Northwestern California University School of Law - My Journey

[ArielB74]

• about $4000 a year in tuition - you can split it into 12 payments (you send pre-dated checks)
  

Is that a typo?!  
Are you planning on practicing law, or is this for use in business?  Or just for fun since the tuition is apparently beyond cheap.

[collegecareerstudent]

It's not a typo. It's the real current tuition cost. You can use it for law or not.

[EdwardMendez]

That's so cool! I'm glad you landed on another grad program you liked. Good luck! Can't wait to see how the program treats you.

It's a JD which is a doctorate.

I know it's a doctorate. Why are you bringing that up? Do you not think that doctorates qualify as graduate education? That would be a first for me, and I've been around the block a few times. 

A graduate degree is anything past the undergraduate (Bachelor's) level of study. A graduate program is any program that offers degrees past the undergraduate level. Doctorates are considered graduate degrees. Any program offering education past the undergraduate level are graduate programs. 

Here are the first four links that came up when I searched for, "What is a graduate degree?":


https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/bl...te-degree/

https://online.maryville.edu/blog/what-i...te-degree/

https://www.devry.edu/blog/what-is-a-gra...egree.html

https://bau.edu/blog/graduate-degree/

Some of those schools even reference the JD in their posts. What I said is accurate. [url=https://bau.edu/blog/graduate-degree/][/url]

You're absolutely right.

[SweetSecret]

I do not know how I missed this thread, but I will be following. I'm planning to apply to law schools in November. I have been seriously considering that same school though to keep costs down.

[khwaja1924]

It's great to hear you've started on this journey. I wish we had this option available a few years ago. Here is my family's story:

My wife is a practicing lawyer, in MD, who attended law school in London. She took her bar exam in NY (1996). So, when my daughter expressed interest in going into the field of law, I started weighing our options. My daughter was 18 at the time (graduated high school and her AS degree in English). We decided she would follow the same path as her mother - attend law school in London. So, we sent her off to London to study at City, University of London, in their law school. Well, three years later, I'm proud to say my daughter is graduating this month with her law degree at the youthful age of 21. 

Her next step is to take the bar exam in NY early next year. She is planning on taking the bar exam prep course. 

Had the Northwestern California Univ option been available at her time, I would have seriously considered it. While my daughter has saved a lot of time, she did incur debt by going to law school, in England, as a foreign student. 

I'll keep your school in mind as my youngest daughter (13) is starting to express interest in law, as well. 

Good luck on your journey! Thanks for sharing this valuable information.

[ss20ts]

As everyone knows, the school is accredited by the CA Bar, but is not ABA accredited.   Initially you can only practice in CA, but can also do Federal or Indian cases if you apply to those bars.  However, after you pass the bar and practice for a number of years you can apply for licensure in some other states.  

I started last Thursday and I'll try to update through the 4-year journey.  I did watch a lot of My Life As Macy on Youtube.   She is a second year, and has done vlogs of her first year.  Her recommendations for how to organize, along with the school's are excellent.  I work fulltime, so I'll be studying 4 evening hours Mon-Thurs, and about 5 hours on Saturday.    I also have commute time to listen to lectures, and my lunch hours will be doing definitions, or watching lectures.  Basically I won't have a life for the next four years.

Here are my first week impressions and info:

• really impressed with the tools, resources, and organization that the school provides
  
• impressed with the professors I've met - they want to help and for you to succeed
  
• each class has a syllabus that tells you exactly what to do for each of the first eight weeks, then for each month after that
  
• you take 4 courses the first year - Intro to Law, Torts, Contracts, and Crim Law
  
• the lessons are live, recorded, and audio, something for everyone or any place/time you are studying
  
• you can watch or attend a classes led by different professors to find someone whose style clicks with you
  
• the school has it's own student portal that is robust and easy to navigate
  
• you have access to LexisNexis, but I have explored it yet
  
• you have access to Cali Lessons that are lessons, podcasts, etc., seems to be a really good resource
  
• you can start any month and they normally start people on the 10th or the 25th
  
• must of the students are 30 years old and older - I'm probably one of the oldest
  
• the week before I started I watched a lot of youtube law classes from around the US so I was familiar with how lectures were done
  
• the school's admin team has been good and easy to work with and very responsive.
  

Approximate costs - even the little stuff as it adds up:

• about $4000 a year in tuition - you can split it into 12 payments (you send pre-dated checks)
  
• about $600 of misc fees at the start of your year
  
• I spent about $1500 on my first year books, outlines, dictionary, etc. - for the first year I bought new books - you can definitely get used ones for about half and that's what I'll do for future years.  I also got some other books and audio that weren't recommended, but the first year I wanted to see what would help me the most.
  
• I spent $100 in sending them my transcripts
  
• I spent about $100 in office supplies to set it up like My Life As Macy
  
• I decided the first day that I needed a faster printer (black/white) for all of the syllabi (about 50 pages each), but printers are most out of stock due to supply chain issues, so I'll limp along with my tiny inkjet for a while longer
  
• I decided my second day that I needed a heavy duty 3-hole punch
  

I'm really enjoying my first week and I think the study plan is tough, but doable.

They have a formal and informal FB page and students are on Reddit too.

http://www.nwculaw.org

Class of 2026 

It will be interesting to see if they are admitted to the ABA since they have recently made changes about online programs. Syracuse University now has a hybrid JD. It's mostly online along with some synchronous online courses and on campus residencies of which there are 6. The SU program is ABA approved and costs a boatload more. 

How is the program going for you? By now I'm thinking you've completed at least a semester so you have a good feel for how the program will be. Do you take 1 class at a time? You mentioned having 4 classes the first year. Is the program 15 week long semesters or 8 week terms?

[sanantone]

It's great to hear you've started on this journey. I wish we had this option available a few years ago. Here is my family's story:

My wife is a practicing lawyer, in MD, who attended law school in London. She took her bar exam in NY (1996). So, when my daughter expressed interest in going into the field of law, I started weighing our options. My daughter was 18 at the time (graduated high school and her AS degree in English). We decided she would follow the same path as her mother - attend law school in London. So, we sent her off to London to study at City, University of London, in their law school. Well, three years later, I'm proud to say my daughter is graduating this month with her law degree at the youthful age of 21. 

Her next step is to take the bar exam in NY early next year. She is planning on taking the bar exam prep course. 

Had the Northwestern California Univ option been available at her time, I would have seriously considered it. While my daughter has saved a lot of time, she did incur debt by going to law school, in England, as a foreign student. 

I'll keep your school in mind as my youngest daughter (13) is starting to express interest in law, as well. 

Good luck on your journey! Thanks for sharing this valuable information.

According to this, online law degrees do not qualify one to sit for the New York bar exam. 

https://www.nybarexam.org/eligible/eligibility.htm#C

[GoodYellowDogs]

I am enjoying it, but really struggling.  Covid (so I'm working 10-12 hours a day) nursing strike, my dog in the hospital for a week.  I am behind.  My goal is to get a passing grade.  That's all I care about.

Someone asked about semesters - no - it's a year long program.  Finals have to be taken by the 52 week (per the CA Bar) and mid-terms can be taken any time.  Some work due throughout the year.

[life_learner]

As someone who finished the program a couple of months ago, below are something I learned from the experience:
- Do not spend much time on cases, maybe just a few to get a sense. After that, something like Casenote legal brief is sufficient.
- Leverage the free course (video lectures) material from Barbri or Themes. Those professors can explain key concepts well.
- Practice multiple choice questions (Kaplan etc) and actual baby bar or bar essay exams

[Tireman4]

Good luck to you. You sound like you are having a blast. Maybe one day, after all is said and done, I might work on a BS in Meteorology. LOL