sml-desktop.jpg

Application Process

How & When To Apply

In order to apply to Yale Law School, you must subscribe to the Law School Credential Assembly Service (CAS). You can register for CAS with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC). Yale Law School requires applicants to submit their applications through the LSAC electronic application service included as part of a CAS subscription.

Yale Law School will open its application for the Class of 2028 on September 1, 2024, and applications can be submitted beginning on October 1, 2024. Applications must be submitted by no later than February 15, 2025. It is your responsibility to make certain that all items arrive at Yale in a timely fashion. Please note that it may take several weeks for LSAC to process your materials.

Under our review process there is no advantage, in terms of the likelihood of admission, to applying earlier in the application cycle. In other words, your chances of admission remain constant regardless of when you submit your application.

Our Review Process

The Admissions Office will notify you by email when your application has been received and is ready to be processed. After processing your application, the Admissions Office will notify you by email of your application’s completion status and provide you with log-in credentials for your applicant portal, where you can review your application’s status and learn what, if any, application materials are needed to complete your application.

Applications are considered approximately in the order in which they are completed. Your application will be considered complete and ready for review once the Law School receives your application materials, a CAS report, LSAT or GRE score(s), and two letters of recommendation. We will not hold your application in order to wait for additional letters of recommendation, later test scores, or any other additional materials. 

Yale Law School will select some applicants for interviews as part of the evaluation process. If you are selected for an interview, the Admissions Office will contact you with additional information.

Given our holistic review of each application, our decision-making process can be lengthy. We appreciate your patience throughout the review process.

Yale Law School is committed to equal opportunity and accessibility to all candidates who show great academic and personal promise irrespective of citizenship status. Yale Law School evaluates applications without regard to a student’s citizenship or immigration status, and all students are eligible for the Law School’s need-based financial aid.

While we strongly prefer that you apply in the year in which you plan to attend, we recognize that some of our admitted students receive other exciting opportunities. To that end, Yale Law School grants a limited number of one-year deferrals. In exceptional cases, such as 2-year fellowships or foreign academic scholarships, we may grant a two-year deferral.

More information about deferrals is included in the materials sent to admitted students. Transfer applicants and applicants admitted from the waitlist are not eligible for deferrals.

If you receive an offer of admission or a scholarship offer from another law school before hearing from Yale Law School, please be aware that LSAC's Statement of Good Admission and Financial Aid Practices provides member law schools with best practices for law school admission and financial aid programs.

First, law schools should allow applicants sufficient opportunity to consider other offers before requesting a commitment of any kind.

Second, each school should allow applicants to freely accept a new offer from another law school even though a scholarship has been accepted, a deposit has been paid, or a commitment has been made to their school. Thus, law schools should never ask you to withdraw your application to Yale Law School before YLS has made a decision on your application.

In addition, please note that Yale Law School will consider applications from individuals who have accepted admission through deferred admissions programs for college sophomores and juniors.