Admission and Application Information for Students From Countries other than the United States
The College of Law welcomes applications from students who are citizens of countries other than the United States. The study of law in the United States is very different than it is in many other countries. Most North American law schools (including the University of Nebraska College of Law) offer the Juris Doctor (JD) degree, and admit only students who have or will have an undergraduate degree ( i.e., the first degree from a college or university) prior to the time they begin their legal studies. Despite its name, the JD degree is not an advanced degree in law. It is, instead, a professional law degree that requires three years of study. Students who are interested in an advanced degree in law are most likely interested in a LL.M. degree. The College of Law currently offers an LL.M. in Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law.
The study of law in the United States is very expensive. You should not apply to the College of Law unless you have available to you the total amount of funds necessary to finance your legal education.
Application Requirements
If you are interested in obtaining a JD degree from the University of Nebraska, you must first apply for admission. In order to apply for admission, you must do each of the following.
- Take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) and have the results forwarded to the University of Nebraska College of Law.
- Take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and have the results forwarded to the Law School Admission Council Credential Assembly Service (LSAC CAS). You need not take the TOEFL if you are a citizen of an English speaking country, for example, Great Britain or Australia. Students must have a minimum of a 600 on the paper-based TOEFL or a minimum of 100 on the internet-based TOEFL.
- Request that the college or university from which you received your undergraduate degree forward an official copy of your transcript to the Law School Admission Council Credential Administrative Service (LSACCAS) along with an explanation of the grading system used. An official transcript is one that bears the original stamp or seal of the school and also bears the original signature of an appropriate school official. Unless the original transcript is in English, it must be accompanied by an English translation of the transcript. The explanation of the grading system should be written in English.
- Complete the College of Law Application for Admission online
Apply Online - Have two letters of recommendation (in English or translated into English) sent to the LSACCAS.
- Complete and return the Financial Resource Certification and supporting documentation.
Under no circumstances will the College waive the TOEFL requirement for a student from non-English speaking countries.
Admission to the College of Law is extremely competitive and is available only to students who have or will have an undergraduate degree by the time they begin taking classes at the College of Law.
Admissions Policy
In making admission decisions, the Admissions Committee attempts to identify as best it can those applicants who have the ability to compete successfully in a rigorous academic environment, to contribute to a diverse intellectual community, and to engage successfully in the career of their choice in an increasingly diverse society. Because these characteristics are not always captured by an applicant’s LSAT score or overall grade point average, the Committee considers any upward or downward trend in the applicant’s academic performance over time, the quality of the applicant’s undergraduate institution, the applicant’s major and activities, letters of recommendation, personal statement, educational or economic disadvantages the applicant has overcome to obtain an undergraduate education, status as the first generation in a family to graduate from college or university or attend law school, commitment of future service to underserved communities, and any other information other than race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin supplied by the applicant.
Neither the Committee nor the College seeks to obtain any particular number or percentage of diverse candidates, but they do seek a diverse mix of students to ensure that the College has a sufficient range of background and experience in its student body to permit a deep, broad, and vigorous intellectual environment. As this description indicates, the admissions process is flexible, no particular factor in itself determines admission or non-admission, and the Committee has sufficient discretion to consider each applicant individually on the basis of the entire file.