How to Get Into Albany Law (2026-2027 Guide)

Albany Law School is an independent law school in New York's capital. Its focus includes state government, public service, and health law, with residential and largely online Flex JD formats.

This guide walks you through how to get into Albany Law.

1. Albany Law Admissions Numbers and Statistics

Albany Law Class of 2029:

• LSAT: Median: 159

Albany Law Class of 2028:

• LSAT: 75th: 161 | Median: 158 | 25th: 154
• GPA: 75th: 3.75 | Median: 3.54 | 25th: 3.16

The fall 2026 entering group includes 204 residential and 43 Flex students. Its overall LSAT median rose one point from 2025. The older block covers the 2025 reporting-year entrants, including different start terms and enrollment formats. The LSAT median had already increased from 156 in 2024 to 158 in 2025.

Aim to be at or above at least one median to be competitive. Above both puts you in a stronger position. Below both medians, this is a prayer, not a reach.

For context on how medians affect your strategy, see How to Build a Smart Law School List.

2. Albany Law Application Essays

Personal Statement (required)

Albany requires a personal statement of two to three pages. The topic is your choice. The school invites insight into your qualifications and interests, including why you want to study law and your career goals.

For more on how to write a personal statement, see my Personal Statement Examples and Personal Statement Guide.

Optional Background and Perspective Statement

Additional information can address your experiences, perspective, or obstacles you have overcome.

For more on how to write a diversity or perspective statement, see my Diversity Statement Examples and Diversity Statement Guide.

Optional Why Albany Statement

Albany welcomes an explanation of your interest when it is not already covered in the personal statement.

For more on how to write a Why X essay, see my Why X Essay Guide.

For more on making all of these essays work together, see my Cohesive Narrative Guide.

Addenda and Character & Fitness (if applicable)

For required disclosures, provide dates, outcomes, and supporting documentation where applicable. Update the school when circumstances change.

I'll be publishing a guide to addenda and character and fitness.

3. Albany Law Resume Requirements

A resume is required. Include employment, publications, substantial extracurricular involvement, and community or volunteer work. Make dates, responsibilities, and accomplishments easy to follow. Give paid work and sustained obligations the space they deserve rather than filling the page with minor activities.

For more on preparing your resume, see my Resume Examples and Resume Guide.

4. Albany Law Letters of Recommendation

Albany requires two letters of recommendation and accepts up to four. Academic recommendations are preferred. Applicants out of school for five or more years can use professional recommenders.

For more on recommendations, see my LOR Guide (Applicants) and LOR Guide (Writers).

5. Albany Law Interview Process

Albany offers student-led campus tours and live information sessions with admissions counselors, including opportunities to discuss the residential and Flex programs.

6. Albany Law Deadlines and Decision Options

Testing Policy

Albany accepts the LSAT or GRE. GRE-only applicants must have no reportable LSAT score. Scores older than five years from the anticipated matriculation year are not accepted. With multiple LSAT scores, the school considers all results but gives more weight to the highest.

If you're considering the GRE, read my LSAT vs. GRE guide before deciding.

Application Dates and Fees

• Residential JD, fall 2026 opening: Early September 2025.
• Residential priority deadline: March 15, 2026.
• Residential final deadline: June 30, 2026.
• Flex JD, fall 2027 opening: Early September 2026.
• Flex final deadline: June 30, 2027.
• Application fee: None. Submit through LSAC with a CAS report.

Albany uses rolling review. Residential review began in mid-November for fall 2026, with most decisions completed by early June. Flex decisions begin around mid-December.

Program Formats

The Flex JD takes three years and three months, combining live and asynchronous online classes with one short, required in-person session annually. Students have access to clinics, field placements, and career services in formats designed for remote participation.

7. Albany Law Scholarships and Financial Aid

Merit Scholarships

All admitted JD students receive automatic consideration for merit scholarships. No separate application is required. Awards are made with admission and renew subject to the good-standing terms in the offer. Albany stopped offering scholarships with conditions beyond ordinary good standing beginning with the fall 2022 entering class.

Cost of Attendance

For 2026-2027, annual tuition for the three-year residential JD is $66,554. Required student activity, registration, and bar-success fees total $620. The nine-month cost-of-attendance budget is $91,042, including living expenses, books, transportation, and loan fees. Compare your scholarship against the whole budget, not tuition alone.

SUNY Legal Fellowship

Graduates of SUNY bachelor's degree programs qualify for a guaranteed scholarship when they complete their application by April 15. Applicants qualifying for a larger merit scholarship receive that award instead. Four-year students receive prorated awards.

Edgar and Margaret Sandman Fellowship

This fellowship supports a second-year student conducting a year-long Government Law Center research project, culminating in a major study and statewide forum.

Loan Repayment Assistance

Albany's LRAP provides eligible recent JD graduates in qualifying public-interest and government positions with forgivable loans of up to $10,000 annually for three years. Income, assets, educational debt, continued qualifying employment, and annual reapplication affect eligibility and forgiveness.

For more on scholarship strategy, see How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships.

8. Albany Law Dual Degree Programs

Albany offers dual degrees with several institutions:

• University at Albany: JD combinations with public administration, business administration, public health, social work, regional planning, history, criminal justice, and women's, gender, and sexuality studies. Several take up to four years; the JD/MPH can take three and a half years with summer coursework.
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: JD/MBA and JD/MS programs with the Lally School of Management.
• Albany Medical College: A bioethics degree through the Alden March Bioethics Institute.
• Clarkson University: Bioethics and healthcare-management MBA combinations.

Admission to each participating program is separate.

9. Albany Law Employment Outcomes (Class of 2025)

Albany Law Class of 2025 employment outcomes (reported to the ABA, measured 10 months after graduation):

• Full-time, long-term bar-passage-required employment (ABA): 88.5%
• BigLaw (firms with 101+ attorneys): 16.2%
• Federal clerkships: 1.6%
• Public service (including government): 36.6%

New York is the dominant employment market, followed by New Jersey and Florida. Government and public-interest work account for a substantial share of outcomes. Albany deserves particular attention from applicants who want to build a New York practice or pursue public service. Large-firm opportunities are part of the picture, but they should not be the only outcome supporting your financial plan.

10. Albany Law Areas of Study and Specializations

Government Law and Policy: The Government Law Center combines nonpartisan legal analysis with fellowships, internships, and connections to public-sector lawyers. Pairing the Government Law and Policy concentration with that work gives students a concrete way to study how state and local institutions operate.

Health Law: The Health Law concentration connects with the Health Law Clinic's representation of people facing serious medical conditions. Albany Medical College's nearby bioethics program and the University at Albany's public-health partnership add interdisciplinary options for students interested in patients, institutions, or health policy.

Business and Community Development: The Business Law concentration and Community Economic Development Clinic connect business doctrine to organizational needs. Clinic work includes entity formation, governance, and community investment. This is a useful combination for applicants interested in transactional practice, small businesses, or nonprofit organizations.

Technology and Legal Practice: The Daniel P. Nolan '78 Institute for Innovation in the Legal Profession supports legal-technology training, including Introduction to Lawyering in the Digital Age. Upper-level offerings address cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and practice management, connecting technological change to the actual work of lawyers.

11. Albany Law Clinics and Experiential Learning

The Edward P. Swyer Justice Center houses five clinics:

• Community Economic Development Clinic: Students provide supervised transactional services involving business and nonprofit formation, governance, cooperative ownership, community investment, and housing development.
• Family Violence Litigation Clinic: Students represent survivors in family-offense, custody, visitation, and support proceedings. Work includes interviews, investigation, pleadings, negotiation, and courtroom advocacy.
• Health Law Clinic: Students interview and counsel clients, investigate facts, and pursue benefits and other legal protections for people affected by HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other chronic conditions.
• Housing Justice Clinic: Students work in teams on landlord-tenant disputes, draft documents, negotiate, and may appear in court for tenants under faculty and attorney supervision.
• Immigration Law Clinic: Students work with immigrant communities and legal partners on representation and advocacy, including detention-related matters and information that helps clients navigate legal processes.

Pro Bono and Experiential Learning

Field placements include the New York Attorney General's Office, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Health, and U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York. Judicial placements include federal district chambers and the Appellate Division, Third Department.

Semester in Practice places students in a supervised office for intensive work, typically 33 hours weekly. The Pro Bono Scholars Program combines the February bar examination with 12 weeks of full-time supervised service during the final semester. These options offer different levels of immersion, so consider how much client or institutional work you want alongside your classroom courses.

12. Albany Law Notable Faculty and Journals

Faculty

• Raymond Brescia: The Hon. Harold R. Tyler Chair in Law and Technology. He directs the Nolan Institute. His work addresses access to justice and changes in legal practice; his books include Lawyer Nation and Lawyer 3.0.

• Christine Chung: The Gov. George E. Pataki Distinguished Professor of Law. She studies securities regulation, financial markets, and municipal finance. She previously served as an SEC enforcement branch chief and a Goodwin Procter partner.

• Melissa Breger: The President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law. She teaches family law, evidence, and criminal procedure. Her distinctions include the Howard A. Levine Award for work in juvenile justice and child welfare.

• Patrick M. Connors: The Albert and Angela Farone Distinguished Professor in New York Civil Practice. He teaches New York practice and legal ethics and coauthors Siegel & Connors, New York Practice.

Journals

• Albany Law Review: The student-edited flagship. It publishes legal articles and student notes and comments.
• Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology: Scholarship on science, technology and law.
• Albany Government Law Review: Articles on legal aspects of government and public policy.

13. Albany Law Culture and Student Life

Albany's student community spans residential and Flex students, recent graduates, and people with substantial work experience. The Student Bar Association funds organizations and connects students with faculty and administrators. Groups such as the Black Law Students Association and Cardozo Legal Society combine community-building with professional programming and mentoring.

The campus sits among other educational and medical institutions, while clinics and field placements connect students to the wider Capital Region. Consider how that setting fits your daily life: the residential experience centers on campus and local practice, while Flex students balance online coursework with required in-person programming.

Want Help Getting Into Albany Law?

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Related Reading
→ How to Build a Smart Law School List
→ Should You Apply Early Decision to Law School?
→ How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships
→ 6 Proven Steps to Get Off a Law School Waitlist
→ How to Get Into Law School Below Both Medians
→ What Holistic Law School Admissions Really Means
→ Blog Directory

Note: While I try to keep this guide up to date, always verify deadlines, requirements, and policies at the Albany Law website before applying.

Think you spotted an outdated requirement or something that doesn't look right? Email moshe@sharperstatements.com with the school and a link to the current information.