Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana

THE LIMIT IS PUBLISHED IN AN AMBIGUOUS FORM AND THE CAP IS TAKEN AS THREE: 'Your personal statement must be no more than 2-3 pages, double-spaced, with normal margins, and no smaller than a 10-point font.' 'No more than 2-3 pages' is self-contradictory on its face -- a ceiling expressed as a range -- but the operative word is 'must', so page_limit is recorded as 3, the outer bound, rather than 2. An applicant who wants to be safe should treat two pages as the expectation and three as the hard stop. The rest of the format is unusually fully specified: double-spaced, normal margins, and no smaller than 10-point. THE PROMPT CARRIES AN EXPLICIT PROHIBITION most schools only imply: 'Do not treat your personal statement as a narrative of your resume.' It also warns that form is graded alongside substance -- 'Your statement will be evaluated for writing ability as well as the content' -- which the review-process page reinforces: 'you should ensure they are free of spelling and grammatical errors, paying particular attention to formatting requirements.' THE WHY-MONTANA CASE BELONGS SOMEWHERE ELSE: this prompt does not ask it, and Montana runs a separate Statement of Interest for exactly that purpose; see the why_x_essay entry. The statement is one of two places Montana tells applicants to put everything, because it does not interview -- see the interview entry.

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REQUIRED FOR OUT-OF-STATE APPLICANTS, OPTIONAL FOR MONTANA RESIDENTS -- a residency-conditional essay, which is rare in this data set. The school's full statement: 'You may submit a brief statement of interest explaining why you wish to attend the University of Montana School of Law. This statement is required for out of state students and optional for in-state students.' RECORDED AS required: true, WHICH IS A DELIBERATE JUDGMENT AND NOT WHAT THE FIRST CLAUSE SUGGESTS. The schema carries a single boolean and cannot express a residency condition, so the choice is which way to err. Nearly every user of this tracker applying to Montana will be applying from out of state, where the statement is mandatory, and the cost of wrongly showing an in-state applicant an item they may skip is far lower than the cost of an out-of-state applicant omitting a required essay. Montana residents should treat this row as optional. NO LENGTH IS PUBLISHED beyond the word 'brief', and no format, spacing or font instruction is attached -- unlike the personal statement, which is specified down to the point size. Per docs/CURATION.md 'brief' is not converted into a page or word limit. Montana also does not say whether the statement should address the school specifically, the state, or an intention to practise in Montana, which for a public school with a strong in-state mission is the obvious unasked question. All of that is recorded as silence.

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A BROAD OPTIONAL ADDENDUM WITH A PUBLISHED CAP AND A NON-DUPLICATION RULE: 'You have the option of including an additional statement to explain any other factors you wish the admissions committee to consider that relate to your likelihood of success in law school. You may offer an Addendum in explanation of your undergraduate GPA and/or LSAT. You may choose to describe economic, cultural, or social factors that have presented obstacles you have had to overcome that you wish the Admissions Committee to consider in evaluating your application.' The limit is explicit: 'Addendums should be no longer than 3 pages and should not address topics discussed in your personal statement.' Recorded as page_limit 3. THAT SECOND CLAUSE IS A REAL CONSTRAINT ON DRAFTING, not boilerplate -- material used in the personal statement is out of bounds here, so the two documents have to be planned together. NOTE THE SCOPE COLLAPSES TWO THINGS OTHER SCHOOLS SEPARATE: the academic or score explanation, and the economic/cultural/social obstacles statement that elsewhere would be a perspective statement in its own right. Because Montana offers it as one optional addendum rather than as a named perspective essay, no perspective_statement row is recorded for this school. CHARACTER AND FITNESS IS MANDATORY ONCE TRIGGERED and the scope is specified: 'You will be required to include an additional statement to explain any affirmative response to our Character and Fitness questions. You must provide an explanation for any incident you disclose pertaining to crimes (even if dismissed) workplace discipline, academic discipline, and traffic violations involving alcohol or drugs.' The parenthetical 'even if dismissed' and the express inclusion of alcohol- and drug-related traffic matters are the two traps applicants most often miss. Montana does not publish the question set itself, an evidentiary or records requirement, a continuing duty to update, or an ABA Standard 504 caution on this page -- all recorded as silence. Separately, admission is conditioned on character on an ongoing basis: 'Applicants must be of good moral character and must maintain good moral character as a condition of continuing enrollment.' Recorded on the addendum entry because the taxonomy in docs/DATA.md has no character-and-fitness type; required is false because both the optional addendum and the disclosure statement are conditional.

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'Two Letters of Reference... You may submit a maximum of four letters.' A soft composition preference rather than a rule: 'Ideally, these should include one general reference letter and one academic reference letter.' A CAREER-CHANGER CARVE-OUT IS SPELLED OUT: 'Applicants who graduated from an undergraduate program several years ago may substitute letters from employers or supervisors who can address the applicant's abilities and intellectual promise for the study of law.' DELIVERY IS STRICT AND THE FAILURE MODE IS NAMED: 'Letters of reference must be sent to the LSAC and processed by the Credential Assembly Service (CAS). Letters sent directly to the law school will not be accepted.' MONTANA PUBLISHES A SEVEN-POINT BRIEF FOR RECOMMENDERS, the most detailed in this batch and worth forwarding verbatim to anyone writing on your behalf. 'A reference letter that is particularly helpful is one that discusses the applicant's: Native intelligence (analytical powers, rigor of thought, critical faculty, reasoning ability); Independence of thought (originality, imagination, creative intelligence); Effectiveness of oral communication; Effectiveness of written communication; Industry and motivation (persistence, self-discipline, study techniques); Judgment and maturity (conscientiousness, common sense); and Leadership ability.'

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'Two Letters of Reference... You may submit a maximum of four letters.' A soft composition preference rather than a rule: 'Ideally, these should include one general reference letter and one academic reference letter.' A CAREER-CHANGER CARVE-OUT IS SPELLED OUT: 'Applicants who graduated from an undergraduate program several years ago may substitute letters from employers or supervisors who can address the applicant's abilities and intellectual promise for the study of law.' DELIVERY IS STRICT AND THE FAILURE MODE IS NAMED: 'Letters of reference must be sent to the LSAC and processed by the Credential Assembly Service (CAS). Letters sent directly to the law school will not be accepted.' MONTANA PUBLISHES A SEVEN-POINT BRIEF FOR RECOMMENDERS, the most detailed in this batch and worth forwarding verbatim to anyone writing on your behalf. 'A reference letter that is particularly helpful is one that discusses the applicant's: Native intelligence (analytical powers, rigor of thought, critical faculty, reasoning ability); Independence of thought (originality, imagination, creative intelligence); Effectiveness of oral communication; Effectiveness of written communication; Industry and motivation (persistence, self-discipline, study techniques); Judgment and maturity (conscientiousness, common sense); and Leadership ability.'

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'Personal Resume: Attach a current resume.' That is the entire published instruction -- no page limit, no format, no content guidance, and no statement of what the committee looks for. Recorded as the school's silence. Note the one indirect constraint: the personal statement prompt warns 'Do not treat your personal statement as a narrative of your resume', which implies the resume is expected to carry the record on its own.

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BOTH TESTS ARE FULLY ACCEPTED, WITH SEPARATE APPLICATION FORMS FOR EACH: 'Candidates must register for and take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) or Graduate Record Examination (GRE)', and 'First year applicants should apply using the LSAT (A1) or GRE (A4) application on LSAC.org.' Unlike several schools in this data set the GRE is not a penalised or capped route -- Montana states no preference and attaches no scholarship consequence. THE GRE DISCLOSURE RULE IS THE THING TO KNOW, AND IT IS STRICTER THAN MOST: 'if you choose to apply with the GRE, you must submit all valid GRE test results for the last five years. You may not choose which results to share. This parallels the requirement that five years of LSAT scores be disclosed on an application. Applicants who take the GRE (instead of or in addition to the LSAT) must have Educational Testing Services (ETS) send the Blewett School of Law all GRE scores from the prior 5-year period.' And the two tests do not insulate each other: 'If you choose to apply with a GRE score and have taken the LSAT, you must also report any valid LSAT scores.' So there is no scenario in which a weak sitting of either test can be withheld. The ETS school code is 4537. A THIRD, TEST-FREE ROUTE EXISTS FOR THE HOME INSTITUTION'S OWN UNDERGRADUATES: 'Applicants from the University of Montana who scored in the 85th percentile on the ACT or SAT, and who are ranked in the top 10% of their undergraduate class after at least six semesters of academic work may qualify to apply without an LSAT or GRE score under the Expedited Admissions Program.' The 509 shows that route is real but tiny -- one enrollee in the fall 2025 class appears in the 'NON-LSAT, GRE OR JDNEXT' row. NO MINIMUM SCORE IS PUBLISHED, and nothing is said about superscoring, averaging, or how multiple sittings are weighed beyond the disclosure rule. The review is explicitly holistic: 'The School of Law has a holistic review process. Since we review all applications holistically, no part of the application is determinative.' No JD-Next variance is claimed and the 509 prints no JD-Next row.

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'Register for LSAC's Credential Assembly Service (CAS) and follow the instructions to ensure a complete application', and 'An official transcript(s) must be delivered directly to the law school via the LSAC.org Credential Assembly Service (CAS).' Degree by matriculation: 'Candidates must have received, prior to matriculation, a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college or university.' THE FINAL-TRANSCRIPT DEADLINE IS ENFORCED AFTER YOU ARE ALREADY ENROLLED, which is unusual and carries a real penalty: applicants still completing a degree 'must provide the Law School their official final transcripts from all prior degree-granting institutions by August 1st. Applicants can request extensions of time until the absolute deadline of October 15 in the Autumn Semester in which the student matriculates.' If it does not arrive, 'the student will be permitted to complete the current semester, but the student will not be permitted to enroll in a subsequent semester until the Law School has the student's official transcript on file' -- and elsewhere, more bluntly, 'Any student who has not provided the final transcript by October 15 at the latest may risk losing their seat in the law school.' NO UNDERGRADUATE PREREQUISITES AND NO MINIMUM GPA: 'no specific undergraduate curriculum, majors, or courses are required prior to applying. We accept and seat students from a wide variety of educational and experiential backgrounds. As we review applications, we are looking for applicants that have had well-rounded educational and life experiences.' RESIDENCY DOCUMENTS ARE A SEPARATE PACKAGE with real money behind them, given the gap between $24,582 resident and $51,582 non-resident tuition: 'Any student who wishes to be considered for in-state tuition must provide all of the following: Montana Driver's License (issued one year prior to matriculation); Montana Voter Registration (issued one year prior to matriculation); Montana Vehicle Registration (issued one year prior to matriculation); The first page of your most recent Montana Tax Return.' Each carries a one-year lead time, and reclassification later is close to impossible: 'an out of state student typically cannot (with very few exceptions) reclassify as an in-state student after their first year of law school.' A separate International Students page exists and was not fetched for this file, so no TOEFL or IELTS terms are asserted here.

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$75: 'Fill out the online application and submit the $75 fee through LSAC.' The 509 independently certifies 'Application fee $75', so the two agree. MONTANA REFUSES WAIVERS OUTRIGHT, WHICH IS A DENIAL RATHER THAN A SILENCE AND IS RARE ENOUGH TO RECORD AS SUCH: 'The Law School does not provide fee waivers to any applicant.' No need-based route, no LSAC-waiver linkage, no event or visit waiver, and no exception language of any kind. Per docs/CURATION.md that is a claim the school has actually made, unlike the many schools whose pages are merely silent on waivers. LSAC's own CAS and report charges are separate and Montana does not address them. Deposits after admission are substantial and tiered -- $500, then $250, or $750 for anyone admitted after June 1 -- and are covered on the deadline entry.

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MONTANA DENIES INTERVIEWS OUTRIGHT, AND DRAWS THE CONSEQUENCE FOR APPLICANTS ITSELF: 'Since the Law School does not offer interviews, it is important that all applicants include all information they want considered in their required and requested application materials.' This is a genuine denial rather than the site silence recorded for most schools in this data set -- per docs/CURATION.md the distinction matters, and Montana joins the short list of schools that have actually said no. The practical instruction attached to it is the useful half: there is no later stage at which anything can be added, so the personal statement, the statement of interest, the resume and any addendum have to carry everything. No evaluative interview, no informational conversation described as part of review, and no invitation-only variant appears anywhere on the admissions pages. The only applicant contact offered is 'Schedule a Visit With Law Admissions', which is not described as part of evaluation.

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