• Before You Apply

Prospective students should first set up a Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) account. LSAC serves as the central hub and clearinghouse for your application documents, including transcripts, LSAT scores, and letters of recommendation. All law school applications are hosted within the LSAC portal.

Applying to Law School

The information below is a brief overview of the admissions process and application. Please be sure to review and adhere to the application instructions provided with the application on the LSAC Portal.

An application package to Seton Hall Law has several components:

Required:

1. Credential Assembly Service (CAS) Report, which contains

   1. Transcripts for every college/university attended, even if transfer credit has been awarded

   2. Two letters of recommendation (we will accept a maximum of three)

   3. LSAT score & Writing Sample (if you sit for the LSAT)

2. GRE Score Report & Writing Sample (if you sit for the GRE)

3. Personal Statement (1,000-word limit)

4. LEO Program Essay (for applicants to the LEO Program; 1,000-word limit)

5. Resume

6. Academic History/Character & Fitness Addenda (if applicable)

7. A completed and signed Application for Admission form

8. Nonrefundable Application Fee of $65

Optional:

1. Lived Experience Statement (500-word limit)

2. Supplemental Statements (ex: GPA Statement, LSAT Statement, etc.) (500-word limit)

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Application for Admission

The application form provides biographical, demographic, educational, and socioeconomic information that we use during the holistic file review process. Much of this information is required by our regulators or is needed to successfully create a student profile for the applicant. However, it also provides key information that an applicant might not consider speaking about, or have space to, in the narrative essays. For these reasons, we encourage you to complete the application form in full.

Please note that while the application asks for race/ethnicity information, the information is masked from reviewers in accordance with the recent Supreme Court decisions from June 2023 and is used for demographic reporting purposes only.

Special Information for LEO Program Applicants

Applicants interested in being considered for the LEO Program must complete the LEO Consideration and Socioeconomic Information sections of the application and submit the LEO Essay (described below).

The LEO Program has a priority deadline of March 1 and final deadline of April 1. The final deadline requires not only the application’s submission, but also a full and complete file (inclusive of all transcripts, standardized tests, and letters of recommendation). This makes the February 2024 LSAT and the March 1, 2024 GRE the final exam scores acceptable for LEO consideration. Any LEO Program application that is not complete by the April 1, 2024 final deadline will be considered for regular admission once it becomes complete.

Resume

The resume you provide should mirror one you would present for a professional position but need not be limited to one page. Please include as much employment information as you believe the Admissions Committee will need to obtain a solid picture of your employment history from the time you started college onward.

Please do not “legal wash” your resume – employment outside of law firms or other legal arenas provides training and skills that lawyers need to do their jobs.

Extracurricular activities and leadership positions can also be placed on your resume, particularly items that occurred since you began college. In general, pre-college activities can be excluded.

Essays

All essays to Seton Hall Law should be double-spaced with one-inch margins. The header of each document should have your name, LSAC Account Number, and the “document type” (Personal Statement, LEO Essay, Supplemental Essay, etc..) as indicated in each attachment area.

The essay prompts are included in the LSAC application portal under each attachment link. Please be sure to consider each prompt and address it to the best of your ability. Each document has a word limitation that you need to observe.

Additionally, in accordance with the Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. decisions, applicants are welcome to discuss “how race impacted [your] life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.” 600 U.S. __ (2023) (slip op. at 39) when drafting your narrative statements.

Personal Statement

Your personal statement is your opportunity to introduce yourself and discuss any factors you feel would be relevant to the Admissions Committee. We encourage that you consider various topics which span from personal and professional goals, experiences that have informed your decision to attend law school, to why Seton Hall Law is the best fit for you.

Your personal statement is limited to 1,000 words.

LEO Program Essay

This essay is required for applicants wishing to be considered for the LEO Program. It is your opportunity to provide the context, and connect the dots, for the LEO Admissions Committee between the significant obstacles you faced before and during college, your standardized testing history and academic transcripts, AND your ability to succeed at Seton Hall Law. 

Your LEO Program Essay is limited to 1,000 words.

Additional Optional Statements

The application allows for the inclusion of optional statements. Please visit our application on the LSAC portal to review them before embarking on your narrative statements.

Standardized Test Scores

All applicants to Seton Hall Law, regardless of educational or employment credentials, are required to submit a standardized test score. Seton Hall Law only accepts the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) or the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). 

Applicants must choose between the LSAT and the GRE, but please be mindful of the following guidelines:

1. If you have an LSAT score, that score will control for evaluation by the Admissions Committee.

2. If you have taken both the LSAT and GRE, you are required to submit your LSAT scores.

3. Seton Hall Law will only download the official report of one exam type. Therefore, if you have taken or plan to take the LSAT, we will not download an official GRE Score Report for you.

4. If you have only taken the GRE and not the LSAT, you must submit all GRE scores from the last five (5) years. You may not use the ScoreSelect option offered by ETS. Failure to submit all GRE scores and/or use of ScoreSelect may result in a withdrawal of an admissions offer.

   1. a. GRE scores should be submitted directly to Seton Hall Law from ETS using ETS code 4717.

   2. b. Applicants applying with only GRE scores are still required to subscribe to, and utilize, the CAS for submission of transcripts and letters of recommendation.

   3. c. After receipt of the GRE Score Report, we will manually request the CAS Report.

   4. d. The Admissions Committee reserves the right to re-review an application admitted with only a GRE score where the LSAT is subsequently taken and reported to their file.

5. Regardless of which exam you submit, scores are valid only if they have been earned within the last five (5) years.

If you need resources to help prepare for the LSAT or the GRE, Khan Academy has both Official LSAT Prep and GRE Prep for quantitative reasoning.

Letters of Recommendation

Seton Hall Law requires a minimum of two (2) but no more than three (3) letters of recommendation. We will not receive your CAS Report until at least two (2) letters are assigned to Seton Hall Law and on file with LSAC.

Letters of recommendation should preferably be from academic and/or professional sources. Applicants who have been out of school for several years and are unable to obtain recommendation letters from former professors may submit letters from employers or other persons with whom they have worked closely with in more recent years.

Academic Record and Character & Fitness

Similarly to most other law schools, Seton Hall Law asks applicants about their academic record along with Character & Fitness in questions modeled after the bar application. Responses to these questions are mandatory and any affirmative response triggers the requirement of an explanatory statement to be included in the application. Your candor is appreciated. An affirmative response to any of these questions will not preclude you from admission. The Admissions Committee will take the facts and circumstances of any disclosures, including steps towards rehabilitation, into account.  Failure to disclose (or incomplete disclosures) may lead to additional hurdles if and when an applicant applies for admission to the bar.

These disclosures have no word limitation.

Statement on Character, Fitness & Qualifications for Bar Admission

In addition to a bar examination, there are character, fitness, and other qualifications for admission to the bar in every U.S. jurisdiction. Applicants are encouraged to determine the bar admission requirements for any jurisdiction in which they intend to seek admission by contacting the jurisdiction. Contact information for all relevant agencies are available through the National Conference of Bar Examiners. Acceptance into law school does not guarantee certification by the state bar examiners. If you are concerned about facts that may affect your eligibility to practice law, you should discuss the matter with the Board of Bar Examiners in the state and jurisdiction in which you expect to practice.

International Applicants

International transcripts must be submitted through the LSAC’s CAS authentication and evaluation process. An international credential evaluation will be completed to determine degree and credit equivalency to degrees/credit earned in the U.S. This is completed by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) via LSAC, once you’ve completed your CAS registration, and all international documents have been processed. Applicants will need to allow at least two weeks for evaluation from the time transcripts are processed.

Seton Hall Law does not require applicants whose native language is not English and whose undergraduate education is from outside the U.S. to submit the results of an English language proficiency test.

Required Disclosure

Please note that federal regulations require higher education programs that are intended to meet professional licensure and certification requirements to disclose to students whether the program meets licensure and certification requirements in other states. The regulations, which were enacted on November 1, 2019, can be found at 34 CFR §668.43(a)(5)(v).