Top Law Schools

Medians and Class Size
NEW Class of 2015 medians
LSAT Median: 167 (163-169)
GPA Median: 3.67 (3.52-3.82)
Entering Class of 2015: 300

OLD 2014 LSAT Median: 167 (165–170)
OLD 2014 GPA Median: 3.69 (3.56–3.80)
Entering Class of 2014: 375
Deadlines
Early Decision deadline:(LSAT no later than October) November 1 NON-BINDING
Regular Decision deadline:(LSAT no later than February) March 1

Application Requirements
Becomes available Sept 1, 2012
0-3 Letters of Recommendation: while not required, are strongly encouraged. You may submit no more than three letters, or two letters and one evaluation—for a total of three items—which should be submitted directly to LSAC.
Personal Statement: may not exceed two (2) typewritten, double-spaced pages with a minimum font size of 11 points.
Resume: may not exceed three (3) typewritten pages.
Transcript
LSAT
Optional Attachments:
Character and Fitness (required for affirmative answers to C&F questions)
Personal Disadvantage (Diversity Statement)
Undergrad Performance
Test Performance

Tuition Information for 2012–2013

$33,162/first year for residents (30 credit hours)
$49,244/first year for nonresidents (30 credit hours)

RE: residency

UT Law FAQ wrote:How does an applicant determine his or her status as a resident or nonresident?

Generally, an applicant must reside and establish a domicile in the state of Texas for a period of one year prior to enrolling as a student. The University’s Residency Officer, not the Law School, makes determinations of residency status. Questions concerning a candidate’s classification as a resident or as a nonresident should be addressed to Residency Officer, Graduate and International Admissions Center, The University of Texas, P.O. Box 7608, Austin, TX 78713-7608; telephone: (512) 475-7391.

Is it true that the Law School only admits 35% of its students from out of state?

No, the Law School may matriculate no more than 35% nonresident students; however, each year the Law School extends offers of admission to several hundred nonresident applicants

http://texas.lawschoolnumbers.com/stats
RE: ED

UT Law FAQ wrote:If I decide to apply for Early Decision Admission, will this increase my chances of being admitted?

Applicants who decide to apply for Early Decision Admission will not have a greater probability of being admitted nor will applicants who want to apply under Regular Decision Admission be at a disadvantage in the admissions process. The same standards and criteria will be used to evaluate all applicants, whether the application is filed Early or under Regular Decision Admissions. The advantage to those applying Early Decision is the possibility of receiving a final decision much earlier in the process. By holding a portion of the Early Decision applicants for review with the pool of Regular Decision applicants, we ensure that neither group is advantaged or disadvantaged.

GOOD LUCK!!!

This thread is relevant to my interests.

Hell yeah, Austin! Strong ties to the Lone Star State--looking to get a solid offer from these guys. Anyone know if there are any kind of special (named?) scholarships we can apply for?

Thanks SHIFTY for creating this thread. Glad to see we're going to ride this one out together, all the way, from that damn test back in the winter to these mega crazy apps all the way to the waiting game. Are you interested in BigLaw or not? I don't know if I ever knew that. I am.

outlookingin wrote:Hell yeah, Austin! Strong ties to the Lone Star State--looking to get a solid offer from these guys. Anyone know if there are any kind of special (named?) scholarships we can apply for?

I know SMU has a named scholarship just for residents of TX and surrounding states. I don't know of any at UT like this.

Giving in-state tuition to nonresidents seems to be the most common merit scholarship at UT.

shifty_eyed wrote:

outlookingin wrote:Hell yeah, Austin! Strong ties to the Lone Star State--looking to get a solid offer from these guys. Anyone know if there are any kind of special (named?) scholarships we can apply for?

I know SMU has a named scholarship just for residents of TX and surrounding states. I don't know of any at UT like this.

Giving in-state tuition to nonresidents seems to be the most common merit scholarship at UT.

Soooo we're not getting shit. p.s. proving domicile might be an issue for me.

Checking in!

Checking in!

Texas resident and NYU grad checking in. Good luck everyone!

Excited/nervous CA resident also checking in!

Greetings. I just started 2L at UT, so I'm happy to answer questions about pretty much anything, from how to apply to the culture of the city.

lisjjen wrote:Greetings. I just started 2L at UT, so I'm happy to answer questions about pretty much anything, from how to apply to the culture of the city.

What do you mean by "how to apply?"

Checking in!

lisjjen wrote:Greetings. I just started 2L at UT, so I'm happy to answer questions about pretty much anything, from how to apply to the culture of the city.

I'm also willing to field a few questions, though lisjjen has tons of wisdom as well.

Is there a Why UT essay?

MillerTheThriller wrote:Is there a Why UT essay?

They might have changed it, since there's a new dean, but there wasn't one when I applied. Though you could always mix it into a PS

outlookingin wrote:

shifty_eyed wrote:

outlookingin wrote:Hell yeah, Austin! Strong ties to the Lone Star State--looking to get a solid offer from these guys. Anyone know if there are any kind of special (named?) scholarships we can apply for?

I know SMU has a named scholarship just for residents of TX and surrounding states. I don't know of any at UT like this.

Giving in-state tuition to nonresidents seems to be the most common merit scholarship at UT.

Soooo we're not getting shit. p.s. proving domicile might be an issue for me.

UT offers instate rates to non-Texas residents with competitive numbers as essentially a scholarship (I mean it is worth ~15K a year), and you don't need to prove domicile to be competitive for it. UT also offers merit scholarships to high numbers as well.

Richie Tenenbaum wrote:

outlookingin wrote:

shifty_eyed wrote:

outlookingin wrote:Hell yeah, Austin! Strong ties to the Lone Star State--looking to get a solid offer from these guys. Anyone know if there are any kind of special (named?) scholarships we can apply for?

I know SMU has a named scholarship just for residents of TX and surrounding states. I don't know of any at UT like this.

Giving in-state tuition to nonresidents seems to be the most common merit scholarship at UT.

Soooo we're not getting shit. p.s. proving domicile might be an issue for me.

UT offers instate rates to non-Texas residents with competitive numbers as essentially a scholarship (I mean it is worth ~15K a year), and you don't need to prove domicile to be competitive for it. UT also offers merit scholarships to high numbers as well.

Word. As to the first point, an in-stater who can prove domicile will get the same deal as an out-of-stater with relatively high numbers, right? And the second option is of course very cool... anybody have any idea what the threshold for "high numbers" with UT is? As in, how high do we need to be to get considered for a merit-based scholarship above and beyond simply equalizing tuition from in-state/out-of-state. Or is this based on softs? I see a few people getting admitted into UT with high numbers, but not getting any money. Hm.

outlookingin wrote:

Richie Tenenbaum wrote: UT offers instate rates to non-Texas residents with competitive numbers as essentially a scholarship (I mean it is worth ~15K a year), and you don't need to prove domicile to be competitive for it. UT also offers merit scholarships to high numbers as well.

Word. As to the first point, an in-stater who can prove domicile will get the same deal as an out-of-stater with relatively high numbers, right? And the second option is of course very cool... anybody have any idea what the threshold for "high numbers" with UT is? As in, how high do we need to be to get considered for a merit-based scholarship above and beyond simply equalizing tuition from in-state/out-of-state. Or is this based on softs? I see a few people getting admitted into UT with high numbers, but not getting any money. Hm.

In-state students pay ~30K a year, so yes, it's a pretty good deal for Texas residents. Check out http://lawschoolnumbers.com/ and past UT threads on here to get an idea of what numbers translate into what amount of scholarships. Usually a high LSAT score is most important for scholarship money at most schools (and a relatively high LSAT score and GPA compared to the schools medians will typically have you competitive for scholarship money). But keep in mind scholarships can be more random than admissions to schools. Also remember that you can use scholarships at other schools to try and leverage a higher scholarship at a particular school. (UT does this by asking you to submit all your other scholarship offers at once, and they will consider whether to match/partially match any of the offers.)

I added the decision dates graph. Looks like we should hear back early November if we get our apps in early! This may be useful to know if anyone is considering a late ED elsewhere (Penn or UVA?) if they get dinged from UT early.

Am I missing something or is there absolutely no disadvantage for doing "ED" at Texas? It's not binding right?

pacifica wrote:Am I missing something or is there absolutely no disadvantage for doing "ED" at Texas? It's not binding right?

The only disadvantage is you can't wait to take the December LSAT, as far as I can tell.

Haven't decided if I'll apply or not.

Texas resident. Lived in Austin for 7 months during an internship.

GL everyone!

Retaking in october to hopefully get a high enough score to get in here!!! anyone know if they take the highest lsat score rather than averaging?

grassynome wrote:Retaking in october to hopefully get a high enough score to get in here!!! anyone know if they take the highest lsat score rather than averaging?

UT Law FAQ wrote:If I take the LSAT more than once, which score does UT use?

Candidates with multiple LSAT scores will be evaluated using all reported scores. However, the Law School will no longer solely consider an applicant’s average score in the admissions review process. The ABA recently revised its survey reporting requirements; all law schools are being asked to report an applicant’s highest LSAT score.

I think they just look at the highest TBH

Does the ED have a dated decision? Is UT one of the schools that allows you to have ED'd at a prior school or ED at another school at the same time (UT and GULC for example)?