Below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions, organized by the following topics:
If you cannot find the answers you are looking for, please contact us.
Berkeley Law receives 5,000-7,000 applications in a typical year. See our Entering Class Profile for the exact number for the prior year.
Between 300-350 students enter the law school each August. They are assigned to one of twelve first-year modules (groups of about 30 students). During the first semester of the first year, two courses are taught in classes of about 90 students; one course is a small class of approximately 30 students; Legal Writing and Research has approximately 15-20 students.
See our Entering Class Profile for the exact number for the prior year. For the past several years the median GPA and LSAT score of admitted applicants have ranged from 3.79-3.87 and 169-170, respectively. The ranges are broad. The Berkeley Graduate Division requires that graduate students have at least a 3.00 undergraduate cumulative GPA for admission. Exceptions can be made for very promising applicants. We review applications carefully and in their entirety.
The deadline to apply for admission as a first-year student is February 10. Early decision applicants must apply by November 15.
The deadline to apply as a transfer student from another law school is June 15.
Although our application deadline is February 10, we begin to read completed files as early as October. We recommend that you submit your application as early as possible, between September 1 and December 1.
Early decision applicants must apply between September 1 and November 15. Because we receive a smaller number of BED applications, we typically wait to review those applications together after the deadline. We still recommend applying by November 1 to ensure all of your application components have been received by the deadline.
We only offer a full-time, three-year program that leads to the J.D. degree. There are no summer courses nor online or part-time programs.
Yes, you may apply to the JD program if you already hold an LLM degree. We do not accept transfer credits from LLM degree programs, so you will be expected to complete the full, 3 year curriculum.
Yes. If you are an international applicant to the J.D. program who has earned an undergraduate degree from an institution outside of the United States or Canada, then you must have your records evaluated through the Law School Admission Council’s Credential Assembly Service (CAS). An evaluation will be completed by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) and will be incorporated into your CAS report. More time is usually required to receive foreign transcripts. An undergraduate degree earned outside of the United States or Canada is acceptable for admission if it is determined to be equivalent to an American bachelor’s degree.
The TOEFL is not required. However, you must take the LSAT, and comply with all of the other application requirements.
We will waive your application fee automatically when you apply if you are approved for an LSAC fee waiver.
We do not provide fee waivers in response to email inquiries.
Application fee waivers also are available to current or former participants from any public service program (e.g., Peace Corps, Teach for America, active or former members of the military, etc.); who are recipients of a meritorious fellowship (e.g., Fulbright, Truman, etc.); or who received a grant based on an educational or socioeconomic hardship (e.g., CYDL participant, Pell, Gates Scholar, etc.). Detailed information and the waiver request form are found here. The fee waiver application opens September 1 and the deadline to submit a fee waiver application is January 1.
We also send waivers proactively based on candidate searches using the LSAC Candidate Referral Service (CRS). If you have not already opted in to CRS, we highly recommend that you do so. It’s how law schools nationwide identify particular candidates, provide them information about the school, and encourage them to apply (which often includes sending fee waiver codes).
The application form and instructions for first-year applicants become available online each year on September 1. You can access and submit the application form via the LSAC website.
Our Prospectus is available on our website.
Click here to find information and plan your visit to Berkeley Law. We do not conduct interviews for admission purposes.
The American Bar Association requires that law schools use a fair and reliable standardized test for admission. Unfortunately, we are not able to waive this requirement.
If you plan to come for an in-person visit, please know that the expectation for anyone coming to campus as a visitor or invited guest is that you are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and that you will comply with all masking requirements. The University of California system defines “full vaccination” as having received both the initial vaccination and a booster.
It is strongly recommended that you wear a mask when indoors, regardless of vaccination status. If you are not fully vaccinated, a mask is required when indoors. KN-95 masks are available near most entrances to the Law School. Further, if you are observing a class or meeting with a member of the Admissions Team, you will be asked to wear a mask.
Masks are optional in outdoor spaces.
LSAT information and registration are available at the LSAC website. GRE information can be found on the ETS website. You should register for the test well in advance of the actual test date.
We will accept any score reported by the LSAC or ETS, generally for five years.
LSAT fee waivers are available on a financial-need basis directly from LSAC. You should act early by applying online.
For information about the GRE, please visit the ETS website.
Please refer to the LSAC Policy on Repeating the LSAT. If you are taking the GRE, visit ETS.
We ask that candidates report all scores taken within the last five years for each exam.
If you take the LSAT more than once, we will primarily consider the highest score when evaluating your candidacy. However, there is a standard error of measurement on the exam and there is not a statistically-significant difference between many scores. We do not assign a value to the number of times you took (or did not take) the test. All tests registered for and attempted are reportable, including no-shows, applicant cancellations, LSAC cancellations, and other indicators of tests taken without reportable scores.
For the GRE, we will primarily consider your “superscore” when evaluating your candidacy.
If you have a valid and reportable LSAT score it will be seen and it will be considered in our review, even if you wish to be considered with “only” a GRE score. That LSAT score will flow in automatically from LSAC through the CAS report and/or CAS updates. You may write an addendum to provide context for score and performance differences. If you have a valid and reportable GRE score, we require you to send a score report to us (from ETS). Your GRE score(s) will be seen and considered alongside your LSAT score(s), even if you wish to apply with “only” the LSAT. We may consider your application incomplete without any/all applicable test scores.
We consider both exams to be valid and reliable for admission purposes. We do not favor or consider the LSAT over the GRE. If you believe we should consider one score over the other, you can include an addendum with your application.
Yes, applicants must report all valid scores (typically, all scores from the last five years are considered valid) from both the LSAT and GRE. Your GRE score(s) will be seen and considered alongside your LSAT score(s), even if you wish to apply with “only” the LSAT. We may consider your application incomplete without any/all applicable test scores.
No, we do not take a GRE score and calculate an LSAT “equivalent.” GRE scores will be evaluated, in combination with your overall academic record, as one indicator of future success in law school.
No. All LSATs are constructed to be equal in difficulty regardless of when they are administered. LSAT scores are reported on a 120-180 point scale and can be compared across testing administrations and testing years. Test scores have the same meaning from one test administration to the next and from one year to the next as a result of a process called equating. When scores are equated, a given scaled score represents comparable ability regardless of when the student takes the test.
The LSAT assesses the kinds of verbal reasoning skills that have been shown to be critical for success in law school. The current makeup of the test, Reading Comprehension, Logical Reasoning, and Analytical Reasoning question types, was reached through continual refinements to the test conducted over its long history with early input from law faculty. The first LSAT was administered in 1948.
Reading Comprehension questions assess the ability to read, with understanding and insight, examples of lengthy and complex materials similar to those commonly encountered in law school. Law school and the practice of law revolve around extensive reading of densely written and argumentative texts. This reading must be careful, distinguishing precisely what is said from what is not said. It involves comparison, analysis, synthesis, and application. It involves drawing appropriate inferences, and applying ideas and arguments to new contexts. Law school reading also requires the ability to grasp unfamiliar subject matter and the ability to process challenging material.
Logical Reasoning questions assess the ability to analyze, critically evaluate, and complete arguments as they occur in ordinary language. Arguments are a fundamental part of the law and analyzing arguments is a key element of legal analysis. Training in the law builds on a foundation of basic reasoning skills. Law students must draw on these skills in analyzing, evaluating, constructing, and refuting arguments. They need to be able to identify what information is relevant to an issue or argument and what impact further evidence has on it. They need to be able to reconcile opposing positions and use arguments to persuade others.
Analytical Reasoning questions assess the ability to consider a group of facts and rules, and—using those facts and rules—determine what could or must be true. These questions require the test taker to organize given information and draw logically certain inferences (or deductive inferences) from that information. These skills are key components of the ability to think critically. The reasoning skills assessed in Analytical Reasoning parallel those involved in the kind of legal reasoning that is used in law school and the practice of law in understanding and organizing a set of conditions, rules, or regulations and initial conditions, and then proceeding to determine what could or must be the case given that information.
Taking an expensive test-preparation course is not required to do well on the LSAT or the GRE. We advise all test takers to practice and to become familiar with the test prior to taking the either the LSAT or the GRE.
To help LSAT-test takers prepare, LSAC publishes thousands of test questions (with answer keys) that have appeared on previously administered LSATs. LSAC publishes thorough explanations of how to solve all the questions on several of these tests. These explanations are developed by the same LSAC test developers who write the test questions. Some of these materials are available for free on LSAC.org, others are available for purchase at low cost.
There is no single right answer to this question. Much depends on how much time the individual student has to prepare each week. We generally advise people to prepare until they feel they have satisfied the following guidelines:
The LSAT score is an important admission factor. When combined with the undergraduate GPA, it provides the best indication of academic achievement and potential. You should retake the test only if you believe that your first score was atypical and that you can improve your score sufficiently to make a net gain. The majority of applicants take the test only once. If you take the test more than once we will use the highest score. We recognize that there is no statistical significance to a score gain or loss of a few points within the standard error of measurement of the test. No admissions decisions are made based solely on an LSAT score. We take many factors into consideration.
We recommend that you plan to take the test as early as convenient and no later than the one offered in January to optimize your admission review for the following year. Because we operate on a rolling admissions basis, and applications are reviewed as they are submitted, we encourage you to take the LSAT or GRE no later than November, however we will accept the January score. LSAT scores are valid for five years and are reported automatically by LSAC. Scores older than five years are not reported.
Early decision applicants must take the LSAT or GRE no later than November of the year prior to their desired enrollment; however, we strongly recommend that you plan to take the LSAT or GRE by October.
The LSAT is the single best predictor of first-year law school grades. The best overall prediction comes from combining LSAT score with undergraduate GPA. Admission officers use a combination of the LSAT and undergraduate GPA when making admission decisions. There is broad agreement in the legal education community that the skills assessed by the LSAT are directly relevant to law school and the practice of law.
When you apply, you will be prompted to enter any dates that you have taken or plan to take the LSAT. If you register for a future test date (indicated in this application), we will automatically hold your application for review until we receive the new score from LSAC. If you do not wish for us to hold your application, it is your responsibility to email us and request we no longer hold your application. If we are holding your application and (after taking the future test) you decide to cancel that score, your application is still being held until the cancellation is reported unless you contact our office to request otherwise. If you did not plan to retake (and did not indicate a future test in the application) but then changed your mind, please note that we will consider your application complete unless you contact us and tell us to hold it.