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Every year, I talk to law school applicants who spent months perfecting their personal statement and LSAT score, but they submitted an incomplete application because they forgot to request a transcript from a community college course they took five years ago. Or they submitted three letters of recommendation to a school that only accepts two. Or they missed a supplemental essay deadline because they didn't realize it was different from the regular decision deadline.
The requirements for law school aren't complicated, but they do need you to be on track and organized. I've reviewed enough applications to know that the difference between a complete, well-timed submission and a delayed one almost always comes down to whether the applicant understood the full process before they started or figured it out as they went.
The guide below covers every requirement you need to meet, how to prepare and submit through LSAC's system, and what top law schools expect, so you can build your application with every component accounted for from day one.
You need a good GPA to get accepted to law school. Some programs set a minimum requirement (such as a 3.0 GPA), while others don’t. However, “minimum” is very different from “competitive.”
In general, aim for at least the 75th percentile GPA of previous matriculants. You can check these figures on our website with our series of “How To” articles for the specific schools you’re interested in applying to.
In our law school application webinar, Erin Calloway, a graduate of the American University Washington College of Law and expert consultant at Juris Education, shares her insights on GPA.
"Your undergraduate GPA should be strong. It should be a minimum of 3.5."
If you have a 25th percentile GPA or lower, admissions committees might think you’re underqualified for law school, and you probably won’t make it past the application screening phase.
Arush’s Pro Tip: The general rule of thumb is to aim for a score that’s above the 75th percentile to demonstrate a competitive GPA and your intent to attend that school if accepted.
You need a good LSAT score to get into law school. Focus on studying for the LSAT and earning a competitive score. Aim for a school’s 75th percentile score of previous matriculants to be competitive.
Register for the LSAT because it’s the most widely accepted admissions test. That also means you need to stick to a study schedule to earn a competitive score.
According to the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), in the 2025-2026 application cycle, the national 75th percentile LSAT score was 166. In general, aim for as close to 166 as possible, but this will change based on the scores of previous matriculants for each school you’re applying to.
Watch the video below to learn how to score a 165+ on the LSAT:
In our free LSAT workshop, Mika MacDonald, an expert tutor at Juris Education and graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, shares her advice on good LSAT scores.
"Your LSAT score factors more into your law school admissions decision than your GPA because it’s much harder statistically to achieve a high LSAT score than it is to achieve a high GPA. They don't know what your institution's grading curve is necessarily to get your GPA, but everybody takes the same LSAT and they're subject to the same curve."
It’s worth more of your time to ensure you receive a good LSAT score than nearly any other law school application requirement.
You need to submit all your transcripts before applying to law school. You need a transcript from every school you attended, even if it was for a short period. If you completed a couple of courses from a community college, submit that transcript, too.
This is one of the most common reasons applications get delayed: If you don’t have all your transcripts, your application won’t be complete. Stay on top of this by requesting your transcripts before putting together your application.
You can request your transcripts even in your junior year while you build your application. Once you complete new courses in your senior year, all you have to do is request updated transcripts. But that way, you already have something to work with.
Here is a comprehensive law school application checklist to help you know exactly what to prepare.
Take a look at the webinar below for more expert advice on your law school application checklist.
Working with law school admissions consultants can help you submit your best application. With help from experts, you’ll receive guidance on every aspect of your application to maximize your chances of success.
Extracurriculars for law school aren’t mandatory, but they are a great way to help you differentiate yourself from other applicants. Typically, including extracurricular activities won’t make or break your application. However, they can often make you sound interesting enough to stand out.
No ABA-accredited law school requires community service or volunteering, but these extracurricular activities can demonstrate transferable skills and strengthen your application narrative.
In our law school application webinar, Marcelius Braxton, an expert Juris Education counselor and graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law, shared his insights on extracurricular activities.
“Any activity can be valuable as long as you prove it to law schools,” he says. “Admissions officers are going to know if you're just taking something just to take it ... they'd much rather see that it’s something you really care about. Maybe you started it in your first year of college and did it for four years. Talk about what you learned and how you grew because it will help you stand out.”
The extracurricular activity doesn’t have to be related to law, but it should connect to something transferable that will make you a good lawyer. You can also weave this into your personal statement if it advances your narrative.
You don’t need work experience to apply to law school. Many successful applicants enter directly after completing their undergraduate degree. That said, applicants with two to five years of meaningful professional experience often write stronger personal statements and have a clearer career direction, which can help you if your scores aren’t the highest.
Law school admissions officers like to see experiences that build your legal skills, research and writing, sustained commitment and leadership, and confidence in overcoming obstacles.
If you participated in 10 different clubs for only one month at a time, that doesn’t show that you’re committed to each role. If you only have two to three extracurriculars and one work experience, but you’ve been involved in them from your freshman to senior year, that’s a great way to show your long-term involvement.
Your law school personal statement needs to cover three things:
The personal statement is one of the most important parts of your application, as it’s where you’ll differentiate yourself from other applicants. If you’re applying to a T14 law school with high stats, there’s a good chance that other students will also be applying with impressive academics. But how you position your narrative in your personal statement could make law schools want you.
The video below provides insider tips for crafting your personal statement:
With AI being so accessible, it’s very tempting to just use it to write your personal statement. Don’t. Your personal statement should be about you. You can use it to help you brainstorm or pick out important themes, but that’s about it.
Remember that, as a lawyer, writing will be one of your primary responsibilities. The personal statement is a great opportunity to showcase your writing skills. You’re persuading someone to admit you to their school, which is one of the qualities admissions look for in future lawyers.
Also, keep in mind that the personal statement will go out to several law schools, so don’t write about a specific school’s offerings just yet. Save that specificity for your supplemental essays.
Aim to get at least four letters of recommendation from different professionals you’ve worked closely with. Your recommenders don’t have to be related to law, but at least one of them should be. Ideally, you should have a recommendation letter from:
Don’t just ask your recommender if they’ll write a letter for you. Ask them if they’ll write a strong letter for you. Your letter needs to be a glowing recommendation, and if there’s any doubt, ask someone else.
Watch our video on law school letters of recommendation for more advice on how to secure impactful ones.
The best way to know who to ask is to build relationships with professionals throughout your entire undergrad. Attend office hours, sit in the front of the class, complete all your readings, answer all the questions in the lecture, and make sure they know who you are by name. If you’re just a number in their class, they probably won’t be able to provide a glowing recommendation for you.
You likely won’t need four recommendations for every school you apply to, since some accept only two or three, but you’ll still have options.
Your law school resume should be one to two pages long, typed in a standard font. The main sections you should include in your resume are:
Depending on how many entries you’d have in each category, you can also consider adding sections for:
In our law school timeline webinar, Stephen Neilson, an expert advisor at Juris Education and a Harvard Law School graduate, shares his tips on the law school resume.
"Your resume is the first impression that you put forth. It’s a summary of your professional experiences, so you want to make sure that it’s really polished because you want to tell the right story to the law schools that you're interested in."
Since your resume is your first impression, make sure you really sell yourself in this document. This isn’t the time to be humble about your achievements; you really need to show why you’re more suitable than any other candidate.
These materials may not be required by all law schools, but some do.
Some law schools ask applicants to submit a diversity statement. This is your chance to focus on your background. Even if you come from a relatively privileged position, nearly everyone has experienced hardship or judgment in some capacity. However, don’t get too personal here or make it sound like you’re making excuses.
If you lived in another country and had to learn a new language, that can show really valuable transferable skills. If you studied abroad and immersed yourself in a different culture, you can also highlight that there.
Law schools don’t want to admit the same student twice. They want a diverse student body. Use the diversity statement to differentiate yourself from thousands of other applicants.
You don’t always need to submit an addendum, and in many cases, you probably shouldn’t. Only write an addendum if you experienced a significant hardship that drastically impacted your GPA, LSAT score, or other parts of your application. If you just got a C in your class because you struggled with the content, don’t write an addendum.
The best structure for an addendum is to explain the hardship, what you did to overcome it, and how that’s affected you up to this point. Keep it short and simple; there’s no need for colorful language here.
Most schools require you to submit supplemental essays, such as a Why This Law School essay, after submitting your primary application. These supplemental essays will likely be very specific to each law school. You can recycle your personal statement, but it’s much harder to recycle the supplemental essays.
Most law schools use similar overarching themes for supplemental essays, such as highlighting your leadership experience. However, you should always reference specific offerings at that law school that no one else offers in these supplemental essays.
If your personal statement answers the “Why law?” and “Why law now?” questions, then your supplemental essays should answer the “Why law here?” question.
You should write optional essays for every school that offers them. Admissions committees include these prompts because they want more information, and skipping them forfeits a chance to strengthen your file. If an optional essay asks about a topic that doesn't apply to you (such as a diversity statement when you have nothing meaningful to add), leaving it blank is better than forcing an inauthentic response.
The video below breaks down how to craft a unique application narrative to set you apart from thousands of other candidates.
International law school applicants must also submit transcript authentication, an English proficiency test in most cases, and visa and financial documentation once admitted. All applicants submit an application form, personal statement, two letters of recommendation, official transcripts from every institution attended, and an LSAT score.
Yes, you have to complete a bachelor's degree before enrolling in law school. Every ABA-approved J.D. program requires applicants to hold an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution. A small number of accelerated 3+3 programs let students begin law school after three years of college, but these exceptions still require completing the bachelor's degree concurrently.
Take the LSAT first, as this is the standardized test accepted by all law schools. If you struggle with logic games but perform well on vocabulary and quantitative reasoning, the GRE may produce a more competitive score. A few schools also accept the GMAT or JD-Next, but these limit your options significantly.
Yes, you can go to law school with any bachelor's degree. Law schools don’t require or prefer specific majors, and admitted students come from backgrounds ranging from English and philosophy to engineering and nursing. Pick a major that plays to your strengths and keeps your GPA high, because a 3.90 in music outperforms a 3.40 in political science.
Not all law programs interview applicants, but most do. Use the interview to tie your entire application narrative together. If you don’t perform well in interviews, practice with mock interview sessions. Poor interview performance can make or break your application, even for competitive applicants.
Start preparing your law school application at least 12 months before you plan to submit. That timeline gives you enough room to study for and retake the LSAT if needed, draft and revise your personal statement through multiple rounds of feedback, request transcripts from every institution you attended, and give your recommenders adequate lead time. Applicants who compress this process into two to three months almost always leave quality on the table somewhere.
Co-Founder of Juris Education, Dartmouth College
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