Transfer Frequently Asked Questions

Georgetown Law will only accept transfer applications from those who will have completed their first year of study at an ABA-approved law school by the time of matriculation into Georgetown Law. Please be advised that the Law Center will accept a maximum of 31 semester hours of academic credit for transfer from an ABA-approved law school.

Yes, and vice versa. Transfer applicants can apply to the Full-Time or Evening Programs (or both). If a previously Part-Time student is admitted to the Full-Time Program, they work with the Office of the Registrar to determine how to get on track with the rest of the Full-Time Program (summer courses, extra credits/semester, etc.).

Yes. However, the Admissions Committee will not consider applications for admission until applicants have 3 reported grades on their transcript from an ABA-accredited law school. Unofficial mid-term grades will not be considered.

No, Georgetown Law does not provide for the transfer of students from the LL.M. Program to the J.D. Program. Rather, Georgetown Law allows foreign-educated students, who have earned their LL.M. at Georgetown and who satisfy all the requirements for and are accepted to the J.D. program, to transfer up to 12 credits from their LL.M. Program to the J.D. Program, subject to the approval of the J.D. Associate Dean or a delegate. Those credits would apply to upper-class courses only and the standard first-year curriculum would have to be taken.

International applicants attending an ABA-accredited law school can apply to transfer. International applicants attending a law school that is not ABA-accredited are not eligible to apply for transfer but may apply to our first-year J.D. program.

Transfer applicants may choose to apply in Round 1 of the Transfer Admissions process with 1L Fall grades only or in Round 2 with their complete 1L grades.

We strongly recommend that transfer applicants apply as early as possible to be eligible to participate in Georgetown Law recruiting programs.

Round 1 Transfer Application (Fall Grades Only):

• Application Open: January 20
• Deadline: May 1

Round 2 Transfer Application (Fall and Spring Grades Required):

• Deadline: June 17

Admissions decisions will be made on a rolling basis within each Round.  Applying as early as possible is to your advantage.  If you are not accepted as a Round 1 applicant, the Committee will in most cases reconsider your application in Round 2 with Spring grades, and thus strongly encourages those who are uncertain about which Round is right for them to apply in Round 1.

Yes. It is strongly advised that applicants apply online via the LSAC electronic application. Please be aware that LSAC needs time to process materials once received at their offices, so applicants should send their material to LSAC well in advance of application deadlines. Please note that you must have your law school’s registrar send your Transfer Certification Form (or letter of good standing) directly to our office.

Yes. Transfer candidates may apply to be considered for the Full-Time Program, Evening Program, or Both. Applying to “Both” divisions signifies to the Admissions Committee that you are equally willing to attend either program if offered admission to Georgetown Law. If the Admissions Committee approves your application, it will specify in your acceptance letter the division to which you have been admitted.

Yes. We recommend submitting all available application materials as soon as possible, even if you are waiting for your law transcript. Submitting your application early and then submitting your law transcript when it is available will allow our office to complete your application file more quickly. Because we have a rolling admissions system, it is to your advantage to complete your application as early as possible in the application cycle.

No. Your CAS Report must be sent to us directly from LSAC.

We would not recommend re-taking the LSAT. The Admissions Committee takes a holistic approach when reviewing files, but the LSAT is not given as much weight as actual academic performance at your law school.

No, we do not allow fee waivers for transfer applications.

Admissions decisions will be made on a rolling basis within each Round.  Applying as early as possible is to your advantage.  If you are not accepted as a Round 1 applicant, the Committee will reconsider your application in Round 2 with Spring grades, and thus strongly encourages those who are uncertain about which Round is right for them to apply in Round 1.

All Round 1 Decisions will be released no later than mid-May, all Round 2 decisions will be released not later than the end of June.

The Admissions Committee takes into consideration a number of factors in evaluating whether a candidate would be suitable for transfer admission. These factors include whether the person is likely to succeed at Georgetown, would benefit from a legal education here, and could contribute to the Georgetown legal community. In making such determinations, the Committee focuses on a number of criteria and does not use numerical cut-offs. However, competitive students are typically in the top 15% of their class with at least an A-/B+ average. In addition to examining the applicant’s law school academic performance, the Committee also considers the personal statement, letters of recommendations/evaluations, extracurricular activities, contributions to the community, and professional experience.

We do not offer merit-based scholarships to incoming transfer students through the Office of Admissions. However we strongly encourage you to apply for need-based grant assistance through the Office of Financial Aid. In addition, transfer students are fully eligible to participate in our Loan Repayment Assistance Program.

If you apply in Round 1, there are several decisions you could receive: Admit, Defer, or Deny. If you are denied admission, you will not be reconsidered with additional grades (and you cannot submit a new application). If you receive a deferral, the Committee will reconsider your file again after receipt of your Spring semester grades.

As noted above, the committee has indicated it is to most applicants’ advantage to apply in Round 1.

Admitted students will be provided specific instructions after their decision has been communicated. However, for planning purposes, please note that in addition to completing certain administrative tasks, admitted applicants seeking to secure their seat will be required to submit either a non-refundable tuition deposit of $2,750 or a Tuition Deposit Waiver indicating their binding commitment to matriculate at Georgetown.

The Transfer Student Peer Mentor Program provides support and resources for new J.D. transfer students. Transfer Student Peer Mentors are third or fourth-year J.D. students who have transferred to Georgetown Law in a previous year and assist incoming transfer students as they make the transition to Georgetown Law. The program is intended to help incoming J.D. transfer students make the most of the many opportunities available at the Law Center, while simultaneously fostering community and camaraderie among transfer students as well as throughout the Law Center.

There is a specific orientation program for transfer students.

Admitted transfer students have access to the Admitted Student Website, where all relevant transfer information is posted.

Transfers students are eligible for Law Review and Fall Recruitment (including OCI), just as rising 2Ls who originated at Georgetown Law. Please note that certain opportunities are available only to those admitted or deposited by particular dates, so therefore we strongly encourage you to apply early.

Transfer students are able to compete for the Moot Court, ADR, and Trial Advocacy (Mock Trial) teams.

There are two courses offered exclusively for transfer students–one section of Constitutional Law I (a required first-year courses at Georgetown Law) and Criminal Procedure.

After evaluation of your law school transcript and courses, up to 31 credits may be transferred. Once admitted, you will be asked to submit the syllabi for your first-year courses for review for transfer credit. Georgetown Law does not accept credit for distance-learning or state-law courses and reserves the right to determine whether to accept for transfer any courses or credits, whether courses fulfill Georgetown Law’s first-year course requirements or experiential course credit requirements, and whether any previously completed coursework is mutually exclusive with Georgetown Law courses.

Transfer students do not carry over their GPA from their prior law school.

Students who transfer to Georgetown Law after their first year of law school are eligible for consideration for Order of the Coif and for cum laude and magna cum laude graduation honors, based solely on grades earned at the Law Center. (Transfer students are not eligible for consideration for the award of summa cum laude, which requires a graduate to have completed at least 71 credits at the Law Center).

Yes, transfer students can participate in Summer and Fall recruitment programs.

To participate in any of Georgetown sponsored recruiting programs, students must have both committed to Georgetown (submitted a deposit or optional deposit waiver) by the program’s commitment deadline and submitted applications/ resumes by the programmatic deadline.

To participate fully in recruitment programs and activities, we strongly encourage transfer applicants to apply as early as possible in Round 1.

Yes. Transfer students may participate in the Write On Competition. The deadlines are different for transfer students and the number of spots reserved for transfer students varies by journal (but all journals reserve spots for transfer students). We do not provide statistics for the number of transfer students who were placed on the journals.

For more detailed information, including competition dates and a list of FAQs, please see Transfer Students: Information and FAQs on the Write On Competition page.

To participate in the competition this year, the packet must be purchased by the purchasing packet deadline.

– Students who are admitted by the purchasing packet deadline must compete in this year’s competition and will not be able to compete in next year’s competition.

– If you do not purchase the packet and are admitted after this year’s purchasing packet deadline, you will be eligible to compete in next year’s competition.

– If you have yet to be admitted, you may participate in this year’s competition. You must, however, be admitted before OJA posts results. Any transfer student who participates in this year’s competition, but is not admitted by the deadline set by OJA (see Transfer Students: Information and FAQs on the Write On Competition page), will be dropped from the competition and may not compete the following year. Interested students who have not yet been admitted should send an email to lawwriteon@georgetown.edu.

Transfer students have an opportunity to participate in the Leahy Competition during late September/early October of their 2L year. Participants who advance far enough in the competition are invited to join our Appellate Advocacy Moot Court team. For more information, please visit The Barrister’s Council Competitions page.

To qualify for the ADR division, students must participate in the Arbitration Competition (held in the fall) and the Intraschool Negotiation Competition (held in the spring). The Arbitration Competition is open to upper-class students. In the Negotiation Competition, students demonstrate their skillful handling of a legal negotiation in settlement discussions with their peers. Competitors who advance to the final rounds of these competitions are invited to join the Barrister’s Council and to represent Georgetown Law on one of its interscholastic ADR teams. For more information, please visit The Barrister’s Council Competitions page.

A transfer student may enroll in a clinic after matriculating at Georgetown. Please note that students in some of our clinics practice before the courts and other tribunals of D.C. and, therefore, must meet the requirements of the D.C. student practice rule. This rule requires the completion of 41 credit hours before the beginning of the semester in which the students are enrolled in a clinic, including courses in Civil Procedure, Criminal Justice, and Evidence. Students who have not taken Georgetown’s required first year courses might not have these prerequisites, as a Criminal Law course taken at the student’s former school generally will not fulfill the Criminal Procedure prerequisite.

The two-credit Criminal Procedure course for transfer students is often only offered once a year, so students interested in enrolling in clinics requiring D.C. Bar certification should take this course (or an available section of Criminal Justice) during the year prior to the year they wish to enroll in the clinic.

Please note that Georgetown Law’s clinic application process takes place early in the Spring semester, and most clinics will not have open seats for incoming 2L transfer students. Most Georgetown Law students who participate in clinics do so in their final year, however, and transfer students will have the opportunity to apply for any seats that become available.

Typically, transfer J.D. students cannot complete joint degree programs with Georgetown University’s Main Campus. In order to graduate from Georgetown Law, you must complete 85 credits total, 54 of which must be at Georgetown Law. The maximum number of credits that our Registrar’s Office will transfer from any other institution is 31 credit hours. GU-Main Campus is considered another institution. Thus, the accelerated nature offered by most of our joint degree programs is unavailable for transfer students, since they are at or almost at the maximum number of credits that can be transferred in (i.e., the overlap or cross-transfer of credit requirements between the two programs is not possible due to the 31 transfer-in credit amount restriction).

Transfer students who wish to pursue two degrees must be mindful of how many semesters their non-J.D. degree studies will take them away from the Law Center. Students in the full-time program are expected to graduate at the end of three academic years and may take no longer than five consecutive calendar years from the date of matriculation in law school (for transfer students, this would be when they matriculated into their prior law school and started their 1L/1E year) to meet all J.D. degree requirements. If after five consecutive calendar years a student has not yet completed all academic requirements necessary to graduate, the student will be withdrawn from the Law Center with no possibility of readmission or graduation, unless excused by grant of a waiver from the Registrar.

Likewise, students in the part-time program are expected to graduate within four academic years of matriculation and may take no longer than six consecutive calendar years from the date of matriculation in law school to meet all J.D. degree requirements. If after six consecutive calendar years a student has not completed all degree requirements necessary to graduate, the student will be withdrawn from the Law Center with no possibility of readmission or graduation, unless excused by grant of a waiver from the Registrar.

Transfer students may pursue a joint J.D./LL.M degree.

Transfer students generally may only study abroad through the CTLS (London). In order to graduate from Georgetown Law, you must complete 85 credits total (54 of which must be at Georgetown Law). The maximum number of credits that our Registrar’s Office will transfer from any other institution is 31 credit hours. Credits earned at the Center for Transnational Legal Study count as Law Center credits, so transfer students who bring in the maximum of 31 credits from their first-year school can still count these credits toward their J.D.

Evening Program students who have transferred 23 credits or fewer from their first year of law school should speak to an academic advisor if they are interested in studying abroad.

If you wish to take summer courses, you must remain enrolled at your current law school and obtain their permission to attend as a visiting student during the Summer semester, and you would enroll as a non-degree J.D. student through the Registrar’s office. You will need to submit the online application for the non-degree J.D. program when it is available to let the Registrar know which course(s) you wish to enroll in. Our Registrar’s office will update the J.D. non-degree page for the Summer in late March, and the application fee will be waived for admitted transfer students.

The Registrar’s office will count your non-degree Summer courses and credits to your Georgetown J.D. degree, and the grades will be calculated in your cumulative GPA. Admitted transfer students are not able to enroll in any Summer courses until after our current students have registered (just before classes begin in mid-May). Admitted transfer students are then able to enroll in any course a J.D. student can enroll in on a space available basis.