The admissions office will be closed December 23rd through January 1st for the Holiday Shutdown. Our responses will be delayed during this time. If you are in need of assistance, please email us at lawadmissions@unl.edu.
Nebraska Law will continue to accept applications until our class is filled.
There is no place like Nebraska, and there's no better law school to prepare you to be an inclusive leader. We offer a Big Ten legal education resulting in high bar passage and employment rates at a low tuition cost. Our faculty and staff will prepare you to reach your goals and impact your community.
Juris Doctor (JD) Application Requirements
There are no required undergraduate courses or majors as a prerequisite to apply or be admitted to law school. You do not have to have all requirements for a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution completed before apply to Nebraska Law. You must have your bachelor's degree to begin your first year of study in the College of Law.
You must register for the Credential Assembly Service (CAS) through the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). Registering for the CAS should be done prior to application. Once you have applied for admission and completed all necessary components of the CAS, the University of Nebraska College of Law will receive your law school report from LSAC. This report will include your LSAT scores, LSAT writing sample, summary of academic work, copies of all postsecondary transcripts, and letters of recommendation.
Preparing to Apply
Applications for the Fall entering class will be accepted September 1 - March 1. The Admissions Committee makes admissions decisions on a rolling basis and recommends applying as early in the process is possible.
The University of Nebraska College of Law does not participate in a binding Early Action/Early Decision program.
Before you begin your application, you should collect the following information:
- Complete current and permanent addresses, including ZIP codes, apartment numbers, etc.
- A list of all institutions you have attended. This includes high schools, undergraduate institutions, any graduate or law schools you may have attended, or other post-graduate institutions. Institutions attended during study abroad experiences should also be included.
- A list of all employment, including full-time or part-time, whether paid or unpaid, beginning with the most recent. You should include the name and location of your employer, your job title, the dates you held the position, and your reason for leaving.
- Military information, if applicable.
- Family or emergency contact information, including names, complete addresses, phone numbers and their relationship to you.
- Character and fitness information including:
- If you have been ticketed, cited, charged with or arrested for a crime other than a minor traffic violation – If yes, you will need to write an addendum explaining the situation.
- If you have been dropped, suspended, warned, placed on academic or disciplinary probation from ANY post secondary school, college, university or professional school – If yes, write an addendum explaining the situation.
- If you have attended a law school – If yes, write an addendum including the details of your attendance.
Parts of the JD Application
Personal Statement
The personal statement is your opportunity to tell the Admissions Committee why you want to study law and set forth any information that would be helpful to the Admissions Committee in evaluating the application. The University of Nebraska College of Law does not conduct face-to-face interviews; therefore, the personal statement is your best opportunity to convey information that you might discuss in an interview.
Recommended length for your personal statement is 2 to 3 double-spaced pages. To submit your personal statement, upload it in the Attachments section of the Application for Admission.
LSAT Score
LSAT Administration
All candidates must take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). In order to have your score by the March 1 application deadline, you are encouraged to take the test no later than January. If you have multiple scores your highest score will be considered for admission and scholarship purposes.
Official LSAT scores are part of the Credential Assembly Service (CAS) and will be included in your law school report.
LSAT Waiver
The American Bar Association has granted law schools permission to admit a certain percentage of applicants without Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) scores. Students who meet the qualifications below MAY qualify:
- Is a recent (within the last 12 months) graduate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
- Scored in the 85th percentile on the ACT or SAT exam
- Ranked in the top 10% of their undergraduate class through 6 semesters OR achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above through 6 semesters of academic work
- Have not taken the LSAT
NOTE: Students applying under the LSAT Waiver rule are not eligible to transfer to another law school. Should you wish to transfer in the future, you will need to take the LSAT.
Transcripts from all Postsecondary Institutions
Official transcripts from all postsecondary institutions will be sent to LSAC as part of the Credential Assembly Service (CAS). Copies of these transcripts will be included in your law school report.
Two Letters of Recommendation
Letters of Recommendation should be submitted online through the CAS Letter of Recommendation Service. This service is included as part of your Credential Assembly Service fee through LSAC. Letters submitted using this service will be included in the your Law School Report sent to the College of Law. The College of Law requires that you obtain at least two letters of recommendation to submit with your application. Up to four letters of recommendation will be accepted. Recommendation letters are most helpful when they come from professors or employers who can discuss the applicant's analytical abilities, writing skills, interpersonal skills, character, sense of responsibility and judgment.
Under federal law, students enrolled in an institution of postsecondary education have a right to review letters of recommendation submitted on their behalf and maintained by the institution. You may waive your right to access letters of recommendation, but are not required to do so. The waiver of right of access is included on the CAS Letter of Recommendation Form.
Application Fee
The $50 application fee must be paid online at the time of application using a credit card. If you would like to request an application fee waiver, contact the Admissions Office at lawadmissions@unl.edu.
Resume or Employment Document (optional)
We understand that the application may lack space for you to provide details, including extracurricular activities, outside interests, volunteer experiences or time spent devoted to other endeavors. Feel free to submit a resume or other document as an optional attachment to highlight those experiences.
Miscellaneous Documents (optional)
The University of Nebraska strives to create a learning environment that represents a diverse mix of students to ensure the College has a sufficient range of backgrounds and experiences in its student body to permit a deep, broad and vigorous environment. The College also encourages its students to consider careers in which they will work with underserved populations. The questions below allow the College of assess your contribution to the educational environment or underserved communities. If any of these questions apply to you, you must submit an attachment with an explanation.
- Have you overcome significant educational, economic or other disadvantage to obtain your undergraduate education?
- Do you anticipate a career that will focus on providing legal services to underserved communities after you graduate from law school?
- Are you in the first generation in your family to graduate from college?
In addition to a bar examination, there are character, fitness, and other qualifications for admission to the bar in every U.S. jurisdiction. As such, the character and fitness questions below are included on the Nebraska Law application. If any of these questions apply to you, you must submit an attachment with an explanation.
- Have you ever been ticketed, cited, charged with or arrested for a crime other than a minor traffic violation?
- Have you ever been dropped, suspended, warned, placed on academic probation or disciplinary probation, disciplined, expelled or requested or advised to resign from any postsecondary school, college, university, professional school or law school?
- Have you ever attended law school?
You are encouraged to determine the requirements for any jurisdiction in which you intend to seek admission by contacting the jurisdiction. Addresses for all relevant agencies are available through the National Conference of Bar Examiners. A directory of state bar examiners can be found here.
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.
