<p>I am over 50 and want to achieve my childhood dream of becoming a lawyer. Only having completed an Associate Degree and a wealth of knowledge working in the law industry for over 25 years, I would like to go to school to become a lawyer.</p>
<p>My goal is not to work for anyone but more or less just for self satisfaction and to fulfill my childhood dream that haunts me every day. I live in California and would like to go to school part time or online. I would like some suggestions on how to start and about schools that would accept me with my associate and honor my life experiece if that is possible. </p>
<p>If anyone has any idea as to how I should go about this please let me know.</p>
<p>carol, it’s great to follow your dreams at any age. But this is a very expensive dream with poor employment prospects. Do you have $150K or so to lose at this point? Retirement secure, kids’ college paid for (if applicable), big emergency fund tucked away?</p>
<p>I do not believe that any accredited law school will accept a student with an associate’s degree instead of a BA.</p>
<p>As it appears that your ultimate goal is to get a JD, there are several options for you, although you’ll need to check with the schools to see if an associate’s degree is sufficient(for most ABA accredited law schools you need a bachelor’s). In California there are “California Bar Exam” schools which grant a JD but aren’t ABA accredited-graduating from these schools allows you to take the California bar exam(but no others, as far as I know) but since you’re a California resident might not be an issue for you, and there are a bunch of on-line JD schools(which may or may not allow you to take the bar).
All of that said, the key question: do you really want to spend the money(many thousands of dollars) to get a degree that you apparently don’t want to use? If the answer is “yes”, I’d suggest you ask yourself “why?”. Do you really want to take on a pile of debt for a degree you don’t plan to use?</p>
<p>Carol, your best bet is to get yourself a high LSAT and turn it into a free ride. Depending on where you live, there’s probably a law school nearby (California has an absurd number of schools) so you won’t have additional cost of living debt. If the goal is a JD and not legal employment, you should focus completely on getting costs as close to 0 as possible. That would likely include going part-time and working, unless you have a pension or some other income stream that won’t be interrupted.</p>
<p>All of that said, the key question: do you really want to spend the money(many thousands of dollars) to get a degree that you apparently don’t want to use? If the answer is “yes”, I’d suggest you ask yourself “why?”. Do you really want to take on a pile of debt for a degree you don’t plan to use? </p>
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<p>Oh no, I didn’t say I did not want to use it. I said I do not want (or have) to work for anyone. I believe I could still use it to do charity work or to help people that cannot afford the high price of lawyers. But, I do still hope to be active in society with a law degree. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>You get a high LSAT by studying for it. Doing a course is probably a good move. Since you plan to use law for charity I presume you have one of those uninterrupted income streams I was talking about. You therefore want to keep debt as low as humanly possible. That means you should stay in LA. Luckily, LA has several law schools. Loyola, Southwestern, USC, and UCLA spring immediately to mind. A decent LSAT will get you a free ride at the first two, and a solid LSAT may get you a free ride at the latter two. </p>
<p>No matter where you go, law school will be a very large amount of work. When you graduate, if you do look for a job, you will almost certainly be taking your orders from someone half your age. Before you jump into this, I recommend serious reflection.</p>
<p>A quick look at the Northwestern website seems to indicate that a bachelor’s is required for admission.
I had neither the grades to get into a school like NW or to get “merit” aid-although I’ll note that, per NW’s website, all grants are combined merit and need based. Not sure where all this “merit money” is; I’d suggest that’s it’s pretty rare.
If you’ve got the funds, and are willing to stay in CA, check out the California Bar Exam schools; they are much cheaper than ABA accredited schools, and it’s my understanding that you take the bar with everyone else upon graduation. Not sure if an AA is sufficient, though. Go to the State Bar of California website(CALS schools); they’ve got a list of schools and several don’t require a bachelor’s for admission.</p>
<p>If your associate’s degree is from a four year institution, it may be possible at SOME law schools. You’ll need to check the Bar requirements in the state in which you hope to practice. Some require an undergrad degree, some do not. If I’m not mistaken, Michigan is one that does not.</p>
<p>how realistic is this dream of yours? please call in to “the Suze Orman Show” to see if she proofs or denies you. She has a segment called “can you afford it”. </p>
<p>I live in NCal. The cost of living in CA is extremely high. If i were you, i would consider moving to another state where cost of attending a JD program is more affordable and your existing saving would last longer. not sure how much money you have saved to make this dream a reality.</p>
<p>how realistic is this dream of yours? please call in to “the Suze Orman Show” to see if she proofs or denies you. She has a segment called “can you afford it”. </p>
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<p>Well, thanks but I’m not a big fan of her show nor her advice.</p>
<p>This dream is very realistic to me, it will just take the ‘doing’ to make it happen. I think you guys went off on the ‘money’ aspect of the question more than the course and how achievable it is to achieve. I have done my homework on the costs of law school and I can afford it comfortably. I would like to hear more about the coursework, time spent on studying, and the best way to achieve this goal.</p>
<p>From the replies I believe I would have to take the CLEP exams in the next year and then apply to law school. Also, can I take the LSAT from just off the streets? Has anyone taken such exams recently and which exams are easier to achieve and what books are good study material?</p>
<p>Guys, let me say one thing. When you have a dream as a child and thru the years everything takes priority over it, it does not leave you - you are stucked with it -. Unlike money, sometime you have, sometime you don’t, and you learn to live with it, but it doesn’t haunt you like a dream you should have attained. </p>
<p>There are no requirements to take the LSAT, you just sign up from the LSAC website.</p>
<p>If there are schools that don’t require a bachelors, then that’s great. But I think most of them do, especially the top ones.</p>
<p>I’d just want to point out that just because you’re older doesn’t mean the normal threats people get about going to law school are going to change- in fact they may be worse. I’m applying (22, btw) and aside from money, the number one thing I hear is that I won’t sleep, or I won’t have a life outside of law school friends, or three years of agony will be followed by who knows how long in a bad job with angry bosses… Now I don’t know how much this is true, and I tend to try to be a little optimistic. But just try to remember that when I spend all night in the library to finish a paper, it just annoys my boyfriend. When someone with a family does it… It’s a pretty big sacrifice, to them and to their family.</p>
<p>If you’re really set on it, then I don’t think it’d stop you (it’s not stopping me, obviously). Just think it’d be something to think about and maybe try to plan around.</p>
<p>Since we can’t seem to talk you out of it, one other option is a non-ABA accredited law school. (ABA accreditation requires a bachelor’s degree.) </p>
<p>California also has state-accredited law schools, which have their own requirements, and may exclude a bachelor’s, so you could save a couple of years and go straight to LS. But note, such schools only have a ~20% pass rate on the state Bar. So, you could spend 3+ years and countless dollars and not pass – not be a lawyer. Moreover, such a degree is not transportable across state lines.</p>
<p>Respectfully, you came here for advice. The fact that we’re so concerned with the money aspect likely means it’s a pretty big deal. You say you can afford it “comfortably,” which is great but not a particularly good reason not to keep debts low. You never know whether tomorrow you’ll be hit by a car and need a spare $150k. Regardless of your certainty of intent it’s a good idea to keep law school cheap.</p>
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<p>You’ll be assigned a lot of cases to read. From these you will learn to extract rules that you will then be expected to apply in other cases. They will teach you about neither of these critical skills. Your time spent on studying will vary, but expect to be doing law school around 40 hours a week, altogether, with some bumps for when exams are coming or papers are due. That said, it is very easy in law school to fill absolutely every waking hour with another thing to study. The danger of law school is that it rewards working smart, not working hard, but it’s incredibly difficult to figure out which one you’re doing. </p>
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<p>I recommend you sign up for a course. At 50 it’s been a long time since you did academic studying and having someone much more up to date will likely be of great help.</p>
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<p>It’s not all that difficult to get a good night’s sleep nearly every night (exams and paper due dates excluded) if you organize well. You can also maintain a life outside of law school. The real problem there is all you’ll want to talk about is law school and your non-law school friends won’t be able to relate. There also isn’t all that much agony. Your first year exams will suck. Waiting for grades will be terrible. The journal write-on will be rough. But other than that, 1L really isn’t so bad. Then you get to 2L and OCI will be brutal, but afterwards again, not so bad.</p>
<p>Check out Concord Law School, it is an online law school based in California so you can only take the California Bar but it has a 4 year JD program that allows you to practice if you pass the Bar exam, as well as an EJD Executive JD that doesn’t allow you to practice law…
PM if you want more info…
[Online</a> Law School, Law Degree and Law Courses Online | Concord Law School](<a href=“http://info.concordlawschool.edu/Pages/Homepage.aspx]Online”>Online Law School | Earn a Law Degree at Concord Law School)</p>