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Law School Admissions / Re: CHANCE ME
« on: August 24, 2012, 11:32:46 AM »You have a decent shot at Mid-Atlantic School of Law.LMAO
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You have a decent shot at Mid-Atlantic School of Law.LMAO
At least one measure of the legitimacy of a JD is whether it qualifies the degree holder to take the bar exam. As far as I can tell, the MASL JD, by itself, does not permit the holder to take any state's bar exam, with the possible exception of California (and I'm not even sure about that, since they're not registered with the state bar). How can that possibly qualify as a legitimate JD?
Personally, I don't think operations such as MASL should be allowed to claim that they grant JDs. I think it misleads the public, who assumes that the holder has completed a standard, rigorous legal education. I think the same should apply for B.A./M.A./Ph.Ds.
You're right about Prof. Dellinger's class, which why most 1Ls are so stressed during their first year at Western State. Most students in every class, not just Prof. Dellinger's, do not receive a foundation point which is why the attrition rate is so high. Western State actually has "double attrition," meaning that students get dismissed after their first year for not having >2.0 and then even more students are dismissed after their third semester, midway through law school, for not receiving the required amount of "foundation points." The latter being the category that I fall in. I believe that the ABA only reports attrition rates of students after the first year, but I'm not 100% sure about that one.This is certainly an issue that many of us at WSU worry about. It's not only that you need these 4 foundation points (for part-timers it's 4 in two years), but you need a total of eight before you can receive your juris doctorate. If this becomes an issue for me, I'm going to transfer out to a CBE school if I cannot transfer to another ABA. From what I understand from a former WSU student who transferred to West LA law school, she said there are many students there who were dismissed for not getting their foundation points that were able to transfer their class credits where they earned a 2.0 or better. Just something for you to consider if you plan on practicing only in California. Most CBE's should realize that being dismissed for not having a certain amount of 2.5's is different than being academically dismissed for failure to keep your cum. gpa above a 2.0.
Oh, I absolutely do not want to get back into Western State's law program, even though I believe I would do much better. Western State does not care about their students. All they care about is keeping their ABA accreditation because they're unranked. Instead of changing teaching methods so students are better prepared for the bar, they punish their own students by dismissing so many of them. I wish I knew what I know now about Western State before I enrolled. Attrition rates never really crossed my mind before I started at Western State. I would never recommend to a prospective law student that he/she go to Western State.
As far as what I have changed that will cause me to have a different result, I'll explain my success in a paralegal program and, if I can find a paralegal job, how working in the legal field has motivated me to do much better the second time around. My lack of focus at Western State, also having to take care my elder parents, played a role and I'll attempt to show to an admissions committee that between the time of my dismissal and the time of my admissions application that I am much more focused and am more motivated to do well in any law program. I plan on retaking the LSAT and obviously studying much harder and smarter to increase my score as much as I can. I'll still only apply to law schools in California but definitely not Western State, nor Whittier because I know people there who told me that their attrition is also high. I was recently dismissed so I still have a little less than two years to "rehab" myself so that I can get into a better law program.
Any other ideas on what I should do? Constructive criticism is always appreciated.
If you graduate from a distance learning California law school, there is no petition possible until you pass the California bar. No other state will recognize the degree until you pass the California bar. There are no exceptions. I believe the same applies to all unaccredited Californua law schools regardless of whether they are distance or not.