International students Forum

[Ivan91]

Hey ,
My name is Ivan and I will be attending an American liberal arts college in Europe, starting my freshman year this fall.
I am interested in attending a US law school and obtaining a J.D degree.Thus, I have a few questions.
How common is for International students to attend US law schools ?Please note, I am not referring to the LLM degrees offered to people that already have law degrees in their home countries.
Are international students, admitted to law schools, eligible for scholarships and bank loans ?
Last, is it possible that an international student graduates a law school, even a top notch one, and cannot work for US law firms because he or she cannot obtain a work VISA ?
This is for now, thank you for your time !

[gtang_hls13]

Hi Ivan,

I am an international student and will be starting the JD program next month. You will be eligible for merit based scholarships, as well as private loans; I know this because I have been offered both from a number of law schools.

On the matter of gaining work visa sponsorship, it will depend on whether or not the position qualifies as a "specialty occupation". I was previously an Electrical Engineer and have been on both the H1B as well as the E3 (similar to the TN, but for Australians). From what I have gathered from asking this question myself, bigger firms should have no problems with sponsoring you for an H1B; and I am hoping that if I go into patent law that my MS in EE will help make it easier to justify my visa application. However, even if you do manage to secure a work visa, do not count on your employer to then help you along with permanent residency - that applies to anyone in any field. Before I got my MS, my previous employer was about to help me apply for a green card but under the EB-3 quota, which essentially has an infinitely long waiting list and will take you at least six years (if you're lucky) to finally get a green card.

The only extra security that I happen to have is that in addition to being an Australian citizen, I am also a Hong Kong resident. As Hong Kong allows foreign lawyers to work there, I know that my JD will not necessarily go to waste even if I fail to land a job in the US.

Again, ITE anything can happen. So if this is what you want to do you better study hard and make sure you get into the best school possible. Also consider Arizona's SB1070 as a sign of increasingly protectionist sentiment in the US.

[Ivan91]

Thank you,
However, If I happen to marry a US girl while being in law school or later while working , does this settle my problems ?I am not talking about some illegal and immoral agreements; finding one`s "soul mate" while being abroad is perfectly natural.
Can you please explain what are these private loans like ?

[dresden doll]

Thank you,
However, If I happen to marry a US girl while being in law school or later while working , does this settle my problems ?I am not talking about some illegal and immoral agreements; finding one`s "soul mate" while being abroad is perfectly natural.

Yes, it would settle your issue, provided USCIS believed your marriage had been entered into in good faith.

[Nulli Secundus]

About your question regarding private loans, only loan option I could find that does NOT require a US cosigner is Harvard University Employees Credit Union (HUECU) loans, but obviously, for this, you first have to gain admission to Harvard Law

[gtang_hls13]

About your question regarding private loans, only loan option I could find that does NOT require a US cosigner is Harvard University Employees Credit Union (HUECU) loans, but obviously, for this, you first have to gain admission to Harvard Law

haha yea this is what i was referring to, i didn't really look into loans from other schools

[Ivan91]

Yes but you told that you were offered this by a number of law schools ?
I ve heard that gaining admission to HLS is easier that gaining one to YLS.Is this correct ?

[gtang_hls13]

Yes but you told that you were offered this by a number of law schools ?
I ve heard that gaining admission to HLS is easier that gaining one to YLS.Is this correct ?

sorry i was referring to scholarships

and yes H is generally considered to be easier to get in to than Y

[Ivan91]

Scholarships are fine but they are not offered by the top 3 unis.
Btw , what do you think is generally considered better ?100% merit based scholarship from Columbia or a HYS education without scholarship ?

[kazu]

You can check how many international students each law school has for their JD program in their ABA summary info on LSAC. (or something like that, don't remember the exact name)

I think all T14 schools had around 10%.

[creatinganalt]

You can check how many international students each law school has for their JD program in their ABA summary info on LSAC. (or something like that, don't remember the exact name)

I think all T14 schools had around 10%.

Much lower generally actually. And HYS are about 3%.

Also, some schools will offer institutional loans unofficially.

[TheLuckyOne]

You can check how many international students each law school has for their JD program in their ABA summary info on LSAC. (or something like that, don't remember the exact name)

I think all T14 schools had around 10%.

Consider that there is a huge difference between an intl who's been in the US for a good number of years and someone who resides abroad. OP, only Harvard offers loans without any co-signer, and I beleive NYU (you'd have to check this). It may be beneficial to get an account in some major American bank, they MAY grant you a loan if you have a good history. But honestly, it will be a problem, so you may just end up going to a schoold that offers you full-ride.

I don't think you should have problem getting a visa as long as you get an offer and your employer is willing to sponsor it.

[Ivan91]

I just did some research and found out that I can easily get a loan from a bank in my home country.I cannot believe I did not consider that option.There are student loans with minimum interest rates offered by many banks and as a citizen of the European Union I have many options so financing is not a problem
I need to just focus on my GPA and LSAT.
BTW, do you think majoring in Economics and minoring in international relations is a good option ?