Our Admissions Committee devotes significant effort to the review of each application. The Committee, composed of members of the faculty, two associate deans, and the director of admissions, ultimately decides who is admitted. Committee members evaluate each candidate's college-level academic performance, career accomplishments, skills relevant to the practice of law, responses to the questions in the Personal Statement, and results of the Law School Admission Test.

Approximately 625 applications were received for entry into the Fall 2007 entering class. Of this number, approximately 301 applicants were offered admission. 153 students began their studies in August. The average score on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and undergraduate grade-point average for members of the entering class were 153 and 3.29.

Application Requirements

Applicants should possess a bachelor's degree from an approved college or university prior to beginning their legal studies. There is no single major or undergraduate field of study that the Admissions Committee recommends. The Committee welcomes applications with majors ranging from political science to electrical engineering, and from biblical studies to psychology.

All applicants must sit for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and subscribe to the Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS). The LSAT is offered four times annually: February, June, September/October, and December. Applicants are encouraged to take the fall or December LSAT prior to their desired entry into the School of Law. Admission may be offered to candidates who take the February or June LSAT, although these applicants may be disadvantaged because of the limited remaining enrollment opportunities in the entering class. Registration materials for the LSAT may be requested online at www.lsac.org or by calling (215) 968-1001. Additionally, most college and university prelaw advising offices have a supply of the registration booklets available for distribution to prospective test takers.

Time Frame for Applying

FAST FACTS

• Fall term entry only for new students.
• Applications may be submitted anytime between October 15 and June 1. February 1 is the priority consideration date. Early applications are strongly recommended.
• To be considered for financial aid from the law school, completed admission and financial aid applications should be submitted by February 1 for priority consideration.
• Expected average credentials for the entering class are a 153 LSAT and 3.29 undergraduate GPA.

Selection Criteria & Bar Passage

A central part of the application review process focuses on the applicant's undergraduate performance. The Admissions Committee evaluates each applicant's overall GPA, grade trends, the rigor of courses completed, the competitiveness of the institution attended, comments from faculty recommenders as they relate to the applicant's performance, and future potential and extenuating circumstances that may have affected the applicant's college performance at the graduate level in addition to the undergraduate record. For applicants who have been out of college for many years, the Admissions Committee will give increased consideration to the professional and personal accomplishments that have occurred since the time of college graduation. Thus, the resumé becomes an important part of the application for the non-traditional student.

An extremely important factor in the application review process is the applicant's performance on the LSAT. The Committee carefully weighs each applicant's LSAT score in light of the many other parts of the applicant's admissions file in conjunction with the overall profile for the incoming class. Applicants scoring below 150 on the LSAT should plan to retest. The committee relies most heavily upon the highest score when an applicant has taken the LSAT more than once, but all scores will be reviewed.

The Admissions Committee also places significant importance on the applicant's responses to the Regent-specific topics in the Personal Statement section of the admissions application. Such responses can provide the Committee with insights into the applicant's motivation for studying law, his or her commitment to receiving a legal education that integrates Christian principles and ethics and knowledge of special skills and abilities developed through employment experiences. Additionally, the Committee relies upon comments contained in the Clergy/Spiritual Life Recommendation Form to consider the applicant's mission in harmony with Regent University's mission.

Applications from prospective students with LSAT scores above 150 and undergraduate GPAs above 3.0 are especially encouraged, as the law school has seen that such students are likely to succeed in law school and also likely to pass the bar exam on their first attempt. Regent's first-time bar passage rate for all graduates (1987-Feb, 2007):

LSAT> 150 = 76%

LSAT> 155 = 83%

LSAT> 160 = 89%

This grid is intended to provide prospective applicants with a general sense of our admissions standards. This grid does not adequately describe the numerous nonquantifiable factors that are considered by our Admissions Committee. Prospective applicants are encouraged to review our admissions materials for a fuller understanding of the admission-review standards used by Regent University School of Law.