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Admission Standards and Application Instructions

• Admission Standards and Eligibility
• General Information
• Communicating with the Office of Graduate Legal Studies
• Application Deadlines
• Mailing Address for Application Materials
• Application Instructions
• Admission Decisions
• Re-application
• Deferrals
• Transfer to the J.D. Program

Admission Standards and Eligibility

In evaluating applications for admission to our Graduate Legal Studies programs, we strive to select a student body of diverse backgrounds and interests that shares a discernible commitment to excellence. We place primary emphasis on demonstrated qualities and proven skills we regard as necessary for academic success and intellectual engagement at Columbia Law School, and also highly value personal strengths that we believe predict professional distinction and public service. We endeavor to identify how and to what extent candidates have forged their values and achieved their goals – how they have actually chosen to commit their time, energies, and talents, and how they have made use of their opportunities. Applicants are evaluated, therefore, not only on their potential but by their demonstrated motivation, self-discipline and industry.

Eligibility

To be eligible for admission to the LL.M., the J.S.D. or the Special Student program, applicants must hold a first degree in law. A degree in a field other than law, even if followed by a master's degree in law, generally does not suffice for admission. Applicants who have earned a law degree by correspondence course work or distance learning are not eligible. Graduates of foreign law schools who have already had a year of residence in an American law school are ineligible for admission.

Admission Standards

Strong preference is given to applicants who have at least one year of work experience after earning their first law degree. Only in exceptional circumstances are applications from candidates who are in their final year of law school considered. Applicants who have not yet graduated must demonstrate that their admission to the program would enable them to realize an immediate and specific career objective that would not otherwise be attainable.

A. Graduates of Law Schools in the United States
Admission to candidacy for the LL.M. degree is restricted, in the case of graduates of law schools in the U.S., to graduates of A.B.A.-accredited law schools who achieved honor status in their undergraduate legal studies as evidenced by very high academic standing, by membership on their law reviews, or by outstanding work in research. Generally, preference is given to candidates who have acquired at least two years of significant professional legal experience subsequent to graduation.

B. Graduates of Law Schools in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or English-speaking Caribbean Countries
Admission for these degree candidates is generally restricted to those who achieved honor status in their undergraduate legal studies as evidenced by very high academic standing, by membership on their law reviews, or by outstanding work in research. As a general matter, applicants from law schools in these countries who have not completed at least five years of post-secondary undergraduate and legal education combined must have been admitted to the bar and practiced for at least one year after completing their legal education.

C. Graduates of All Other Law Schools
The purpose of the LL.M. Program for these degree candidates is to provide an introduction to new areas of interest to them as well as the opportunity to further specialize in their current area of practice, and is generally restricted to those who achieved honor status in their prior legal studies.

International lawyers who intend to reside permanently and to practice law in the United States should apply for the J.D. degree, the first degree in law, rather than the LL.M. The J.D. program is normally three years of full-time study. Generally, a maximum of one year's advanced standing toward the J.D. degree at Columbia may be granted for graduate legal studies completed in the United States or another common law country. Such standing, however, is determined on an individual basis by request of the student after an offer of admission has been made. No advanced standing is given for legal studies completed in a civil law country. Completion of an LL.M. degree at Columbia Law School does not guarantee admission to the J.D. program.

General Information

Regrettably, because of the large number of applicants from all over the world, it is not logistically possible for interviews to be included as part of the selection process. As a substitute, the Admissions Committee depends upon the insights provided by your letters of recommendation and Personal Statement. In addition to providing the Committee with a more personal sense of your individual qualities, the Personal Statement affords you an opportunity to present any special information or factors that may prove useful to the Committee's deliberations. Nevertheless, if you are in New York we invite you to visit the Law School and the Office of Graduate Legal Studies; we will be happy to meet you and answer your questions.

Applications submitted by third-party educational advisors or consultants are strongly discouraged, with the exception of applications from Fulbright or other scholarship organizations. Such applications do not in any way enhance your chances for admission to Graduate Legal Studies at Columbia Law School; in fact, unless submitted through Fulbright or another scholarship organization, they may hinder your chances or render your application incomplete, as we have no way of verifying that the application is indeed your work. The Office of Graduate Legal Studies requests that all application materials be submitted by you directly, and requires that you personally communicate all inquiries regarding the status of your file. We will not report on your status to a third-party advisor.

Communicating with the Office of Graduate Legal Studies

Due to the large volume of applications we receive, it is not possible for the Graduate Legal Studies staff to report on the progress of applications. We will send each applicant, by e-mail, the following information regarding their application: (1) a confirmation that we received the application (if you are applying online, you will automatically receive this message once you click submit); (2) notification of missing items, if applicable; and (3) notification that the application is complete. Regrettably, we cannot provide information regarding the receipt of specific documents as such requests slow our processing time of your applications. Please address all other inquiries by e-mail to gls@law.columbia.edu.

We send all admission decisions by e-mail. Offers of admission are sent in writing also, via courier. Please make sure that you provide us with a valid e-mail address and a physical address for the courier delivery (we do not deliver admission materials to post office boxes), and that you update that information as necessary. Many companies have put up firewalls and e-mail messages get returned to us. Therefore, we recommend that you use a personal e-mail account (such as gmail, hotmail or yahoo) or speak with your employer’s IT department to make sure that messages from Columbia Law School will not be blocked. All decisions are mailed from gls@law.columbia.edu.

Application Deadlines

Early Review Program
Applicants for admission to our 2009-2010 LL.M. program, except those who are in their final year of law school in their home countries and reapplicants from 2008-2009, have the option of applying through the Early Review Program. If you wish to be considered under the Early Review Program you must (1) submit your application online – we will not accept paper applications for the Early Review Program, and (2) specify that you wish to be considered for Early Review by checking the appropriate box on the online application form. All application materials, including supporting documents and TOEFL scores, must be postmarked by November 3, 2008. If all materials are not postmarked by November 3, 2008, you will automatically be considered for admission in the regular cycle.

The Office of Graduate Legal Studies will provide a decision for early applicants by the end of December. Applicants will be admitted, rejected, or deferred to the regular admission cycle. If you are admitted through the Early Review Program, you will not be required to withdraw your applications to other LL.M. programs. Admitted candidates will be required to notify us of their intention to matriculate in early March.

Regular Application Deadline
Applications and all supporting documents for the 2009-2010 academic year must be postmarked no later than December 15, 2008. Applications postmarked after this date will be returned unread. Admission decisions are made on a rolling basis, in most cases no later than late April.

Mailing Address for Application Materials

Regular Admission applicants will have the ability to submit certain supporting documents as attachments to their online application (see Supporting Documents, below). Early review applicants must submit all supporting documents by courier or mail, postmarked no later than November 3. Regular applicants must submit all supporting documents that cannot be uploaded to the online application by courier or mail, including the Certification Form, transcripts, diplomas, letters of recommendation and writing samples (LL.M.-Associate applicants only), postmarked no later than December 15. Send all required materials to:

Office of Graduate Legal Studies
Columbia University School of Law
435 West 116th Street, MC 4036
New York, NY 10027-7297

The Office of Graduate Legal Studies telephone number is (212) 854-2655; the fax number is (212) 854-9742; and the e-mail address is gls@law.columbia.edu. Faxed or e-mailed applications will not be accepted. If you plan to send your application by courier, please note that Columbia University does not accept courier deliveries on holidays, Saturdays or Sundays.

All application materials become the property of the Graduate Legal Studies program and as such will not be returned to you under any circumstances. Incomplete applications postmarked after the admission deadlines will not be considered for admission.

Please note: If you submit an online application, you should not include a paper application with your supporting documents, as doing so will significantly delay the processing of your application and the timing of your admission decision.

Application Instructions

Special Application Procedure for LL.M. Admission
(Not applicable for admission to the J.S.D. or Associates-in-Law Programs)
We strongly recommend that LL.M. applicants who graduated from law schools outside of the U.S. or Canada register with the Law School Admission Council's (LSAC) LL.M. Credential Assembly Service. This service is designed to save you time and money, especially if you intend to apply to a number of U.S. or Canadian graduate law degree programs.

For a registration fee of U.S. $185, LSAC will collect and authenticate your university records and TOEFL/TOEFL iBT and TWE scores, and will distribute them to the schools to which you are applying. Thus you will need to obtain only one set of transcripts and other required academic credentials. The registration fee includes five law school reports; for an additional fee, applicants can purchase additional reports. Further information about this service is available at www.LLM.LSAC.org.

Please note that all applicants for admission to the LL.M. Program, including those who register with LSAC, must complete Columbia Law School's application form and submit it directly to Columbia Law School, together with their letters of recommendation, Personal Statement, and application fee (see below). LSAC will not collect these materials for Columbia.

Application Forms
All applicants must complete, sign and submit Columbia Law School’s Application for Admission to Graduate Legal Studies (“application form”). Carefully follow the application instructions. We strongly encourage you to submit your application online. You can complete and submit the application online via the tab "GLS Online Application" at left. While submitting a paper application will not affect your admission decision, it will significantly delay the processing of your application and the timing of your decision. If you are unable to complete the application online, you may send an e-mail to the Office of Graduate Legal Studies (gls@law.columbia.edu) to request a paper application. Include in your message the reason you are unable to complete the application online. If you are applying online you should not submit a paper application form with your supporting documents, as doing so will significantly delay the processing of your application and the timing of your admission decision. Send the documents alone, with your name clearly marked on each piece, and we will match them to your online application.

Provide as much information as possible on the online application. To avoid any confusion or delay in the processing of your application, please make sure to consistently use the same form of your proper name on all supporting documents and to keep us informed of any changes to your contact information (including mailing address, e-mail address and telephone number). When mailing your supporting documents, please do not place each sheet in a separate folder or sleeve.

Application Fee
You must submit an application fee of U.S. $75 with your application. This fee is non-refundable and will not be credited against your tuition. The fee must be paid in U.S. dollars, and may be paid by credit card (MasterCard or Visa only), a check drawn on a bank located in the U.S., traveler’s checks, or a bank or postal money order. Checks must have officially printed mica numbers and fraction numbers (the numbers at the bottom of the check – they may not be typed or entered by hand) and made payable to “Columbia University.” Traveler’s checks must be countersigned in both places and made payable to “Columbia University.”  To pay by credit card, provide the following information: (1) type of card: MasterCard or Visa; (2) the name exactly as it appears on the card; (3) the account number; and (4) the month and year of expiration (month first, then year). We do not accept Japanese International or Canadian Postal Money Orders; checks drawn on foreign banks (even if in U.S. dollars); UNESCO coupons; wire/bank transfers; or cash. If you apply online, you will be able to pay the fee by credit card after you submit your application.

TOEFL/TWE or TOEFL iBT
(Test Of English as a Foreign Language/Test of Written English)
All applicants except those whose native and working language is English or who earned their first law degree entirely in English in an English-speaking country must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Test of Written English (TWE), or the TOEFL iBT. (No other examination is required.) We do not accept the IELTS exam in place of the TOEFL. The minimum scores required for admission are:

• TOEFL iBT: 105 overall score, 26 on Reading and Listening sections and 24 on the Speaking and Writing sections;
• Paper-based exam: 620 overall score, 59/60 on the Structure/Writing and Reading sections, 60/61 on the Listening section, and 5.0 on the TWE.

If your scores fall below these levels, your chances of admission could be adversely impacted even if other factors in your application are strong. You must decide whether to repeat the test based on how far below these scores your results fall; we cannot make this decision for you.

You should register for and take the TOEFL by the November 3 or December 15 deadline. Although you may include a copy of your student score report with your application, Columbia must receive the official test results directly from ETS. If you register with LSAC (see “Special Application Procedure” above), you do not need to send an official report to Columbia Law School; LSAC will send it. Waivers of the TOEFL/TWE requirement are rarely granted, and are granted at the sole discretion of the Office of Graduate Legal Studies. Therefore, if you request a waiver you should assume the request will be denied and make arrangements to take the test by the deadline. Requests for waivers on the grounds that you have run out of time to take the exam or work primarily in the English language will not be granted.

Columbia University’s institution code is 2163; the Law School’s code is 03.

When entering TOEFL/TWE or TOEFL iBT scores in the online application, please use the following guidelines:

• TOEFL iBT: Section 1: enter Reading score; Section 2: enter Listening score; Section 3: enter Speaking score; TWE score: enter Writing score.
• Paper-based TOEFL/TWE: Section 1: enter Listening Comprehension score; Section 2: enter Structure and Written Expression score; Section 3: enter Reading Comprehension score: TWE score: enter TWE Score.

Supporting Documents
Applicants have the option of submitting certain supporting documents as attachments to their online application rather than through the mail. Submitting documents electronically rather than through the mail will expedite the processing of the application. The following documents will be accepted as attachments:

• Personal Statement
• Résumé/CV
• Appel Fellowship Application (if applicable)
• Human Rights Fellowship Application (if applicable)

All remaining supporting documents, including the Certification Form, letters of recommendation, transcripts, diplomas and writing samples (LL.M.-Associate applicants only) must be submitted by mail to the Office of Graduate Legal Studies.

All documents submitted online should be double-spaced with a 12-point font and standard margins (one inch on all sides). Your name should be listed at the top of each page of each document (in the format of “Surname, First name”) and in the document title when it is saved (i.e., Surname, First name – Personal Statement). Attachments must be in .pdf or Microsoft Word format. We strongly recommend submitting documents in .pdf format if they were created with a non-English version of Microsoft Word. A free version of .pdf conversion software can be downloaded from http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp.

1. Certificate of Proficiency in English
This form must be completed as part of your online application. If completing a paper application, mail this form with your supporting documents.

2. Personal Statement
You must submit a detailed Personal Statement describing your background, academic interests, the program of study you wish to follow and your reasons for doing so. You should prepare this statement without assistance from others. The format of the statement should not exceed three double-spaced pages using a 12-point font with standard margins. We will not consider your application without a Personal Statement, and will not accept a résumé or curriculum vitae in place of the statement.

3. Résumé or Curriculum Vitae
While résumés are not required, we encourage you to submit one for consideration as part of your application. If you are applying for the LL.M.-Associate Program you must include your résumé with your application.

4. Transcripts and Diplomas
(We do not require or provide a form to accompany your transcripts and diplomas.)
If you have not registered with LSAC, you must submit an official transcript and, where applicable, a diploma or proof of degree from each college, university, graduate school and law school you have attended, whether or not you earned a degree. If you are unable to submit original documents, you may submit certified copies. If the originals are not in English, you must submit an official, certified translation of each document in addition to the original document. If you are in school at the time you submit your application, please send us your most recent transcript with your application, and send us an updated one once your fall grades are available. If your rank does not appear on your transcript, we must receive a separate, official statement of rank from your law school. If your law school does not rank its graduates, we must receive an official statement from the law school to this effect. Submit all transcripts and diplomas in sealed envelopes issued by the University. Please note that we do not accept evaluations of transcripts from companies other than LSAC, such as those from WES.

5. Letters of Recommendation
(We do not require or provide a form to accompany your letters of recommendation.)
We require two original letters of recommendation from your law school professors, employers, supervisors, or other persons qualified to appraise your academic potential for graduate legal studies. At least one letter should come from a law school professor. If you have work experience (in addition to internships while in school), one letter should also come from a work supervisor. "To Whom It May Concern" letters (which tend to be very general), letters from family friends, and letters from prominent persons who have not supervised your work are not helpful. Letters of recommendation must be written by the recommender on official letterhead and addressed to the Office of Graduate Legal Studies. If your recommenders are unable to print the letters on official letterhead, ask them to include an explanation as to why they are unable to do so. (If your recommenders cannot write in English, please submit certified translations together with the original letters.) We reserve the right to disqualify letters written or translated, in part or whole, by the applicant. Submit both letters of recommendation in sealed envelopes with the recommender’s signature across the back flap.

Please do not submit more than two letters. Part of compiling a strong application for admission is determining which two recommenders will be best able to evaluate your ability to pursue and succeed in graduate legal studies. Even if you indicate that you are submitting more than two letters of recommendation, we will consider your application complete once we have received two letters of recommendation and all other required supporting documentation.

6. Application for Financial Assistance
To apply for financial assistance, check the appropriate box on the online application, complete the financial assistance section, and sign the financial assistance line on the Certification Form. If you are submitting a paper application, submit the Application for Financial Assistance with your supporting documents. Enter the amount of money available to you (or that you anticipate will be available to you) in the appropriate boxes. All amounts should be entered in U.S. dollars (excluding cents). If completing the application online, do not use any punctuation marks (e.g., periods or commas) when entering numbers. For example, five thousand dollars should be entered as 5000. Numbers entered in other formats (e.g. 5.000) will not appear accurately when your information is submitted and therefore could negatively affect your potential award calculation. Please list in the "Additional Remarks" section of the form all scholarships to which you have already applied or to which you intend to apply. It is your obligation to notify the Office of Graduate Legal Studies within seven (7) days should other funds become available to you. Since Columbia Law School awards financial assistance mostly on the basis of need, the Law School reserves the right to reduce the amount of any financial aid it has awarded if other funds become available to you.

If you do not submit an application for financial assistance you will not be considered for financial aid, even if you request it after the admission deadline. If you think you may need aid you should complete and sign the form.

7. Application for Human Rights or Appel Fellowships
For additional information on the Human Rights and Appel Fellowships, please visit the section entitled "Tuition, Fees, and Financial Aid." Be sure to write your name, exactly as it appears on your application for admission, on your fellowship application(s).

8.  Writing Sample (LL.M.-Associate Applicants Only)
If you are applying to the Associates-in-Law Program as well as the LL.M. Program, see the Associates section of this Web site for instructions on the writing sample. Do not submit a writing sample if you are a regular LL.M. Program applicant.

Admission Decisions

Re-application

Deferrals

Transfer to the J.D. Program