Disadvantages of law school part time...

[williamgazillion]

What cons are there besides the extra year to finish and going to class at night?

[Butch]

you're one year behind the others that start at the same time, so you hae to wait longer for a summer associateship.

most things are tailored around the day students, so it's hard for part-time students to attend activities and events.

many big firms do look down upon part-timers

juggling a fulltime job and a part-time law schedule is super,duper hard

[gmon72]

that's me.  Full time job and starting law school.  As Kennedy put it "we choose to go to the moon in this decade ... not because it is easy, but because it is hard"

[BoscoBreaux]

What cons are there besides the extra year to finish and going to class at night?

The only advantage to going to school part-time, assuming you did not have to work nor worry about paying for living expenses during that extra year, would be more time to focus on your classes and time to participate in externship and other law-related projects. A higher class ranking due to better grades, and having more exposure to things, are assets when you go looking for a job.

But, if you go part-time because you have to work, that would mean (probably) less time for classes, law-related extracurriculars, and summer externships. Also, from "part-timers" that I have talked to, you never really have that "going to law school" feel that the full-timers get; this makes distractions much more seductive.

[top]

butch, are you sure that part about having to wait longer for summer associateships is accurate?  I have the impression that it is not any more difficult for a PTer to get a summer job after 1L than it is for a FTer . . .  what do  you know?  please share, as I am still debating a FT -vs- a PT program. . .

[Butch]

well, in most PT programs you're in SCHOOL during the summer...

but, honestly, 1L jobs arent the big important jobs...they're whatever you can scrounge up.   Firms don't really hire until after 2L (and, if you're a PT student, that would really be after your 3rd year, not after your 2nd year..).  Most jobs are for 2L or 3L. The 1L isnt that important.