Law School Rankings

You Need To Know: UCLA Law School Facts And Figures

The UCLA Law School is actually one of the newest of the top law schools in the country. US News and World Report has ranked this school, which was founded in 1949, as the 15th best law school in the country. It is located in Los Angeles in the Westwood area.

Prospective students need to submit an application to the UCLA Law School that includes a resume, a personal statement, the completed application and application fee, undergraduate transcripts, and two or three letters of recommendation. They also need to register with the LSDAS and have their LSAT scores submitted through this system. Letters of recommendation can also be submitted through LSDAS. The UCLA Law School does not prefer any undergraduate field of study, they just want the academic program to have been rigorous and for the student to have high academic achievement levels.

The UCLA Law School has a variety of programs of study available. These include the J.D. (with specializations available in Business Law & Policy, Critical Race Studies, Entertainment Law, Law and Philosophy, and Public Interest Law); joint degrees resulting in a J.D. and a Masters degree in Afro-American Studies, Public Health, American Indian Studies, Public Policy, Urban Planning, Management or Social Welfare; a Master of Laws degree and a Doctor of Juridical Science.

Tuition and fees for the UCLA Law School vary depending on the degree and whether or not you are a California Resident. For example, for the 2009-2010 school year, it was $35,328 for J.D. students admitted in 2008 that were California Residents, and $45,968 for those who were non-residents. Students in the 2009-2010 LLM program had a tuition of $45,000, and those admitted in 2008 to the SJD program paid $11,934 for residents and $26,970 for non-residents. The school estimates that most students spend about an additional $970 per semester for supplies and books. Most students do not pay the full amount of tuition since 92 percent of them receive some form of financial aid, and 69 percent of these students receive gift aid.

Famous graduates of the UCLA Law School include Val Ackerman, the first female president of USA basketball and former WNBA president; Vincent Bugliosi, the author of Helter Skelter; Kelly Perdew, the season two winner of The Apprentice; four judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, including the Chief Judge (Alex Kozinski) and a Senior Judge (Dorothy Wright Nelson); Peter Carlisle, the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney; and Susan Westerberg Prager, one of the first female deans of a law school.