Program Your Way to a J.D.
I read a somewhat negative take on part-time and evening programs, and I just had to write about the situation I’ve created for myself.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m at a school in the Northeast, and I love the area. The part I didn’t mention was my plan for paying for law school: I sized up my school in advance, and periodically checked their “employment” web page. I saw that this school is a great match for my legal goals, and its evening / part-time program is very well established and respected in the legal community.
Eventually, they had an opening, I applied for a programming job, and got it. After one year working, I’m now eligible for the college’s 50% tuition benefit. So I applied for the evening program at my school, was accepted, and now my 1L year has begun.
That’s a great story, but there are many benefits beyond the simple cost reduction:
* I’m already on the campus 9-5, and so it’s very easy for me to pop over to the law school for a meeting or event.
* I really feel how I’m a part of the institution – I’m able to positively affect it in so many ways – my experiences in both roles help inform what I do. (For example, part of my work involves supporting software systems that students use.)
* I can sometimes be a little shy and so it’s been great already having tons of contacts, knowing lots of the law faculty and staff before ever starting school.
* Working at a college is definitely less stressful than most industry jobs – a good thing when going to school.
* I get to park in staff parking spots. 
There may be some drawbacks, that any part-time law student will have – working at the day job instead of getting legal experience, and so I’m thinking about how I’ll handle that. But otherwise, I think this is going to be a great 3 – 4 years.
Monique said,
October 11, 2007 at 7:10 pm
I read your post on the Frugile Law Student blog and had to visit and say thank you for your positive post. I am applying to a PTLS program for next year and started getting concerned when reading all the negitive posts.
Like you I work at a univeristy, just not the one I hope to be attending law school but I am only a 10 minute drive away from the campus so I can visit for events and meetings during the day if needed.
I’m looking forward to it, any insight you can provide would be great.
Rebecca said,
October 11, 2007 at 11:37 pm
“…Like you I work at a univeristy, just not the one I hope to be attending law school but I am only a 10 minute drive away from the campus so I can visit for events and meetings during the day if needed.”
Nice – that should work out really well. I can see that it’s really nice to be able to be on campus for something if you want to. At my school, there are 2 or 3 lunchtime events every day, and I go to at least one or two per week. I think I may cut down on that, but for now, it’s been great meeting people and getting a feel for the school.
I’m actually thinking of changing jobs – my “cash equivalent” of my salary plus LS benefit is $50K. I should be able to get much more than that somewhere else …