Stanford Law School’s core mission extends far beyond academic excellence: we aim to educate principled, insightful, and innovative lawyers and leaders who will shape society across a vast range of fields. From an annual pool of approximately 5,000 applicants, we select roughly 180 students to join our community. They arrive from across the United States and around the globe—hailing from public service, private enterprise, military academies, arts institutes, medical schools, seminaries, and top universities of every size. We intentionally assemble this broadly accomplished cohort because our graduates go on to excel in every arena—as formidable courtroom advocates, champion public interest defenders, high-ranking government officials, foreign service leaders, and pioneers in emerging global sectors.

To prepare leaders for the legal profession and along these varied trajectories, our admissions criteria reflect the broad spectrum of talent required to make a real-world impact. Through our application process, we seek to understand your analytical rigor, curiosity, leadership potential, and perspectives on the world. We base our evaluation on your entire application, taking into account your experiences, insights, aspirations, values, and accomplishments. As we review your application materials, we want to learn how you think, how you meet challenges, how you see the world, how you work with others, and what you’re proud to have accomplished.

CRITERIA CONSIDERED

Academic Excellence and Intellectual Vitality
We look closely at your intellectual readiness for the rigor of law school, but GPA and LSAT/GRE scores are only part of that picture. We also consider the grading standards and rigor of the institutions and programs you’ve studied in, any graduate work, academic honors, published writing, and how your circumstances may have shaped your academic record. We want to understand your intellectual curiosity and discipline, not just a transcript.

Maturity, Adaptability, Growth Mindset, and Resilience
Law school — and the practice of law — is full of uncertainty, pressure, and unfamiliar problems. We’re interested in how you’ve navigated change and difficulty: times you’ve stepped up to hard problems, performed well under pressure, adapted when circumstances shifted, or learned something real from a setback. We want to understand how you have learned, achieved, and developed or demonstrated these traits. These experiences tell us a lot about the judgment and resilience you’ll bring to our classrooms.

Potential for Contributing to Range of Backgrounds, Interests and Points of View
Our classes are stronger when they include a true range of backgrounds, interests, and points of view. We want to know about experiences that have informed your understanding of legal and social institutions, about any distinctive areas of knowledge or expertise, your capacity for thoughtful and constructive dialogue, and whether you have a willingness to learn from others. Beyond a demonstrated interest in the study of law, we want to know what perspective you bring, and whether you approach the experiences and viewpoints of others with curiosity and respect. Your personal statement, reference letters and application responses are where these features often come through.

Individual Accomplishments Outside the Classroom:
We’re interested in learning about your most meaningful individual accomplishments — something impressive, difficult, and meaningful to you, reflecting real purpose and sustained effort. Achievements may arise in employment, military service, athletics, the arts, research, public service, entrepreneurship, caregiving, community engagement, or other endeavors. Where possible, we look for corroboration of these achievements, whether through objective evidence or specific examples from your recommenders.

Demonstrated Ability in Collaborating with Others:
Beyond individual achievement, we seek to understand your ability to work with, motivate, and bring out the best in others toward a shared goal over time. We want to know how you demonstrated the ability to effectively communicate, collaborate, exercise judgment, resolve conflict, support others, and accept responsibility. You might tell us about a community project, a school or work team, a mentorship experience, or a program you helped build or sustain, leadership with or without a formal title; development or improvement of a program or organization; constructive management of disagreement; reliability in fulfilling responsibilities. As with individual achievement, this is strengthened by independent corroboration from those who worked alongside you.

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We admit qualified students of any race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or marital status and, consistent with our obligations under the law, prohibit discrimination on the basis of any such protected characteristics.