Following up on my previous posts (links below): Reuters, First-of-Its-Kind Online Law School Draws Big Applicant Pool:
A group of 27 aspiring lawyers beat long odds to land spots this fall in the first fully online Juris Doctor program to be accredited by the American Bar Association.
St. Mary’s University School of Law, which also offers a traditional J.D. program on its San Antonio campus, had 791 applicants for its first all-remote cohort. The online program offered admission to 71 applicants, a 9% acceptance rate that falls close to top-ranked Yale Law School.
The ABA in May 2021 granted St. Mary’s permission to offer its fully online part-time J.D. as a five-year pilot program. That approval came after law schools were quickly forced to switch to remote classes by the COVID-19 pandemic, giving them more experience with distance education. …
About a dozen law schools also offer hybrid J.D. programs in which part-time students complete the bulk of their coursework online but come to campus several times a year for in-person instruction. Another three schools have pending applications with the ABA to launch hybrid J.D.s. …
The students spend three nights a week in class and are expected to complete their J.D.s in four years instead of three for the traditional in-person program. Tuition is $27,354 a year for the online program, compared to $41,138 for the shorter full-time program.
Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:
- St. Mary’s To Launch Nation’s First Fully Online ABA-Accredited JD Degree (Sept. 1, 2021)
- St. Mary’s To Launch Nation’s First Fully Online ABA-Accredited JD Degree In Fall 2022 With 25 Students (Sept. 15, 2021)
- How St. Mary’s Law School Convinced The ABA To Approve First-Ever Remote JD Program (Sept. 25, 2021)
