Transferring from a Non-Aba accredited to a ABA accredited Forum

[blklscandidate]

No I have no law school experience, in fact Im still in the LSAT phase of my quest. If you guys seen this a thousand times then it would really help if you dont get all snooty and post a snide remark like, "How dont you know? Ughh you dont already know?" No I dont thats why Im asking. Another reason why Im asking is because some of these Non-accredited schools dont even require a LSAT and Im struggling with my prep (136). I figured I could waste less time by going to a Non-ABA accredited school for a year then transfer up without taking a LSAT. All helpful answers are appreciated.

[drmguy]

Never go to a law school from which you would not want to graduate.

I have some magic beans that would be a better investment than going to a non-accredited law school.

[Wholigan]

I don't think so. I believe that per the ABA, you have to spend so many hours in an ABA-accredited program to get a JD from an accredited school. Even Cooley won't accept transfers unless it's from an accredited school:

http://www.cooley.edu/prospective/transfer.html

[nygrrrl]

If you're a 0L wanting advice from current law students, we've set up a new forum just for you, which you can find here: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=4

It's called "Ask a Law Student", and it's a place for 0Ls to ask current law students questions without disturbing the "Students and Graduates" forums. Post all your questions there, including about things like classes, grades, transferring, employment, etc. Please do not continue posting your questions here in the Students and Graduates forums, as doing so might get you banned and/or your thread locked.

Thank you for your understanding.

OP, as you can see above we've set up a new forum for questions like these so I'm going to move this thread over there. You've already received some good advice, hope you get the answers you need.

[northwood]

Do not go to a non ABA accredited law school, even if it's free

[vanwinkle]

No I have no law school experience, in fact Im still in the LSAT phase of my quest. If you guys seen this a thousand times then it would really help if you dont get all snooty and post a snide remark like, "How dont you know? Ughh you dont already know?" No I dont thats why Im asking. Another reason why Im asking is because some of these Non-accredited schools dont even require a LSAT and Im struggling with my prep (136). I figured I could waste less time by going to a Non-ABA accredited school for a year then transfer up without taking a LSAT. All helpful answers are appreciated.

You can never count on "transferring up". Most ABA-accredited law schools simply won't take transfers from non-ABA-accredited schools, but besides that, it's never a good idea to attend a school with the hope you can "transfer up". The reason for this is that transferring is based on your law school grades, and to transfer up to a better school you need excellent first-year grades at your current school. You can't be certain in advance you'll get excellent first-year grades, and if you don't then you're stuck at your current school and your plan failed.

This is why people on here always say, only go to a school if you'd be happy graduating from that school. Never go to a school with the intention of transferring.

Also, non-ABA-accredited schools are ripoffs. These schools gladly take money from people who are desperate to go to any law school no matter what, without warning you or even caring that you'll likely never find legal employment when you graduate. It's honestly better not to go to law school at all than it is to go to a non-accredited school.

[blklscandidate]

Excellent advice you guys and it will be well taken. NO Non-ABA accrredited period.

[hiima3L]

If you are doing LSAT prep and getting a 136, you should not go to law school period.

[ShockTop]

.

[SchopenhauerFTW]

I would go to an unaccredited school for a year at no cost, take the baby bar, retake the LSAT, go to an accredited school, dominate 1L with my previous knowledge, and then transfer to a t14. I don't know if it's ever been done before. And this is of course pretty bad advice.

[handsonthewheel]

I would go to an unaccredited school for a year at no cost, take the baby bar, retake the LSAT, go to an accredited school, dominate 1L with my previous knowledge, and then transfer to a t14. I don't know if it's ever been done before. And this is of course pretty bad advice.

The entire "dominate 1L with my previous knowledge" is a deeply flawed assumption to make.

Further, if all of these steps were achievable, in succession no less, this is the kind of person that would just get a good LSAT score in the first place.

[Gorki]

I would go to an unaccredited school for a year at no cost, take the baby bar, retake the LSAT, go to an accredited school, dominate 1L with my previous knowledge, and then transfer to a t14. I don't know if it's ever been done before. And this is of course pretty bad advice.

The entire "dominate 1L with my previous knowledge" is a deeply flawed assumption to make.

Further, if all of these steps were achievable, in succession no less, this is the kind of person that would just get a good LSAT score in the first place.

This.. In that year same year chances are OP could work up an acceptable LSAT, whereas from what I have heard the Baby Bars essentially bottleneck most people that take them from going any further.

But if OP could pull it off, he would become TLS legend...

Anyway... Before you even think about transferring OP, you need to really work on your LSAT score... Have you done any substantive prep at all, or did you just take a cold PT? Either way, best of luck even if you decide to do non-legal.

[handsonthewheel]

I would go to an unaccredited school for a year at no cost, take the baby bar, retake the LSAT, go to an accredited school, dominate 1L with my previous knowledge, and then transfer to a t14. I don't know if it's ever been done before. And this is of course pretty bad advice.

The entire "dominate 1L with my previous knowledge" is a deeply flawed assumption to make.

Further, if all of these steps were achievable, in succession no less, this is the kind of person that would just get a good LSAT score in the first place.

This.. In that year same year chances are OP could work up an acceptable LSAT, whereas from what I have heard the Baby Bars essentially bottleneck most people that take them from going any further.

But if OP could pull it off, he would become TLS legend...

Anyway... Before you even think about transferring OP, you need to really work on your LSAT score... Have you done any substantive prep at all, or did you just take a cold PT? Either way, best of luck even if you decide to do non-legal.

That wouldn't even be a thing of legend, think about it. The only thing that going to an unaccredited school would do is provide 9 months of semi-structured study of something. As someone who didn't do well on the LSAT, but has done ok in law school, I can tell you that 1L will do almost literally nothing for an LSAT score.

It almost certainly won't work out, and if it did you've wasted the time with the unaccredited school.

And don't forget, unless you have free money for living expenses, going somewhere for free still costs you non-negligible amounts.

[SchopenhauerFTW]

It almost certainly won't work out, and if it did you've wasted the time with the unaccredited school.

Well that's why I said it was terrible advice. No one could possibly pull it off. And if you fail the baby bar then you're screwed. I think the pass rate is something like 25%.