Hi all!
So I’m almost finished with my undergraduate and I’ve been looking at Law School ticket prices insert frightened face and have been considering joining the air force for their JAG program. I don’t have a crazy amount of debt in student loans and my degree will be in English with a minor in Biology.
Little background, I come from a military family and have a relatively realistic view on the military, so no starry eyed romanticism here!
I also want to travel, so if I could be paid to, that would be a major plus.
Does anyone have any information about this? Or maybe some advice?
Thank you!
AFAIK, you apply to the JAG like you apply for a job once you’re in law school, you don’t join the service in advance to participate in JAG as a student. I suspect it’s considered a public service job/government job and you would probably be eligible for LRAP or other loan repayment programs if they exist. My only direct experience is many years old and two friends were being pursued to apply to JAG out of law school. I’m sure there may be others with more current information.
My brother was a JAG attorney. He went through law school and paid his own way without being in ROTC. After law school he applied to the JAG program, was accepted and went through Officer Training and was officially in the military (won’t name the branch to keep anonymous). There was no sort of loan pay-back. He paid out of pocket for law school.
He had friends in school that were in ROTC and he said it was hard seeing their college paid for while he paid his own. However, of his friends, he was the only one accepted into the JAG program. He told me that just because they were in ROTC, they were not guaranteed a JAG position.
Does your college have an ROTC program? I would definitely go and talk to them to see the options. It’s been a long time since my brother was in so things may have changed and I don’t want to talk too much about it if that’s the case.
He enjoyed his time in.
Good luck to you!
A little research identifies a program specific to the Air Force. It’s form of Graduate AFROTC open to 1L students. Maybe take a look at that.
from what I remember from reading other law blogs, JAG positions are really competitive.
Better bet (odds) is to ace the LSAT and get some merit money to attend law school.
That’s actually a really good way to go, because the military will pay for law school, in exchange for a few years of service. After that, you could start a legal career without all the debt that most law graduates end-up with.