St. John's University School of Law is based in Queens, New York, with full-time and Flex JD programs. Its strengths include bankruptcy, real estate, dispute resolution, and public-interest practice, supported by specialist centers, journals, and clinics.
This guide walks you through how to get into St. John's Law.
Jump to a section
1. St. John's Law Admissions Numbers and Statistics
St. John's Law Class of 2029:
- LSAT: 75th: 168 | Median: 166 | 25th: 160
- GPA: 75th: 3.89 | Median: 3.76 | 25th: 3.49
St. John's Law Class of 2028:
- LSAT: 75th: 166 | Median: 164 | 25th: 156
- GPA: 75th: 3.91 | Median: 3.81 | 25th: 3.44
The fall 2026 entering profile raised the LSAT median from 164 to 166, while the GPA median moved from 3.81 to 3.76. The LSAT lower quartile rose four points. The entering class grew from 241 to 260. The entering class includes both full-time and Flex students, with different schedules and work commitments.
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. St. John's Law Application Essays
Personal Statement (required)
The school's instructions:
“Please submit a personal statement or short essay with your application. Include your LSAC account number on it. You may write about any topic you wish. Suggested topics: Your decision to pursue a career in law; your reaction to a recent current affairs event; your feelings about a particular community service or extracurricular activity with which you have been involved. The suggested length is two typed pages, double spaced.”
For more on how to write a personal statement, see my Personal Statement Examples and Personal Statement Guide.
Supplementary Statement (optional)
The school's instructions:
“We recognize that some applicants have faced and overcome challenges and that there may be factors that have been significant in their lives, identity, and/or development. For this optional essay, we invite you to share any information that you would like us to consider about your experiences. This may include socioeconomic challenges; educational challenges; societal challenges; discrimination; prejudice; health issues; disability; immigration status; surviving abuse; or complex family circumstances like an incarcerated parent, homelessness, living in foster care, or others. This isn't an inclusive list, but simply an opportunity, if you wish, to share any additional aspects of your background that may give us a deeper sense of your strengths and who you are.”
For more on how to write a diversity or perspective statement, see my Diversity Statement Examples and Diversity Statement Guide.
Additional Merit Aid Statement (optional)
The school's instructions:
“St. John's Law awards scholarships to outstanding applicants for academic achievement and for merit based on the factors aligned with our mission that we consider during our holistic review. This can include awards for one or more of the following factors: first generation college students, applicants who have faced adversity and are committed to their community, and those whose background and/or interest in law school align with the school’s mission and the legacy of our alumnus, Theodore Jones '72. This is not an exhaustive list, and the statement should be aligned with St. John's University School of Law's mission.”
General merit consideration remains automatic.
For more on making all of these essays work together, see my Cohesive Narrative Guide.
General Addendum (optional)
The school's instructions:
“If you would like to further explain portions of your application including, but not limited to, gaps in education, gaps in employment, undergraduate performance, or LSAT performance, you may submit an addendum.”
Addenda and Character & Fitness Resources
I'll be publishing a guide to addenda and character and fitness.
3. St. John's Law Resume Requirements
A resume is required. Present education, employment, volunteer work, and activities in reverse chronological order. Explain gaps of three months or longer. Include meaningful nonlegal work rather than editing it out.
For more on preparing your resume, see my Resume Examples and Resume Guide.
4. St. John's Law Letters of Recommendation
Submit two or three letters of recommendation. Academic or professional recommenders should be able to evaluate your work and preparation for law school.
For more on recommendations, see my LOR Guide (Applicants) and LOR Guide (Writers).
5. St. John's Law Interview Process
St. John's offers an optional recorded video interview to applicants who apply by the March 15 priority deadline. The link ordinarily arrives after one business day, and you have seven calendar days to complete it. The option is not available to applicants who apply after the priority deadline. Prepare to explain your interest in law and St. John's naturally, without reading a script.
6. St. John's Law Deadlines and Early Decision
Testing Policy
St. John's accepts the LSAT or GRE and requires CAS materials.
If you're considering the GRE, read my LSAT vs. GRE guide before deciding.
Application Dates and Fees
- Applications Open: September 1 for fall 2027 entry.
- Priority Deadline: March 15, 2027.
- Final Deadline: July 15, 2027.
- Application Fee: None.
- Honors Early Decision Rounds: November 1, December 1, and January 1; decisions are issued by the end of the corresponding month.
Honors Early Decision
Honors Early Decision is binding. Admitted applicants must withdraw other applications within five business days and submit their deposit within two weeks. Awards range from $25,000 annually to full tuition, with the amount adjusted for the Flex schedule. A denied early application moves into regular consideration. The scholarship component makes this more concrete than a binding program with no defined award range, but it still ends your ability to compare offers.
For a full breakdown of early decision strategy, see Should You Apply Early Decision to Law School?
Program Formats
Applications otherwise receive rolling review. The Flex JD is a four-year reduced-credit option. First-year classes meet three days a week; later scheduling can concentrate classes into two days. It is a different workload and timetable, not a separate professional degree.
7. St. John's Law Scholarships and Financial Aid
Merit Scholarships
St. John's considers admission applicants automatically for merit scholarships. Academic history, test performance, community commitment, and alignment with the school's mission all enter that review. There is no separate application for ordinary merit consideration; the optional Additional Merit Aid Statement supplies relevant context.
Scholarships are unconditional and nonforfeitable. St. John's makes its best and final award at admission and does not negotiate scholarship awards. That policy changes the role of competing offers: they help you choose a school, not reopen St. John's award decision.
Cost of Attendance
For 2026–27, full-time tuition is $77,800 and Flex tuition is $58,350. The full-time off-campus cost-of-attendance budget is $112,966, including fees and living expenses. Federal-aid consideration requires the FAFSA.
For more on scholarship strategy, see How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships.
8. St. John's Law Joint Degree Programs
St. John's offers several combinations within the university:
- JD/MBA, including business-administration and accounting pathways with the Peter J. Tobin College of Business.
- JD/MS in Accounting, also connecting legal study with business training.
- JD/MA in Government and Politics, for students combining law with advanced political study.
- JD/LLM in Bankruptcy and JD/LLM in Real Estate, which can be completed in as few as seven semesters.
The accelerated JD/LLM options align with two of the school's most developed specialist platforms. St. John's also offers undergraduate 3+3 pathways; those are distinct from the graduate joint-degree options.
9. St. John's Law Employment Outcomes (Class of 2025)
St. John's Class of 2025 employment outcomes (reported to the ABA, measured 10 months after graduation):
- Full-time, long-term bar-passage-required employment (ABA): 90.4%
- BigLaw (firms with 101+ attorneys): 29.3%
- Federal clerkships: 3.2%
- Public service (including government): 22.9%
New York overwhelmingly leads the employment destinations, followed by New Jersey and California. Large firms are a meaningful route, but government and public-interest work also form a substantial part of the class's outcomes. St. John's is a New York-centered school with several practice routes and deep connections to the local legal community.
10. St. John's Law Areas of Study and Specializations
Bankruptcy: The Center for Bankruptcy Studies, Bankruptcy Advocacy Clinic, American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, and bankruptcy LLM form a substantial specialist platform. Students can connect doctrinal work with restructuring practice and the institutions that handle financially distressed businesses and individuals.
Real Estate: The Mattone Family Institute for Real Estate Law supports a field closely connected to the New York market. The real-estate LLM and N.Y. Real Property Law Journal add advanced study and publishing opportunities to that concentration of work.
Dispute Resolution and Advocacy: The Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution and Center for Trial and Appellate Advocacy support different approaches to resolving cases. Moot court, trial-advocacy activities, and the Securities Arbitration Clinic extend those subjects beyond ordinary classroom discussion.
Labor and Employment: The Center for Labor and Employment Law supplies a focused setting for studying workplace relationships, collective bargaining, and employment disputes. New York's employers, unions, agencies, and practitioners make that subject a concrete part of the surrounding legal market.
Civil Rights and Public Interest: The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and the DiMartino/Smith Public Interest Center connect academic inquiry with service. The school's immigration, child-advocacy, and housing clinics give those interests specific client-facing expressions.
11. St. John's Law Clinics and Experiential Learning
The St. Vincent de Paul Legal Program and partner organizations support a range of clinical practice.
- Child Advocacy Clinic: Interview children and caregivers, investigate facts, draft legal documents, and appear in family and immigration proceedings.
- Consumer Justice for the Elderly: Litigation Clinic: Represent low-income Queens residents in deed-theft, foreclosure, and predatory-lending disputes.
- Securities Arbitration Clinic: Counsel underserved investors, develop claims, negotiate, and advocate in FINRA arbitration.
- Refugee and Immigrant Rights Litigation Clinic: Work with Catholic Charities to prepare protection applications, investigate facts, and represent clients in administrative and court proceedings.
- Tenants' Rights Advocacy Clinic: Work with the Legal Aid Society's Queens Neighborhood Office on eviction defense, housing conditions, motions, and settlement negotiations.
- Defense and Advocacy Clinic: Represent misdemeanor defendants in Queens Criminal Court and people held in punitive segregation at Rikers Island; investigate, draft motions, and negotiate with prosecutors.
Pro Bono and Experiential Learning
The externship program adds supervised practice outside the clinics. The named clinical partnerships are especially useful for understanding what local access means: Catholic Charities and the Legal Aid Society put students into ongoing New York client work, while FINRA provides a distinct arbitration setting.
12. St. John's Law Notable Faculty and Journals
Faculty
- John Q. Barrett: Benjamin N. Cardozo Professor of Law. A scholar of constitutional law and legal history who edited Justice Robert H. Jackson's That Man.
- Michael A. Perino: Dean George W. Matheson Professor of Law. A securities-law scholar and author of The Hellhound of Wall Street.
- Mark L. Movsesian: Frederick A. Whitney Professor of Contract Law. Directs the Mattone Center for Law and Religion.
- Jeremy Sheff: Professor of Law. An intellectual-property scholar whose work includes empirical research on trademark law and co-authorship of Open Source Property.
Journals
- St. John's Law Review: Legal scholarship across all topics, including student notes and comments.
- American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review: Articles and student notes on bankruptcy law and practice.
- Journal of Catholic Legal Studies: Legal scholarship with ethical, moral, canonical or theological implications.
- Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development: Scholarship on social, racial and economic justice.
- New York International Law Review: Articles on current international issues by professors, practitioners and students.
- N.Y. Real Property Law Journal: Articles by practitioners and professors on New York real property law.
13. St. John's Law Culture and Student Life
St. John's law students study on the university's Queens campus rather than in a Manhattan office-building setting. The fall 2026 entering class includes 260 students. The full-time and Flex schedules bring different work and life experiences into the community, alongside journals, advocacy organizations, and the school's public-service programs.
New York is the central professional market. The Queens-based clinics make the surrounding borough part of students' legal education, while alumni, firms, courts, and agencies connect the school to the broader city. That combination is more useful than simply saying you want to attend law school in New York.
Want Help Getting Into St. John's Law?
I work with applicants one-on-one on the whole application process, from strategy through essays and submission.
Explore my services | Request a consultation
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 St. John's 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.
