Pre-Law & Application Terminology0L | A law school applicant
1L | First-year law student 2L | Second-year law student 3L | Third-year law student 4L | Fourth-year law student 25%/50%/75% | The 25th/50th/75th percentiles of undergraduate GPA or LSAT score of a law school's admitted students. AA | Affirmative Action AA | African American AALS | Association of American Law Schools; a nonprofit association of 178 US-based law schools. ABA | American Bar Association ASD/ASW | Admitted Student Day/Weekend ASP | Academic Success Program BAR Exam | An examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a candidate must pass to practice law in that particular jurisdiction. BarBri | Commercial Bar Examination preparation course CAS | Credential Assembly Service; a service provided by LSAC providing a CAS report which includes an applicant's undergraduate summary, transcripts, LSAT score reports and letters of recommendation. C&F | Character & Fitness CLEO | Council for Legal Education Opportunity – a non-profit project of the ABA Fund for Justice & Education to expand opportunities for minority and low-income students to attend law school. COA | Cost of Attendance CRS | Candidate Referral Service through LSAC. Allows law schools to find prospective applicants through this opt-in database. A great way to learn about law schools, events, and other information. CSO | Career Services Office CUM GPA | Cumulative Grade Point Average DEI or DE&I | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Planning DS | Diversity Statement EA | Early Action – A non-binding application which guarantees a response by a certain date. ED | Early Decision – A process where an applicant submits their application early and it is reviewed quickly in exchange for the applicant’s binding promise that they will withdraw all other applications to other law schools if accepted. F2F | Face-to-Face FAFSA | Free Application for Federal Student Aid FERPA | Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act – a federal privacy law that gives parents certain protections with regard to their children’s education records, such as transcripts, disciplinary records, contact and family information, and class schedules. FGP | First-generation professional - a member of the first generation in the family to attend college or graduate school. FPOC | For People of Color, Inc. – a nonprofit organization providing free, high-quality law school admissions consulting services to thousands of prospective law school applicants. GRE | Graduate Record Examinations; a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for some graduate and law schools. K-JD | Kindergarten to JD - a student who has gone straight through from grade school to college to law school, without any full-time work experience. JD | Juris Doctor JD/MBA | JD and a Master's in Business Administration JD/MSW | JD and Master's in Social Work JD/MPP | JD and a Master's in Public Policy JD/PhD | JD and a PhD in a variety of subjects Joint Degree | A combined JD and other graduate degree LEEWS | Law Essay Exam Writing/Preparation Science/System – study aid LG/AR | Logic Games/Analytical Reasoning (sections of the LSAT) LLM | Master of Law LOR | Letter of recommendation LR | Logical Reasoning (LSAT section) LRAP | Loan Repayment Assistance Program LSAC | Law School Admission Council; a not-for-profit organization that provides products and services to facilitate the admission process for law schools and their applicants worldwide. LSAT | Law School Admission Test; only test accepted for admission purposes by all ABA-accredited law schools and Canadian common law schools. LSAT-Flex | A shortened online and remotely proctored version of the LSAT. MA | Mexican American MBE | Multistate Bar Examination – a six-hour, 200 question multiple-choice examination developed by the NCBE. A component of the UBE. Medians | A school’s median UGPA and LSAT, 25th and 75th refer to a school’s 25th and 75th percentile UGPA and LSAT. MLS/MSL | Master of Legal Studies/Master of Studies in Law NCBE | National Conference of Bar Examiners – a not-for-profit organization that works with other institutions to develop, maintain, and apply reasonable and uniform standards of education and character for eligibility for admission to the practice of law. Non-Traditional or Non-Trad | An applicant who is at least several years out from undergrad when applying to law school; often one who has made significant career strides prior to attending law school POC/BIPOC | Person of Color/Black, Indigenous, People of Color PR | Puerto Rican PS | Personal Statement PSLF | Federal government-operated educational loan forgiveness program (only for qualifying public interest jobs) PT | Practice test/practice test score RC | Reading comprehension (LSAT section) RD | Regular decision - the regular/default way of apply to law schools REPAYE/PAYE | Federal government-operated educational loan repayment assistance program Reverse Splitter | High GPA, low LSAT SJD/JDS | Doctor of Juridical Science Softs | All parts of a law school application aside from an applicant's UGPA & LSAT score; includes LORs, PS, DS (if applicable), extracurricular activities, WE (if any), etc. Splitter | High LSAT, low GPA T1-T5 | Tier of law school according to USNWR (U.S. News & World Report); T1 (1-50) T2 (50-104) T3 (105-139) T4 (the rest) T5 (Top 5) Target Medians | LSAT and GPA goals that a school is aiming for throughout the cycle, e.g. even if a school's LSAT median for the previous class was a 168, you may still be below their "target median" if they are aiming for a 169 this year. Themis | Commercial Bar Examination preparation course. UBE | Uniform Bar Examination – a standardized bar examination, adopted by several dozen states, developed by the NCBE composed of the Multistate Essay Examination, two Multistate Performance Tests, and the Multistate Bar Examination. URM | Underrepresented minority WE | Work experience - generally excluding internships during college WL | Waitlist WS | Writing Sample YP | Yield protection, or the process by which admissions offices may WL, hold, or deny an application if it is lacking evidence that the applicant would matriculate to the school if admitted. |
Law School TerminologyAdmin/Admin Law | Administrative law ADR | Alternative Dispute Resolution BL/BLL | Black-letter law/black-letter law course - A course focusing on the main rules underlying a particular area of law. CBA | California Bar Association Civ Pro | Civil Procedure Con Law | Constitutional Law Crim/Crim Law | Criminal Law Crim Pro | Criminal Procedure Curve | The permitted range of each letter grade at a law school. DA | District Attorney FC | Federal court clerkship IP | Intellectual property K/Contracts | Contract Law Law Review/LR | A law school's flagship journal/a member of Law Review Board. L&E | Labor & employment Leg Reg/Stats & Regs | Legislation & regulation Lit | Litigation LWR or LRW | Legal Research & Writing MC/Moot Court | A competition where students represent a case on appeal before an intermediate court or a court of last resort. Mock Trial | A competition in which students simulate a real trial. OCI | On-Campus Interview OSB | Oregon State Bar Outline | Concise summary of the rules and cases taught in black-letter law course, for use as a study aid and during open-book final exams. PD | Public Defender PI | Public Interest PR | Professional Responsibility RA | Research Assistant SA/Summer | Summer Associate SC/USSC/SCOUTS | U.S. Supreme Court WSBA | Washington State Bar Association Current Students - Student OrganizationsRSOs/SORGS/Student Orgs | Student organizations/Registered student organizations
ACS | American Constitution Society APALSA | Asian/Pacific-American Law Student Association BLSA | Black Law Student Association BLA | Business Law Association CLS | Criminal Law Society DALSA | Disability Alliance Law Students Association ELS | Environmental Law Society FedSoc | Federalist Society GASA | Governmental Affairs Student Association HLA | Health Law Association ILS | International Law Society IPSA | Intellectual Property Student Association JBA | Jr. Barristers' Association LLSA | Latinx Law Student Association MELSA/MESAA | Middle Eastern Law Student Association/Middle Eastern & South Asian Association MLS | Military Law Society NALSA | Native American Law Student Association NLG | National Lawyers Guild PAD | Phi Alpha Delta PILF | Public Interest Law Foundation PLSS | Public Legal Services Society Pride Law (or Outlaws) | LGBTQAI Law Student Group SELS | Sports & Entertainment Law Society TAA | Trial Advocacy Association WC/WLC | Women's Law Caucus WLS | Water Law Society |