First-Year Applicants

Applicants must demonstrate completion of a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. university, or the foreign equivalent whose program has been deemed of comparable quality, prior to the start of the first fall semester at Texas Law.

Applicants are required to register with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) and the Credential Assembly Service (CAS) and must demonstrate that they have achieved a minimum undergraduate grade point average of 2.20, as calculated by LSAC (unless the applicant was enrolled as an undergraduate under the Academic Fresh Start option pursuant to Section 51.931 of the Texas Education Code).

All applicants are required to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) or Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and have a valid score on file prior to the application deadline.

• LSAT: Texas Law will consider all LSAT scores for the past five years and will report the highest score to the American Bar Association.
• GRE: Applicants who are submitting a GRE score should request scores for the past five years from Educational Testing Service (ETS) using code 2717. Texas Law will consider the highest cumulative GRE score based on the verbal and quantitative scores.

The University of Texas requires that the most recent score must still be valid at the time you submit your application.

Texas Law offers a binding Early Decision (ED) admission program. This program is designed only for those applicants who have carefully determined that Texas Law is their number one choice and should they be admitted, the applicant agrees to withdraw pending law school applications from further consideration and decline any other admission offers immediately. An admitted ED applicant will be required to submit an enrollment deposit and Letter of Intent (LOI). If that applicant does not submit the deposit and LOI by the deadline or fails to comply with the other program requirements, the admission offer will be withdrawn, and the applicant will no longer be considered for enrollment during the current admission cycle. All applicants who elect to apply under the ED program must agree to the ED Binding Admission Agreement portion of the application.

The University of Texas at Austin offers a number of graduate and professional degree programs that applicants may pursue dual enrollment. Students interested in pursuing a dual degree must apply to and be accepted by the law school and the other degree program independently.

The University of Texas at Austin is committed to providing an educational and working environment for students, faculty, and staff that is free from discrimination based on race, color, sex, pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation, gender expression, religion, age, national origin, ethnicity, veteran status, disability, genetic information, military status, or any other legally protected basis. This Policy prohibits such conduct.

This Policy also prohibits retaliation against someone because the individual reported under this Policy, opposed an unlawful practice, participated in an investigation, or requested supportive measures. Finally, this Policy prohibits failing to cooperate in good faith, filing false complaints or providing materially false information, interfering with this Policy’s processes, abusing the investigation process, or failing to report incidents reasonably believed to constitute discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.

This Policy does not cover prohibited conduct of a sexual nature. Procedures for reporting sexual assault, interpersonal violence, stalking, and sexual harassment, are addressed by Handbook of Operating Procedures (HOP) 3-3031. While these are forms of sex discrimination, their sexual nature removes them from the purview of this Policy. For more information, please visit Handbook of Operating Procedures (HOP) 3-3020.

Texas Senate Bill 212 requires all employees of Texas universities to report any information to the Title IX Office regarding sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking that is disclosed to them. Texas law requires that all employees who witness or receive any information of this type (including, but not limited to, written forms, applications, one-on-one conversations, and class assignments) must be reported. If you would like to speak with someone who can provide support or remedies without making an official report to the University, please email advocate@austin.utexas.edu. For more information about reporting options and resources, please visit titleix.utexas.edu or contact the Title IX Office at titleix@austin.utexas.edu or 512-471-0419.

Applicants are under a continued obligation to notify the law school immediately of any and all circumstances and events that may occur from the date an application is submitted to the first day of enrollment that may change any of the responses to their application. Texas Law reserves the right to rescind an offer of admission if the candidate fails to maintain satisfactory scholastic standing for work in progress, if final records fail to show completion of courses and/or degrees required for admission or if the admission decision was based on incomplete, inaccurate, omitted or misleading information furnished by the applicant. In addition, the law school may also report its findings to LSAC’s Misconduct and Irregularities Committee.

Applicants who have been convicted of a felony or other serious crime are eligible for admission into the law school; however, because state bar associations often prohibit persons with criminal records from being admitted to the bar regardless of their degrees or training, it may be impossible for such individuals to practice in some states.

In addition to the bar examination, there are character, fitness, and other qualifications for admission to the bar in every U.S. jurisdiction. Applicants are encouraged to determine the requirements for any jurisdiction in which they intend to seek admission by contacting the jurisdiction. Addresses for all relevant agencies are available through the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

A $70 nonrefundable application fee will be collected through LSAC at the time the application is submitted.

The personal statement is an opportunity to share with the Admissions Committee your background, interests and experiences. Your personal statement demonstrates to the Admissions Committee not only how you write—a skill fundamental to success in the legal profession—but also how you think and how you have reflected upon and derived meaning from your life experiences. Although there is no specific topic or question for the personal statement, your narrative should at some point address your decision to pursue a legal education.

Your personal statement may not exceed two (2) double-spaced pages with a minimum 11-point font size and 1-inch margins.

Please provide a résumé detailing any significant vocational, avocational, extracurricular, or community activities; graduate work or degree; honors and awards; any service in the Armed Forces; job descriptions and major areas of responsibility, along with location (city and state) and dates of employment; publications, or other information that you believe the Admissions Committee should consider in evaluating your application. Your résumé may not exceed three (3) pages.

Two (2) letters of recommendation (LORs) are required. These letters should be submitted directly to LSAC using their Letters of Recommendation Service.

• Please address any information that you believe your application would be incomplete without and that sheds more light on your unique potential to succeed in the J.D. program and contribute to the University community and the field or profession.
• Civil dialogue and reasoned debate over contested ideas are core values both for the practice of law and in legal education. In light of this, Texas Law is interested in learning about experiences you may have had engaging with ideas with which you disagreed, and how such experiences have impacted you.

If your academic performance for one or more academic terms was markedly different from that of others, please explain. Please make any other comments about your college transcript(s) or your preparation for college that you believe will help the Admissions Committee in evaluating your application.

Candidates sometimes seek to establish that their academic potential is inaccurately reflected by standardized tests or that one LSAT or GRE score is more representative than another. If you believe this to be true in your case, please explain.