Admissions

Welcome to the Cornell Law School community

Cornell Law School is a small, top-tier law school located in stunning surroundings of natural beauty. We enroll approximately 200 JD students and 100 LL.M. students each year to ensure that we maintain a close knit academic environment. Our students not only benefit from our small class size but also from one of the lowest student to faculty ratios in legal education.

Admissions Policy 

Cornell Law School is committed to combining inspiring theoretical, doctrinal and experiential teaching with cutting-edge scholarship in a supportive, intellectually rich community, thereby enabling our graduates to achieve excellence in all aspects of the legal profession. We are a community of legal scholars, practitioners, dedicated staff and students whose highest priority is to create an intellectually stimulating environment where learning and respectful engagement is valued above all else. We seek a diverse, collegial student body who are morally based and who will contribute to our community as well as the legal profession. We offer a rigorous legal education program designed to prepare our graduates not only for admission to the bar, but also to be effective, ethical participants in the legal profession as well as leaders in the global community at the highest levels.

We review applications to assess candidates' potential for academic success as well as to become a member of the legal community. We consider the whole application in this assessment, including previous academic performance, indicators such as the LSAT, writing ability, professional experience, community and public service, letters of recommendation, personal background and experience overcoming adversity. We evaluate candidates holistically and do not disqualify candidates solely on the basis of their standardized test scores or grades.

For more information about Cornell Law School and admissions, please see http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/admissions/.

Policy of Equal Educational and Employment Opportunity

Cornell University has an enduring commitment to support equality of education and employment opportunity by affirming the value of diversity and by promoting an environment free from discrimination. Cornell Law School is committed to Cornell University's policy affirming equality of opportunity:

No person shall be denied admission to any educational program or activity or be denied employment on the basis of any legally prohibited discrimination involving, but not limited to, such factors as race, color, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin, marital status, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, or protected veteran status.