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Reviewed by:
Former Head of Pre-Law Office, Northeastern University, & Admissions Officer, Brown University
Reviewed: 04/15/24
If you’d like to join a law school with a profession-ready curriculum and award-winning programs, read on to learn more about how to get into Syracuse Law School.
Syracuse Law School is dedicated to providing aspiring lawyers with the skills and experience to become extraordinary professionals.
With several in-house clinics, innovative curriculums, and a nationally recognized trial advocacy program, students have the opportunity to understand the intricacies of the legal world and learn how to thrive in it!
If this school has piqued your interest, this guide will go over all of Syracuse’s important admission details, including its acceptance rate, admission requirements and process, key deadlines, and more!
Syracuse Law School has an acceptance rate of 41.7%. For the most recent year, they also had a yield (or enrollment) rate of 19%.
For more admission data from Syracuse Law, take a look at this table outlining the acceptance rates from the past four years:
Source: Syracuse University
An acceptance rate of 41.7% means that Syracuse Law School is not too difficult to get into, especially compared to other law school acceptance rates. You have a fairly good chance of acceptance if you put together a strong application.
Now that you’re familiar with the Syracuse Law School acceptance rate and how competitive Syracuse is, we’ll discuss its admission requirements and the exact scores you should aim for to maximize your chances of acceptance.
The first step of the application process is to complete an undergraduate degree at an accredited university. For students interested in fast-tracking, Syracuse has a 3+3 program that allows you to join Syracuse after the third year of your undergrad.
Syracuse has no preference over the major you pursue. However, they appreciate when students’ transcripts show that they could excel in particularly difficult courses or substantially improve their academics.
The median GPA of the most recent incoming class was 3.58. To ensure you’re able to meet these standards, you should choose a major you find interesting! Try to take diverse electives to broaden and hone the skills you’ll need to excel in law school, including:
Consider joining your pre-law society during your undergrad to begin building your resume and gaining essential work or volunteer experience. This can help you stand out as an applicant.
You must also write the LSAT or GRE to apply to Syracuse Law School. Regardless of which exam you choose, ensure you build a comprehensive study schedule to adequately prepare for your exam.
The majority of students choose to write the LSAT. Recent admits to Syracuse Law School had a median LSAT score of 157, which is what you should aim for.
For the Syracuse Law School LSAT, it’s essential you give yourself enough time to retake the test if your first score is too low to be considered competitive. Syracuse will review all of your scores but will weigh your highest score the heaviest and use it to assess your academic potential.
Syracuse is also one of the few universities that pay particular attention to your LSAT writing sample because it gives the committee insight into whether you’ve begun developing the skills to “write like a lawyer.” This part of the LSAT is often overlooked, but you should dedicate part of your studies to preparing for it.
If you want more information concerning Syracuse students’ average GPA and LSAT score ranges, here is a table with the scores from the most recent incoming class:
Source: Syracuse University
Syracuse requires applicants to submit two letters of recommendation as part of their applications. To ensure your letters of recommendation persuade the admissions committee of your candidacy for law school, they should be written by professors.
It’s essential you build strong connections with your professors throughout your undergrad so they can write highly personalized letters that paint you as an extraordinary student!
If you’ve been out of school for several years and aren’t able to obtain letters from your professors, letters from employers will suffice.
Your grades and professors’ comments on your academic abilities only tell the admissions committee how well you can perform on exams or in courses. To learn more about who you are outside of your academics, the committee requires you to write a personal statement.
While the topic of your personal statement is up to you, the majority of students use this space to explain their inspiration for pursuing law, why they want to attend Syracuse in particular, or adverse circumstances that created obstacles in their journey to law school.
Syracuse values self-motivation and views the ability to overcome obstacles as a good indicator of this trait!
To provide a better reflection of your skills and experiences, you’ll also need to submit a resume when applying to the Syracuse College of Law.
This resume should include all relevant work, volunteer, and extracurricular experience you pursued during your undergrad.
If you speak several languages, have been published, or received academic awards, you should also include these on your resume!
Lastly, you’ll need to submit an official statement from your undergraduate school to confirm your academic integrity and assure Syracuse you are in good academic standing with your undergrad institution.
Syracuse Law School is ranked #120 for Best Law Schools in the U.S. and #15 for Trial Advocacy. They are also ranked as the #1 Best Public Affairs School.
Part of successfully applying to Syracuse involves keeping track of key deadlines to ensure your application isn’t delayed! To help you create your application timeline, here is a list of important dates to keep in mind:
Source: Syracuse Law School
Students are encouraged to submit their applications as early as possible to receive their decisions quickly. On average, students can expect to receive a decision within six to eight weeks after their admission file completion.
Students will submit the majority of their application through LSAC and the remainder through Syracuse’s own application portal.
To best prepare for a law degree at Syracuse, you should also create a budget to know just how much of an investment your legal education will be.
Students can expect to pay $59,880 a year for tuition and fees at this law school. Along with other personal expenses, such as textbooks and housing, students can expect to pay around $83,531 a year in total to attend Syracuse.
To help students cover these high costs, Syracuse offers several merit-based scholarships that all incoming applicants are considered for, and College of Law scholarships that students meeting specific criteria are awarded.
Students may also want to apply for external scholarships that can cover the full or partial costs of tuition!
Passing the bar is the last part of your legal journey before you can practice law independently. As such, the bar passage rate of a law school is a good indicator of the quality of their education and how well they prepare them for the legal world.
Syracuse has a 70.1% first-time bar passage rate, meaning it equips students with the right knowledge and abilities to join and excel in the legal field!
Here is a table with Syracuse Law School’s bar passage data:
Source: Syracuse University, The Bar Examiner
If, for any reason, you are unable to attend law school in person, Syracuse Law School offers a program called JDinteractive. This is a fully interactive, ABA-approved law program that operates completely online.
This online option is a great opportunity for aspiring law students with prior work or family commitments. It offers a mix of live, online sessions and self-paced learning.
We’ve gone over the main admission details you need to know to apply to Syracuse Law School. For any remaining questions, here are the answers to frequently asked questions about this law school.
Yes, despite its lower ranking, Syracuse is an excellent option for students. Its faculty are known for their extraordinary teaching and continuous contributions to legal academia. Syracuse also uses Socratic teaching methods that involve substantial hands-on, professional skills-building opportunities.
Part of this experiential learning includes six in-house clinics that expose students to different types of law to help them find their niche:
Syracuse is also well-known for its pro bono program that lets students gain experience working on public interest work that serves the community.
Students should set their target LSAT score as 157 or higher to be considered competitive applicants.
A GPA of 3.58 will put you at the median GPA of past admitted students.
Syracuse Law School is located in New York.
While it's important to familiarize yourself with the Syracuse Law School acceptance rate, remember that it's just one aspect of the bigger picture. Ultimately, choosing the right law school goes beyond acceptance rates.
Focus on quality connections, opportunities, and education. Syracuse Law School offers these and more, making it a strong contender for your legal education.
