The Early Decision Program is appropriate for candidates who have concluded that UCLA School of Law is their first-choice for law school and do not anticipate the need to compare offers of financial aid in making a decision about where to matriculate.

Students admitted through the Early Decision Program must:

• Attend UCLA Law
• Withdraw applications from all other law schools
• Refrain from initiating applications to other law schools
• Submit the Statement of Intent to Register and seat deposit by the deadline stated in the admission letter
• Refrain from paying a seat deposit or making a commitment to attend any other law school

The priority Early Decision deadline is November 15. Students applying priority Early Decision must take the LSAT or GRE by October 31. Applicants will be informed of their admissions decisions by the end of December 2024.

Students applying Early Decision after November 15 must take the LSAT or GRE by January 31, 2025, and will receive decisions on a rolling basis.

Applicants may not apply to any other early decision programs in the same admissions cycle (unless they have already been denied or waitlisted by the UCLA Law Early Decision Program).

Merit scholarships are not available to students admitted through the Early Decision Program; students for whom merit scholarships are a consideration should carefully consider whether to apply through this program. Students admitted through Early Decision can seek need-based aid; however, because there is no guarantee of qualifying for need-based aid, and because applicants must pay their seat deposit before knowing whether they will qualify for need-based aid, applicants should not rely on potential need-based aid when deciding whether to apply Early Decision.

Students applying Early Decision may not apply to the Distinguished Scholars, Achievement Fellowship or Graton Scholarship programs.

While awaiting the outcome of their Early Decision application at UCLA Law, applicants are permitted to apply to other law schools through their regular decision programs, with the understanding that they must withdraw these applications if they are admitted to UCLA Law. UCLA Law reserves the right to revoke an admissions offer in the event that an admitted applicant fails to comply with these requirements. In such an instance, UCLA also reserves the right to inform other law schools of the candidate's actions.

Admission through the Early Decision Program is competitive; in recent years, the percentage of accepted applicants in this program is similar to our overall admissions rate. While every application is assessed individually and holistically, we have found in recent years that the median GPA of students accepted in this program is similar to our overall median GPA; the median LSAT of students accepted to this program is often slightly below our overall median LSAT.

If an applicant is denied admission through the Early Decision Program, the decision is final for Fall 2025. There will not be a re-review of the file during the regular admissions cycle. Denied and waitlisted applicants can continue to consider other law schools. Waitlisted applicants are no longer bound by the early decision agreement that they will enroll if admitted.