John Deaver Drinko Hall, 55 West 12th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210-1391
Phone: 614.292.8810; Fax: 614.292.1492
E-mail: lawadmit@osu.edu; Website: moritzlaw.osu.edu
Founded in 1891, the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law has played a leading role in the legal profession through countless contributions made by graduates and faculty. The administration of the College of Law is committed to advancing the quality and reputation of the college through ongoing improvements to the academic program and student services, thereby creating a learning environment that is second to none.
Ohio State's 9,600 law alumni are central to the college's national reputation. Graduates of the college include justices of the Ohio Supreme Court, governors, current and former US senators and representatives, managing partners in law firms, chief executive officers, professors, and attorneys with nonprofit organizations and public interest law firms.
The comprehensive scope of the university and its location in the state capital provide law students with access to a wealth of educational, professional, cultural, and recreational resources and opportunities. Law students are able to pursue joint degrees with one of the university's more than 100 graduate programs and also may extern with federal and state judges or find employment with one of the more than 500 law firms located in central Ohio.
With approximately 140 classes offered annually, Ohio State students have a rich array of courses from which to choose. The curriculum is designed to provide a strong theoretical and analytical foundation, as well as multiple opportunities for developing and honing lawyering skills.
Alternative Dispute Resolution—The College of Law is widely regarded as having one of the nation's finest programs in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution. The program emphasizes training in an array of dispute resolution methods beyond litigation, including negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. Students with an especially strong interest may want to serve as a member or editor of the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution or pursue a certificate in Dispute Resolution.
Clinical Opportunities—The College of Law offers an extensive selection of clinics in civil law, criminal law, children's issues, entrepreneurial business, mediation, and legislation. Students enrolled in a clinic course benefit from working with real clients, the court, or other parties while receiving intensive feedback and supervision from one of the college's 15 clinical faculty members. The fieldwork component of each clinic course is augmented by a classroom component in which topics such as lawyering skills, legal doctrine, and ethical and strategic issues are addressed.
Judicial Externship Program—Ohio State law students have the opportunity to gain firsthand insight into the judicial system through the college's Judicial Externship Program. As externs, students earn academic credit for conducting legal research and drafting legal documents for justices of the Ohio Supreme Court and for judges at the federal and county levels.
Joint Degrees—Law students who wish to gain in-depth experience in a second field of study may enroll as a combined-degree candidate in one of the established joint-degree programs: the JD/MBA, the JD/MA in Public Policy (a program that can be completed in three years at no additional tuition cost), or the JD/MHA. Law students also are permitted to individually tailor a joint-degree program with many of the university's 100-plus master's programs and 90 PhD programs.
A Global Perspective on the Law—Students with an interest in international law may select from a menu of approximately 20 courses that have an international law or comparative law focus, including semester-long and summer study-abroad programs in Oxford, England. The College of Law awards a Certificate in International Trade and Development to students who combine their law coursework with select courses in international economics, politics, history, culture, and foreign language.
One of the most frequently cited strengths of the College of Law is the quality of the faculty. Faculty members are consistently recognized for the experiences they bring to the classroom, the clarity of their teaching, and their accessibility to students outside of the classroom. As a group, they are highly regarded for being committed teachers who care about students. Members of the Ohio State law faculty also have earned a reputation within the profession for their expertise in specific areas of the law. Faculty are regularly cited in court and in the national media; they serve on legal reform commissions, help draft model statutes, and provide testimony before Congress.
The Moritz Law Library provides Ohio State law students with one of the largest collections among law school libraries in the nation and access to a vast array of electronic databases. The law library and law building are completely wireless, allowing for ease of access to the web and online resources for all law students.
Learning Outside of the Classroom—Recognizing that a student's legal education rests on what occurs in the classroom as well as the intellectual interchange and professional development outside of the classroom, the College of Law strives to provide an environment that is rich with extracurricular and cocurricular opportunities. Each year, the college brings to campus more than 100 speakers to address students, law faculty, and members of the bar.
The Program on Law and Leadership seeks to increase the awareness and understanding of leadership development among lawyers as well as excite and equip students for future leadership roles both in and beyond the profession. It has multiple components: education, a speaker series, skills workshops, scholarships, career assessment, and mentoring.
Ohio State law students have the opportunity to refine their legal writing skills through participation in one of the college's five highly regarded law journals: the Ohio State Law Journal, the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, the I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, and the Entrepreneurial Business Law Journal. Students are able to refine their skills in the areas of oral advocacy and legal writing through a variety of intramural and interscholastic competitions. In recent years, Ohio State law students have competed in approximately 14 interscholastic moot court competitions, including the National Moot Court Competition, the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition, the National Health Law Moot Court Competition, the Civil Rights Moot Court Competition, the Corporate Law Competition, and the Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition.
Service to the Public—The College of Law enjoys a strong reputation for its commitment to public service as part of the educational mission of the college. Ohio State law students are encouraged to become involved in the Leadership Program or in one or more of the college's many public interest initiatives, such as the Pro Bono Research Group. To encourage Ohio State law students to accept low-paying or volunteer positions with public interest organizations during the summer, the college and the Public Interest Law Foundation annually offer several student-funded fellowships.
Moritz College of Law students and graduates are provided with an array of career and professional development services by a staff of six full- and part-time professionals, four of whom have JDs. Students and alumni have access to an online job-posting system and a wide variety of programs, workshops, and events. All programming and counseling services are designed to teach skills and to provide a foundation for gaining legal and professional career experience. The on-campus recruiting program, which brings over 120 employers to campus to interview students annually, is conducted through a state-of-the-art, web-based recruiting system that allows students access at all hours. Alumni and practitioners interact with students through many avenues, including a practice interview program and a mentoring program. Each year, students find employment across the country. Ohio State is a member of the National Law School Consortium, which hosts job fairs and events in a number of major legal markets nationwide. Cutting-edge technology, current resources, talented staff, and creative initiatives give Ohio State students a sound professional development foundation.
The Moritz College of Law is committed to enrolling highly motivated men and women who have excelled academically and who bring to the College of Law a diversity of personal and professional backgrounds. In selecting members of each entering class, the Admissions Committee seeks to enroll individuals who represent all segments of society, as well as those who, as attorneys, will respect the profession's public service obligations.
An Ohio State legal education offers one of the best values among nationally regarded law schools. The annual cost of tuition for residents of Ohio is roughly half the tuition charged by comparably ranked private law schools. Columbus also boasts a cost of living that compares favorably to major cities across the country. Nonresidents of Ohio who relocate to the state may be reclassified as Ohio residents after residing in the state for 12 months. Each year, the College of Law awards more than $3 million in need-based and merit-based financial aid to members of the student body.
This grid includes only applicants who earned 120–180 LSAT scores under standard administrations.
| GPA | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LSAT Score |
3.75+ Apps |
3.75+ Adm |
3.50– 3.74 Apps |
3.50– 3.74 Adm |
3.25– 3.49 Apps |
3.25– 3.49 Adm |
3.00– 3.24 Apps |
3.00– 3.24 Adm |
2.75– 2.99 Apps |
2.75– 2.99 Adm |
2.50– 2.74 Apps |
2.50– 2.74 Adm |
2.25– 2.49 Apps |
2.25– 2.49 Adm |
2.00– 2.24 Apps |
2.00– 2.24 Adm |
Below 2.00 Apps |
Below 2.00 Adm |
No GPA Apps |
No GPA Adm |
Total Apps |
Total Adm |
| LSAT score 175–180 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 9 |
| LSAT score 170–174 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 21 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 55 |
| LSAT score 165–169 | 90 | 85 | 109 | 105 | 61 | 56 | 31 | 20 | 22 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 326 | 274 |
| LSAT score 160–164 | 181 | 158 | 183 | 127 | 148 | 78 | 82 | 28 | 21 | 2 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 7 | 653 | 400 |
| LSAT score 155–159 | 151 | 59 | 184 | 38 | 146 | 24 | 61 | 4 | 33 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 620 | 126 |
| LSAT score 150–154 | 57 | 11 | 80 | 11 | 72 | 5 | 64 | 2 | 32 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 344 | 29 |
| LSAT score 145–149 | 17 | 2 | 31 | 1 | 37 | 2 | 30 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 166 | 5 |
| LSAT score 140–144 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 81 | 0 |
| LSAT score 135–139 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| LSAT score 130–134 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| LSAT score 125–129 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| LSAT score 120–124 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 529 | 341 | 623 | 306 | 488 | 173 | 298 | 59 | 154 | 6 | 95 | 1 | 35 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 61 | 12 | 2301 | 898 |
Apps = Number of Applicants
Adm = Number Admitted
Reflects 100% of the total applicant pool; highest LSAT data reported.