Application Checklist
Application for Admission
We strongly encourage applicants to use the electronic application. You may apply using a paper application; however, please note that there is a considerable processing delay with paper applications. To request a paper application, please contact the Office of Admissions. Mac users click here.
Application Fee
A $65 application fee is required. This fee is non-refundable. Checks or money orders should be made payable to 'Loyola Law School.' Applicants requesting a fee waiver must follow these guidelines:
- Complete Loyola's Application Fee Waiver - 2008-2009.
- Submit appropriate supporting documentation with the fee waiver form. This may include a copy of your approval letter if you have received a fee waiver from LSAC. Or, you may include copies of your latest tax return, recent pay stubs, evidence of financial aid (if you are currently enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student), or unemployment verification.
- Use Loyola's web JD Application (Applicants requesting a fee waiver should NOT complete the electronic application available through LSAC.)
- Print the completed fee waiver form, sign it, and send it (including any supporting documentation) directly to the Admissions Office along with the signature page from your web JD Application.
LSDAS Report
LSDAS Reports include unofficial transcripts and LSAT scores. We encourage applicants to register with LSAC in the fall; you may register online at www.lsac.org. In order to avoid any delays, it is important that applicants contact LSAC to ensure that all required materials and fees have been received.
LSAT
The Law School Admission Test is required of all applicants to the law school. The test is administered four times a year - February, June, October, and December. For Fall 2009 applicants, we will only take into consideration LSAT scores from the June 2004 administration and later. Multiple LSAT scores will be averaged; however, in the case of widely disparate scores you may attach an addendum explaining the reason for the differential and requesting that we only take into consideration the high score.
We strongly encourage prospective applicants to sit for the LSAT exam by December 2008. We use a rolling admission policy and seats in the class are offered as early as January.
Applicants (to the Day Program) who take the February exam are at a competitive disadvantage because we do not receive these scores until March. (If you plan to take the February exam, we will not review your file until this score is released.) For the entering class of 2009, we do not accept the June 2009 LSAT exam.
Letters of Recommendation
Only one letter of recommendation is required but we will accept as many as three. Letters of recommendation must be submitted via the LSDAS Letter of Recommendation Service (for more information, visit www.lsac.org).
Letters of recommendation offer insight to a prospective student's potential for law school success and provide information about the candidate that is not reflected in other parts of the application. Letters can comment on the applicant's intellectual capacity, analytic and communication skills, and character traits. Although academic letters are preferred, letters submitted by the candidate's employer or supervisor are accepted. Letters from family members or family friends are strongly discouraged.
Résumé
Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a résumé. Résumés should not exceed two typed pages and may include: education information (including honors and awards), employment history, extracurricular or community activities, military service, publications, special achievements, etc.
Personal Statement
A personal statement is required and assists the Admissions Committee in selecting a highly-qualified and diverse entering class. It is also used to assess each applicant's written English skills. The personal statement provides each applicant with the opportunity to describe his or her interest in law school, the uniqueness of his or her character and experience, and his or her potential to contribute to Loyola's community.
The personal statement should be 2-3 pages in length, double spaced, using no smaller than 8 point font.
Disclosures
Applicants must answer questions #1-6 on the "Disclosures" section of the application. Applicants who answer "yes" to questions #2-6 on the "Disclosures" section must provide a written explanation of their response. Applications with "yes" responses that do not provide written explanations are considered incomplete and will not be reviewed.
The application form requires disclosure of any conviction of any felony or misdemeanor or other offense, with the sole exception of a minor traffic offense. Conviction for DUI (or any other alcohol or drug-related offense) is not a minor traffic offense. Conviction may be a legal consequence of (1) a verdict of guilty after trial by judge or jury, (2) a plea of guilty or (3) a plea of nolo contendere.
Applicants are advised that bar examiners will receive official reports of such convictions from law enforcement agencies. Failure to disclose a conviction on this application may result in dismissal from school, revocation of any degree awwarded, and the denial of admission to the bar.
Application Status
All applicants to the Law School are issued a seven-digit Student Identification Number. Applicants may use their Student Identification Number to acces the online application-status webpage. Your Student Identification Number will be mailed to the mailing address you provide on your application. Please allow an average of four weeks for processing of your application.
Non-Discrimination Policy
Loyola Law School is firmly committed to a policy against discrimination, including harassment, based on ethnicity, national origin, disability, race, religion, political beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, or age.