Admission Criteria
Admission Procedure
Transfer Students—Admission with Advanced Standing
General Policies

Admission Criteria

All applicants seeking admission to the School of Law must have received a bachelor's or equivalent degree from an approved college or university and must take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). The school does not require applicants to take any particular subjects or to pursue any special course of study in college as a prerequisite for admission. However, at least 90 credit hours of an applicant's undergraduate course work must be in academic courses rather than in skills-training courses. Applicants are encouraged to acquire precision in written and oral expression and a broad academic background.

In recent years, the number of applicants has exceeded the number of available spaces by as many as 10 to 1. Admission, therefore, is highly selective. The average LSAT score of enrolled students has been in the 80-85th percentile and the average undergraduate grade point average (UGPA) in the 3.3-3.5 range for the past several years. In 1999, only 28 percent of applicants with LSAT scores below the 75th percentile and 17 percent of applicants with UGPAs below 3.0 were admitted. This selective process results in an academic attrition rate that is less than 4 percent in the first year.

An Admissions Committee, composed of the dean of admissions, faculty, and students, selects the members of the entering class. The Admissions Committee looks first at the candidate's LSAT score and the UGPA. Those with the highest LSAT scores and UGPAs are the most likely candidates for admission.

The Admissions Committee seeks the strongest candidates, those whose past academic performance and LSAT scores predict exceptional performance in law school and those whose academic and other experiences will substantially enrich the educational program of the school. The committee considers the quality of the applicant's undergraduate institution, the level and rigor of courses taken, letters of recommendation (particularly those from faculty), graduate course work, employment during and after college, extracurricular activities, potential for service to the profession, educational diversity, and residency.

Applicants are encouraged to explain matters that may have adversely affected their undergraduate performance (e.g., necessary employment that took time from studies, initial selection of a course of study for which the applicant was not suited, illness, etc.), as well as factors indicating their potential for law study that might not be elicited by the questions on the application form. Applicants who feel they have been disadvantaged because of economic, educational, racial, or cultural factors are urged to bring this to the attention of the Admissions Committee.

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Admission Procedure

An application for admission may be obtained from the Law School's Web site (www.law.indiana.edu) or by contacting the Admissions Office. Applications prepared using the Law School Admission Council's LSACD or LSACD on the Web are also accepted. These products enable the applicant to fill out the application form by computer. Applicants can print out the completed application and send it by mail, or use the LSACD on the Web to electronically transmit the law school application to LSAC. LSAC will then send both printed and electronic versions of your application to the Law School's Admissions Office. Subscriptions to the LSACD on the Web are available at the LSAC Web site (www.lsac.org).

An application fee is required of all applicants. Applicants are asked to submit their applications no earlier than September of the year preceding the year in which they wish to enter the school. While there is no application deadline, because of our rolling admission procedure, it is strongly recommended that the application file be completed no later than March 1 of the year in which the applicant wishes to enter law school. A number of scholarships are awarded in February, so applicants seeking financial aid may wish to apply by January. Applicants must take the Law School Admission Test and register for the Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS). Registration for this service requires that transcripts be mailed to LSDAS rather than to the School of Law. You may register for the LSAT, buy publications, and obtain information about fee waiver and testing accommodations via LSAC's online Web LSAT registration service (www.lsac.org). Telephone registration service is available year-round by phoning (215) 968-1001. Registration forms are also available from the School of Law Admissions Office or from Law Services, Box 2000, Newtown, PA 18940-0998.

The Law School Admission Test is usually offered in October, December, February, and June. Specific dates may be obtained from the School of Law Admissions Office or from Law Services, Box 2000, Newtown, PA 18940-0998. The admissions staff strongly advises applicants to take the test in the summer or fall preceding the year in which they wish to enter law school.

Admission decisions are made as early as January, making admission less likely after March 1 because a substantial number of seats already will have been filled.

In exceptional circumstances, the Admissions Committee allows an accepted applicant to defer admission for one year. Work opportunities and graduate study are legitimate reasons for delaying one's entry. For more information, contact the School of Law Admissions Office.

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Transfer Students—Admission with Advanced Standing

The Law School welcomes the application of students from other law schools. Five to 10 students transfer each year to the IU School of Law—Bloomington from other law schools. Typically these students are in the upper quarter of their class with at least a B average and express compelling educational or personal reasons for transferring. Transfer applicants are not required to register with the Law School Data Assembly Service. Undergraduate transcripts, LSAT score, an official law school transcript, and a certificate of good standing from the law school previously attended must be sent directly to the school. The amount of transfer credit granted will depend upon the quality of the student's performance and the relationship of work completed elsewhere to the program of the School of Law.

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General Policies

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Policy

Indiana University pledges itself to continue its commitment to the achievement of equal opportunity within the university and throughout American society as a whole. In this regard, Indiana University will recruit, hire, promote, educate, and provide services to persons based upon their individual qualifications. Indiana University prohibits discrimination based on arbitrary consideration of such characteristics as age, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Students with Disabilities

If you have a disability and need assistance, special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Contact Disabled Student Services, (812) 855-7578. TDD, (812) 855-7654.

Other Policies

For information on general policies of Indiana University, including student rights and responsibilities, the policy on confidentiality of student records, and the policy on meeting degree requirements, see the admissions entry on the IU School of Law Web site (www.law.indiana.edu).

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