What you submit
An admission test
Most applicants take the LSAT. Many schools also accept the GRE, and some accept other tests. Policies differ by school and can change from one cycle to the next, so check each school’s current policy.
Schools publish the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile scores of the class that enrolled. Those figures describe a past class. They are not a cutoff and they are not a forecast.
Your academic record
You send transcripts from every college you attended. Most schools receive them through LSAC’s Credential Assembly Service, which also calculates a standardized grade point average. That figure can differ from the one on your transcript.
A personal statement
Nearly every school asks for one. Length limits and prompts differ, which is why one draft rarely fits every school without changes.
Many schools also invite optional statements, for example about your background or why you are applying to that school. Optional means what it says, but read each prompt before deciding.
Letters of recommendation
Schools state how many letters they require and how many they will accept. Letters from people who taught or supervised you closely are usually the most useful. Ask early: your recommenders have their own deadlines.
A résumé and any addenda
A résumé shows what you did outside the classroom. An addendum is a short factual note explaining something in your record, such as a gap or a change in grades. Use one only when there is something to explain.
Character and fitness questions
Applications ask about academic discipline and legal matters. Answer fully and consistently. The bar will ask similar questions when you seek a licence, and it compares your answers with what you told your law school.
Timing and decision plans
- Rolling admission
- Many schools review applications as they arrive and make offers throughout the cycle. Some of these schools publish no fixed final deadline. Where that is the case, a school’s profile says so rather than showing a date.
- Priority and final deadlines
- A priority deadline is the date by which to apply for full consideration, often including scholarships. A final deadline is the last date an application is accepted.
- Early decision
- Some schools offer an early round. Many of these plans are binding: if you are admitted you commit to attend and withdraw your other applications. Read the terms before choosing one.
- Fees and waivers
- Schools charge an application fee and most offer waivers, by request or based on need. Waiver information is on each school’s admissions page.
Where to confirm everything
The school’s own admissions page and your LSAC account are the final word on what is required and when. Use PreLaw Advisor to organize your work and to find those pages quickly, then confirm each requirement at the source before you submit.
Your college’s pre-law advisor can read a draft, talk through a school list and explain anything here in more depth. That help is free to students and often to alumni.