Legal Studies MA at UIS

[colonelcamp]

I’m considering applying for the online Legal Studies MA program at the University of Illinois Springfield. I recently completed the BAS program at UMPI and a Legal Studies masters program has piqued my interest as it’s very relevant for my current job and my overall professional experience. Has anyone done this program at this particular school? If not at this particular school, what should I look out for with this type of program at any school? I’m also looking at Purdue Global for their MLS program, but something doesn’t sit well with me about this school’s reputation. I know it’s part of Purdue university system, but only since recently. I feel like maybe the degree wouldn’t be respected. Maybe that concern is unfounded. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thx!

UIS is just down the road from me...

Thoughts on the program (as seen by a local)

UIS is part of the U of I system and is the cheapest of the three campuses. The alumni association makes no distinctions though, so the perks are there.

The MLS degree will NOT prepare you for the bar, but you know that by know. Most of the folks i have ever spoke with that did the MLS program tended to be paralegals or state government employees who would be dealing with contracts or union issues. (unions are BIG in state government here, like it or not)

As far as reputation in the legal world, i have no idea... I can say that the MLS is NOT taught by the usual U of I  School of Law faculty, as the law school is located at UIUC... UIS relies HEAVILY on adjunct professors, so the faculty might be employees of the state supreme court or the federal district court... which might be an improvement over the School of Law tenured faculty.

UIS as a general rule caters to state government employees, and this influences most of the programs they offer.

Thanks for this insight! The more I learnabout UIS program the more I feel it might not be the right one for me.

On the other hand, I'm beginning to really like what I see with the UoL Master of Laws program. The cost is right in the ballpark of what I'm willing to spend and the specialization choices look really interesting. I'd have to spend some time considering which courses I'd take. I see that they have 3 different levels of study (PGCert, PGDip and LLM). As I understand it, based on my BAS and not having any legal experience, I would most likely be placed in the PGDip Laws level speeding things up a bit. One doubt I have is about my BAS. I did most of it on Sophia, TEEX and Coursera with just the required 10 residency courses completed at UMPI. Would this be a problem?

I don't think it would be a problem. Since you were awarded a regionally accredited degree, it shouldn't matter how you earned the credits for your bachelor's.

I'm just being paranoid. Thanks!