Application Procedures

We’re glad you’re ready to take the first step toward joining our community. Please take a moment to review our Admission Policies and Application Procedures to guide you through the process.

Admission Policies

To be considered for admissions at Texas Law as a first-year student, an applicant must register with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) and the Credential Assembly Service (CAS), take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) or Graduate Record Examination (GRE), and demonstrate that they have earned 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. Further, all applicants must 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).

APPLICATION DEADLINES

  • September 1: Application opens
  • November 1: Early Decision deadline
  • March 1: Regular Decision deadline

We must receive a student's valid LSAT and/or GRE score by the appropriate deadline to consider their application for admission.

STANDARDIZED TESTS

  • 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.

Please note that the most recent score must still be valid at the start of the semester for which you are applying.

EARLY DECISION ADMISSION

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the deposit and LOI by the deadline or fails to comply with the other program requirements, the admission offer will be withdrawn, and the applicant will no longer be considered for enrollment during the current admission cycle.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.

DUAL DEGREE APPLICANTS

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.

STATEMENT OF NON-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUAL EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY

The University of Texas at Austin and the Law School are committed to an educational and working environment that provides equal opportunity to all members of the University community. In accordance with federal and state law, the University prohibits unlawful discrimination, including harassment, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, citizenship, veteran status, active-duty military status and genetic information. The University also prohibits discrimination on the basis of, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Procedures for filing discrimination complaints on the basis of sex, including sexual harassment, are addressed by HOP 3-3031. In this policy, the terms sex and gender are interchangeable. For more information, please visit https://policies.utexas.edu/policies/nondiscrimination-policy.

TITLE IX REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

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 http://www.titleix.utexas.edu or contact the Title IX Office at titleix@austin.utexas.edu or 512-471-0419.

APPLICANT RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCURACY OF INFORMATION

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.

CHARACTER AND MORAL FITNESS

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.

Application Procedures

To apply for admission as a first-year student, please submit the following required materials:

  1. Application Fee

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

  2. Personal Statement

    The personal statement is an opportunity to share with the Admissions Committee your background, interests, as well as the important experiences and aspects of yourself not otherwise apparent from your résumé and academic record. 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.

  3. Résumé

    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.

  4. Letters of Recommendation

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

    An application will be considered complete and ready for review only when all the required items have been received. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure all application materials have been submitted and received at the law school.

  5. Optional Materials

    Applicants may submit one or more of the following optional statements to provide to the Admissions Committee additional insight when reviewing their application. Each optional statement may not exceed one (1) double-spaced page with a minimum 11-point font size and 1-inch margins.

    • Statement of Economic, Social, and/or Personal Background: Texas Law is interested in specifically learning about an applicant’s economic, social, and/or personal background that may not be apparent in the rest of the application or shared in the applicant’s personal statement. The committee recognizes that ordinary predictive measures for academic success might be of less value if prior performance has been partly the result of other contributing factors. An applicant may choose to describe the challenges as a first-generation college graduate; an applicant's struggle with a serious physical or mental disability; an applicant's encounter with discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or national origin; or an applicant's limited educational opportunities due to geographical or other restrictions; or whatever the applicant believes is appropriate and relevant. The committee believes factors such as these may contribute to an applicant's academic potential and how they will enhance the richness and diversity of the learning environment.
    • Undergraduate Performance: 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.
    • Standardized Test Performance: 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.

  6. Interview Opportunity

    During the application process, the Admissions Committee may invite you to complete an online interview as part of your evaluation. These interviews are conducted by invitation only. If you are invited to participate, we will contact you directly with instructions on how to access and complete the interview.