Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law
Showing 2025-26 dates — this school has not republished for the current cycle
0 of 4 required items complete
Your numbers against the class of 2025
This is a comparison against published numbers, not a prediction. Admissions committees weigh essays, letters, and experience that no percentile captures.
3,038 applications, 747 offers, 254 enrolled · Verified 2026-08-18 · view source
What it costs, how graduates fare
- Tuition2025-26
$60,844 full-time · plus $7,842 annual fees
Living expenses $23,368 on campus · $17,834 off
Tuition and the fees the school certifies alongside it — not a full cost of attendance.
Verified 2026-08-27 · ABA Standard 509 report
- Bar passageclass of 2025
97.8%first-time+15.2
82.5% is the average for all ABA-accredited schools’ graduates in the same jurisdictions this school’s graduates sat in · 217 of 222 first-time takers passed
96.7% of the class of 2023 were admitted within two years of graduating
A pass rate on its own says as much about which states a school feeds as about the school, so the ABA’s own like-for-like average is shown with it.
Verified 2026-08-27 · ABA bar passage report
- Employmentclass of 2025
213 of 225 (94.7%) in full-time, long-term jobs requiring bar admission
Ten months after graduation · 8 more in JD-advantage jobs · 0 still seeking
The ABA collects employment status and job type only. It collects no salary, so no salary figure comes from this filing.
Verified 2026-08-27 · ABA employment summary
- First-year attrition2024-25
0.0% of the first-year class · 0 students
No law school publishes a graduation rate, so this is not one. It is the students who left in their first year, academic and other, as filed. Transfers out are reported separately and are not counted here.
Verified 2026-08-27 · ABA Standard 509 report
- EarningsCollege Scorecard
Not a starting salary.
$101,456 median one year after finishing · $153,614 after four
$107,773 is the national median at four years for the same credential
A College Scorecard median for 2017-18 and 2018-19 completers who received federal aid, measured a fixed number of years after they finished — not what this year’s graduates are being paid, and not a figure the school or the ABA publishes. The ABA collects no salary data at all.
Verified 2026-08-27 · College Scorecard
Essays
- Personal statementRequiredat submission
Notes & source
The Early Decision page lists 'Personal Statement and any required or optional addenda' among the required application materials. SMU publishes no prompt, no page or word limit, and no formatting rules for it anywhere on its admissions site; the prompt presumably lives in the LSAC application. Note the discrepancy: the J.D. Program Application Requirements page's own checklist (smu.edu/law/admissions/how-to-apply/jd-program-application-information) names only the LSAC electronic application, a test score, and the CAS report, and does not mention the personal statement.
Verified 2026-08-31 · source page
- AddendumOptionalat submission
Notes & source
The Early Decision requirements list refers to 'any required or optional addenda' alongside the personal statement. The site does not say what circumstances call for an addendum, nor publish prompts or length limits. No optional or 'why SMU' essay is described anywhere on the admissions site — recorded here as the site's silence, not as an absence of such prompts inside the LSAC application.
Verified 2026-08-31 · source page
Letters & documents
- Letter of recommendationOptionalat submission
Notes & source
Optional at SMU, unusually. Site wording: 'Letters of recommendation are optional. If you choose to submit letters of recommendation, we will accept up to three (3). Submit your letters of recommendation through the CAS Letter of Recommendation Service.' The page does not say who recommenders should be.
Verified 2026-08-31 · source page
- RésuméRequiredat submission
Notes & source
Listed as a required application material on the Early Decision page. No page limit, format, or content guidance is published. As with the personal statement, the J.D. Program Application Requirements page's own checklist does not mention the resume.
Verified 2026-08-31 · source page
- Transcripts via LSAC CASRequiredat submission
Notes & source
A CAS report is required and the file is not reviewed until all required materials arrive. Register with LSAC's Credential Assembly Service; SMU's LSAC code is 6660. 'LSAC will not send any law school a report until they have received transcripts from every undergraduate institution you have attended, including summer sessions and semesters abroad.' Eligibility: 'Although exceptions may be made in special circumstances, an entering student is required to have received a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university prior to enrollment.' No fixed pre-legal course of study is prescribed. The page does not mention TOEFL/IELTS or any English-proficiency requirement for J.D. applicants.
Verified 2026-08-31 · source page
- LSAT or GRERequiredat submission
Notes & source
'Test score or equivalent (LSAT, GRE, or JD-Next).' The GRE is restricted: per the admissions FAQ (smu.edu/law/admissions/faqs), 'Does SMU accept the GRE for admissions purposes? Yes, BUT we can ONLY accept the GRE for admissions purposes for students who have not previously taken the LSAT.' The FAQ also states SMU does not average multiple LSAT scores — 'We use an applicant's highest reported LSAT score for admissions and scholarship awarding purposes.' Timing: the February LSAT is accepted for Regular Decision even if scores post after April 1, provided all other materials arrive by April 1; for Early Decision the October administration is the last acceptable test. The site does not publish a score-validity window. SMU's 2025 Standard 509 report shows LSAT and GRE enrollee sections only (253 LSAT, 1 GRE) and reports no JD-Next enrollees.
Verified 2026-08-31 · source page
Administrative
- Application feeOptionalat submission
Notes & source
SMU's 2025 ABA Standard 509 report lists 'Application fee 0' — there is no J.D. application fee. No fee amount, payment step, or waiver process appears anywhere on the admissions, how-to-apply, or costs pages. The Early Decision page's benefits list also states, of an ED applicant re-reviewed in the Regular Decision pool, 'There is no application fee required.'
Verified 2026-08-31 · source page
- InterviewOptionalat submission
Notes & source
No interview. SMU's faculty-adopted Admissions Policy (this source_url; the document is dated 'Accepted by Faculty Resolution, March 22, 2004' and is still published on the law school's site) states: 'Admissions staff are happy to meet applicants and answer their questions. We do not offer personal interviews as an element in our admissions decision.' None of the current admissions pages — How to Apply, J.D. Program Application Requirements, Early Decision, or FAQs — mentions an interview, by invitation or otherwise.
Verified 2026-08-31 · source page
Every item above was verified against www.smu.edu on 2026-10-07. Expand any item for its own source. Always confirm against the school before you submit — and if we have something wrong, report an error.