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#JD Application Procedure

Overview

The JD application for Fall 2015 admission will become available on September 2, 2014 and the deadline date for submitting the application will be February 2, 2015, 11:59PM PST.

It is your responsibility to make certain that all items arrive at the Office of Admissions. Your application may be treated as complete and a decision reached as soon as the minimum number of required documents is received. Any updates to your application must be submitted via e-mail to the Office of Admissions.

Application for Admission. Applicants are required to complete the entire application form and submit it electronically through LSAC.

Application Fee. The nonrefundable application fee of $100 must be submitted by credit card through LSAC. The fee may be waived in cases of extreme personal hardship. Applicants who are unable to pay the fee should review the SLS Fee Waiver Application Instructions. complete the SLS Application Fee Waiver Form and submit it to the Office of Admissions as soon as possible to allow proper processing of the fee waiver request. Please note that you must submit your fee waiver request prior to submitting your SLS application. Please allow 5-7 business days for a decision and factor in this timing to ensure you adhere to the application deadline.

Resume. Stanford requires a one-to-two page resume describing your academic, extracurricular, and professional activities. The resume must be submitted electronically with your electronic application.

Personal Statement. Enclose a statement of about two pages describing important or unusual aspects of yourself not otherwise apparent in your application. The statement must be submitted electronically with your electronic application.

While admission to Stanford Law School is based primarily upon superior academic achievement and potential to contribute to the legal profession, the Admissions Committee also regards the diversity of an entering class as important to the school s educational mission. If you would like the committee to consider how factors such as your background, life and work experiences, advanced studies, extracurricular or community activities, culture, socio-economic status, sex, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation would contribute to the diversity of the entering class and hence to your classmates law school experience, you may describe these factors and their relevance in a separate diversity statement.

Two Letters of Recommendation. Stanford requires at least two and no more than four letters of recommendation to be sent directly through the LSAC Letter of Recommendation and Evaluation Service. Evaluations may not be submitted in lieu of letters of recommendation. Letters sent directly to the Office of Admissions will not be accepted.

Please be aware of the high value Stanford places on school-specific letters of recommendation. If you choose to provide us with a targeted letter, please be sure to assign the appropriate targeted letter to Stanford Law School.

Recommenders should be instructors who have personal knowledge of your academic work, preferably those who have known you in a seminar, small class, tutorial program, or the like. Applicants who have been out of school for a significant period may substitute one letter from an employer or business associate. In some cases, these applicants may find it very difficult to obtain even one academic recommendation, in which event they may submit two nonacademic letters.

Although not required, applicants may submit no more than two evaluations through the LSAC Letter of Recommendation and Evaluation Service. Please note that to be effective these evaluations should contain narrative comments. Applicants should not rely solely on the completion of an evaluation grid.

Please advise recommenders that should you choose to apply for a joint degree with another school or department at Stanford University, the letter of recommendation may be forwarded to that degree program for review upon your request.

Right of Access to Recommendations. Federal law provides a student, after enrollment, with a right of access to, among other things, letters of recommendation in the student s file that are submitted to the law school on the student s behalf. This right may be waived, but such a waiver may not be required as a condition for admission to, receipt of financial aid from, or receipt of any other services or benefits from Stanford Law School. Please indicate your choice by checking the appropriate box on the LSAC Letter of Recommendation form before giving them to your recommenders.

Law School Admission Test. All applicants are required to take the Law School Admission Test and to have their test scores reported to the law school. To register for the LSAT, please visit LSAC. Stanford applicants for Fall 2015 admission must take the test no later than the December 2014 administration. Scores received on tests taken prior to February 2009 will not be considered valid.

While it is not to an applicant s advantage to sit for the February 2015 LSAT administration, we understand that extenuating circumstances may prevent an applicant from taking the LSAT by the December 2014 administration. Applicants who are unable to take the test until the February 2015 administration must submit a formal written request for an exception to our policy prior to transmitting an application. Such requests must be sent via email to the Office of Admissions and will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Please allow at least 5-10 business days from receipt of the request for a decision to be rendered. Should the Admissions Committee grant the request to accept the February 2015 LSAT, applicants must nonetheless transmit the application by the stated deadline of February 2, 2015.

Please note that an applicant who submits a February LSAT score will be at a disadvantage in the review process given that the score will not be reported until March 2015 when fewer seats remain available in the class.

Credential Assembly Service Report. Transcripts from each college or university attended should be forwarded to LSAC, which will prepare and transmit a Law School Credential Assembly Service (CAS) Report to Stanford Law School. To register for the CAS service, please visit LSAC. The report furnished to the school will include copies of all transcripts sent to LSAC.

If you have received academic credit for any coursework undertaken abroad and if grades for that period of study are not clearly indicated on your home transcript, you must send that foreign study transcript directly to LSAC or to Stanford Law School.

All non-US/Canadian transcripts listed during registration for the Credential Assembly Service are forwarded to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) where they will be authenticated and evaluated except in cases where it is clearly marked on the home campus transcript. This service is included in the CAS registration fee. The data is assembled into a credential evaluation document that contains AACRAO s summary, copies of the transcripts and translations (where applicable), and will be sent to the Office of Admissions.

Any updated transcripts must be sent directly to LSAC.