Top Law Schools

Before I begin, you must understand that many schools require a dean's certification/appraisal on two conditions: (1) you are accepted and decide to attend their school (2) you had academic/disciplinary action/problems. I posted this because I saw some other forum threads that were inaccurate, and I figured that since this source is from Cornell UGrad, it should be solid.

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Schools Requiring Dean’s certification for all First Year JD applicants: (pre-Admission)
Brigham Young University
Brooklyn Law School
University of Connecticut
Howard University
University of Richmond (admission decision can be made prior to receipt of dean’s certification)
Stanford University
Yale

Schools Requiring Dean's certification/ letter for First Year JD applicants who answer "Yes" to academic/disciplinary action questions on the law school application:
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke University
New York University
University of Southern California
Southern Illinois University

Schools Requiring Dean's certification for accepted First Year JD applicants who send a seat deposit:
Boston University
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Columbia (see also above)
Cornell University (see also above)
Georgetown University
Harvard University
New York University (see also above)
University of Pennsylvania
Stetson University
Suffolk University
University of Richmond (see also above)
Wake Forest

wow thanks for this list! very helpful

I'm a little confused about how dean's certification forms work. I graduated last May and I had a minor violation during my freshman year at my university that I am disclosing. Several of the schools I am applying to require a dean certification form, but my school's office of judicial affairs website states that they do not keep judicial records of students after they graduate. So my understanding is that my Dean at school wouldn't have any further information about this incident.

Additionally, I can't seem to find any information about what a dean's certification form should consist of (the two school's I'm applying to that need them are Duke and Cornell). Is there a standardized form I should mail to my school for a dean to fill out and then mail to the school's I'm applying to?

We just hashed through this on another thread. University of Washington does not require a Dean's Certification for first year JD applicants.

I'm getting the sense that they maybe recently changed their policy on this.

bigwillie wrote:I'm a little confused about how dean's certification forms work. I graduated last May and I had a minor violation during my freshman year at my university that I am disclosing. Several of the schools I am applying to require a dean certification form, but my school's office of judicial affairs website states that they do not keep judicial records of students after they graduate. So my understanding is that my Dean at school wouldn't have any further information about this incident.

Additionally, I can't seem to find any information about what a dean's certification form should consist of (the two school's I'm applying to that need them are Duke and Cornell). Is there a standardized form I should mail to my school for a dean to fill out and then mail to the school's I'm applying to?

I can't answer your first question, but it's not a bad idea to call the dean of your school and ask how it would go. I would imagine that the combination of (a) you disclosing a minor thing and (b) the dean saying there's no record of it or anything worse is something law schools are used to seeing and don't worry about. But I have no idea.

I had to do dean's certifications for Cornell and USC. For Cornell, there was a supplemental form that I printed out. For USC there was not. In addition, my school had its own form that I needed to fill out. So the package I sent to the dean of my undergrad school had a lot in it.

* A cover letter to the dean who I knew did certification reports, introducing myself a bit and thanking her

* The form the undergraduate studies office uses, filled out with details for Cornell

* Cornell's form

* A stamped and addressed envelope to Cornell

* The form the undergraduate studies office uses, filled out with details for USC

* A stamped and addressed envelope to USC

Awesome, thanks for the advice. I'll try contacting my school tomorrow.

Brooklyn doesn't require a Dean's Certification unless you answer yes to one of the disciplinary action questions.