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Are there opportunities to go abroad in law school? I assume 2L summer is best spent working here, but what about 1L summer? I think I've read that you can do a semester abroad, but is that wise?

I'll be at a T14 (not sure which yet..) and money will DEFINITELY be an issue.. I love to travel and it's not out of my system yet Looking to see what I can do on a budget and without hurting my chances of employment at graduation.

Thanks for any input!

I think pretty much ever T14 has great opportunities to study abroad...

Georgetown has the Global Scholars program, basically an institute of the school located in London that brings students from GTown together with law students from all over Europe and the world to study/investigate transnational issues.

Cornell has several programs, including (my favorite) their Masters en Droit program through the Sorbonne in Paris. Basically a student selected for that program spends their 3L year in Paris at the law school there (taught entirely in French), and by the end of the program he/she can sit for the French Bar exam, essentially giving him/her a JD in the US and France.

I could go on... really, there are TONS of opportunities to travel and study as well, although it might be more useful to you if you're planning on entering one of those fields (i.e., global business law or the like)...

My school has a program where you can intern abroad with firms, human rights orgs, etc, that one of the professors here has contact with.

Thanks guys (gals?) I did some more research and I'm seeing every school has semester abroad opportunities that look amazing, but:

1. Anyone have a clue what the costs are like?
2. How do grades work?
3. Will it hurt employment prospects to have spent a semester abroad?
4. Anything else I would want to keep in mind?

I'm only 0L and this is a million years away, but hey a girl can dream, no?

weejonbu wrote:I think pretty much ever T14 has great opportunities to study abroad...

Georgetown has the Global Scholars program, basically an institute of the school located in London that brings students from GTown together with law students from all over Europe and the world to study/investigate transnational issues.

Cornell has several programs, including (my favorite) their Masters en Droit program through the Sorbonne in Paris. Basically a student selected for that program spends their 3L year in Paris at the law school there (taught entirely in French), and by the end of the program he/she can sit for the French Bar exam, essentially giving him/her a JD in the US and France.

I could go on... really, there are TONS of opportunities to travel and study as well, although it might be more useful to you if you're planning on entering one of those fields (i.e., global business law or the like)...

The sound of that French program makes me drool. I wish I'd stuck with French beyond my undergrad requirement.

joebloe wrote:

weejonbu wrote:I think pretty much ever T14 has great opportunities to study abroad...

Georgetown has the Global Scholars program, basically an institute of the school located in London that brings students from GTown together with law students from all over Europe and the world to study/investigate transnational issues.

Cornell has several programs, including (my favorite) their Masters en Droit program through the Sorbonne in Paris. Basically a student selected for that program spends their 3L year in Paris at the law school there (taught entirely in French), and by the end of the program he/she can sit for the French Bar exam, essentially giving him/her a JD in the US and France.

I could go on... really, there are TONS of opportunities to travel and study as well, although it might be more useful to you if you're planning on entering one of those fields (i.e., global business law or the like)...

The sound of that French program makes me drool. I wish I'd stuck with French beyond my undergrad requirement.

UVa also has a study abroad at the Sorbonne

Related question: is the semester abroad hurt you at all when it is time to get a job? I can't see it helping you and realize it is basically a waste of money other than the enjoyment gained from traveling but always looked at semester / experience abroad skeptically.

AreJay711 wrote:Related question: is the semester abroad hurt you at all when it is time to get a job? I can't see it helping you and realize it is basically a waste of money other than the enjoyment gained from traveling but always looked at semester / experience abroad skeptically.

Yes, but by the time it comes to make a decision regarding study abroad, you'll have a fairly good idea whether there is any hope for employment immediately after leaving law school. If there's any question, do it as a 3L, which is a waste of a year anyway.

Get a job; study abroad impresses no one.

edit: neither do most 1L jobs, but at the very least you won't look like an incompetent.

rad law wrote:Get a job; study abroad impresses no one.

edit: neither do most 1L jobs, but at the very least you won't look like an incompetent.

agree with this, but if you are jobless anyway and you find a cheap study abroad option, it could be a smart way to save ~10-15k

If it's just about travel, go schlep around Central or South America during a winter break. You won't have classes or homework to get in the way of liver destruction and beach time. It's cheaper too, and you can put on your resume that you volunteered harvesting fair-trade coffee irrigated by the organic tears of Guatemalan amputee orphans.

Tso, how do you save money by studying abroad?

Macunaíma wrote: Tso, how do you save money by studying abroad?

many South American and European law schools charge far lower tuition than American schools. My school (Hastings) makes you pay Hastings tuition if you study through a direct exchange program, but if you find your own independent exchange you pay tuition directly to that institution.

I could find a no-name law school in Sweden to spend one semester, pay 8k (2k per month) living expenses + 5k tuition (13k total) instead of paying 6k living expenses (~1500 per month) + 20k tuition at Hastings (26k total). I think 10-15k savings in one semester is pretty realistic.

even Canadian schools are much cheaper, and you might learn some useful things since that is a common law jurisdiction.

rad law: Not really trying to impress anyone, just something I'd enjoy if I can get away with it without hurting my chances..

and Macunaima: Already did it- not the same

General Tso wrote:

Macunaíma wrote: Tso, how do you save money by studying abroad?

many South American and European law schools charge far lower tuition than American schools. My school (Hastings) makes you pay Hastings tuition if you study through a direct exchange program, but if you find your own independent exchange you pay tuition directly to that institution.

I could find a no-name law school in Sweden to spend one semester, pay 8k (2k per month) living expenses + 5k tuition (13k total) instead of paying 6k living expenses (~1500 per month) + 20k tuition at Hastings (26k total). I think 10-15k savings in one semester is pretty realistic.

even Canadian schools are much cheaper, and you might learn some useful things since that is a common law jurisdiction.

Ah yes. Then there is the issue of transferring credits, if that is a priority. In my loooooooong career as a university student, I enrolled directly at universities in France and Brazil, which are almost impossibly cheap (so long as you qualify for admission).

Macunaíma wrote: Ah yes. Then there is the issue of transferring credits, if that is a priority. In my loooooooong career as a university student, I enrolled directly at universities in France and Brazil, which are almost impossibly cheap (so long as you qualify for admission).

yeah..I think you have to get your credits approved beforehand or something.

General Tso wrote:

Macunaíma wrote: Ah yes. Then there is the issue of transferring credits, if that is a priority. In my loooooooong career as a university student, I enrolled directly at universities in France and Brazil, which are almost impossibly cheap (so long as you qualify for admission).

yeah..I think you have to get your credits approved beforehand or something.

I didn't bother transferring my credits back.

France is particularly beneficient. The Caisse d'allocations familiales will pay a healthy chunk of a student's rent over there. When I was attending, yearly tuition and fees were under $200.

I did an exchange as an undergrad from Canada to Hong Kong for a semester. I cannot really talk about it in terms of law school but you can learn a lot if you want to. But of course its nothing you can really quantify or put on your resume. I have to say though there were a lot of things I missed out on such as volunteering and internships!

Expenses were no different from any other major city apart from rent. The university residence is subsidized I believe so my total rent for 5 months was about 700 USD.

joebloe wrote:

weejonbu wrote:I think pretty much ever T14 has great opportunities to study abroad...

Georgetown has the Global Scholars program, basically an institute of the school located in London that brings students from GTown together with law students from all over Europe and the world to study/investigate transnational issues.

Cornell has several programs, including (my favorite) their Masters en Droit program through the Sorbonne in Paris. Basically a student selected for that program spends their 3L year in Paris at the law school there (taught entirely in French), and by the end of the program he/she can sit for the French Bar exam, essentially giving him/her a JD in the US and France.

I could go on... really, there are TONS of opportunities to travel and study as well, although it might be more useful to you if you're planning on entering one of those fields (i.e., global business law or the like)...

The sound of that French program makes me drool. I wish I'd stuck with French beyond my undergrad requirement.

only two students per year are permitted to do the masters en droit. i don't think anyone should go to cornell counting on getting to do it.

quetzal_bird wrote:

joebloe wrote:

weejonbu wrote:
Cornell has several programs, including (my favorite) their Masters en Droit program through the Sorbonne in Paris. Basically a student selected for that program spends their 3L year in Paris at the law school there (taught entirely in French), and by the end of the program he/she can sit for the French Bar exam, essentially giving him/her a JD in the US and France.

Actually the students selected spend their 3L AND 4L in Paris. BTW the Sorbonne has exactly the same partnership with Columbia....

General Tso wrote:

rad law wrote:Get a job; study abroad impresses no one.

edit: neither do most 1L jobs, but at the very least you won't look like an incompetent.

agree with this, but if you are jobless anyway and you find a cheap study abroad option, it could be a smart way to save ~10-15k

+1. Try not to take classes during 1L summer (even if it's a study abroad)- try to find work. If you look at international human rights organizations, you can get substantive legal work and satisfy your need to get traveling out of your system (Worldtraveler is a Boaltie who went to Africa during 1L summer, and is returning as a 2L to a different country in Africa). There are also government bodies that might offer substantive legal work. I know a Boalt alum who worked at the Hague during her 1L summer, and I know there are some opportunities with the UN in Geneva as well.

I'm studying abroad 3L year, already made up my mind.

General Tso wrote:

Macunaíma wrote: Ah yes. Then there is the issue of transferring credits, if that is a priority. In my loooooooong career as a university student, I enrolled directly at universities in France and Brazil, which are almost impossibly cheap (so long as you qualify for admission).

yeah..I think you have to get your credits approved beforehand or something.

It`s not hard to transfer your law credits back home. A 3L in my school studied in Colombia for a semester. He paid less than 1k for tuition.....