Top Law Schools

Has anyone else run into this problem? I don't have quite enough money in the bank to pay for a bar review program and pay the rent for the next two months. And my job doesn't will pay for bar prep. What does one do in this situation? How hard is it to pass the bar with self-study alone?

edit: don't know why I didn't qualify. I have a credit score of about 720; never had a late payment. I do, however, have the standard $210k student loan, but wouldn't most law students?

bump

uh, credit card? or borrow from friends/family?

family is poor; friends are all students. credit card has $1000 limit. i was seriously not anticipating the bar review cost to render 3 years of education useless.

No loan? No matter what strings are attached? I find that doubtful. Do more research on getting short term loans, and what kind of interest rates are involved. It really, really isn't that hard to scrape up a few grand, even ITE.

Tsispilos wrote:family is poor; friends are all students. credit card has $1000 limit. i was seriously not anticipating the bar review cost to render 3 years of education useless.

I would discuss your problem with your school. They may have funding of some sort. I know my school has some scholarships for bar prep for PI people. Also, contact Barbri, they have financial aid programs.

Sam Seaborn wrote:No loan? No matter what strings are attached? I find that doubtful. Do more research on getting short term loans, and what kind of interest rates are involved. It really, really isn't that hard to scrape up a few grand, even ITE.

Can you take a bank loan? I am not sure what the typical amount for a bar loan is but I know banks do small, several k loans pretty easily.

There's always the bank even though that's not your best option

fatduck wrote:

Sam Seaborn wrote:No loan? No matter what strings are attached? I find that doubtful. Do more research on getting short term loans, and what kind of interest rates are involved. It really, really isn't that hard to scrape up a few grand, even ITE.

177. I was literally envisioning Montel when i wrote that.

Can you self study with some second hand BAR/BRI manuals purchased from ebay ?

CanadianWolf wrote:Can you self study with some second hand BAR/BRI manuals purchased from ebay ?

Can you justify 3 years of tuition at a law school, only to fail the bar because you were too inept to figure out how to go to a bank and get a loan? $3000 is not worth risking the bar over.

Just self study if you can get some BAR/BRI manuals. Bar exams are not difficult, but many experience unnecessary anxiety.

Sam Seaborn wrote:

CanadianWolf wrote:Can you self study with some second hand BAR/BRI manuals purchased from ebay ?

Can you justify 3 years of tuition at a law school, only to fail the bar because you were too inept to figure out how to go to a bank and get a loan? $3000 is not worth risking the bar over.

This. Get the loan, borrow from people if you have to. Do whatever you need to.

Please don't panic. Bar review courses are a luxury--all you need are the manuals.

Moxie wrote:Do whatever you need to.

Prostitution is always an option. . .

Isn't that after passing & joining the bar ?

CanadianWolf wrote:Please don't panic. Bar review courses are a luxury--all you need are the manuals.

could you elaborate on this more? is it like testmasters v. bibles, where the content is pretty much the same but tm kind of puts you on a schedule and forces you to attend and do the problems (since you're paying)?

In my experience, the bar exams that I took were easier & more fun than law school & the LSAT. To pass most bar exams, one needs to be able to get about a 150 on the LSAT.

P.S. I cannot comment on specific bar review courses because I took my first bar exam cold & passed.

if you really cannot get a loan from your school (aka federal government) you could also get loans from

prosper.com
lendingclub.com

you will probably have to pay ~18% interest, but if you really need it then it is an option.

Tsispilos wrote:Has anyone else run into this problem? I don't have quite enough money in the bank to pay for a bar review program and pay the rent for the next two months. And my job doesn't will pay for bar prep. What does one do in this situation? How hard is it to pass the bar with self-study alone?

edit: don't know why I didn't qualify. I have a credit score of about 720; never had a late payment. I do, however, have the standard $210k student loan, but wouldn't most law students?

If you really have a 720 credit score on an 850 scale then you can apply for another credit card. It's relatively easy to get way more than 3k with a score in that range. Go to one of the many sites that review and recommend cards that tend to come with credit in a range greater than what you need.

Take a look at http://www.baroutlines.com

Might help. And if you pass, that will be three grand you DIDN'T borrow.

Tsispilos wrote:I do, however, have the standard $210k student loan, but wouldn't most law students?

I wish I had a solution to your problem, other than what others are suggesting. I do think it's crazy that no one here is fazed by $210k in student loans being referenced as "standard." It really is a travesty what has happened with tuition at law schools across the country.

king3780 wrote:

Tsispilos wrote:I do, however, have the standard $210k student loan, but wouldn't most law students?

I wish I had a solution to your problem, other than what others are suggesting. I do think it's crazy that no one here is fazed by $210k in student loans being referenced as "standard." It really is a travesty what has happened with tuition at law schools across the country.

IBR and LRAP make loan balances much less important.

quakeroats wrote:

king3780 wrote:

Tsispilos wrote:I do, however, have the standard $210k student loan, but wouldn't most law students?

I wish I had a solution to your problem, other than what others are suggesting. I do think it's crazy that no one here is fazed by $210k in student loans being referenced as "standard." It really is a travesty what has happened with tuition at law schools across the country.

IBR and LRAP make loan balances much less important.

as long as you don't mind living like a student for 10 years.

CanadianWolf wrote:Just self study if you can get some BAR/BRI manuals. Bar exams are not difficult, but many experience unnecessary anxiety.

Agreed. Everyone I know who self-studied from my school last year passed (including myself). It's more a matter of following the same schedule as people taking the classes. I put in roughly the same amount of time as my BarBri friends, with the exception of going to Bonnaroo and taking a few other mini-vacations. You can do just fine so long as you have some older materials and do things like print out free flashcards, take one of the free bar-prep video courses (Kaplan gave us one last year which was nice of them), and check with people to see if anything has changed from previous years. G'luck.