The University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville offers a three-year, full-time JD on the university's flagship campus. Its strengths include food and agricultural law, business practice, public service, and international law.
This guide walks you through how to get into Arkansas Law.
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1. Arkansas Law Admissions Numbers and Statistics
Arkansas Law Class of 2028:
- LSAT: 75th: 161 | Median: 158 | 25th: 155
- GPA: 75th: 3.87 | Median: 3.71 | 25th: 3.54
Arkansas Law Class of 2027:
- LSAT: 75th: 158 | Median: 156 | 25th: 153
- GPA: 75th: 3.86 | Median: 3.63 | 25th: 3.31
Arkansas's median LSAT rose two points between the fall 2024 and fall 2025 entering classes, while its median GPA increased from 3.63 to 3.71. The class also grew from 123 to 135 students. The increase reached both ends of the LSAT range, with the 75th percentile moving from 158 to 161.
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. Arkansas Law Application Essays
Personal Statement (required)
Arkansas asks you to explain who you are, your background, and why you want to attend the University of Arkansas School of Law. That last component belongs in the statement itself.
For more on how to write a personal statement, see my Personal Statement Examples and Personal Statement Guide.
For more on how to write a Why X essay, see my Why X Essay Guide.
Optional Statement
Arkansas permits an optional essay containing relevant information not included elsewhere in your application. Background, responsibilities, or experiences that shaped your perspective can fit here.
For more on how to write a diversity or perspective statement, see my Diversity Statement Examples and Diversity Statement Guide.
Joint-Degree Statement (JD/MSW applicants)
The JD/MSW joint-program application includes a statement explaining your interest in the combined degree and your goals.
For more on making all of these essays work together, see my Cohesive Narrative Guide.
Addenda and Character & Fitness Resources
I'll be publishing a guide to addenda and character and fitness.
3. Arkansas Law Resume Requirements
Submit a resume with your application. Present your education, employment, service, and accomplishments clearly. Use concrete descriptions of your responsibilities and results, especially work that shows sustained commitment or increasing responsibility.
For more on preparing your resume, see my Resume Examples and Resume Guide.
4. Arkansas Law Letters of Recommendation
Arkansas requires two letters of recommendation and accepts up to four through LSAC. The school asks applicants to seek letters from mentors.
For more on recommendations, see my LOR Guide (Applicants) and LOR Guide (Writers).
5. Arkansas Law Interview Process
Arkansas encourages campus visits, but those visits are informational and are not factored into admission decisions.
6. Arkansas Law Deadlines and Decision Options
Testing Policy
Arkansas requires the LSAT, accepts scores taken within the five years before application, and uses your highest score in its prediction index. Its admissions instructions recommend taking the test before the end of February in your intended enrollment year. You may submit an application before testing.
Application Dates and Fees
- Application opens: September 1.
- Priority application date: April 1; apply before then for scholarship consideration.
- Later applications: Reviewed on a rolling, space-available basis.
- Application fee: None.
- Seat-deposit deadline: Specified in your admission letter.
Admission is for fall entry into the full-time program. Submit a complete application early enough to participate in scholarship review while seats remain available. Arkansas begins reviewing a file when it is complete, so the timing of your test, transcripts, and recommendations matters alongside the application submission date. Missing a deposit deadline can cost you your seat.
7. Arkansas Law Scholarships and Financial Aid
Cost of Attendance
For 2026–27, the university's annual law-student budget assumes 30 credits. Resident tuition is $17,560, with $2,894 in fees, for a $20,454 tuition-and-fee total. Nonresident tuition is $42,296, bringing tuition and fees to $45,190. Estimated total cost of attendance is $43,526 for residents and $68,262 for nonresidents, including living expenses, books, and transportation. Loan fees are additional.
Merit Scholarships
All incoming first-year students receive automatic consideration for institutional and privately funded scholarships. Awards can reflect merit, financial need, and other donor criteria. Some continue into the second and third years, subject to their renewal terms and full-time enrollment. Scholarships do not require academic performance above good standing.
The scholarship award should be read alongside the resident or nonresident budget that actually applies to you. A renewable award changes the three-year cost more substantially than a first-year discount. Submit the FAFSA for need-based financial aid consideration; the University of Arkansas school code is 001108.
For more on scholarship strategy, see How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships.
8. Arkansas Law Joint Degree Programs
Arkansas offers four graduate dual-degree paths:
- JD/MA: With the Department of Political Science, combining legal study with political science and an international law and politics focus.
- JD/MBA: With the Sam M. Walton College of Business. The program begins with law study and allows six credits from each degree to count toward the other.
- JD/MPA: With Political Science and the Graduate School. The program permits up to nine public-administration credits toward the JD and 15 law credits toward the MPA.
- JD/MSW: With the School of Social Work. The four-year program requires 135 credits, with approved coursework counting toward both degrees.
Applicants must secure admission to the participating programs and satisfy the joint-program requirements. Arkansas also has undergraduate 3/3 arrangements with Fulbright College and Bumpers College, allowing eligible students to begin law school before completing the usual four undergraduate years.
9. Arkansas Law Employment Outcomes (Class of 2025)
Arkansas Class of 2025 employment outcomes (reported to the ABA, measured 10 months after graduation):
- Full-time, long-term bar-passage-required employment (ABA): 73.1%
- BigLaw (firms with 101+ attorneys): 9.2%
- Federal clerkships: 1.7%
- Public service (including government): 16.8%
Arkansas was the largest employment destination, followed by Missouri and Oklahoma. Smaller firms, government offices, and public-interest organizations matter more to this employment picture than large-firm hiring. For an Arkansas practice, connect the school's clinics and externships with the communities or employers you want to serve. A business-focused applicant should consider how Northwest Arkansas experience and the Community and Rural Enterprise Development Clinic fit a regional career plan.
10. Arkansas Law Areas of Study and Specializations
Food and Agricultural Law: The Journal of Food Law & Policy gives JD students a specialized scholarly outlet. The school's Agricultural and Food Law LL.M. program and Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative add a broader community of faculty expertise in farming, food systems, and related legal issues.
Business and Transactional Practice: The Community and Rural Enterprise Development Clinic puts business formation, contracts, and organizational counseling into practice. The JD/MBA with Walton College adds another route, while Carol Goforth's research on business law and cryptoassets provides a specialized faculty connection.
Public Service and Civil Advocacy: The Civil Litigation and Advocacy Clinic and Human Trafficking Clinic connect legal training with access to legal services. Students can work on employment-related disputes or research and advocacy projects for organizations addressing trafficking, alongside the school's Pro Bono and Community Service Program.
International Law and Immigration: The JD/MA links legal study with Political Science, while the Immigration Clinic brings students into supervised representation. Amelia McGowan's scholarship on asylum adjudication adds another point of connection for applicants interested in immigration practice and the institutions that decide these cases.
11. Arkansas Law Clinics and Experiential Learning
Arkansas's clinics give students supervised responsibility for clients and legal projects:
- Civil Litigation and Advocacy Clinic: Students work on matters such as unpaid wages and unemployment appeals, developing interviewing, discovery, negotiation, and courtroom skills.
- Human Trafficking Clinic: Students complete research and advocacy projects for organizations addressing trafficking. Partners have included Legal Aid of Arkansas and the Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center.
- Immigration Clinic: Students provide supervised pro bono representation to people in the community, combining client work with immigration-law training.
- Community and Rural Enterprise Development Clinic: Students counsel businesses, cooperatives, nonprofits, and municipalities. Projects have included contracts, tax-exempt status, software licensing, and municipal ordinances.
- Criminal Practice Clinic: The school describes supervised misdemeanor and simple felony defense, primarily in Washington County. Students handle client interviewing and counseling, investigation, discovery, negotiation, and court appearances. Its clinic page still carries a hiatus notice for the 2025-26 academic year.
Pro Bono and Experiential Learning
The JD requires at least six experiential credits through clinics, externships, or simulations. Recent externship hosts include J.B. Hunt, the Benton County Public Defender, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas. Most externships carry three credits and require 168 hours; the Corporate Counsel option requires 224 hours for four credits. A full-time, 12-credit Capstone Externship is available to third-year students.
The Pro Bono and Community Service Program separately connects students with legal-services agencies, nonprofits, and local lawyers for unpaid legal work outside academic credit.
12. Arkansas Law Notable Faculty and Journals
Faculty
- Susan Schneider: Professor of Law and director of the Agricultural and Food Law LL.M. program. She wrote Food, Farming & Sustainability: Readings in Agricultural Law, now in its third edition.
- Carol Goforth: Distinguished Professor and Wiley H. Davis Centennial Professor of Law. Her business-law scholarship includes coauthoring Regulation of Cryptoassets with Yuliya Guseva.
- Sara Gosman: Associate Professor of Law whose environmental and energy scholarship includes Planning for Failure: Pipelines, Risk, and the Energy Revolution.
- Annie Smith: Wiley H. Davis Professor of Law. Her scholarship examines labor trafficking and civil enforcement, including forced arbitration of survivors' claims.
Journals
- Arkansas Law Review: The flagship journal publishes scholarship on significant legal issues; its online companion, Arkansas Law Notes, publishes shorter, timely legal scholarship.
- Journal of Food Law & Policy: A student-edited journal devoted to food law and policy, offering a focused research and editing opportunity.
13. Arkansas Law Culture and Student Life
Arkansas combines a relatively small entering class with the resources of a larger university. Clinics, journals, and internal competitions give students different ways to work together beyond first-year courses. The school runs internal moot court, trial, and client-advocacy competitions that lead to traveling teams. Its pro bono program also creates opportunities to work with local lawyers and community organizations.
Fayetteville places law students on the university's flagship campus in Northwest Arkansas. The area's business and nonprofit connections appear in opportunities such as J.B. Hunt externships and community-enterprise work. Arkansas's employment concentration also makes local professional relationships an important part of the experience.
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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 Arkansas 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.
