Hey Everyone. I am attending Hamilton College in New York this fall. I am planning on double majoring in Economics and Mathematics. These past few months, after my ED admission, I have thought long and hard about my career choice, and I have decided to go to Law School in US. I know it’s a long shot and I will need to work very hard, and I am willing to do all those things. I am also thinking about participating in Mock Trials and MUN in college. I know that four years is a long time, and there is a good possibility that I might change my mind, but I am just wondering. Do Law School give out good FA like undergraduate colleges/universities? I come from a poor family and there is no way I can afford Law School. Also, I am an international students. Will that affect my chances?
I plan to apply to school like Harvard Law, and NYU law school. Are there other school you are aware of that give out good scholarships to international JD applicants?
No, law schools do NOT give FA as readily as undergrad colleges.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t u need to be a resident/citizen to practice law in the US? There’s a controversy now about an illegal immigrant getting his bar certification.
I have a hard time seeing why a US law school would give FA to a student who wouldn’t be able to practice law in the US.
There are just a small number of states where non-US permanent residents/citizens (and definitely non-US-trained lawyers) can take the bar so that they can practice in that state; these states are oversubscribed. NY is, of course, the primary one.
You want to go to Harvard or NYU for law school? Aim for 3.8+/172+… and you may as well apply to all schools in the top-6.
And by way of reference the number of LSAT takers who score 172+, is tiny. Just several hundred, annually, score in this rarified territory…
There are plenty of lawyers who are not US citizens and who practice in NY. Some of them have US JDs and some have foreign law degrees and then obtain a US LLM and then can take the NY bar.
I’d never heard that US citizenship was necessary to practice law in any state; all that mattered was the degree that you have. If you have a US JD, you can take the bar in every state where I’ve worked. If you don’t have a US JD, then the states where you can take the bar are limited and you usually have to get a US LLM first.
I had a US citizen co-worker who went to law school in the UK and practiced in the UK before being transferred back home to the US. She also had to get a US LLM before being able to take the NY bar.
Perhaps, but US citizenship is “necessary” to work in every state. Absent citizenship, one needs a work visa. And the real question, is how hard are they to obtain for/by internationals? How many law firms will sponsor an international? All of Big Law? Only Big Law?
(I have no idea, but I would suggest that international applicants ask the school to which they are thinking about applying about the process and likelihood for obtaining a work visa.)
Thanks everyone for the info.
Lots of Canadians go to U.S. law schools and receive financial aid. You do not need to be a U.S. citizen to practice law in the U.S. Nor do you have to attend an American law school in order to write the Bar. Canadian law school grads are eligible to write in NY and MA without an LLM.
But the majority of those who do score 172+ end up attending one of HYSCCN, and virtually every single 172+ student at US law schools are in a T14 school.
Thanks everyone for the information. What about Merit scholarships. Am I eligible for those?
Law schools are in the business of making money; they can access loans. Where would you practice?
There is a saturation of law schools and no jobs in the U.S. My sister works for a large corporate firm. No new hires.
But isn’t everyone, even those in other career fields, facing the same problem? Loans are after all a gamble, aren’t they? Merit Scholarship sounds like a good deal though.
Canadians are a special group.
My Canadian SIL attended Columbia Law School without any financial aid has worked in a top NYC law firm for 7 years and still was on TN visa until my D sponsored him for permanent residency. He advised his brother not to attend a US law school because of cost.
Very few law firms sponsor US permanent residencies. One of his colleagues has gone back to Ireland for at least 6 months to wait for another visa after working for a NYC law firm for 5 years. He attended law school in Dublin and has LLM from US.
This forum has advised against law school now for the most part, and if you need loans and has no US residency, it makes it far more difficult. You still have time to entertain another career choice.
cbreeze, I’m very familiar with the situation with Canadians practicing in the U.S. My comment was in reply to the quoted comment by GMTplus7. I agree that the cost of law school in the U.S. is ridiculous, as is undergrad for that matter, and it would be foolish for any Canadian applicant not to attend a Canadian law school, unless they are getting substantial financial aid/scholarships. Even at that, it would probably still be wise to remain in Canada.
If “there is no way [you] can afford law school” in the US, then look elsewhere.
University of Toronto and McGill are superb schools. Go there.
It’s all about the medians. If the International applicant has something that a US law schools needs – 17x, 3.9 – they’ll pay for it. Simple.
But heck no, don’t attend if you have to pay sticker since the most likely scenario is to perhaps practice in the US for a year or two, and then return to Canada.
On another thread, OP indicated he’s from Ethiopia.
That changes things a bit.
I don’t know whether US law schools give full rides to international students and if you need a loan, it would be a tremendous burden on you should you not find a job in the US and law firms don’t sponsor permanent residency.
Whereas for undergrad, US colleges are usually much less generous with internationals for financial aid, in law school, full-rides are awarded to any well-qualified student, even internationals. However, full-rides in a law school context usually don’t include living expenses. IIRC Columbia has the highest percentage of internationals in its student body among T14 schools and there really is not much of a difference between domestics’ and internationals’ qualifications.
Last I heard about whether internationals could get financial aid at US law schools, UIUC gave one such full-ride to a Canadian student who would otherwise go to Ottawa. Or another Canadian student that had to choose between three full-rides in the US (Penn State, Northeastern, Wake Forest) and Dalhousie w/o aid.
Most internationals with full-rides at US law schools I know about are Canadian students, so take the cases I know about for what it’s worth.
As for the OP being even able to attend University of Toronto or McGill for law school, these two places give out no aid whatsoever to internationals (or at best paltry aid)
What??? You have no idea what you are talking about.
What constitutes “well-qualified” for law school full-rides at a given law school is much higher compared to that law school’s normal admissions standards…
Even so, law school merit aid usually does not discriminate for student residency.