Admissions Policies

To be considered for admission, an applicant must have, or be scheduled to receive, a baccalaureate degree or its equivalent from an accredited college or university of approved standing prior to matriculation at California Western.

Acceptance to California Western is conditioned upon the applicant receiving a bachelor's degree prior to matriculation here. Our educational policies, admissions requirements, scholarship programs, loans and other programs are administered fairly to all.

Academically Disqualified Applicants | Character and Fitness to Practice Law | Decisions | Deposits | Deferral Requests | Fees | International J.D. Applicants | LSDAS Report | Re-application | Summer Enrichment Program | Auditing Courses | Accommodation for Disability | Registering for the Bar

Academically Disqualified Applicants

Applicants who have been disqualified from another law school will be considered on a case-by-case basis. To be eligible to apply, two or more years must have elapsed since the disqualification. Within the two or more year period, the applicant should have work experience, activities or studies that indicate a stronger potential for law study.

NOTE: The two year period begins on the date of the original determination of disqualification.

In cases where two or more years have not passed, a letter, often called the "Standard 505 letter" from the disqualifying school is required. The letter must indicate that the student possesses the requisite ability and that the prior disqualification does not indicate a lack of capacity to complete the course of study at California Western School of Law.

NOTE: Applicants who were enrolled in a pre-admission program but were not granted admission do not count as applicants who were academically disqualified.

Character and Fitness to Practice Law

Students should be aware that most states have standards for character and fitness to practice law. Law school applicants should consider consulting with the appropriate bar official to determine if any past conduct could preclude admission to the bar upon graduation. Because your law school application provides information relevant to certification to a state bar, applicants should fully disclose on the application any information that may in any way reflect on character and fitness to practice law. Law schools are required to provide the bar examiners in every state with an assessment of the student's character and fitness for the practice of law. This requirement can include information provided by the student on the student's application, including prior criminal proceedings or other disciplinary actions. Failure by the applicant to fully disclose this information on the law school application can result in revocation of the admission offer, disenrollment after matriculation or other disciplinary action. Applicants are required to promptly advise the Admissions Office of any changes to the facts presented in the application once it has been submitted and leading up to matriculation.

Decisions

Applicant files are reviewed on a rolling basis; therefore, decisions are made when the file is complete. All decisions will be sent in writing. Review begins in late December for the fall class and mid September for the spring class. The decision of the Admissions Committee is final.

Deposits

Deposits are required to reserve your seat in the class to which you have been admitted. All deposits are nonrefundable. Deposits are not transferable to the next entering class unless the applicant has been granted a deferral by the Admissions Committee prior to the deposit deadline. The deposits are applied to tuition upon matriculation. Please include your LSAC Student ID number and name on all checks. Unfortunately we are not able to accept credit card payments for deposits.

Deferral Requests

We are aware that circumstances can change; therefore applicants who have been admitted may request, in writing via email or letter, a deferral to the next entering class. Please note that deferrals will be reviewed on an individual basis and are not usually granted unless there are extraordinary documented circumstances; thus there is no guarantee that the deferral will be granted. Students who receive deferrrals will be required to submit the seat deposit required for the current year and an additional seat deposit for the future class.

Fees

All fees/deposits must be made from checks drawn on a U.S. bank or money orders in U.S. currency. Foreign checks cannot be processed by the law school.

International J.D. Applicants

Applicants who have earned an undergraduate degree from a school outside the United States or Canada must take the LSAT, submit the $55 application fee, and must have their academic transcripts analyzed by a credentials evaluation service. You may choose to register for the LSAC JD Credential Assembly Service. This service is included in the LSDAS subscription fee. The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) will evaluate the foreign transcripts and will incorporate this evaluation into the LSDAS report.

If a private foreign transcript evaluation service is used, please note that we require a bachelor's degree equivalency statement along with an evaluation of the grade point average.

Evaluation of transcripts is NOT required if the foreign education was completed through a study abroad, consortium, or exchange program sponsored by a U.S. or Canadian institution, and the work is clearly indicated as such on the home campus transcript.

An applicant who is not a U.S. citizen or who does not reside permanently in the United States and for whom English is not the native language must submit the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) in addition to the other admissions requirements.

LSDAS Report

To obtain the LSAT/LSDAS Registration and Information Book, contact Law Services, Box 2000, Newtown, PA 18940-0998 or the California Western Admissions Office. You must register for the Credential Assembly Service (CAS). Our LSAT law school code number is 4802. Law Services will release the report to any school to which the applicant has applied and provided his/her social security number. Applicants should register with LSDAS in early fall, and ask their college registrar to mail transcripts to LSDAS as soon as possible. It is the responsibility of the applicant to make sure that this process has taken place.

Re-application

Applicants who reapply must complete a new application, submit the application fee and an updated personal statement. A new LSDAS report is required and new material must be submitted to warrant the review. The Admissions Office retains previous application files for two years.

Additional Information

Summer Enrichment Program

The Summer Enrichment Program is a six-week law school class experience that introduces you to the tasks of a law student and gives you a better understanding of what law school entails. You will become acquainted with the basic structure of American law and the American legal system in such class topics as harmful words, death, birth, property, and freedom and regulation in the market. The program includes exercises in taking law school exams, client interviewing, negotiation, and instruction on briefing, case analysis, and the use of precedent. All students admitted to California Western are eligible to enroll and will receive three units of credit upon successful completion of the course and matriculation at California Western. Contact Admissions for additional information.

Auditing Courses

A regularly enrolled second or third year student may, with the advance permission of the instructor, audit any law school course or visit any law school class on a space-available basis. Permission to visit or audit may be withdrawn at any time if the instructor believes it is in the best interest of the individual student or of the class to do so. Only current enrolled students and alumni are allowed to audit courses. Auditors will take no examination and receive no academic credit. The fee for auditing a class is the same as the hourly per-unit tuition fee. Contact the registrar for further information.

Accommodation for Disability

California Western makes reasonable accommodations in both the educational program and in the examination process for students with documented disabilities who make their disability known to the Office of Student and Diversity Services. Entering students needing special accommodations should make the request at the time of making the second deposit to ensure adequate time to make arrangements. All buildings are wheelchair accessible.

Registering for the Bar

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