University of California (Hastings)

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Application requirements

Deadline

Apr 16, 2026

Recommendations

2 to 3

Updated for 2025-2026 application cycle

I. LEOP QUESTIONS (Required)

Answer all of the questions below. There is no required word count, but responses of 50?250 words are typically sufficient. This supplemental information will be used to evaluate your claim of significant adversity and to determine whether to offer admission. Your application to the LEOP program will not be considered without this information. If your claim of significant adversity does not meet LEOP admissions requirements, your application will automatically be considered for general admission by the Admissions Office.

Describe the financial situation of your family from birth to college entry. Please include sources of income, income estimates, number of household wage earners, and number of dependents. Please describe any unusual expenses.
Please describe the occupation(s) and the educational background(s) of the person(s) who raised you.
Describe your early educational experiences through high school. Discuss the expectation level of and support for educational and career achievement in your family and community. What impact, if any, did it have on your education?
Please list your source(s) of financial support in college by approximate percentage: Family: Employment: Loans: Grants/scholarships: Other assistance:
Describe any paid or unpaid test preparation, academic support, or tutorial services you have used since elementary school.
Identify and describe the community(ies) in which you resided from birth to age of college entry. Describe any bias you faced as a member of such community(ies) and explain what impact, if any, it had on your academic performance.
Are you an immigrant or the child of immigrant parents? If yes, please include the country of origin, year of arrival in the U.S., and the reason for immigrating.
If English is not your first language, how old were you when you first learned English? Was English the primary language spoken in your home?
Have you had any learning or physical disability that may have adversely affected your academic performance? Please indicate what accommodations, if any, you were provided in high school and college. If possible, please include supporting documentation of your disability and/or accommodations.

II. LEOP STATEMENT (Optional)

Please submit a statement in which you identify and describe in detail the challenges and obstacles that you have faced and the impact they may have had on your academic preparation. The obstacles may be cultural, economic, educational, familial, geographic, linguistic, or social in nature. Include specific information on what you have done to meet and/or overcome these challenges that are not evidenced by your responses to the LEOP Supplemental questions above or in the general personal statement.

In addition to a bar examination, there are character, fitness, and other qualifications for admission to the bar in every U.S. jurisdiction. Applicants are encouraged to determine the requirements for any jurisdiction in which they intend to seek admission by contacting the jurisdiction.

You must answer all of the character questions in section 8 of the Application Questions. A "yes" answer does not disqualify you from admission, but an explanation must be provided for each "yes" response. Additionally, if you answer "yes" to any of the questions in this section, you should consult the rules and regulations of the Committee of Bar Examiners of the state in which you wish to practice law to determine if there is anything that may affect your eligibility for admission to the bar. For your reference, linked here are the California Bar guidelines for Moral Character Determination. Please note that the qualifications for admission to the bar are different in every U.S. jurisdiction. Addresses for all relevant agencies are available through the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

Have you ever enrolled in any Juris Doctor program in the United States?
If you answered yes to a question #1, please note where and when, and explain why you left in the following text box. (maximum characters 1000)
Have you ever been subject to dismissal, suspension, probation or other academic or disciplinary sanction, been found to have violated a conduct or honor code, or been warned by any college or university or professional school?
If you answered "yes" to question #3, an explanation must be provided in the following text box. (maximum characters 1000)
Have you ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, or is any such charge now pending against you?

For purposes of this question, a conviction includes a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or a verdict or finding of guilt, regardless of whether sentence is imposed by a court.
Traffic violations which must be reported under this question include Failure to Appear, Driving Without a License, Driving with a Suspended License, and Reckless Driving, as well as all traffic violations that resulted in a misdemeanor or felony conviction.
You need not answer ?yes? because of an arrest that did not result in a conviction as long as the charges are no longer being adjudicated.
You need not answer ?yes? for any arrest or conviction that has been sealed, expunged, dismissed, or set aside.

If you answered "yes" to question #5, an explanation must be provided in the following text box. (maximum characters 1000)

University of California Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) welcomes your application for Fall 2026.

Deadlines:

April 15th is the deadline for JD admission and scholarship consideration.

Eligibility

Applicants must meet all of the eligibility requirements for UC Law SF provided at uclawsf.edu/admissions/jd-how-to-apply/.

Candidates must have earned a bachelor?s degree (or its foreign equivalent) from an accredited institution of higher education prior to beginning the JD program.
Candidates must take the LSAT or GRE no later than June of the year of matriculation. Valid scores cannot be more than five years old. The highest score will be used in determining the Admission Committee?s decision.
Candidates must register with the Law School Admission Council?s Credential Assembly Service (CAS).
Candidates who have been academically disqualified at any law school are ineligible for admission to UC Law SF.

Register for the LSAT or GRE:

UC Law SF requires that all applicants take a standardized test for admission?either the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), which is the preferred test, or the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). UC Law SF will not receive standardized test scores until the Writing Sample is complete.

Applicants who take both the LSAT and the GRE must submit their LSAT scores, but can choose whether to submit their GRE scores.
Applicants applying with only GRE scores are still required to use the LSAC Credential Assembly Service (CAS) for the submission of their application materials.

If you are applying with only a GRE score (meaning you have not taken the LSAT and you do not plan to do so), please send an email as soon as possible to admissions@uclawsf.edu so that we can manually complete your application in our system.

LSAT: Official scores must be from LSAT examinations administered between June 2020 and June 2026.

GRE: Official scores must be from GRE examinations administered within five years of the date you submit your application to UC Law SF. For example, scores for a test taken on September 17, 2024, are reportable through September 16, 2029.

Register for the LSAC Credential Assembly Service (CAS):

UC Law SF requires the use of LSAC CAS for all JD applicants.

Applicants must submit official undergraduate and graduate (for those who have attended graduate school) transcripts directly to the LSAC CAS. Study abroad transcripts are not required as long as the study abroad program?s credits are recorded on your main transcript. For those students who are applying to law school before the conferral of their undergraduate degree, please be aware that the American Bar Association (ABA) requires law schools to have a final, official transcript clearly showing your degree has been conferred on file by October 1 of the year of your law school matriculation. Failure to comply with this policy will result in not being able to register for first year law Spring courses until UC Law SF has received your transcript(s) verifying all academic credits undertaken and degree(s) conferred.

Application:

Please be sure to answer all required questions. The Admissions Office communicates primarily with applicants via email, so make sure messages from UC Law SF will not be caught in your spam filter. If you have any updates to your contact information after you submit your application, send the new information to admissions@uclawsf.edu. Be sure to include your LSAC account number on all materials and communications submitted on behalf of your application.

UC Law SF is required to report to federal and state agencies the ethnic/racial composition of enrolled students. Responding to questions about race and ethnicity is optional; however, we ask that you respond to the questions about your racial and ethnic background since the application form is the primary source of information about the demographic characteristics of the College?s student body. The College considers this information confidential and it will be used only for aggregated statistical purposes. This information will be used by the Admissions Office for statistical and reporting purposes only. It will not be made available to the UC Law SF Admissions Committee and it will not influence the application review process.

Letters of Recommendation:

Two letters are required. Applicants have the option of submitting a third letter if they would like to do so. The Admissions Office prefers letters from individuals familiar with your academic work, but letters from employers or others who can attest to your skills, talents, and accomplishments relevant to the study of law will also be considered.

Résumé:

Please provide a résumé which includes all significant employment, internships, memberships, and professional and volunteer activities during and after college. Include any honors, awards, or other recognition (scholastic, collegiate, extracurricular, or community) you have received and the basis for your selection. Include dates of participation. Be sure to account for all significant blocks of time since the completion of your undergraduate degree, including your activities this year while applying to law school. Please limit to two pages.

Personal Statement:

There is no limit as to the length of the required personal statement, but it will be evaluated for clarity, content, and skill of presentation. While there is no required topic, it is to your advantage to convey information and views that you feel are important and that you believe should be weighed in the consideration of your application for admission, including your specific interest in UC Law SF. Personal statements should be attached in the Attachments section of the application.

Character and Fitness:

LEOP Applicants:

UC Law SF created the Legal Education Opportunity Program (LEOP) in 1969 to make an outstanding legal education accessible to those who come from disadvantaged economic and educational backgrounds. Students planning to apply to UC Law SF through LEOP should review the LEOP Supplement in the Attachments section of this application. LEOP applicants must answer all questions on the Supplement, and they are encouraged to attach a separate LEOP statement describing the adversity they faced and its impact on their academic preparedness for law school. If a question does not apply to the applicant, they may write "N/A" or similar. Diagnostic reports documenting disabilities and/or accommodations can be submitted as addenda.

Notification of Status:

You will receive an email acknowledgement when the Admissions Office receives your application. Please add "admissions@uclawsf.edu" to your safe senders or contacts lists to ensure you receive our messages. Please note that the Admissions Office cannot in any circumstances release decisions over the telephone. The Admissions Office will make every effort to notify all candidates by the end of June. All admissions decisions are final, and there is no appeal process.

Financial Aid:

UC Law SF awards both merit-based scholarships and need-based grants. Students who wish to be considered for need-based grants and/or U.S. government student loans must provide their Social security number (SSN) and must submit the FAFSA and the UC Law SF Financial Aid Supplement as soon as possible. If you do not have a Social Security Number, please enter N/A. You may find more information about financial aid at UC Law SF at uclawsf.edu/applyforaid.

Non-Discrimination Policy:

The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco prohibits discrimination against any person on the basis of the following protected categories: age, ancestry, childbirth or related medical condition, citizenship, color, creed, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, gender identity, gender transition status, genetic information (including family medical history), marital status, military or veteran status, medical condition (e.g., cancer-related or genetic characteristics), national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, sex- or gender-stereotyping, or any combination of these or related factors. The College?s full notice of non-discrimination is available here. Concerns and questions regarding sex discrimination may be reported to the Title IX Coordinator.