Villanova University's Charles Widger School of Law is in Villanova, Pennsylvania, with business education built into the JD. Its Augustinian Catholic mission accompanies strengths in business law, sports law, tax, and public interest practice, supported by client-serving clinics.
This guide walks you through how to get into Villanova Law.
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1. Villanova Law Admissions Numbers and Statistics
Villanova Law Class of 2029:
- LSAT: 75th: 167 | Median: 166 | 25th: 161
- GPA: 75th: 3.91 | Median: 3.81 | 25th: 3.64
Villanova Law Class of 2028:
- LSAT: 75th: 166 | Median: 164 | 25th: 159
- GPA: 75th: 3.90 | Median: 3.80 | 25th: 3.64
Villanova's fall 2026 entering class raised the LSAT median two points, while the GPA median rose slightly. The LSAT's lower quartile also climbed two points. Class size fell from 232 in fall 2025 to 193 in fall 2026. Both profiles describe the full-time JD; Villanova does not offer a separate evening entering class.
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. Villanova Law Application Essays
Personal Statement (required)
The school's instructions:
“Please respond to the following questions: What has inspired your decision to pursue a career in law, and how have your experiences prepared you for the study of law? As part of your response, discuss why you are interested in joining the Villanova Law community and how you envision contributing to it. Rather than simply reiterating accomplishments, activities, or information already reflected elsewhere in the application, applicants are encouraged to provide insight into the experiences that have influenced their educational and professional aspirations. Please complete the personal statement in an 11-point font or larger, double-spaced, and two to three pages in length.”
For more on how to write a personal statement, see my Personal Statement Examples and Personal Statement Guide.
Why Villanova Within the Personal Statement
School fit is part of the required personal statement, not a separate required essay.
For more on how to write a Why X essay, see my Why X Essay Guide.
Optional Essay (additional information or perspective)
The school's instructions:
“The Admissions Committee recognizes that every applicant's journey is unique. If there is additional information you would like us to consider that is not fully addressed elsewhere in your application, you are welcome to submit an optional essay. Only one optional essay will be accepted. Two pages maximum, 11-point font size or larger, double-spaced.”
For more on how to write a diversity or perspective statement, see my Diversity Statement Examples and Diversity Statement Guide.
Access to Justice Fellows Essay
Applicants seeking this program complete its additional application essay concerning community service and public interest aspirations.
For more on making all of these essays work together, see my Cohesive Narrative Guide.
Addenda and Character & Fitness (if applicable)
Villanova requires detailed explanations for affirmative character-and-fitness answers and requests an explanation of substantially different LSAT scores.
I'll be publishing a guide to addenda and character and fitness.
3. Villanova Law Resume Requirements
A resume is required. Present education, employment, military service if applicable, and significant accomplishments in reverse chronological order, with dates. Include extracurricular and community service involvement.
For more on preparing your resume, see my Resume Examples and Resume Guide.
4. Villanova Law Letters of Recommendation
One letter is required, two are strongly encouraged, and three are accepted. Submit letters of recommendation through LSAC. Avoid letters from family members or friends.
For more on recommendations, see my LOR Guide (Applicants) and LOR Guide (Writers).
5. Villanova Law Interview Process
Villanova interviews by invitation after an application is complete. Applicants cannot request one. Interviews last about 30 minutes with an Admissions Committee member, generally through Zoom, with a telephone option. Accept the invitation within one week.
An invitation is not a favorable or unfavorable signal, and applicants can be admitted without interviewing. Know your application, explain why law and why Villanova, and be ready to discuss your experiences conversationally.
6. Villanova Law Deadlines and Early Decision
Testing Policy
Villanova requires the LSAT and accepts scores from the five years before enrollment.
Application Dates and Fees
For fall 2027 entry:
- Application opens: September 1, 2026
- Early Decision I completion deadline: December 1, 2026
- Early Decision I decision: By January 15, 2027
- Early Decision II completion deadline: February 1, 2027
- Early Decision II decision: By March 12, 2027
- Regular Decision completion deadline: May 1, 2027
- Last accepted LSAT: April 2027
The $75 application fee is waived for new fall 2027 JD applicants. Regular review begins in November, with decisions beginning in December.
Early Decision
Both Early Decision rounds are binding. Admission requires withdrawing other law school applications, and you cannot submit multiple binding Early Decision applications. A deferral into Regular Decision releases the binding commitment. An Early Decision admission can arrive before the published decision date.
Villanova does not guarantee a scholarship with Early Decision. Use it when Villanova is your clear first choice and you can accept the financial commitment without comparing offers. Regular Decision preserves that comparison.
For a full breakdown of early decision strategy, see Should You Apply Early Decision to Law School?
7. Villanova Law Scholarships and Financial Aid
Tuition and Fees
For the 2026-2027 entering class, tuition is $62,200, with $985 in listed bar, health-center, and general fees. The estimated annual budget is $88,687 off campus or $75,951 living with parents or relatives. Required health insurance can increase an individual student's budget.
Merit Scholarships
Applicants receive automatic consideration for merit scholarships. Villanova does not condition scholarship retention on academic performance beyond maintaining good academic standing. The 2025 ABA report records grants for 87% of students in the preceding academic year, with a $40,000 median award among recipients.
Access to Justice Fellows
Fellows receive faculty and alumni mentoring, specialized career counseling, and priority registration for clinics and relevant public interest courses. Selection requires the additional application essay. Fellows are expected to complete at least 60 pro bono hours. The Public Interest Fellowship Program, a student organization, separately raises money for public interest summer work.
Build your comparison around the full attendance budget, renewal terms, and the career you expect to pursue. A larger award at a higher-priced school is not automatically the better offer.
For more on scholarship strategy, see How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships.
8. Villanova Law Joint Degree Programs
Villanova combines the JD with business, public administration, and advanced tax study:
- Reza Taleghani JD/MBA: A three-year pathway with the Villanova School of Business. Separate MBA admission is required; the law-school sequence allows application during 1L and business coursework beginning that summer.
- JD/MPA: A three-year program with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Apply separately to public administration after admission to law school, including during the first year.
- JD/LLM in Taxation: Approved JD tax coursework can count toward the graduate tax degree. With separate program admission and the required coursework, the LLM can be completed in one additional semester after the JD.
The MBA and MPA integrate a second discipline into the JD timeline; the tax route adds specialized legal study afterward.
9. Villanova Law Employment Outcomes (Class of 2025)
Villanova Class of 2025 employment outcomes (reported to the ABA, measured 10 months after graduation):
- Full-time, long-term bar-passage-required employment (ABA): 90.8%
- BigLaw (firms with 101+ attorneys): 33.7%
- Federal clerkships: 1.6%
- Public service (including government): 14.7%
Pennsylvania is the largest destination, followed by Delaware and New Jersey. Large-firm work represents a meaningful part of the class, alongside smaller firms and public service. Villanova makes particular sense for applicants who want to build a career in this regional market. Weigh its placement pattern against your scholarship and preferred practice, rather than treating the sports-law brand as the whole employment story.
10. Villanova Law Areas of Study and Specializations
Business and entrepreneurship: The John F. Scarpa Center for Entrepreneurship and Law supports Villanova's business emphasis. Required business modules introduce financial statements, valuation, and law-firm economics, while the business-law concentration adds depth in corporate, securities, and related subjects.
Sports law: The Jeffrey S. Moorad Center for the Study of Sports Law connects legal coursework with the business of sports. Its programming, research, and negotiation opportunities suit applicants interested in contracts, labor relationships, and the institutions behind professional athletics.
Tax: The Graduate Tax Program and JD/LLM pathway create a structured route into advanced tax study. The Tax Clinic adds representation involving federal and Pennsylvania tax problems, linking technical coursework with the consequences for individual taxpayers.
Environmental and energy law: Villanova's environmental focus area and Environmental Law Journal support sustained work in regulation and natural resources. Todd Aagaard's energy and electricity-market scholarship adds a concrete faculty connection for applicants interested in how infrastructure is governed.
Community-centered practice: Villanova's public interest programming connects poverty-law study with the Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic, CARES, and other client-service opportunities. Access to Justice Fellows adds advising and community for students planning to make public service their professional focus.
11. Villanova Law Clinics and Experiential Learning
Villanova's clinics place students in supervised client work across several distinct practice settings:
- Clinic for Law and Entrepreneurship: Advise small businesses, nonprofits, and community enterprises on formation, contracts, governance, and related organizational problems.
- Tax Clinic: Represent taxpayers in audits, appeals, collection matters, and tax litigation involving the IRS or Pennsylvania authorities.
- Clinic for Asylum, Refugee & Emigrant Services (CARES): Interview clients, develop evidence, research claims, and prepare asylum matters for immigration proceedings.
- Caritas Clemency Clinic: Investigate compassionate-release cases, work with incarcerated clients and families, develop release plans, and prepare motions.
- Civil Justice Clinic: Handle low-income clients' housing, family, employment, and public-benefits matters, including preparation for hearings.
- Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic: Represent agricultural workers and families in immigration and employment matters, including wage and workplace-related disputes.
- Intellectual Property Law Clinic: Research prior art, patentability, trademark clearance, and related questions for clients developing intellectual property strategies.
- Interdisciplinary Mental & Physical Health Law Clinic: Address disability benefits, guardianship, and insurance disputes through administrative and court advocacy.
Pro Bono and Experiential Learning
Externships combine academic credit, faculty oversight, and on-site supervision. Past placements include Seigel Sports & Entertainment, where a student worked on basketball contracts and free-agency preparation. Judicial, government, corporate, and public-interest placements provide other settings.
Pro bono options include Lawyering Together, which pairs students with practicing attorneys, and volunteer tax assistance. The Dorothy Day Award recognizes at least 60 hours of qualifying pro bono service; that award threshold is distinct from a universal graduation requirement.
12. Villanova Law Notable Faculty and Journals
Faculty
- Andrew Brandt: Professor of Practice and executive director of the Moorad Center. His sports-business perspective includes serving as a Green Bay Packers vice president responsible for contract negotiations and salary-cap management.
- Todd Aagaard: Professor and Heller McGuinness Leadership Chair. He studies environmental, energy, and administrative law and coauthored Electricity Capacity Markets.
- Caitlin Barry: Professor and director of the Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic. Her work connects immigration and worker representation; she has also served as co-president of the Clinical Legal Education Association.
- Komal Vaidya: Professor and director of the Clinic for Law and Entrepreneurship. Her scholarship addresses community ownership and cooperative enterprise, including Decommodify Cooperative Capital.
Journals
- Villanova Law Review: Scholarship on legal issues.
- Villanova Environmental Law Journal: Scholarship on environmental legal topics.
- Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal: Scholarly articles on sports law.
13. Villanova Law Culture and Student Life
Villanova's Augustinian Catholic identity emphasizes truth, unity, and love. UNITAS programming gives that community mission an institutional home, while more than 40 student organizations support professional interests, service, and personal connections. Alumni mentoring extends those relationships beyond the entering class.
The law school is in suburban Villanova, not downtown Philadelphia. That distinction matters for daily life and travel to placements. Students can connect with Philadelphia's courts and employers while studying on a university campus. The Public Interest Fellowship Program and student journals offer different ways to take responsibility for work that reaches beyond the classroom.
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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 Villanova 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.