<p>Hello, I have some questions about law school:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>When applying to law school is your financial need a consideration in the admission process as it is in most of the undergraduate colleges?</p></li>
<li><p>Is the financial aid offer renewed after 1L?</p></li>
<li><p>If I am accepted and enroll in a law school which offers dual J.D./M.B.A. program, when should I declare that I want to follow this curriculum since I am not sure whether or not I will be able to take on both the J.D. and the M.B.A. studying?</p></li>
<li><p>When should I apply to the law school I am interested in considering the fact that I am an international student studying at a U.S. college - does the application process take place once again in the beginning of the senior year as it is for the undergraduate level? - If it is of any help, I don't know if there are such options as ED and EA in the law school admission process but in any case I will be applying under Regular Decision.</p></li>
<li><p>If I have studied at a U.S. college, will law schools still require me to take the TOEFL?</p></li>
<li><p>Since I will have had gone through an interview for a student visa before for my going to college, will I be required to go through an interview with the U.S. embassy once again - this time for law school, though?</p></li>
<li><p>Are there any private lenders in the U.S. that will be willing to lend me a lot of money, 100k+, without a co-signer since I am a foreigner? Are there any that are willing to do so if I have a co-signer?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>1,2 and 7: Many law schools offer partial tuition scholarships to highly qualified candidates which often apply to every year as long as a designated minimum GPA is kept. Absent that, as an international, you will most likely be on your own, relegated to finding any loans you can get because you will not qualify for US government backed loans and your ability to get any loans may actually depend on your ability to find a co-signer who has the demonstrable ability to be able to pay off the likely $50,000+ a year you are likely going to need to borrow to cover law school and living expenses. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Joint programs vary and it depends on law school when you must declare for the joint program but it would likely be as part of the application process or sometime before end of first year. Usually, you can fall back into just the JD progam.</p></li>
<li><p>Law schools often have Oct (or Sep) to March application periods and usually do not have early action or early decision but most follow a rolling admissions process: beginning with some certain date in the fall, they just start making decisions as applications are received and thus, though the application period may run from October to March, the earlier during that period you apply the better off you are.</p></li>
<li><p>Law schools each have their own rules for Internationals to prove English proficiency and you may or may not have to to submit TOEFL if you are in a US university.</p></li>
<li><p>For visa, you always need to check for any rule changes but currently I believe you would need to go through the same US Embassy or consulate process you did for your original visa for college.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I will address item 3 because I earned a JD/MBA many years ago.</p>
<p>I would advise you to apply for both law school and business school at the same time, disclose your plans to each school, and then defer the one you wish to take second. In many programs, the entire first year is required, so you would take one year in one school, then the first year program in the other the following year, and then classes in both. I took the first year of business school first and then the first year of law school so I would graduate with my law school class.</p>