In the last few years, there has been a seismic shift in application deadline dates, which greatly benefits current applicants. A decade ago, only a few schools accepted the results of the February LSAT for fall admission later that year, and many application deadlines were in January (if not December).
Fast forward to today, and the situation is much changed! Almost every school now accepts the results of the February LSAT, and, as the table below shows, a significant number of schools in the Top 50 now accept the results of the June LSAT (and many more outside the Top 50 accept June results). In other words, if you are reading this today and have yet to take the LSAT or apply to law school, you could still apply now to a number of schools and attend this fall. Previously, that was unthinkable.
June LSAT History
In recent years, the June LSAT has become very useful for law schools applicants attending law school that same year. As I explained in a post from last March called The June LSAT and the Law School Wait List, the results of the June LSAT can be used to help improve your admission chances if you are on the Wait List and to strengthen your position when negotiating a financial aid package.
Now, with application deadlines moving later and later, in some cases you can use the June LSAT as a direct pathway to admission this year. These days, the February LSAT is the new December LSAT (every school accepts it), and the June LSAT is the new February LSAT (many but not all schools accept it). Equally important, schools at every level accept the June LSAT. There are schools in the Top 25, Top 50 , Top 100, etc.
One important note: when we say “accept the June LSAT,” we mean that the school would use that as the first and only LSAT you’ve taken. Most schools will consider June results if you already have a prior LSAT score, but we wanted to look at schools that would consider applicants who had no other LSAT score aside from one taken in June of that year.
Table Categories
- Rank: The rank for each school was drawn from the US News & World Report Best Law Schools rankings. We list the schools in numerical order.
- School Name: This one is obvious—this column identifies the name of the school! We omit schools that do not accept June LSAT scores. So, if a school is in the USNews Top 50 but not below (Yale, Harvard, Stanford, etc.) it means the school does not take the June test.
- Hard Application Deadline: A hard deadline is the date after which the school will not consider or review newly received applications. Having said that, a number schools mentioned that the number of unfilled spaces affected how they viewed their “hard” date—if they still had spaces available in their classes, they might accept applications after the deadline. In these cases, the law schools uniformly state that the chances of admission were lower. Though apparently unlikely, this certainly makes the deadline far less “hard.”
- Soft/Priority Application Deadline: Law schools that have a “soft” or “priority” deadline will guarantee full consideration for all applications received by that date. These early applicants are sometimes notified of an admissions decision by a certain stated date, and they may be granted priority consideration for financial aid and scholarships. Applications will be still be accepted after this soft/priority deadline, as long as there is available space in the entering class.
- Notes: To compile this list, we talked with the admissions office at each law school. In some cases, they had additional thoughts or considerations about the deadline or use of the June LSAT, and we added those thoughts in this column.
Top 50 Law Schools That Accept the June LSAT
As a note: This article was updated 3/2/18. We contacted each of the top 50 schools and have updated the chart below. Let’s take a look at the list! It’s worth noting that only Georgetown, Washington University, University of Iowa, and Arizona State said they would consider the July scores, but at that point you would likely be on a waitlist.
One important note is that many schools told us they would accept applications until they filled the class. And, that because of rolling admissions, the chances of acceptance decreased as time passed. So, while some schools accept June LSAT scores, they make it clear that chances of admission are likely lower. But keep in mind, if you show up in late July with a 4.0 and a 180, you are getting in at most schools!
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to post them below!
| Rank | School Name | Hard Application Deadline | Soft/Priority Application Deadline | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | University of Chicago | 3/1/2018 | Chances for acceptance are lowered if you only take the June LSAT, since the application will not be considered until the score is received. | |
| 11 | Duke University | 2/15/2018 | 2/15/2018 | They do not recommend the June LSAT but will accept it; the applicant will most likely be put on a wait list. |
| 12 | Northwestern University | 2/18/2018 | ||
| 13 | Cornell University | 2/1/2018 | ||
| 14 | Georgetown University | 3/1/2018 | If waiting for a score, submit app and it will sit in the queue, then automatically update when scores are released. | |
| 18 | Washington University in St. Louis | Due to rolling admissions, it is possible that class will be full by the time the June LSAT scores come out. | ||
| 20 | University of Iowa | They caution that the class will possibly be full by the time the June results are released. | ||
| 22 | University of Minnesota | 7/15/2018 | ||
| 22 | University of Notre Dame | 3/15/2018 | They accept June scores if the student is waitlisted. | |
| 25 | Indiana University, Bloomington | They accept June scores but strongly encourage students to apply early. | ||
| 25 | Arizona State University | 3/1/2018 | They'll accept the June exam if spaces are still open, which is unlikely. | |
| 25 | George Washington University | 3/1/2018 | Waitlist process begins in April. | |
| 28 | University of Alabama | |||
| 28 | University of California, Irvine | 3/1/2018 | ||
| 30 | Boston College | 3/1/2018 | ||
| 33 | University of Georgia | 6/15/2018 | 2/1/2018 | |
| 38 | University of North Carolina | 8/1/2018 | 3/1/2018 | |
| 40 | Washington & Lee University | 3/1/2018 | Will take July LSAT into consideration as well. | |
| 40 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | 3/15/2018 | ||
| 40 | University of Arizona | 7/9/2018 | ||
| 45 | University of Utah | 3/10/2018 | 2/15/2018 | Will continue to accept apps as long as spots are open. Chances of scholarships are very low for late apps. |
| 45 | George Mason University | 4/1/2018 | Deadline was extended last year to Aug. 1st, and the June LSAT was accepted. They won't decide whether to do that this year until after April 1. | |
| 46 | `Brigham Young University | 6/30/2018 | 3/1/2018 | |
| 48 | University of Florida | 3/15/2018 | Will continue to accept applications as long as spots are open. | |
| 48 | University of Maryland | 4/1/2018 | ||
| 50 | Touro Law School | 5/1/2018 | ||
| 50 | University of Houston | 2/15/2018 | Any application received after the regular decision deadline will be considered at the end of the process on a space-available basis. | |
| 50 | Florida State University | 6/30/2018 | 3/15/2018 | |
| 50 | Tulane University | 4/1/2018 |