11-02-2024, 10:08 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-02-2024, 10:23 AM by ProspectiveJD.)
Hey everyone.
I'm working full-time, outside of the US, and want to become a lawyer eventually. The opportunity cost of not working for three years and increasing my cost-of-living by going to the US is just not worth it in my shoes, so I'm looking at online law schools.
I see there are many options, and they're usually either ABA accredited, CalBar accredited, or completely unaccredited (e.g. Novus Law School). I'm interested in EITHER ABA or CalBar schools (completely fine if I can only take the Bar in California).
I learned that CalBar accreditation requires a minimum of 32 months of study, and ABA has even stricter requirements for online degrees (uncertain?), so I suppose that's why I couldn't find any 2-year online JDs, although there are many 2-year in-person JDs.
That said, I want to know what's the fastest & cheapest online law school? I have a 175 LSAT and 4.0 uGPA (BSc from public state university).
Some schools I'm aware of:
- Purdue Global: 2 years, 8 months! 100% online! But over $50,000 and no significant scholarships (I asked). Can start in January!
- Albany Law School: 3 years, 3 months. Online. Only September 2025 start. 1 yearly in-person residency required.
- National University JFK Law: 3 years and $62,000+.
- Vermont Law: 3+ years, residencies required
- Colleges of Law: 3.5 years, residencies
- St Mary's online: 3 years, 8 months
- CSU, 3 years 5 months. 6 residencies needed (!)
- University of New Hampshire: 3 years, 5 months. 14 residencies needed.
- 4 years: South Texas, Abraham Lincoln, Northeastern, St Francis, Touro Online, Dayton, Lincoln Memorial... many others
So far Purdue Global seems like the best bet, but it's still over $50,000. Anything cheaper? Any other hack/method I could sit for a US bar in a quicker/easier way (for example, I know that if you're an attorney anywhere in the world, you can sit for the CalBar - anywhere I can do that for less than 50K/32 months?).
Any thoughts and information is greatly appreciated.
Quick edit: I came across Northwestern California University School of Law. It's only about $15K total, so cost-wise that's fantastic. But it's 4 full years and impossible to accelerate, making it 16 months slower than Purdue. Anything like NWCUSL that's closer to 32 months? At this point I'll happily give $1000 to whoever knows but idk if that'll get this post removed
I'm working full-time, outside of the US, and want to become a lawyer eventually. The opportunity cost of not working for three years and increasing my cost-of-living by going to the US is just not worth it in my shoes, so I'm looking at online law schools.
I see there are many options, and they're usually either ABA accredited, CalBar accredited, or completely unaccredited (e.g. Novus Law School). I'm interested in EITHER ABA or CalBar schools (completely fine if I can only take the Bar in California).
I learned that CalBar accreditation requires a minimum of 32 months of study, and ABA has even stricter requirements for online degrees (uncertain?), so I suppose that's why I couldn't find any 2-year online JDs, although there are many 2-year in-person JDs.
That said, I want to know what's the fastest & cheapest online law school? I have a 175 LSAT and 4.0 uGPA (BSc from public state university).
Some schools I'm aware of:
- Purdue Global: 2 years, 8 months! 100% online! But over $50,000 and no significant scholarships (I asked). Can start in January!
- Albany Law School: 3 years, 3 months. Online. Only September 2025 start. 1 yearly in-person residency required.
- National University JFK Law: 3 years and $62,000+.
- Vermont Law: 3+ years, residencies required
- Colleges of Law: 3.5 years, residencies
- St Mary's online: 3 years, 8 months
- CSU, 3 years 5 months. 6 residencies needed (!)
- University of New Hampshire: 3 years, 5 months. 14 residencies needed.
- 4 years: South Texas, Abraham Lincoln, Northeastern, St Francis, Touro Online, Dayton, Lincoln Memorial... many others
So far Purdue Global seems like the best bet, but it's still over $50,000. Anything cheaper? Any other hack/method I could sit for a US bar in a quicker/easier way (for example, I know that if you're an attorney anywhere in the world, you can sit for the CalBar - anywhere I can do that for less than 50K/32 months?).
Any thoughts and information is greatly appreciated.
Quick edit: I came across Northwestern California University School of Law. It's only about $15K total, so cost-wise that's fantastic. But it's 4 full years and impossible to accelerate, making it 16 months slower than Purdue. Anything like NWCUSL that's closer to 32 months? At this point I'll happily give $1000 to whoever knows but idk if that'll get this post removed
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