Bar loan v. self study? Forum

mockingJD · Post by **mockingJD** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 10:54 pm

Sorry if this post doesn't belong in this forum, but I'm curious about people's opinions on this. I have a government job lined up so no bar stipend. My understanding is that bar loans aren't covered in my school's LRAP and that they generally have pretty high interest rates. I'm going to have to get a bar loan regardless because there's no other way for me afford life until work starts, but I want to keep the amount I borrow as low as possible. Would you suck it up and take out the additional funds for bar prep or skip the prep course altogether and self study?

Thanks in advance.

BeautifulSW · Post by **BeautifulSW** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 1:22 pm

Tempting, isn't it? After all, if the purpose of law school is to train you to be a competent lawyer and the Bar exam is designed to make sure you are minimally competent, you SHOULD be able to pass after a bit of self-study to brush up, right?

Unfortunately, the little research out there on the subject suggests otherwise. Doing a structured Bar review course before taking the exam seems to improve your chances of passing dramatically. The same is true of the CPA exam. I don't know about the medical boards but I'd bet the pattern holds true.

Does this mean that you have to hock what little of your soul still belongs to you after Sallie Mae? Maaaaybeee not...take a look at http://www.baroutlines.com

Disclaimer: I am not associated with any Bar course nor have I ever used Bar Outlines. I make the suggestion only because they are very cheap and claim results comparable to major providers. Remember that the consequences of failing the first time around might be pretty dire and not taking, say, BarBri could be a serious case of false economy.

clarified_butter · Post by **clarified_butter** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 6:19 pm

mockingJD wrote:Sorry if this post doesn't belong in this forum, but I'm curious about people's opinions on this. I have a government job lined up so no bar stipend. My understanding is that bar loans aren't covered in my school's LRAP and that they generally have pretty high interest rates. I'm going to have to get a bar loan regardless because there's no other way for me afford life until work starts, but I want to keep the amount I borrow as low as possible. Would you suck it up and take out the additional funds for bar prep or skip the prep course altogether and self study?

Thanks in advance.

I would just take out the additional funds if I were you.

BeautifulSW · Post by **BeautifulSW** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 11:32 am

Yeah, I think that's good advice. If it was the OP's second Bar exam then maybe but now is not the time to cut corners.

clarified_butter · Post by **clarified_butter** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 2:36 pm

I definitely agree...and this is what I plan on doing when the time comes for me.

Bar loan v. self study? Forum

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