Admission

Juris Doctor (JD)

To earn a Juris Doctor degree, a student must apply and be admitted to the JD degree program. By accepting admission, the student assumes responsibility for knowing and complying with the regulations and procedures set for by the University and the University of Connecticut School of Law.

The Office of Admission and the Admissions Committee of the School of Law process applications for the JD degree and are responsible for making all application decisions. All files are holistically reviewed and each part of each file is taken into consideration. In keeping with the emphasis on the individual, the faculty admissions committee makes all decisions after a careful reading of each application. In selecting the entering class, the admissions committee balances a number of factors, including: the LSAT score; the type, breadth, and depth of college or graduate courses taken and the grades received; academic honors and awards; writing ability; letters of recommendation from persons who know the applicant well (academic letters of recommendation are the most helpful for fairly recent graduates); work record, including military service, Peace Corps, and VISTA; college and community activities; and character and motivation. Although performance on the LSAT and in college or graduate school is important, selection is made after a careful review of the entire admissions file. The Law School has never used an admissions index in the admissions process, preferring to make all decisions after individual and careful review.

Applicants may submit an optional essay or addendum which addresses additional information not included in the personal statement. This statement should provide further explanation or details which may not be readily apparent in other parts of the application.

Admissions decisions are made on a rolling basis. Every effort is made to send electronic notification of your decision within 24 hours of the committee’s final decision being rendered. Decisions may only be appealed if some essential factor, one that would potentially have been crucial in making an admissions decision, was not in front of the committee at the time of the decision. This might include a missing but otherwise currently available transcript or the mention of an important honor or award received prior to the decision. Applications are only considered for a fall enrollment. We do not offer spring admission.

As a public institution, the school gives special consideration, though not an absolute preference, to residents of Connecticut. Residents of New England states without publicly-supported law schools also receive some preference in admissions and tuition under the terms of the New England Higher Education Compact. Residents of other states are encouraged to apply and may become Connecticut residents for educational purposes after one year. Tuition would fall to the in-state rate, even for full-time students.

Students may request a deferral of admission for a period of one year after their initial application term.

The University of Connecticut School of Law accepts applicants to the JD program who have (or expect to receive prior to matriculation) a bachelor’s degree from an accredited undergraduate college or the foreign equivalent and who have taken the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Application to the program is completed via the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) website and must be accompanied by at least two letters of recommendation, a personal statement through the Credential Assembly Service, and residency affidavit.

International applicants typically must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language or TOEFL. Applicants may be excused from this requirement only if they have the equivalent of a bachelor's degree or higher from a university where the sole language of overall instruction is English. The School of Law requires minimum TOEFL scores of 100/250/600 (Internet/Computer/Written). All applicants, whether international or domestic, must take the LSAT.

The University of Connecticut complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding non-discrimination, equal opportunity and affirmative action, including the provision of reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. UConn does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religious creed, age, sex, marital status, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, genetic information, physical or mental disability, veteran status, prior conviction of a crime, workplace hazards to reproductive systems, gender identity or expression, or political beliefs in its programs and activities.

https://law.uconn.edu/admissions/jd-admissions/apply/

Master of Laws (LLM)

To earn an LLM degree, a student must apply and be admitted to the LLM degree program. By accepting admission, the student assumes responsibility for knowing and complying with the regulations and procedures set for by the University and the University of Connecticut School of Law.

The Office of Graduate Admission at the School of Law process applications for the LLM degree and are responsible for making all application decisions.

Applicants to an LLM program should have a first law degree, whether a JD from an accredited U.S. law school or a law degree from a school outside the United States. International applicants must also meet the English proficiency requirements. For certain cases and programs, applicant may be eligible for admission without a first law degree.

Application requirements include:

  1. Direct application or registration with the LLM Credential Assembly Service
  2. Personal Statement
  3. CV or Resume
  4. Writing Sample
  5. Two (2) Letters of Recommendation
  6. Proof of English Language Proficiency (for international candidates)
  7. Application Fee

https://llm.law.uconn.edu/apply/

Doctor of the Science of Law (SJD)

To be eligible for admission to the SJD Program, an applicant must:

  1. have obtained or be enrolled in a program leading to the equivalent of an advanced law degree (normally an LLM) from an accredited law school within the United States or a recognized university outside of the United States, with such advanced degree obtained prior to matriculation in the SJD program;
  2. meet the English Language Requirements for SJD Admissions set out below; and
  3. obtain the agreement of a UConn Law full-time faculty member to serve as the SJD dissertation adviser. Applicants are asked to include with their applications the letter or email from that person evidencing that agreement. External applicants who did not receive their JD or LLM from UConn School of Law are asked to contact the director of the graduate program at sjd@uconn.edu for assistance in fulfilling this requirement prior to submitting their applications. Under no circumstances should an applicant contact faculty directly about serving as an advisor without first contacting the director of the graduate program.

Applicants should take note as well that it is the sense of the faculty of the School of Law that candidates admitted into the SJD program should normally:

  1. have attained an overall GPA (or its equivalent) in the course of study leading to their advanced law degree (normally an LLM) of at least 3.3/B+ with at least one grade of A- or higher, and have also completed an LLM thesis (or its equivalent) attaining an “Honors” designation (or its equivalent);
  2. or, in the alternative, have submitted evidence of outstanding professional achievement directly relating to the proposed topic of the dissertation that warrants admission in lieu of the academic standards set out in Section 4 above. Such evidence must be specifically addressed in the personal statement and dissertation proposal and also reflected in the LLM thesis (or its equivalent) that each applicant must submit as part of the application for admission into the program.

With rare exceptions, the UConn Law SJD Program is unlikely to admit any more than one or two candidates per academic year, in order to ensure sufficient attention for the demanding task of successfully completing a doctoral dissertation. In rendering admissions decisions, preference is given to the Law School’s own LLM graduates, although applications from external candidates are welcome.

SJD candidates are expected to spend the first two academic semesters of the Program in residence at the Law School. Because all candidates will have completed an LLM, however, there is no other required coursework apart from the SJD dissertation.

English Proficiency Requirement for SJD Admissions

International applicants to UConn Law's SJD Program must provide proof of English proficiency or demonstrate qualification for an exemption from this requirement.

Application

To apply, applicants must send the following materials, in electronic form, to sjd@uconn.edu. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis but should generally be submitted by May 1 for fall admission and November 1 for spring admission. Attach all of the documents requested in items 1 to 9 below in one email and label the attached files according to the descriptions indicated below:

  1. A completed application form. Please label this file “1. last name, first name (application form)”. The application form also includes a checklist, which will help ensure that your application is complete. We cannot accept or save incomplete applications pending further documentation. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the application is complete.
  2. A (non-refundable) check (in U.S. Dollars) travelers check, or international money order payable to "UConn School of Law" in the amount of $100 (U.S.) for the application processing fee.
  3. A personal statement of no more than 500 words, summarizing the applicant’s background, reasons for pursuing an SJD, and how the degree will further the applicant’s professional aspirations. Please label this file “2. last name, first name (personal statement)”.
  4. A resume or curriculum vitae. Please label this file: “3. last name, first name (CV)”.
  5. Electronic (scanned) copies of official transcripts from each university and law school attended with English translations, if applicable. Please label this file: “4. last name, first name (transcripts)”. Please then send us as soon as possible a hard copy of certified original transcripts from each university and law school attended with English translations, if applicable. Transcripts from law schools outside the United States must be submitted through LSAC (please provide your LSAC number on the space provided on the Application Form, if applicable). If you have received your LLM from UConn Law School you simply need to have the registrar send us your official transcript. Applicants who apply prior to the end of their last LLM semester who have not received final grades, should submit the most current transcript available.
  6. A copy of the applicant’s LLM thesis (or its equivalent). Please label this file: “5. last name, first name (LLM thesis)”.
  7. A dissertation proposal of not less than 2,000 words (including footnotes). Please label this file: “6. last name, first name (dissertation proposal)”. The dissertation proposal must include the following:
    1. A clear, law-related research question or problem that will be addressed;
    2. A review of the literature addressing the question or problem (including any relevant literature from other disciplines, such as economics, sociology, or history) that demonstrates an ongoing debate among scholars, policy makers or other professional groups on the proposed question, or a lack of recognition of, or attention to, the problem;
    3. An explanation of the methods, theories or approaches to be used to answer the question or resolve the problem and, if an empirical or comparative project, a discussion of the kind of evidence to be produced that will answer the question or resolve the problem; and
    4. An explanation of the expected contribution of the independent research project to the scholarly literature.
  8. A copy of a letter or email from a UConn Law School full-time faculty member stating that he or she agrees to serve as the SJD dissertation adviser. Please label this file: “7. Last name, first name (UConn dissertation adviser).

International applicants must also submit the following:

  1. Financial Declaration Form. Please label this file: “8. last name, first name (financial declaration form)”.
  2. Evidence that the applicant meets the requirements for English language proficiency (below). Please label this file: “9. last name, first name (English language proficiency).”

https://law.uconn.edu/admissions/sjd-admissions/