Law School’s Online Program Attracts Students With Higher LSAT Scores Than Its On-Campus Program

The future for law school programming is here, and we’ve got the stats to prove it.

As it stands, the American Bar Association has approved only two hybrid J.D. programs where students are able to complete the vast majority of their work in an online setting. One of these programs is at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, which graduated its first class this spring, and the other is at Syracuse University College of Law, which welcomed its first class this fall.

Syracuse Law’s JDinteractive program got off to a great start this week, and according to Nina Kohn, the school’s associate dean for online education, the students in the online program had higher LSAT scores than students in the residential program. How could that be? Here’s some information on the class make-up from Law.com:

Syracuse’s first hybrid class represents a departure from typical incoming law students. They are significantly older with an average age of 35, and 41 percent are first-generation college students. Most are midcareer or in senior roles in their fields and see a law degree as a way to either advance or take their careers in a new direction, Kohn said. They aren’t going to law school on a whim, but have a clear view of how they want to leverage their J.D.s, she added.

Nearly half of the 32 are in the military or are military spouses. Some are planning for post-military careers, while others aim to move into roles as attorneys within the military. And attending law school online opens opportunities for military spouses that may not exist otherwise, Kohn said.

“We really are able to expand access to well-qualified students by offering our J.D. in this way,” Kohn said. “We’re seeing the types of students who will make fabulous attorneys, but for whom there wasn’t a viable, realistic option before.”

Congratulations to the students in Syracuse Law’s inaugural online program!

Syracuse’s New Online JD Portends Popularity of Hybrid Programs [Law.com]

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Law School’s Online Program Attracts Students With Higher LSAT Scores Than Its On-Campus Program curated from Above the Law