Fordham University

NY · Private · Mid-Atlantic

Acceptance rate: 16% (8,811 applicants)
Median LSAT: 168 (middle 50%: 165–170)
Median GPA: 3.79 (middle 50%: 3.60–3.88)
Tuition: $78,078 (per year)
Bar passage: 90.8% (+4.0 pts vs. state average)

Deadlines

Early Action nonbinding: Oct. 15, 2026
Regular: March 15, 2027

Essays

Required personal essay (2 double-spaced pages, 11 or 12-point font)

While the topic of this required essay is up to you, the most successful personal statements are those that develop a sense of the applicant and their values, aspirations, and concerns. As Fordham Law School's motto is "In the Service of Others," we are also interested in hearing about contributions you would like to make to our student body, the legal profession, and, ultimately, the larger society.

Optional personal essay (2 double-spaced pages, 11 or 12-point font)

Educating lawyers to represent clients whose problems and perspectives grow out of a wide range of life circumstances is fundamental to Fordham Law School's mission. For this optional personal essay, please discuss how your life experiences or aspects of your personal identity have motivated or inspired you, posed challenges, helped you build skills, and/or taught you valuable lessons. We are eager to learn how these experiences or aspects of your identity have helped shape who you are and prepared you for the study and practice of law to help others who need your expertise to solve hard problems.

Optional addendum (2 double-spaced pages)

You're also welcome to submit any optional statements and/or appendices. If you choose to submit an optional statement, it should not exceed two double-spaced pages.

Editor's notes

Apply by Oct. 15 if your file is ready. Early Action is nonbinding, you hear by Dec. 15, and a waitlist result gets a second look in February. The October 2026 LSAT is the last one that counts for it.
Plan the two essays as a pair. The required one is about your values and what you'll contribute; the optional one is about how your experiences or identity prepared you to help others. Each gets two pages, and they should tell different stories.
Know the scholarship ceiling. Fordham caps combined merit and need-based aid at $45,000 a year against 2026-27 day tuition of $81,592, so file the need-based application soon after you're admitted.
Pick day or evening before you apply. You can apply to only one division a cycle, and the evening class's medians are lower (166 and 3.74 versus 169 and 3.81 for fall 2026).