A question that is often asked is if you can go straight from law school to a top mba program. The short answer is yes. Generally speaking MBA programs do not have any education requirements, other than a bachelors degree. And even then a couple of schools have BA/MBAs, although these were much more common in the 1970s. There really are three paths if you're interested in pursuing an MBA after your JD.

Consider a JD MBA Dual Degree Program.

Most of the top schools offer a joint degree program with business and law. Generally speaking, you'll need to apply to both schools at the same time, which means you'll need both your LSAT and GMAT scores to submit. The biggest benefit of enrolling in a dual degree program is the time and money you can save on your education. All the top schools that have dual degree programs offer at least a 4 year programâ€“cutting a year off the traditional 3 year JD and 2 Year MBA. However in the past several years a select number of schools have managed to cut an additional year off the joint degree program, allowing you to complete both degrees in a combined 3 years. The first program was launched at Northwestern and in 2010 Yale followed suit. If you're interested in pursuing both degrees and can get into a 3 year combined program, it's a win-win situation: two top professional degrees and little extra tuition. (your tuition will be a little higher than just a JD degree because you'll need to take summer courses.

If you already have a JD you can go back for an MBA.

Obviously if you already have a JD then a joint degree program is out of reach for you. However, that shouldn't stop you from applying to an MBA program. But you should know that your JD will not necessarily help you as you apply for the MBA program, it won't hurt you, but it may not help. This is because law schools and business schools are ranked on different criteria. The two most important factors to get into a top law school are LSAT score and grades, in that order. The two most important factors to get into a top MBA program are Year of Work Experience and GMAT score, in that order. Thus what you find, especially at some law schools, is an infighting between the two schools for fear that allowing too many relatively "low ranked" candidates in will hurt each school's respective ranking. This is because the majority of law school applicants are coming straight out of undergrad with no work experience. The benefit of option number 1, the dual degree program is that you can apply to both schools, if you don't get in to the MBA program, then you have two additional years to network and continue to reapply.

(I'm assuming here that your JD and MBA are from different schools and that you're looking for a better MBA program than your JD program. )

If you graduated from a top 10 law school and are looking to get into a top 100 MBA program, your law school degree should count as a plus.

There is currently a big push for law students to have a solid understanding of finance and business. And there's no better understanding of both fields than through a top MBA program. If you have any questions or comments feel free to post, there are also great resources available online for paying for law school.