Do all US schools require a bachelor's degree for admission? Forum

[Yogurt Baron]

Where I come from - Canada - you can generally apply to law school after two or three years of undergraduate study, without a BA having been conferred. Most of the US schools I've contacted seem to expect you to complete a 4-year BA before applying. Are there any US schools that will accept someone after two years of undergraduate study?

[A'nold]

Where I come from - Canada - you can generally apply to law school after two or three years of undergraduate study, without a BA having been conferred. Most of the US schools I've contacted seem to expect you to complete a 4-year BA before applying. Are there any US schools that will accept someone after two years of undergraduate study?

WOW, you are all over the place here. It seems like you are mixing up the words "apply" and "matriculate". You are allowed to APPLY here in the U.S. before getting your degree, but you must have proof of graduation before you start ls. If you are asking if any programs will allow you to go in with an AA degree (2 year degree or something like that) then no unless maybe you are in CA.

[Dr_Nex]

In California if you go to an unaccredited law school (i.e. People's College of Law or Concord Law School online), then you only need 60 hours I believe - the equivalent of an AA. Good luck passing the bar and getting a job, though.

[WestOfTheRest]

Where I come from - Canada - you can generally apply to law school after two or three years of undergraduate study, without a BA having been conferred. Most of the US schools I've contacted seem to expect you to complete a 4-year BA before applying. Are there any US schools that will accept someone after two years of undergraduate study?

WOW, you are all over the place here. It seems like you are mixing up the words "apply" and "matriculate". You are allowed to APPLY here in the U.S. before getting your degree, but you must have proof of graduation before you start ls. If you are asking if any programs will allow you to go in with an AA degree (2 year degree or something like that) then no unless maybe you are in CA.

He's not really mixing anything up. In Canada, you can matriculate in your third or fourth year of undergraduate study, however, in the US this is generally not true (I don't know for certain about all schools). By definition, the difference between a JD and an LLB is that you have recieved a degree prior to matriculating, but UofT has a JD program that you can be admitted to prior to recieving a bachelors degree (this is extremely rare).

[bwv812]

He's not really mixing anything up. In Canada, you can matriculate in your third or fourth year of undergraduate study, however, in the US this is generally not true (I don't know for certain about all schools). By definition, the difference between a JD and an LLB is that you have recieved a degree prior to matriculating, but UofT has a JD program that you can be admitted to prior to recieving a bachelors degree (this is extremely rare).

So what? He was asking about applying. You can apply to a JD program in your 3rd year in the states (which is what OP was asking), but you can't matriculate before you graduate undergrad. You are surely aware that many (and in Canada, most) LLB students "have received" a degree prior to matriculating law school, so the "definition" you gave is obviously incorrect.

[WestOfTheRest]

So what? He was asking about applying. You can apply to a JD program in your 3rd year in the states (which is what OP was asking), but you can't matriculate before you graduate undergrad. You are surely aware that many (and in Canada, most) LLB students "have received" a degree prior to matriculating law school, so the "definition" you gave is obviously incorrect.

Actually, my definition is not "obviously incorrect", in most circumstances this is the exact definition of an LLB, that's not to say you can't have a degree prior to matriculating. But that's fine, you prove me wrong if you feel the need to, but first I would read what UofT defines the difference between the two degrees as, http://www.law.utoronto.ca/prosp_stdn_c ... d=983#J.D., and when you feel like you have found sufficient evidence to come back and tell me I am wrong, go for it.

[snotrocket]

Cooley has a special admissions track for people who have completed 60 semester hours of college credit that could be applied to a four-year degree. They note that you can sit for the Michigan bar exam if you attend law school under this program, but some other states will deny you admission (they don't say which).

[bwv812]

By definition, the difference between a JD and an LLB is that you have recieved a degree prior to matriculating

A has received a degree before matriculating into a JD program.
B has received a degree before matriculating into an LLB program.
Both "have recieved a degree prior to matriculating." How does that "definition" work, again?

The difference between a JD and an LLB is that you must have received a degree prior to matriculating into a JD program (with some exceptions), while it's possible to matriculate into an LLB program without a degree.

That is all.