2000 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20052
Phone: 202.994.7230; Fax: 202.994.3597
E-mail: admissions@law.gwu.edu; Website: www.law.gwu.edu
GW Law provides a legal education that literally cannot be found anywhere else—an education premised on law in action:
This is a legal education to change the world, an opportunity to dynamically engage in law and policy that no other school can match.
We are a distinctive school with a distinctive mission and set of opportunities for students. And, as the legal market experiences radical change, the education we offer will come to be seen as increasingly important.
In this era of dynamic transformation, our vision of what a law school can be offers the following distinctive features:
Personalized Pathways: With over 500 course offerings each year, GW provides focused paths of study in nearly every area of law imaginable. These pathways go far beyond course selection, however. At GW Law, students can combine coursework; unparalleled interaction with leading lawyers, judges, and policymakers in the field; high-level externships; and unique capstone experiences to learn both theory and practice and to develop an integrated series of skills, experiences, and contacts that cannot be found anywhere else.
Engagement in the Real World: GW Law refuses to sit in an ivory tower, divorced from the real world of law and policy practice. Our full-time faculty members routinely testify in Congress, litigate leading cases, collaborate with think-tanks, serve on international courts and commissions, and work at the highest levels of government. Our adjunct faculty includes the leading lawyers in the legal capital of the world. And our students get to take part in all of it: interacting with Supreme Court justices, World Bank officials, financial regulators, military leaders, and State Department lawyers; working on actual public policy projects tackling the most important challenges of our time; taking an active role in real-world legal matters and studying abroad.
Externships: No other law school can match the externship opportunities we provide, with over 500 students per year receiving extensive course credit to get hands-on training at the highest levels of government, public interest, and the judiciary. Whatever your area of interest, we have a leading lawyer willing to mentor you, supervise your work, and provide you with the practical experience that will jump-start your career.
Professional Development Training: At GW, we believe legal training is not only about substantive knowledge; lawyers also need to know how to work in teams to solve problems, how to understand the changing economics of law practice, how to develop clients, how to construct effective networks, and how to think creatively about building a lifetime of career options. Our new integrated professional development training program gives our students a sophisticated understanding of these crucial skills.
Clinics and Pro Bono Activities: GW was one of the first law schools in the nation to embrace clinical education, and today our clinics provide intensive training and practical experience working with real clients across many areas of criminal and civil litigation, administrative adjudication, appellate practice, and business planning and entrepreneurship. In addition, our pro bono program—headed by Alan Morrison, one of the legendary public interest lawyers in US history—builds even more opportunities for engagement, with programs ranging from helping the wrongly convicted to writing legal documents for cancer patients to working with the Special Master in charge of assessing damages after the BP oil spill. As a result, our students have almost limitless opportunities to become engaged in the real-world practice of law and policy. In addition, the school awards nearly one hundred summer public interest fellowships annually and provides loan repayment assistance to graduates embarking on public interest careers.
Mentoring, Counseling, and Networking for Careers: With some 20,000 alumni all over the world and in every area of practice, GW Law can connect students with a vast network of mentors, advisors, and career contacts. But merely having a network is not enough. At GW, we also have dedicated staff devoted to helping students make those connections. And with one of the largest career development offices in the country, our focus is on one-to-one counseling from day one, to ensure that students effectively bridge the gap from law school to law practice.
A Welcoming, Nurturing Community: While we offer the unlimited opportunities of a large school in our nation's capital, we also prioritize student well-being, offering personalized attention and numerous resources designed to build a nurturing and supportive environment. And the Dean holds drop-in hours once a week starting at 4:30 pm; students can come without an appointment, and office hours continue as long as there are students who want to chat. That's our commitment to students, as they develop their own pathways through law school.
In short, all top law schools are not alike. GW offers a legal education for students both in the classroom and beyond to tackle the world. And we do so in a nurturing environment with opportunities that simply cannot be found anywhere else.
Joint degrees are offered in the areas of business, public administration, public health, public policy, international affairs, history/US legal history, and women's studies. Summer study-abroad opportunities include the GW-Oxford Program in International Human Rights Law, the GW-Munich Intellectual Property Law Program, the GW-Augsburg (Germany) Student Exchange Program, and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and Universita-Commerciale "Luigi Bocconi" in Milan, Italy. GW also is a member of the North American Consortium on Legal Education, which allows students to study at member Canadian and Mexican law schools.
Membership is available on nine publications—the George Washington Law Review, the George Washington International Law Review and its new National Security Law Digest, the Journal of Energy and Environmental Law, the Public Contract Law Journal (cosponsored by the ABA Section of Public Contract Law), the Federal Circuit Bar Journal, the American Intellectual Property Law Quarterly Journal (published by AIPLA and housed at GW), the Federal Communications Bar Journal (in collaboration with the Federal Communication Bar Association), and the International Law in Domestic Courts Journal.
Three skills boards—the Moot Court Board, Mock Trial Board, and Alternative Dispute Resolution Board—provide numerous opportunities for participation in competitions around the world. In addition, approximately 50 student groups are active at the law school, sponsoring social, educational, career, and public interest-related programs.
Finally, over 400 events take place on the law school campus each year, an average of three per day during the school year. During 2011–2012, these events ranged from a two-day summit meeting of the US Supreme Court justices and judges from the European Court of Human Rights, to a cybersecurity working group featuring high-ranking officials from the US Military's Cybercommand, to public events with SEC Commissioners, members of Congress, the State Department Legal Adviser, and leading scholars. The opportunities for engagement are truly limitless.
At GW Law, the traditional career services model has been transformed into a dynamic, proactive operation that works to help every single student bridge the gap from law school to law practice. We have instituted a professional development training program for all 1Ls, and every student will be assigned a career counselor beginning in the first semester who will meet with that student each semester thereafter and engage intimately in the job search process. An alumni mentoring program allows each incoming student to be assigned as they arrive at school to an attorney from practice who will meet with the student at least twice in the first year and provide a shadowing/networking experience. In addition, an associate dean for academic development works with each student to help construct a career path that combines courses, externships, mentors, and job networking. And with approximately 20,000 graduates, GW Law has among the most extensive alumni networks in the country. Finally, our innovative Pathways to Practice Program provides financial assistance to graduating students to perform volunteer legal work for up to a full year after graduation.
The GW Law Financial Aid Office counsels and assists applicants and current students in applying for various sources of financial aid: loans at negotiated, competitive terms; need-based tuition grants; and outside scholarships. All applicants are considered for merit-based aid, including general merit awards, as well as public interest, environmental, and Teach for America merit scholarships. An estimated 85 percent of GW law students receive some sort of financial aid.
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 | 20 | 20 | 31 | 29 | 27 | 19 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 78 |
| LSAT score 170–174 | 245 | 228 | 224 | 194 | 159 | 115 | 92 | 52 | 32 | 14 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 12 | 793 | 626 |
| LSAT score 165–169 | 648 | 496 | 825 | 367 | 513 | 144 | 244 | 76 | 71 | 17 | 38 | 9 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 81 | 17 | 2442 | 1127 |
| LSAT score 160–164 | 666 | 316 | 767 | 12 | 554 | 17 | 259 | 12 | 83 | 7 | 49 | 2 | 21 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 86 | 7 | 2491 | 375 |
| LSAT score 155–159 | 285 | 98 | 389 | 4 | 314 | 8 | 179 | 5 | 98 | 3 | 43 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 42 | 1 | 1378 | 120 |
| LSAT score 150–154 | 104 | 14 | 173 | 3 | 178 | 0 | 140 | 0 | 67 | 0 | 49 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 768 | 17 |
| LSAT score 145–149 | 34 | 0 | 65 | 0 | 69 | 0 | 77 | 1 | 51 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 365 | 1 |
| LSAT score 140–144 | 8 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 41 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 170 | 0 |
| LSAT score 135–139 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 77 | 0 |
| LSAT score 130–134 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| LSAT score 125–129 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 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 | 2014 | 1172 | 2507 | 609 | 1861 | 303 | 1061 | 154 | 444 | 42 | 269 | 20 | 117 | 6 | 53 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 279 | 37 | 8619 | 2344 |
Apps = Number of Applicants
Adm = Number Admitted
Reflects 99% of the total applicant pool; highest LSAT data reported.