The University of San Diego School of Law is a private law school on San Diego's Alcala Park campus. Full-time and part-time programs include offerings in business law, intellectual property, health law, and public interest practice.
This guide walks you through how to get into San Diego Law.
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1. San Diego Law Admissions Numbers and Statistics
These profiles combine full-time and part-time entrants. The newest profile reflects the first day of fall 2026 classes.
San Diego Law Class of 2029:
- LSAT: 75th: 168 | Median: 166 | 25th: 163
- GPA: 75th: 3.93 | Median: 3.84 | 25th: 3.61
San Diego Law Class of 2028:
- LSAT: 75th: 165 | Median: 163 | 25th: 160
- GPA: 75th: 3.92 | Median: 3.84 | 25th: 3.59
The first-day fall 2026 profile lists 242 students, compared with 240 in the preceding annual cohort. Median LSAT rose from 163 to 166, with three-point increases at both quartiles. Median GPA held at 3.84. The 2025 annual cohort included 229 full-time and 11 part-time students.
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. San Diego Law Application Essays
Personal Statement (required)
The school's instructions:
“Our office requires that your personal statement to be between 2-3 pages, double spaced with 12 point font and traditional margins. The admissions committee views the personal statement as an opportunity to evaluate the writing and thinking ability of applicants and learn more about their interests, personal background and concerns. Applicants should describe and discuss the aspects of your background, qualifications, experiences, activities, perspectives, etc. relevant to the criteria for selection set forth above. You may also wish to address: Why you wish to study law, setting forth your special qualifications How you plan to use your legal training Reflect on your experiences and highlight your individual skills, strengths, and perspectives. Any additional information you deem important for the admissions committee to consider”
For more on how to write a personal statement, see my Personal Statement Examples and Personal Statement Guide.
For more on discussing your background and perspectives within this personal statement, see my Diversity Statement Examples and Diversity Statement Guide.
Optional Essays
The application includes two optional essay prompts. Applicants may respond to one or both when the subject is personally relevant and adds information to the application. Responses can accompany the original application or be submitted afterward with the applicant's name and LSAC number.
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. San Diego Law Resume Requirements
San Diego requires a resume and recommends one to two pages, 12-point professional font, distinct sections, and reverse chronological entries. Include academic, professional, personal, and service accomplishments.
For more on preparing your resume, see my Resume Examples and Resume Guide.
4. San Diego Law Letters of Recommendation
San Diego requires two and accepts up to three letters of recommendation through LSAC. Academic references are preferred for applicants fewer than five years out of college. Recommenders should be able to evaluate your academic background or work.
For more on recommendations, see my LOR Guide (Applicants) and LOR Guide (Writers).
5. San Diego Law Interview Process
The admissions committee invites selected applicants to interview and may do so at any stage, including while an applicant is on the waitlist. Applicants cannot request an admissions interview.
6. San Diego Law Deadlines and Early Decision
Testing Policy
San Diego accepts the LSAT, GRE, or JD-Next, with scores valid for five years. All applicants use LSAC's Credential Assembly Service. Valid LSAT scores must be reported; applicants with both an LSAT and another test may choose whether to submit the additional score. June is the latest GRE administration accepted for fall entry.
If you're considering the GRE, read my LSAT vs. GRE guide before deciding.
Application Dates
- Applications Open: September 1, 2026, for fall 2027 entry.
- Binding Early Decision Deadline: December 4, 2026, with all required materials received.
- Priority Deadline: February 1, 2027.
- Final Deadline: July 31, 2027, for a complete application.
Early Decision
Regular review is rolling, beginning in early to mid-October, with initial admission offers typically in mid-December. Early decision is binding. Full-time and part-time students both start in the fall.
For a full breakdown of early decision strategy, see Should You Apply Early Decision to Law School?.
Program Formats
Part-Time Program: This four-year option begins with Monday-through-Thursday evening classes. Applicants select one division initially and may submit a division addendum before a decision.
Direct Admissions Program
This restricted route serves USD undergraduates graduating in fall 2026 or spring 2027. It requires a 3.80 GPA after six completed USD semesters and an ACT or SAT score at or above the 85th percentile for the test year. Applicants who have taken the LSAT, GRE, or JD-Next are ineligible. Taking the LSAT after a direct-admission offer withdraws admission and scholarship funding, with reconsideration through regular review.
7. San Diego Law Scholarships and Financial Aid
Tuition and Fees
For 2026-2027, full-time tuition is $69,290 plus $801 in fees, with a nine-month off-campus attendance budget of $108,010. Part-time tuition is $51,210 plus $781 in fees, with an $89,342 budget. These budgets exclude health insurance, loan fees, and bar-related expenses.
Merit Scholarships
All applicants receive automatic consideration. Most awards carry GPA conditions assessed at the end of spring; the particular award determines the threshold. Of 234 conditional scholarship recipients entering in 2024-2025, 25 had awards reduced or eliminated. Summer grades do not enter the preceding spring renewal calculation.
Academic Achievement Scholarships
Continuing students may receive awards after the first year based on class rank, other scholarship support, and available funding. These are separate from entrance awards.
Alec Cory/Procopio Scholarship
This scholarship recognizes public-interest involvement by third-year full-time or fourth-year part-time students. The 2026 application deadline is November 15. It is a continuing-student opportunity, not an incoming admission award.
Need-Based Aid and Loan Repayment Assistance
Need-based scholarship consideration requires an annual FAFSA. Awards may be for one year or renewable under their individual terms. San Diego's Loan Repayment Assistance Program provides grants to qualifying public-service graduates through an annual application considering employment and financial need.
For more on scholarship strategy, see How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships.
8. San Diego Law Concurrent Degree Programs
San Diego offers five concurrent master's combinations, each designed for approximately four years with separate admission to both programs:
- JD/MBA: With USD's Knauss School of Business, combining law and business administration.
- JD/MA in International Relations: With USD's International Relations program, connecting legal study with international affairs.
- JD/MA in Peace and Justice: With USD's Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, combining law with peacebuilding and conflict-resolution study.
- JD/MS in Real Estate: With the Knauss School of Business, linking legal education with real estate development, investment, and finance.
- JD/MPA: With San Diego State University's School of Public Affairs, combining law and public administration across the two universities.
Up to six approved graduate credits can count toward the JD. Students generally spend one year exclusively in law and another exclusively in graduate study. San Diego also offers an accelerated JD/LLM route that can add a tax or general-law LLM in one additional semester.
9. San Diego Law Employment Outcomes (Class of 2025)
San Diego Class of 2025 employment outcomes (reported to the ABA, measured 10 months after graduation):
- Full-time, long-term bar-passage-required employment (ABA): 88.6%
- BigLaw (firms with 101+ attorneys): 28.0%
- Federal clerkships: 2.1%
- Public service (including government): 13.6%
California was the leading employment destination, followed by Colorado and Missouri, which tied. Law firms employed the largest group of graduates, with placements across small, midsize, and large firms. Government, public interest, education, and clerkships also appear in the class's outcomes. San Diego's California network is central to the school's employment profile.
10. San Diego Law Areas of Study and Specializations
Business and Corporate Law: The Center for Corporate and Securities Law supports research and programming on corporate governance and financial regulation. The Business and Corporate Law concentration connects that work with coursework, while the Entrepreneurship Clinic gives students experience advising businesses.
Intellectual Property and Technology: The Center for Intellectual Property Law and Markets connects intellectual property with competition and commercial activity. The Intellectual Property and Technology concentration complements startup counseling and the legal questions raised by the region's technology industries.
Health Law: The Center for Health Law Policy and Bioethics examines developments involving healthcare, biotechnology, and medical practice. A Health Law concentration provides a structured course of study, while faculty scholarship addresses questions about reproductive technology and professional obligations.
Environmental and Energy Law: The Energy Policy Initiatives Center studies energy policy and related environmental issues in California and the San Diego region. The Environmental and Energy Law concentration and the climate-and-energy journal give students complementary opportunities for coursework and legal writing.
Public Interest Law: The Children's Advocacy Institute and Consumer Protection Policy Center combine research with advocacy affecting children and consumers. A Public Interest Law concentration connects with clinic work involving housing, education, employment, and other recurring client needs.
11. San Diego Law Clinics and Experiential Learning
San Diego's clinics include:
- Civil Clinic: Students interview clients, negotiate, draft pleadings, and represent clients in state court and administrative proceedings involving consumer, contract, civil-rights, and related disputes.
- Education and Disability Clinic: Students help families secure educational and disability services, participate in individualized education plan meetings, and prepare complaints, mediation matters, and administrative hearings.
- Entrepreneurship Clinic: Students assist startups with formation, financing, investment, employment, and intellectual property matters, connecting legal analysis to the operation of young businesses.
- Housing Rights Clinic: Students assist tenants with eviction, habitability, harassment, and related housing problems through investigation, negotiation, pleadings, trial preparation, and community education.
- Workers' Rights Clinic: In partnership with Legal Aid at Work, students interview and advise workers about unpaid wages, discrimination, leave, unemployment, and other employment issues, with opportunities for administrative advocacy.
- Immigration Clinic: Students work on asylum declarations and applications, family petitions, and naturalization matters under supervision.
Pro Bono and Experiential Learning
The first-year Experiential Advocacy Practicum is required. Upper-level field placements offer supervised legal work in agencies, companies, nonprofits, and courts. Recent hosts include Casa Cornelia Law Center, the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, and the San Diego District Attorney's Office. Pro bono participation is voluntary, with recognition for 100 qualifying service hours during law school.
12. San Diego Law Notable Faculty and Journals
Faculty
- Orly Lobel: Warren Distinguished Professor of Law and founding director of the Center for Employment and Labor Policy. She studies employment, intellectual property, and technology and is the author of The Equality Machine and Talent Wants to Be Free.
- Dov Fox: Warren Distinguished Professor of Law and director of the Center for Health Law Policy and Bioethics. His scholarship addresses health law and professional obligations. His books include Birth Rights and Wrongs and Conscience Care.
- Miranda Perry Fleischer: Associate Dean for Faculty and Richard and Kaye Woltman Professor in Finance. Her work focuses on taxation, wealth, and charitable giving. A former estate-planning attorney, she received San Diego's Thorsnes Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
- Justin Brooks: Professor of Practice and Innocence Clinic director, teaching criminal law, procedure, and wrongful convictions. He has extensive criminal-defense experience and is the author of You Might Go to Prison, Even Though You're Innocent and a wrongful-convictions casebook.
Journals
- San Diego Law Review: The student-edited general-interest journal publishes four issues annually.
- San Diego International Law Journal: A student-run journal publishing twice annually on international and comparative legal issues.
- San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law: Covers climate, energy, and environmental questions and participates in the annual Lesley K. McAllister Symposium.
13. San Diego Law Culture and Student Life
San Diego's full-time and part-time divisions share a university setting with access to a large California legal market. The evening program's first-year classes generally meet Monday through Thursday from 5:30 to 9:15 p.m. Academic Success Fellows lead study groups for first-year students in both divisions.
The Public Interest Law Foundation and Pro Bono Legal Advocates connect students with service-oriented activities. The broader university's Catholic identity sits alongside a law-school mission welcoming different traditions and backgrounds. Local healthcare, technology, business, and cross-border legal work give the school's centers and student organizations a practical regional setting.
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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 San Diego 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.
