an offer from Villanova Law School and felt a great sense of relief, but knew he still had to be accepted to the business school to complete his dream. Villanova raises the level of commitment required by asking students to enter their first year of law school before applying to the joint program.

The Short List helped Grant make connections before he applied.

Grant decided to make that commitment and took on the burden of applying to the MBA program while also trying to adjust to law school and remain successful in his first-year classes. His efforts paid off, and he wrote to us: “I wanted to let you know that I was accepted into Villanova’s JD/MBA program! I found out the good news…and I am extremely excited.” He went on to add, “After finishing up law school courses this spring, I plan on beginning business school courses this summer. Not much of a summer break, but I want to begin business school courses before law school starts up again.”

We have no doubt that Grant will be successful however he chooses to use his degrees. Grant closed his note to us by saying “You’ve now helped me through the process of applying to college, law school, and business school…I still can’t really believe it all came true.”