Unusual Situation Forum

[yyyzzz250]

I have an unusual situation and am interested in learning what my chances are to pursue my desired path. I have an MBA and run my own business, but lately I have been thinking I could benefit from getting a law degree part-time (my industry is very legalistic and contract-oriented). My parents also have a small firm, with a lucrative of counsel relationship with a large firm, and conceivably I could earn some extra money by doing some work for them. I am not interested in pursuing the typical large law firm career path, and I would only attend law school if I received a full scholarship or close to it.

I have an undergrad degree from an Ivy League school, but academics were, to put it mildly, not my highest priority, and my undergrad GPA was a sterling 2.8. I scored a 770 out of 800 on the GMAT and have been scoring in the mid 170's on practice LSAT's. I also served in the military before getting my MBA.

Do I have any chance of getting significant scholarship money at a law school (even a very low-ranked one)? I can run my business remotely, so I am open to any geographic location.

[goldeneye]

I have an unusual situation and am interested in learning what my chances are to pursue my desired path. I have an MBA and run my own business, but lately I have been thinking I could benefit from getting a law degree part-time (my industry is very legalistic and contract-oriented). My parents also have a small firm, with a lucrative of counsel relationship with a large firm, and conceivably I could earn some extra money by doing some work for them. I am not interested in pursuing the typical large law firm career path, and I would only attend law school if I received a full scholarship or close to it.

I have an undergrad degree from an Ivy League school, but academics were, to put it mildly, not my highest priority, and my undergrad GPA was a sterling 2.8. I scored a 770 out of 800 on the GMAT and have been scoring in the mid 170's on practice LSAT's. I also served in the military before getting my MBA.

Do I have any chance of getting significant scholarship money at a law school (even a very low-ranked one)? I can run my business remotely, so I am open to any geographic location.

you're going to want to look at what schools offer part-time. there are very few of them that are truly worth attending. but military and that lsat will certaintly help.

[uvabro]

I think you can use your GMAT for northwestern. Ihave a business i run remotely. It is prob not as lucrative as yours but it hasn't been a prob. You can prob get a full ride to lower ranked places with mid-170s and if u dont need a job but are smart enough to hit mid-170s can prob hit median at a TT with minimal studying.

[20141023]

.

[dingbat]

getting a law degree part-time

I would only attend law school if I received a full scholarship or close to it.

my undergrad GPA was a sterling 2.8. I scored a 770 out of 800 on the GMAT and have been scoring in the mid 170's on practice LSAT's. I also served in the military before getting my MBA.

Do I have any chance of getting significant scholarship money at a law school

Time to explain something about how scholarships work.

Generally speaking, scholarships are used to persuade applicants with high numbers to attend their school. That means they money goes toward people with high scores. If both of your numbers are above the 75% for the school, you're looking at a lot of money, while if they're both below median you're looking at close to none. Figure that they're willing to pay up to X for a high GPA and up to Y for a high LSAT, with the maximum scholarship being Z = X + Y.
Ordinarily, that means that, being a super-splitter, apart from having an unpredictable cycle, you'd probably be looking at a so-so scholarship.

There's a major wrinkle to add here:

There are a lot less schools offering part-time programs, and because these usually cater to people who already have a job, there's very little competition, as people are a lot less likely to move to a new place to attend part time, so that, for example, Georgetown isn't competing with every other T14, but only with GW for the best applicants, whereas in NY Fordham is the top program available. As such, there's much less incentive to give scholarships to part-timers.
(generally admissions standards are already a bit lower for part-timers as well, but that's a different story)

Now your GMAT won't affect your law school application, though military and MBA will make a big difference, in terms of getting in. But, if you score in the mid 170's, you'll pretty much get into any part-time program in the country as it is. Are you eligible for yellow ribbon, GI bill, or some such?

I wouldn't ordinarily see you getting a lot of money anywhere. However, applications are down significantly, so many schools will be jumping for your 17x, and maybe you can get one to bite and offer you money. The real question is how desperate a school will be for it, but, I'd be surprised if you got many full ride offers

[yyyzzz250]

Thank you all for your responses. I welcome feedback from anyone else who wants to chime in. There seem to be a lot of people on this website with low GPA's and high LSAT's. I find it fascinating that we even have a nickname (splitters).

[kryptix]

I do want to point out that you won't get anywhere close to a full scholarship from Fordham, but also that most schools will give more money if you apply to day then transfer to night. If you can run your business remotely you might just consider going to school full time and taking some night classes. Realistically the difference between 11 credits per semester and 14 is so small that if you were going to suck it up anyway and you don't have to be in the office for X hours a day, there's not reason not to just go full time.

[stillwater]

I do want to point out that you won't get anywhere close to a full scholarship from Fordham, but also that most schools will give more money if you apply to day then transfer to night. If you can run your business remotely you might just consider going to school full time and taking some night classes. Realistically the difference between 11 credits per semester and 14 is so small that if you were going to suck it up anyway and you don't have to be in the office for X hours a day, there's not reason not to just go full time.

yea Fordham is cheap as f.

[kryptix]

I do want to point out that you won't get anywhere close to a full scholarship from Fordham, but also that most schools will give more money if you apply to day then transfer to night. If you can run your business remotely you might just consider going to school full time and taking some night classes. Realistically the difference between 11 credits per semester and 14 is so small that if you were going to suck it up anyway and you don't have to be in the office for X hours a day, there's not reason not to just go full time.

yea Fordham is cheap as f.

Yeah their law school subsidizes the college

[dingbat]

I do want to point out that you won't get anywhere close to a full scholarship from Fordham, but also that most schools will give more money if you apply to day then transfer to night. If you can run your business remotely you might just consider going to school full time and taking some night classes. Realistically the difference between 11 credits per semester and 14 is so small that if you were going to suck it up anyway and you don't have to be in the office for X hours a day, there's not reason not to just go full time.

yea Fordham is cheap as f.

Yeah their law school subsidizes the college

I can't give away how I know, but, I can guarantee you this isn't true

[Robbin Blue]

Take the LSAT. Come back with a score. Right now you're just a 2.8/xxx.

[kryptix]

I do want to point out that you won't get anywhere close to a full scholarship from Fordham, but also that most schools will give more money if you apply to day then transfer to night. If you can run your business remotely you might just consider going to school full time and taking some night classes. Realistically the difference between 11 credits per semester and 14 is so small that if you were going to suck it up anyway and you don't have to be in the office for X hours a day, there's not reason not to just go full time.

yea Fordham is cheap as f.

Yeah their law school subsidizes the college

I can't give away how I know, but, I can guarantee you this isn't true

Depends on how you define it subsidize, isn't the new lawschool building going to be partly for undergrads as dorms?

[yyyzzz250]

Another thought. Would any law schools give me credit for my MBA classes? I know that people doing joint JD/MBA programs can finish in 3.5-4 years. Have you ever heard of a law school letting someone who already has an MBA finish in 2 years or so? I realize this may be wishful thinking.

[uvabro]

Another thought. Would any law schools give me credit for my MBA classes? I know that people doing joint JD/MBA programs can finish in 3.5-4 years. Have you ever heard of a law school letting someone who already has an MBA finish in 2 years or so? I realize this may be wishful thinking.

sure, just tell them about your hypothetical 180. i applied with all hypothetical stats. i have 6 hypothetical gold medals, and a hypothetical 180. they loved it.

[20141023]

.

[dingbat]

Another thought. Would any law schools give me credit for my MBA classes? I know that people doing joint JD/MBA programs can finish in 3.5-4 years. Have you ever heard of a law school letting someone who already has an MBA finish in 2 years or so? I realize this may be wishful thinking.

With most law schools, they willcannot not take credits earned before you enter that school (unless you are transferring from another law school, of course), even if those credits are ones that you might have been able to earn during school at a joint JD/MBA.

It's an ABA rule. I've asked

[Icculus]

Another thought. Would any law schools give me credit for my MBA classes? I know that people doing joint JD/MBA programs can finish in 3.5-4 years. Have you ever heard of a law school letting someone who already has an MBA finish in 2 years or so? I realize this may be wishful thinking.

With most law schools, they willcannot not take credits earned before you enter that school (unless you are transferring from another law school, of course), even if those credits are ones that you might have been able to earn during school at a joint JD/MBA.

It's an ABA rule. I've asked

Beware the double negative that is so prevalent in opinions.