Explore Law School Options for Nontraditional Applicants

Dawud Amin stands out among his classmates at the law school at Quinnipiac University for several reasons: He is one of the few vice presidents serving in the Student Bar Association, he is a father of three and he is nearing the home stretch for retirement.

The 39-year-old has been a firefighter since 1999 and hopes to retire within the next two or three years. Then he can start his second career.

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"I always wanted to be a lawyer," he says. After a family living in subpar housing conditions died in a fire, Amin says, their deaths encouraged him to renew his focus on academics and get to law school to help those that are disadvantaged.

"There's so many under-represented people that need caring advocates," he says. He will graduate in 2016 with his J.D. and his MBA.

Career-changers, like Amin, are one of many nontraditional students in law school. Other students labeled as nontraditional may have a disability or have served in the military. Because they aren't like traditional students -- who are often in their early to mid-20s, do not yet have families and who are using law school to start their first career -- they may have unique needs. Some may need special accommodations for tests while others may want access to a support group of peers that share their concerns.

"They just have to have dialogue with someone in the student affairs department," says Thomas Taggart, associate dean of student affairs at the Florida Coastal Law School. Conversations with staff in this department, he says, can help prospective law students who will be nontraditional gauge if a school will meet their needs.

Aspiring law students who are nontraditional can get a sense of how much a school may fit them by doing some research, experts say. Below experts share advice for three kinds of nontraditional students who are applying to law school.

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Veterans: At Florida Coastal Law School, about 5 percent of students have been in the military or are currently active, Taggart says.There's a military law society, which hosts events that relate to legal issues within the military, and a program called Coastal Law Vets. The latter is a support group that offers mentoring, among other resources, for student veterans.

Prospective students with a military background, he says, should ask, "Do they have student organizations for like peers?" and "Are there any local VA health centers?"

Students who are currently serving may have other concerns. He encourages them to ask about the flexibility of a law program. "When they're asked to deploy can they take a leave of absence and come back?" he says.

Disabled students: Shortly before starting law school, Angeli Rios was diagnosed with ADHD. Shortly after becoming a first-year law student, or 1L, at the Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland--Baltimore, Rios realized she had a chronic neuromuscular condition that causes pain in her muscles and joints.

"On exams I have specific accommodations, and I take exams separately from everyone else. And I get extended time," says Rios, who is also president of the National Association of Law Students With Disabilities.

Her organization encourages prospective law students to contact the disability resources office at schools they are considering, she says. She recommends they ask, "Are there other students at the school who have my accommodations? If so, what kind of accommodations are they receiving? Can you recommend other accommodations that might be helpful for me?"

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They should also speak with career services, says Paula Pearlman, executive director of the Disability Rights Legal Center at Loyola Law School Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. "I want the students to be able to be plugged into a network where the law school is going to support them in their job search."

Prospective students can ask what the office will do to dispel the myth that because they are students with a disability, they can't do the work, she says.

Career-changers: Going to a school in a big metropolitan are can be helpful for students who will use law school to start a second career, says Sean Scott, associate dean at Loyola Law School.

"The range of opportunities is just larger in the city," she says. Because a city has firms of all sizes, state and local government agencies and nonprofit organizations, this kind of setting gives students who are unsure of what they want to do multiple career options.

Nontraditional students should also find out if a school's extracurricular activities are accommodating for students who work or have families, says Amin from Quinnipiac. "That information is readily available by way of the presidents of each organization," he says.

Prospective students can contact a dean at their potential law school to find out how to reach the club presidents or use campus events for prospective students to speak with club leaders in person, he says.

Students that are nontraditional should not be afraid to voice their concerns, he says. "Speak up and ask those important questions."

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Delece Smith-Barrow is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering graduate schools. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dsmithbarrow@usnews.com.