Loyola University New Orleans College of Law

'A personal statement, up to three pages in length and written in the applicant's own words, is required. The personal statement is an applicant's opportunity to promote and personalize their application, highlighting accomplishments that may not otherwise be addressed in other areas of the application.' No topic is assigned, so no prompt is recorded, and no font or spacing requirement is published. THE PHRASE 'WRITTEN IN THE APPLICANT'S OWN WORDS' IS THE CLOSEST THING TO AN AI POLICY on Loyola's admission pages — generative AI is never mentioned by name, so this is recorded as the school's own wording rather than as a ban. A SEPARATE OPTIONAL DIVERSITY STATEMENT IS OFFERED and is recorded under perspective_statement; note that the personal statement is explicitly not the place for that material, since the school says the diversity statement 'does not replace the Personal Statement'. NO WHY-SCHOOL ESSAY is asked for anywhere — the only statement of that kind on the page belongs to transfer applicants, who must submit a 'statement asserting the reason(s) for transferring to Loyola Law'. RE-READ 2026-10-07 against the fall 2027 Application Requirements page: unchanged.

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OPTIONAL, CAPPED AT TWO PAGES, AND STILL CALLED A DIVERSITY STATEMENT — Loyola has not adopted the post-2023 perspective-statement renaming many schools moved to. Full wording: 'All candidates are welcome to supplement their application with an optional Diversity Statement. This optional statement does not replace the Personal Statement. It is intended to provide the Faculty Admissions Committee with additional background information, such as an applicant's discussion of how their racial identity or ethnicity has affected their life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise; gender identity or gender expression; the impact of extenuating health issues; the history of overcoming hardships; or, managing socio-economic disparities. The Diversity Statement should not exceed two pages.' The list of subjects is unusually explicit for a post-2023 prompt, naming racial identity, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, health, hardship and socio-economic circumstances. No penalty for omitting it is stated either way. RE-READ 2026-10-07 against the fall 2027 Application Requirements page: unchanged.

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THREE SEPARATE INVITATIONS, one of which is close to mandatory. (1) CHARACTER AND FITNESS, required when triggered and phrased as a possibility rather than a rule: 'Based upon candidates' answers to questions regarding moral character and potential fitness to practice law, applicants may be required to supplement their application with additional documentation. All supporting documents must be electronically attached to the application.' (2) A TEST-VARIANCE ADDENDUM with a numeric trigger, which few schools quantify: 'If an applicant has significant variance between LSAT scores (e.g. six or more points), an explanation should accompany the application.' Six points is the threshold Loyola names. (3) A GENERAL CATEGORY the committee says it reads: its list of what is considered ends with 'other explanatory or supporting addenda.' No length or format guidance is published for any of them. Recorded as required: false because each is conditional. RE-READ 2026-10-07 against the fall 2027 Application Requirements page: unchanged.

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'Applicants are required to submit at least two letters of recommendation (limit of four).' A FRESHNESS RULE MOST SCHOOLS DO NOT IMPOSE: 'Letters must be written on or after March 1, 2025,' repeated in the checklist as 'Two letters of recommendation (dated on or after March 1, 2025). The Office of Law Admissions will accept up to four letters of recommendation.' An older letter, however strong, does not count — and that dated rule is also one of the anchors this file uses to fix the cycle. WHO SHOULD WRITE: 'Recommendation letters looked upon most favorably are sent by the applicant's undergraduate or graduate professors, as these give better evidence of the applicant's capabilities as a student. However, one who can attest to the applicant's skills and abilities to succeed in law school are helpful, such as writing acumen, time management, and work ethic.' Academic letters are preferred but professional ones are welcomed on their merits. RE-READ 2026-10-07: the freshness floor has rolled forward a year, from March 1, 2024 to March 1, 2025 — the same rule, re-dated for the new cycle. Otherwise unchanged.

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'Applicants are required to submit at least two letters of recommendation (limit of four).' A FRESHNESS RULE MOST SCHOOLS DO NOT IMPOSE: 'Letters must be written on or after March 1, 2025,' repeated in the checklist as 'Two letters of recommendation (dated on or after March 1, 2025). The Office of Law Admissions will accept up to four letters of recommendation.' An older letter, however strong, does not count — and that dated rule is also one of the anchors this file uses to fix the cycle. WHO SHOULD WRITE: 'Recommendation letters looked upon most favorably are sent by the applicant's undergraduate or graduate professors, as these give better evidence of the applicant's capabilities as a student. However, one who can attest to the applicant's skills and abilities to succeed in law school are helpful, such as writing acumen, time management, and work ethic.' Academic letters are preferred but professional ones are welcomed on their merits. RE-READ 2026-10-07: the freshness floor has rolled forward a year, from March 1, 2024 to March 1, 2025 — the same rule, re-dated for the new cycle. Otherwise unchanged.

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'A resume that includes education, extracurricular activities, work history, community service, and other awards' — five content elements named as required inclusions rather than as suggestions, which is more prescriptive than most schools in this data set. No page limit or format guidance is published, so none is recorded. RE-READ 2026-10-07 against the fall 2027 Application Requirements page: unchanged.

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'A complete Credential Assembly Service Report submitted to Loyola Law, through lsac.org, that includes transcripts from each college and/or university ever attended, up to and including conferral of each bachelor, graduate, or professional degree.' The official-transcript definition is spelled out: 'Transcripts are considered to be official only when they have been forwarded directly to LSAC by a university's or college's registrar.' DEGREE TIMING: 'Applicants are required to complete all undergraduate degree work prior to beginning their law studies at Loyola' — before enrollment, not before applying. No minimum GPA is published for admission generally, though a 3.0 CAS GPA gates the JD-Next route (see lsat_or_gre). INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS FACE TWO EXTRA CONSTRAINTS: 'international applicants must take the LSAT, unless they have earned an international law degree' — closing the GRE and JD-Next routes to most of them — and 'Loyola Law also requires the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores, including the Test of Written English and the Test of Spoken English for applicants in which English is a foreign language,' sent to LSAC under code 0058. No minimum TOEFL score is published and no IELTS alternative is offered. Foreign-educated attorneys who 'began their legal studies in 2020 or later may have the standardized test requirement waived' and may receive up to 30 credit hours of advanced standing. RE-READ 2026-10-07 against the fall 2027 Application Requirements page: unchanged.

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THREE TESTS ACCEPTED, WITH A GPA GATE ON ONE OF THEM — the JD-Next condition is the distinctive rule here and it is stated twice for emphasis. 'All law applicants must submit a valid LSAT, JD-Next, or GRE score. A score is considered to be valid if it is no older than five years.' Then: 'At Loyola Law, an applicant may submit a JD-Next score—instead of the LSAT or GRE—if and only if the applicant has an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 based on the CAS report.' An applicant below a 3.0 CAS GPA has only the LSAT or GRE. JD-Next also carries a notification step: 'After you complete the online application, please email the Law Admissions Office at ladmit@loyno.edu to let us know that you plan to submit a JD-Next score with your application.' GRE: 'Applicants who elect to take the GRE must instruct ETS to send Loyola University New Orleans College of Law all GRE test scores from the preceding five-year period' — every score, not a chosen one — using school code 4810. LSAT: the writing sample is named as part of the requirement ('A valid LSAT score and LSAT writing sample'), and a declared future test freezes the file: 'All applicants must indicate on the application if they anticipate taking the LSAT. If the applicant indicates a future test date, the application will not be evaluated until the admissions office receives the report for the indicated test date. If the applicant does not sit for the indicated test, the applicant must notify the law admissions office in order to resume the evaluation process.' SCORES MUST ARRIVE BY THE DEADLINE: 'Loyola College of Law will only consider the examination scores received by the application deadline.' A SIX-POINT LSAT SPREAD SHOULD BE EXPLAINED — see the addendum entry. Loyola's 2025 ABA Standard 509 report shows all three routes in use but heavily weighted to the LSAT: 218 LSAT admissions enrollees, 3 GRE enrollees, and 2 JD-NEXT enrollees out of 223 first-years, both alternatives far below the ABA's 10-test-taker floor so no percentiles are published for either. RE-READ 2026-10-07 against the fall 2027 Application Requirements page: unchanged.

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NOTHING TO PAY, although the site never says so — no application fee is mentioned anywhere on Loyola's admission or application-requirements pages, and the checklist of what a complete application must contain does not include one. The figure comes from Loyola's 2025 ABA Standard 509 report, which lists the application fee as 0. Recorded as required: false on that basis; no fee-waiver process is published because none is needed. LSAC's own CAS and Letter of Recommendation Service fees are separate and are not addressed by Loyola's pages. RE-READ 2026-10-07 against the fall 2027 Application Requirements page: unchanged.

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Recorded as the site's silence, not as a statement that Loyola does not interview. No Loyola College of Law admission page fetched on 2026-08-18 — the admission overview with its deadlines panel, the full application-requirements page, the GRE and JD-Next FAQ pages, or the evening J.D. program page — contains the word interview in an admissions sense. The committee's own list of what it considers runs to a dozen items and no interview appears among them. The school offers student-led campus tours and class visits separately, neither described as part of the evaluation. RE-READ 2026-10-07 against the fall 2027 Application Requirements page: unchanged.

Verified 2026-10-07 · source page