Jay Anthony I am a 2005 graduate and proud of my Alma mater. The little private law school started by a dream is still thriving, thanks to some of my legal mentors like Professor Terri Day and Professor Lee Schnasi. They actually teach you the law and how to be a lawyer and represent our fellow citizens in our legal system. And I never forgot Professor Leonard Birdsong and his "You are in law school now" speech. If you want to go to law school in Orlando, check out Barry University School of Law. *Bar passage rate - if you want to pass the bar exam, study, practice exams every day and be prepared. Dont think its an easy test. But you can do it if you want to be a licensed attorney.
5 /5
Jay Santi Current Student review:
This school does everything in its power to postpone graduation for its students. They come up with all these additional graduation requirements like workshops, mock exams, etc. As if $200k in loans and 3 years of actual law school isnt enough on top of pro bono hours, PEP credits, CCH credit, writing requirement, etc. No, they add all this extra bs just to squeeze money out of you. They will not let you graduate unless you do an interview with their CLASP department. What do they care what Im doing post graduation? Its my degree and education. But they will literally withhold you for it, as well as not doing a workshop.
Ive worked with enough lawyers to know even they dont deal with this much bs. They pay their annual dues to the bar and they get left alone. This school is a willing contributor to the gate keeping of this profession. To top it off, they have staff teaching core subjects that arent even licensed to practice law in Florida. But then they claim to have an emphasis on passing the bar.
Some professors here are really wonderful and they deserve so much better.
Attending Barry has made me wish I never did any of this. I had a comfortable job before attending this school, and now I just feel like I owe $200k in loans for nothing. I passed my classes, I did all my requirements that are on the student portal and published per their accreditation with the ABA, but administration continues to find ways to not let me graduate.
If youre a prospective student, do yourself a favor and unless you are excellent at taking it in the rear, stay away. As far away as possible.
1 /5
Bobby Will Avoid this institution at all costs. The scholarships Barry offers are conditional and per the ABA 509, more than half of the students lose their scholarships. This is intentional and is not due to their performance. Rather, they lose scholarships because the school has a questionable grading scale that makes it challenging for students to earn As and Bs. This review is not meant to criticize the professors, as most have been kind and helpful. Rather it reflects concern about the administration and the exploitative practices they use to entice prospective students with scholarships, only to retract the scholarships later. This school also has a ton of irrelevant requirements apart from the credit hours that students must fulfill in order to graduate.
They also expel students after their first semester, even if they earn passing grades but have a low GPA. This is a red flag, as most law schools have a plan in place to assist students that may be struggling academically and typically do not dismiss students until the probationary period has ended or at the end of the academic school year. The second red flag is that Barry does not automatically place students on academic probation; in fact, students have to "petition" to be on probation or be academically dismissed. It is quite unusual that students have to petition to be placed on probation instead of being automatically placed on it.
If the petition is denied Barry will kick you out.
If youre ever in this situation just know that administration will intentionally delay notifying students of their dismissal until two days (Friday 5pm) before the new semester begins. I mentioned the day and time because they intentionally delay notifying students at an effort to minimize direct interaction with students, especially when delivering sensitive or important information. Very unsupportive in my opinion. Given the short notice, it makes it difficult for students to call or reach out to anyone in the admin office because the emails get sent out at the same time the school offices close. If they deny your petition against academic dismissal, they will wait until the new semester starts, after youve purchased books and attended classes, to inform you of their decision. Dismissing students before the semester starts would be more ethical as opposed to waiting until students invested time and money before withdrawing them from the program. If youre a prospective student, consider choosing a school that genuinely invests in its students.
1 /5