You’ve submitted your application…. What’s next?
Review Process
We will take no action until your application is complete. Once your file is complete, you will receive an email to confirm that your application is under review and instructions on how to access the online status checker to monitor your application’s progress and disposition.
Due to the large number of applications we receive, some time may elapse between your submitting an application, receipt of notification that it is under review, and a final decision. Until you receive notice that your file is under review, you should assume that it is incomplete and that no action is being taken.
Once a file is complete, it is evaluated by a professional Admissions Office staff member. The Admissions Office, guided by faculty policy, admits a certain number of applicants determined each year. An initial reader makes a recommendation, and that recommendation is forwarded to the Dean of Admissions for a secondary review. All files are seen by at least two members of the Admissions Office staff.
As a result of the Dean of Admissions and/or Committee’s consideration, some applicants are admitted, some are placed on a waiting list, and the remaining applicants are denied. A small number of applicants may be placed on administrative hold if either the Dean of Admissions or Admissions Committee feels that they are not prepared to make a final determination at the time of their initial review. Applicants placed on administrative hold usually receive a decision between April 15 to June 1. If the number of admitted students who accept an offer of admission falls below the number necessary to fill the class, then the wait list is used to fill the remaining places.
The review process can take anywhere from two weeks to several months, but most applicants receive an admissions decision within 6-8 weeks. Our goal every year is to have all decisions transmitted to applicants by late March-early April.
Click here for FAQs about the review process.
Check Your Application Status
You may check the status of your Berkeley Law School application using the Online Application Status Checker. This feature allows you to monitor the status of your file at your convenience. Your status will be updated as soon as changes are made to your application.
For those applications that are not yet complete, it may take a few weeks from the date we receive your application to the date your application is processed. LSAC will notify you when your report is sent to us. The Office of J.D. Admissions will notify candidates via email if additional information is required in order to complete your file. Once your status changes to in review, you will also receive an email notification.
Your username and password will be sent to the email address provided in your application. If you experience problems, please contact the Office of J.D. Admissions at admissions@law.berkeley.edu.
Decision Notification
Decision notifications are sent to applicants as decisions are made. For the majority of applicants this is usually by mid-March. An admitted applicant has several weeks to respond to the offer, but in no case is an applicant required to respond before April 1. Note that the early decision process operates on a different timeline.
Acceptance/Seat Deposit
Berkeley Law School does not require a deposit to hold a place in our class. Instead, we rely on the honesty and integrity of each admitted student to provide a candid response about accepting our offer of admission. We believe this policy describes the essence of being a lawyer.
Appeals
Once an applicant has been denied admission the decision is final. There is no reconsideration or appeals process. Exceptions are made only in unusual cases in which an error for which the applicant was not responsible, and which the applicant promptly brought to the law school’s attention, may have affected the decision. Because files are considered on a comparative basis, reconsideration would lay open the possibility of unfairly granting attention to individual applicants. It is therefore avoided.