There are generally five main components to a law school application: 

• Law School Admission Test (LSAT)
• A personal statement and optional essays
• Letters of recommendation
• Resume
• Transcripts

Often, schools will have optional essays, such as a diversity statement or a statement about why you want to attend that particular school. Additionally, under certain circumstances, you may wish to submit addenda to your personal statement.

The LSAT

Registering for the LSAT

The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is an exam that is designed to assess logical and verbal reasoning proficiency and reading comprehension. The LSAT is accepted by all ABA-accredited law schools for admission purposes. The LSAT is offered year-round and can be registered for on www.lsac.org. The current registration fee for the LSAT is $248 (August 2025).

LSAC has a fee waiver for qualified applicants. Eligibility requirements and the application process can be found on the LSAC website. Each approved waiver can include up to two LSAT exams, one CAS registration, and four CAS Law School Reports. See the LSAC website for additional information and instructions.

Fee waiver information: Apply for an LSAC Fee Waiver | The Law School Admission Council

CAS Registration

The Credential Assembly Service (CAS) is a system that compiles your transcripts, letters of recommendation, and any other application documents into a full report that is sent to the law schools you apply to, greatly simplifying the application process for applicants and law schools. CAS costs $195 and is required to apply to most ABA-approved law schools.

Retaking the LSAT

If possible, aim to only take the LSAT once. While it can be okay to take the LSAT multiple times, it is important to be aware that, if you do take it more than once, all of your scores will be reported to the law schools when you apply. Some schools only look at the highest score, while others state that they consider every score but place the most emphasis on the highest score. Make sure to research the law schools you plan on applying to and look at how each evaluates multiple LSAT scores. Other schools may take an average of all scores. If the LSAT you are registered for is coming up and you do not feel prepared, depending on the circumstances, it may be better to not take that exam and register for the next one.

If you take the LSAT and do not think you scored as well as you had hoped, you can cancel your score before it comes out. However, your score report will show that you canceled a score.

Retaking the LSAT is an option, but when making that decision, it is important to weigh all the pros and cons. These include how much higher you believe you can score on the next exam and how much of a delay in the application process retaking the exam will cause. If you are deciding whether or not to retake the LSAT, set up an appointment with your pre-law or pre-grad advisor to discuss this option.

Once you take the LSAT, your score is valid for five years. However, many schools would like to see a more recent score, as it is likely more indicative of your current ability.

Taking the GRE Instead of the LSAT

Some law schools have started accepting GRE scores as well as LSAT scores. However, the American Bar Association, which governs law school accreditation, has stated that law schools may only admit up to 10% of applicants without an LSAT score unless the applicant is in an undergraduate program of the same institution as the J.D. program or the applicant is seeking the J.D. degree in combination with a degree in a different discipline. There are also specific requirements listed by the ABA for candidates who wish to apply with a GRE score. Currently, the LSAT is still the most widely accepted law school entrance exam.

If you are considering taking the GRE instead of the LSAT, there are some important differences to take note of. The GRE is a personalized test, meaning that the difficulty level of the questions adapts depending on how you do on previous sections. The LSAT questions, on the other hand, do not change during the exam. Additionally, the GRE includes math and vocabulary questions, whereas the LSAT does not. The LSAT also includes logic games, which are not tested on the GRE.

Preparing for the LSAT

How long you need to study for the LSAT depends greatly on your study style, your schedule and commitments leading up to the test date, as well as many other factors. Most test-takers study anywhere from two to six months before they take the exam. One way to determine your starting point is to take a diagnostic exam, score yourself, and see how much of an improvement you need to make and if there are specific areas of the exam that you struggle more with.

Some people take a commercial prep course to prepare for the LSAT. While these tend to be relatively pricey, they provide a structured learning environment and accountability for spending enough time studying. Test prep courses schedule your studying for you, and they provide courses in a variety of different formats to fit different study personalities. Most offer a live classroom course and an online option. Some have a live-online hybrid in which there is a live lecture streamed through a website. These courses often include specific homework assignments to keep you on track and administer diagnostic exams so you can assess your progress throughout the course. If you are considering a commercial course, set up an appointment with a pre-law or pre-grad advisor to discuss options. Occasionally, the pre-law office has discounts available through a few of the companies.

How do you pick a goal when studying? Law schools publish their LSAT medians, so if you are looking for a target score to hit while practicing, feel free to research some schools on your list and see the kind of scores they expect.

LSAC also publishes books consisting of past LSAT exams and several guidebooks. These are great resources for getting a sense of what a real LSAT looks like since many test prep companies can't use official LSAT questions and have to make up their own that are modeled after the official questions.

The Personal Statement and Optional Essays

Instead of conducting formal interviews, law schools request a personal statement from each applicant. Personal statements are generally 2-4 double-spaced pages. Make sure to consult each school's application for specific prompts and length requirements. Most schools will not give applicants a specific topic to write about. Rather, they will request that you write about the qualities that you will bring to the study of law at that school. Tell the admissions committee why you are qualified to go to law school, beyond just your grades and LSAT score, and what sets you apart from other applicants.

When writing your personal statement, it is important to remember your audience. The admissions committee typically consists of several law school faculty and staff. The people reading your personal statement are very familiar with the law, so make sure you avoid generalizations about the law and the use of uninformed legal language. Furthermore, any mention of the law should be from the perspective of your own experiences. For example, talking about your experiences with a legal system, or working at a law-related establishment, is great, but writing about something law-related you learned in class, or your opinion on certain laws or regulations generally can be risky. Also, remember that they are reading thousands of these essays. Write about a unique topic and make the statement easy to read and comprehend.

Start the process by looking at examples online. Often, schools will post examples of personal statements that really stood out to them. Reading examples will give you an idea of the tone and style law schools are looking for and maybe spark an idea or two for your own personal statement.

Some potential topics are a personal challenge or hardship you faced, an achievement you’re proud of, a unique hobby or talent, involvement in a project or job, or any life events that have changed and/or motivated you. Keep the focus of the personal statement on yourself. If you’re telling a story, keep the narrative short and spend most of the space on how you were affected or shaped by that experience. Don’t just reiterate what is already stated on your resume or transcript. The committee already has these materials and will review them, so take the opportunity to give the committee something unique and interesting about you.

Your personal statement doesn’t need to focus solely on why you want to attend law school or what kind of lawyer you hope to become. Its primary purpose is to give the admissions committee a genuine sense of who you are and how you’ll contribute to their student community. However, if your application doesn’t address “Why Law” or “Why [X] Law School” elsewhere, weaving these themes into your personal statement can strengthen your narrative. However, if the school provides a supplemental essay for these topics, feel free to focus your personal statement on a compelling story that reflects your values, experiences, and perspective. Remember, admissions committees review thousands of applications. To stand out, choose a unique theme rooted in your lived experience, and try to avoid generic or overly broad topics.

If you have any questions about topics or would like someone to review your personal statement, set up an appointment with your pre-law or pre-grad advisor. Try to get a few different people, whether that’s an advisor, a teacher, a friend, or a family member, to read over your personal statement and give you feedback. Make sure it is completely free of any grammatical errors, as these can reflect poorly on your application.

Which of the prompts was hard to write about? Which one(s) did you have more to say about? Return to those ones and keep writing. If nothing clicks yet, look up additional prompts to get you started writing. The goal is to identify a theme and story that shows the admissions committee who you are.

Diversity Statement

Many schools give applicants the opportunity to also send in a diversity statement. Again, there are examples online to give you an idea of what they are looking for. You can write about any and all aspects of diversity, including race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability, if you’re from a rural hometown. Basically, any way that you feel you don’t fit in with the mainstream culture. The diversity statement is typically 300-350 words. Use it to describe how your diversity has had an impact on your life and what you have learned about yourself and/or society.

Addenda

Addenda can be used to explain very low grades, leaves of absence from school, criminal records or arrests, or multiple LSAT scores if there’s a big variation between them. These are generally 1-2 paragraphs each. Unlike the personal statement, which is completely from your point of view, addenda should be more objective and direct. Be brief, factual, and honest. Explain what happened, why it happened, and how you overcame or dealt with the situation. You want to focus on your actions to improve things rather than just tell the committee about something that happened to you. You do not want to sound like you are making excuses; instead, be clear and concise and showcase how you aim to improve during law school.

Letters of Recommendation

Law schools vary in the number of letters of recommendation they require, but they typically request 2-4 letters. Out of these, at least one should be from a professor or academic reference, such as someone you did research under. The remaining letters can also be professors, but some other great options are work and internship supervisors.

The prestige and title of your recommenders are less important than the quality of the letter they will write. It is better to get a more personal and in-depth letter from someone with a lower rank than a generic letter from someone with an impressive name or occupation.

Make sure these recommenders can evaluate your performance in addition to your character. For a professor or teaching assistant (TA), this is someone who graded your assignments. For a professional recommendation, this is someone who evaluated your work product.

It can often be helpful to give your recommenders your resume or a rough draft of your personal statement to help guide them when they write the letter. Some recommenders will ask what they should write in the letter. Some ideas are: 

• Work ethic
• Commitment to studies
• If they and/or your peers found you easy to work with
• Leadership skills

It’s also advisable to ask each professor writing your letters of recommendation to emphasize different aspects of your skills and character. This approach gives admissions officers a well-rounded perspective on your strengths, highlighting a broader range of your qualities as a student.

To request letters of recommendation through LSAC, you will first need to purchase CAS, the system that compiles your application materials and sends them to schools. Once you have done that, you can add your recommenders’ names and email addresses to your account, and CAS will send your recommenders an email with further instructions for submitting their letters. Alternatively, you can print out the instructions to give to your recommenders in person. After you’ve done this, you will be able to see on your account when your recommenders have submitted their letters. It is important to check this periodically and follow up with them if your application deadline is approaching and they have not submitted their letters. This task can often fall to the back burner, so don’t be afraid to check in every once in a while with a reminder.

Try to ask for your letters at least 2-4 weeks before you plan on applying, and even earlier for very busy recommenders and professors. This is an easy step you can take care of very early on in the application process. It’s also one that can hold your application up when you’re otherwise ready to submit if you don’t give recommenders early enough notice.

Resume

Resume requirements, such as page length, vary between different schools, so make sure to check each school’s application instructions before submitting your resume. Your resume should be well-written and engaging. It should include an education and an experience section. Make sure you include everything you have done since graduating from high school. If you can’t fit everything within the page limit, include only your most relevant experiences. When listing experiences, don’t hesitate to include work unrelated to law, such as roles as a cashier, restaurant employee, teacher, etc. Admissions committees value unique life experiences, as they aim to create a diverse and well-rounded class.

Thoroughly describe your experiences in a couple of simply structured sentences. Include anything relevant, but be concise and leave out any “fluff.” Be specific enough that the reader gets a good grasp of exactly what you did. Make sure to use action verbs, and be consistent with the tense of the verbs.

The Career Center offers examples of resumes and can help with writing and editing your own up to one year after graduation. Additional resources for resume assistance include professors and your pre-law advisor.

Actively proofread your resume and have friends or family review it as well. Any typos or grammatical errors can stand out very negatively on your law school application.

Transcripts

Once you purchase CAS, you can begin requesting transcripts. You will need to request a transcript from each and every undergraduate and graduate school you have attended in the United States or Canada. This includes community colleges, anywhere you took summer courses, and anywhere you took college-level courses during high school. Even if your UC Davis transcript shows the credits from another institution, you will still need to request an individual transcript from that institution.

This is another step that can be taken care of early on in the application process. LSAC can take up to two weeks to process your transcripts. On top of that, the schools you are requesting transcripts from take time to process the request and send them to LSAC, so don’t wait until the last minute to get this part of your application taken care of.

The Law School Admission Council converts grades to a 4.0 system to give law schools a uniform way to compare applicants. LSAC excludes from formulation such as withdrawn and incomplete grades. A full list of conversions can be found on the LSAC website. If you repeat a course and the first grade still appears on your transcript (even if it has a line drawn through it), it will be calculated into your LSAC GPA.

Other Considerations

Financing Your Degree

Many schools offer merit-based scholarships, which are given based on the applicant’s past academic achievement. These scholarships can range anywhere from a few thousand dollars up to the cost of tuition. Decisions on whether or not to give a merit-based scholarship are often made during the admissions process or shortly after. Often, schools will send the scholarship offer along with the offer of admission. Other schools may take a few weeks to make scholarship decisions.

It is important to fill out FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) in the fall when you are applying to law school. The application generally opens up in October. Based on FAFSA, some schools offer need-based grants. Check the financial aid page of a school’s website to see if that school offers need-based aid.

It is highly recommended to apply for FAFSA and submit your law school application as early as possible—ideally in September or October. Scholarships are often awarded on a rolling basis, meaning the earlier you apply, the greater your chances of receiving more scholarship funding.

AB540 and undocumented students have the opportunity to apply for financial aid in some schools. When researching law schools, it is important to look for information about how the school funds undocumented students, DACA students, and, in California, AB540 students. Law schools vary widely in what they offer, both from state to state and within the state. You may have to reach out directly to financial aid to get more information about this. It is important to continue filling out the DREAM Act application regardless of whether you plan to attend a state school or not. Some private law schools may accept the DREAM Act as documentation of financial need. Additionally, there are a growing number of non-profit organizations making their scholarships accessible to undocumented students; some of these are the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), Immigrants Rising, California ChangeLawyers, and more!

Outside scholarships are less common, but law schools often list a few options on their financial aid websites.

Most law students take out loans for law school. Even if you can get your tuition covered, you may still need money for living expenses and in case of unexpected life events. A possible alternative is to take a gap year(s) to work and save money. Even then, the increasing cost of a legal education may necessitate loans.

Working During Law School

Working during law school is a possibility, but you shouldn’t do it if it’s going to substantially take away from your studies, as the first year, especially, is very time-consuming. Once you make it through your first year of law school, you can try to apply for research assistant or law clerk positions. Many law school professors hire students to do research for academic articles, and law firms often hire law students to work as research clerks. These types of jobs are great because they pay, they often have a set schedule, and they are great experiences to put on your resume.

Navigating Offers

Once you’ve been accepted into a school, if possible, you should try to set up a campus visit. Admissions websites are great for researching facts and programs, but an on-campus visit gives you a first-person view of what it would be like to attend that school. The communities and atmospheres differ greatly between schools, and an on-campus visit gives you an opportunity to speak with the admissions staff, as well as current students, about the school’s community. It’s important to talk to staff and students so you can figure out the pros and cons of attending each school.

Once you have been accepted to schools and received scholarship offers, it’s important to read the fine print of each offer. Some scholarships are guaranteed for the entire three years of law school, but others are contingent upon maintaining a certain GPA or class rank. If your scholarship offer requires certain conditions, look at the school’s admissions website for retention rates. Additionally, speak to the school’s admissions staff and ask how many students are able to keep their grades and/or class rank up to the required standard.

Often, applicants are accepted to a school, but the scholarship offer is insufficient for them to afford to attend that school. If you have received an offer from a higher-ranked school or if you have received a larger scholarship from a similarly-ranked school, you have the option to negotiate for more money from the school.