Advice needed for prospective law student

[Law]

Your Location: Canada
Your Age: 33
What kind of degree do I want?: A bachelor's degree to satisfy law school requirements
Current Regional Accredited Credits: None that I'm aware of
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: Half of my psychology degree has been completed from an attempt at university ages ago. Due to personal reasons/health issues my cGPA is around 1.8 and I dropped out
Any certifications or military experience?: None
Budget: ~7k USD
Commitments: Full time job
Dedicated time to study: Around 3 hours daily, more on the weekends, 20-30 hours each week
Timeline: 4 months or earlier if possible
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: My work won't pay for my degree unfortunately

Hello everyone. I've been reading about law school admissions and potentially would like to apply in the near future. The admissions require an LSAT score and a GPA of 3.0 minimum. I have read that most law schools take your first bachelor's degree into account for the GPA requirement and doing another bachelor's doesn't rectify the issue as it's the first 120 credits you've completed.
If I were to get a BLS or BABA from UMPI then try to complete my unfinished paychology degree down the line, as it's been a nagging reminder that I never finished university.
Would that be a feasible option? UMPI would be cost effective and quick. I don't want a lot of pressure on my LSAT performance because that's what I've read people with a low GPA do. Would this offset the GPA requirements? Or would my university courses be factored in their calculation as they were the "first" 60 credits I completed? I would go for a degree unrelated to psychology at UMPI so they're not transferred in/minimal transfer which gives me a chance to improve my GPA with UMPI.
Is there another way to do this without having more of the weightage rely on the LSAT? I don't have a specific law school in mind.

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong area.

[Stonybeach]

Your Location: Canada
Your Age: 33
What kind of degree do I want?: A bachelor's degree to satisfy law school requirements

Canadian law school requirements?

[Law]

Your Location: Canada
Your Age: 33
What kind of degree do I want?: A bachelor's degree to satisfy law school requirements

Canadian law school requirements?

Sorry I should have clarified, US law school requirements for most part. I don't see myself relocating for law school itself so I would be looking into an online program. There are currently no Canadian law schools that offer online programs.

[ss20ts]

Your Location: Canada
Your Age: 33
What kind of degree do I want?: A bachelor's degree to satisfy law school requirements

Canadian law school requirements?

Sorry I should have clarified, US law school requirements for most part. I don't see myself relocating for law school itself so I would be looking into an online program. There are currently no Canadian law schools that offer online programs.

What's your goal with a JD? To become a lawyer? If so then you'd need to confirm that a JD from the US would work. There aren't a ton of online JD programs in the US. They're definitely not cheap either. Syracuse University has one but it does require some in person attendance. Being international I imagine that only RA would work. You also need to make sure an online JD would accept students from outside the US. 

Is the $7K for the bachelor's degree only? You could go to UMPI and complete the BLS with a minor in psychology. They also have a BA in psychology so that dream is still an option for you.

[Stonybeach]

Deleted. Never mind, I defer to Jonathan Whatley.

[Jonathan Whatley]

You will need at least one or two years in-person on-campus law school time to become a lawyer in Canada, excluding from consideration Quebec which follows a different civil law system and a different system of evaluating foreign-trained law graduates.

To become an attorney in any Canadian province or territory except Quebec, foreign-trained law graduates must obtain a Certificate of Qualification from the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA).

NCA Policy Manual Section 7.2, Interactive Learning Requirement, includes that candidates must have completed “a Program that consists of no less than one (1) Year of In-person Instruction as defined in this Policy.”

“‘In-person Instruction’ means instruction that occurs through synchronous, face-to-face interaction conducted with the instructor (teacher or professor) and students in the same physical location (e.g. classroom).”

Section 7.3 gives an alternative for some candidates whose law degree did not fulfill that one-year in-person requirement. But the typical alternative is that they send you back to law school for an additional two years in-person, subsequent to your completed foreign law degree. “An Applicant who holds a Qualifying Law Degree from a Distance Learning Program or any Program that does not meet the interactive learning requirement under subsection 7.2, must successfully complete two (2) Years of In-person Instruction in a law Program acceptable to the NCA, at the Executive Director’s sole discretion, in addition to any other requirements identified by the Executive Director. The two-Year requirement may be reduced if an Applicant has received some In-person Instruction or instruction involving direct interaction between instructor and students (as per the National Requirement) in a law Program acceptable to the NCA, at the Executive Director’s sole discretion.”

Additionally, note from their Law Schools page that among law schools in the US, the NCA will only consider graduates of ABA-accredited schools. “If you attend a state-approved law school, you will not qualify for an NCA assessment.”

For becoming an attorney in Quebec with foreign training, see Applying for equivalence with the Barreau du Québec (information is in French).

[Law]

@ss20ts Yes, the end goal would be to practice law. From reading the requirements, it appears there's a few options for a hybrid form of delivery in the US which I'd be interested in if I get accepted.

As for online only I see there's St. Mary's and Purdue Global Law, St. Mary's outlines that it doesn't outright exclude international applicants but it is unlikely given their timeline scheduling for courses, I am unsure about whether they're stringent on Canadian students but that is something I'd have to discuss with their admissions.

Purdue allows international students as their only disclaimer appears to be passing TOEFL requirements if English isn't a first language. However, a JD from them means there's only 5 states that are eligible to practice law in after passing the bar, so that's something to consider.

If accepted into any of the schools mentioned above I'd be open to relocating to the states for that latter part of my law journey. My main concern at the moment is with completing a degree with a high GPA. As most law schools take into account your first bachelor's degree or first 120 credits, would doing a BLS or BABA unrelated to psychology help me when applying? I can always complete my unfinished degree at TESU or another university but ideally I'd want it to be a secondary degree as I have a lot of C's/D's and failed courses during my first attempt. Transferring those in after I've already obtained a degree at UMPI would ensure my GPA is competitive enough for law school while doing my psychology degree after would complete my dream of completing the unfinished degree, regardless of the GPA I'd graduate my psychology degree with. At the moment the budget would only be for UMPI and partially for TESU, I would then focus on the LSAT and take it one step at a time.

I hope this helps explain my situation better.

[Law]

@Jonathan Thank you for the detailed reply, this helped make the decision that I would consider online or hybrid programs due to the increased amount of programs of this type being offered in the states. As for relocation, it's something worth considering if I get accepted.

[PearsonOTHMQualifi7654]

@Jonathan Thank you for the detailed reply, this helped make the decision that I would consider online or hybrid programs due to the increased amount of programs of this type being offered in the states. As for relocation, it's something worth considering if I get accepted.

To practice law in the United States—with the exception of California—most jurisdictions require candidates to attend an ABA-approved law school in person (day, evening, or weekends) to qualify for the bar exam. Nearly all states emphasize in-residence study and do not accept fully online J.D. programs for bar eligibility.

California remains the primary exception. The California State Bar permits graduates of online or correspondence law schools registered with the State Bar to sit for the bar exam. Students in these programs must first pass the First-Year Law Students’ Examination (the “Baby Bar”) after their first year, and upon completing the full three- or four-year course of study, they may attempt the California Bar Exam—widely regarded as one of the most challenging in the U.S.

Once licensed in California, an attorney may later become eligible for admission in other states through reciprocity or motion, usually after several years of active practice and meeting each jurisdiction’s character and fitness requirements. However, this route is not accepted everywhere: New York and New Jersey, for instance, require a J.D. from an ABA-approved, in-person law program and do not recognize online J.D. degrees for initial admission.

Even though a few ABA-accredited hybrid or partially online law programs now exist (e.g., at Syracuse University or Mitchell Hamline School of Law), most states still insist that a substantial portion of the J.D. coursework be completed on campus. Therefore, for anyone intent on practicing outside California, attending a traditional, in-person law school remains the most reliable path.

For those primarily interested in the legal field but not necessarily in courtroom practice, there are rewarding alternative career paths—such as compliance, contract management, legal consulting, or corporate governance—that value legal training but do not require bar admission. In such roles, having a law degree or legal education can be a major advantage without the need to sit for a bar exam.

[Jonathan Whatley]

@Jonathan Thank you for the detailed reply, this helped make the decision that I would consider online or hybrid programs due to the increased amount of programs of this type being offered in the states. As for relocation, it's something worth considering if I get accepted.

To practice law in the United States—with the exception of California—most jurisdictions require candidates to attend an ABA-approved law school in person (day, evening, or weekends) to qualify for the bar exam. Nearly all states emphasize in-residence study and do not accept fully online J.D. programs for bar eligibility. […]

Once licensed in California, an attorney may later become eligible for admission in other states through reciprocity or motion, usually after several years of active practice and meeting each jurisdiction’s character and fitness requirements. However, this route is not accepted everywhere: New York and New Jersey, for instance, require a J.D. from an ABA-approved, in-person law program and do not recognize online J.D. degrees for initial admission.

Even though a few ABA-accredited hybrid or partially online law programs now exist (e.g., at Syracuse University or Mitchell Hamline School of Law), most states still insist that a substantial portion of the J.D. coursework be completed on campus.

This is out-of-date and inaccurate today. “Nearly all states […] do not accept fully online J.D. programs for bar eligibility” is especially untrue.

The quoted material looks like the product of AI trained on information from ten years ago or more that has been superseded since the ABA accredited a large number of partly and a few wholly distance learning programs.

Online ABA graduates can still face state-level impediments to bar admission in some states including New York.