Admissions Viewbook
Information about USC Joseph F. Rice School of Law is available in our Viewbook. Read more >>
Application Deadline
Our priority deadline for complete applications is March 1, but we welcome applications through early summer. Decisions will be made on a rolling basis.
APPLY
The Fall 2027 application for admission will open on September 1, 2026.
If you have any questions, please contact our admissions team at 803-777-6605.
Enrollment Requirements
A candidate must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university, or expect to receive one by the date of their enrollment in the School of Law.
How to Apply
All applications for admission are submitted through the Law School Admission Council's electronic application service. Applicants must create an account at LSAC.org, take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), complete LSAT Writing, the on-demand writing exam, and subscribe to the LSAC Credential Assembly Service (CAS). The application for admission and required documents are transmitted by LSAC to the admissions office. Applicants are notified by email when the application is received.
What items are required in the application for admission?
Complete instructions are provided when you fill out the electronic application. Applicants will be prompted to upload or attach some of the required documents. Your academic transcript and letters of recommendation will be submitted by others on your behalf at your request.
Complete each section of the application, provide certification of your responses when prompted, and attach any required documents.
Two letters of recommendation are required for an application to be complete. Faculty recommendations are preferred; other recommenders should be advised to address your potential as a law student. Evaluations of your maturity, self-discipline, good judgment, and professionalism are also helpful.
You are responsible for having an official transcript from any college or university you attended, sent by that institution directly to your account at LSAC. LSAC will analyze these transcripts and provide copies of the actual transcript as part of the CAS report submitted to the admissions office on your behalf.
LSAT Writing is a proctored, on-demand writing exam that is administered online using secure proctoring software that is installed on the candidate’s own computer. You will have 35 minutes to write an essay in response to the prompt presented to you.
Tell us about yourself. Give the Admissions Committee information you believe is relevant to the admission decision that is not elicited elsewhere in the application. You may address your academic or intellectual interests, significant accomplishments or obstacles overcome, personal or professional goals, educational achievements, or any way in which your perspective, viewpoint, or experiences will contribute to the School of Law community.
Please attach a résumé or curriculum vitae which details your college education (including significant leadership, academic honors, and accomplishments), employment, community involvement, volunteer service, or other activities. Since law school recruitment preparation begins early in the first- year of law school, save time now! Convert your current resume to the format you will use in law school. Here is a link to specific guidance and a template you can follow.
A nonrefundable application fee of $60 is payable through LSAC's secure server. A candidate who is serving in an established public service program (e.g., Teach for America, Peace Corps) or for whom the fee poses a financial hardship or a barrier to their application is encouraged to request a fee waiver code from the School of Law Office of Admission. The application fee is automatically waived for a candidate who received a waiver of LSAT or CAS fees from LSAC.
Please click here to request an application fee waiver. Contact the Office of Admissions at usclaw@law.sc.edu if you have any questions.
Use of Outside Assistance in Your Personal Statement and Optional Supplemental Essays.
The written responses you submit to our required personal statement, optional supplemental essay prompts, and open-ended questions should be your own work. The ideas, concepts, framework, and conclusions should be of your own creation. Any outlines, drafts and submissions should be your own compositions. You should not use ChatGPT or other generative artificial intelligence tools as part of your creative or drafting processes. You may use electronic tools (like Grammarly or spellcheck), or you may ask prelaw advisors, mentors, friends, or others for basic proofreading assistance and general feedback and critiques.
What items are optional in the application for admission?
We give all applicants ample opportunity to share their unique life experience and to explain how they will advance the mission, vision, and values of the School of Law. Use these optional essays to discuss how your goals for your legal education and career align with these principles. Please limit each essay you choose to submit to one page.
The University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law seeks to enroll a class of talented and engaged students who advance our mission, vision, and values and meaningfully contribute to the University community. We invite you to submit an optional essay that discusses how your goals for your legal education and career align with these principles. Feel free to share ways in which your experiences, achievements, and background inform the perspective you would bring to the law school classroom and to cocurricular activities. We are particularly interested in understanding your journey to law school so far, especially any of your experiences that might not be widely shared among our student body. We are not imposing any requirements or limits on the information you may include in this statement; we simply want to know more about you. Please note that the law school cannot use your essay in any way to discriminate or provide a benefit based on the applicant's race or other legally protected status.
MISSION. The University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law prepares lawyer-leaders to serve their communities through rigorous legal studies, exceptional experiential training, and comprehensive professional identity formation within an intellectually dynamic environment. We serve justice and advance the law through engaged learning, teaching, scholarship, and service.
VISION. To be an innovative, student-centered public law school that advances knowledge and the common good, with a local impact, a national voice, and a global reach.
VALUES. Service. Serving justice, the legal profession, the diverse people of South Carolina, the nation, and the world. Success. Placing students and their success in the center of all that we do, while promoting excellence and opportunity. Passion. Fostering a scholarly community that promotes passion for the pursuit of knowledge, the exchange of impactful ideas, innovative research, and transformative teaching. Integrity. Modeling and instilling integrity and professional values. Community. Cultivating through our words and actions a civil community where everyone is valued and supported.
Evidence of certain skills and abilities can show your potential to meet the challenges of law school and the profession. Feel free to provide examples of personal qualities or experiences that have shaped your development in areas such as intellectual and cognitive reasoning, research and information gathering, communications, planning and organizing, resolution of conflicts, client and business relations, working with others (including those with different perspectives and goals than your own), and character development. Please note that the law school cannot use your essay in any way to discriminate or provide a benefit based on an applicant's race or other legally protected status.
The law school is interested in your distinct experiences or life challenges that may not be apparent in the rest of the application or discussed in your personal statement. We invite you to share information that will provide context for our evaluation of your potential for success in our academic setting. Relevant information to provide could include, but is not limited to, financial hardship, educational adversity, special talents, specific work or community service, unusual rural or urban upbringing, foreign residence, military background, or unique personal or family circumstances. Feel free to discuss life circumstances that affected your ability to access resources, advising, or opportunities to demonstrate your interest in or aptitude for the study of law (e.g., family educational attainment, your employment, family income during childhood, public benefits access, need-based aid, housing insecurity or homelessness, family responsibilities, parenting or caregiving, or justice-system impacted family members.) Please note that the law school cannot use your essay in any way to discriminate or provide a benefit based on an applicant's race or other legally protected status.
If you believe your LSAT or other (e.g., ACT or SAT) test scores or academic records do not accurately represent your potential to be successful at our law school, please tell us why, and tell us what we should consider in place of, or supplemental to, these factors. If your undergraduate, graduate, or professional school attendance has been interrupted for one or more terms for any reason, please explain the circumstances and provide a description of your activities during that time.
South Carolina Honors College
Honors to Law Priority Admission Pathway
The Honors to Law Priority Admission Pathway provides qualified Honors College students or graduates with a streamlined pathway to admission at the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law. Applicants Students who meet the eligibility requirements receive a prioritized application review and early admission decision.
Admission through this pathway is binding. Students are not eligible to enroll at another law school and are expected to withdraw all other pending law school applications upon acceptance.
- Prioritized application review
- Early admission decision to the USC Rice School of Law—by December 31
- Guaranteed scholarship (in-state) or tuition reduction (out-of-state)
- Graduate from the South Carolina Honors College with honors and a cumulative GPA of at least 3.80, as calculated by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC).
- Earn an LSAT score of at least 164 and, if multiple LSAT scores are reported, maintain an average LSAT score of at least 162.
- Submit a letter of support from the Dean of the South Carolina Honors College.
- Meet the character and fitness standards for admission to the Joseph F. Rice School of Law.
- Submit a complete application through LSAC no later than December 1.
- Application Deadline: December 1
- Admission Decision Released: By December 31
- Decisions are released on a rolling basis, with December 31 being the latest.
- Enrollment Commitment: January 15
- Admission through this program is binding.
Students admitted through the Honors to Law Priority Admission Pathway who meet the eligibility requirements will receive financial support:
- South Carolina Residents: A guaranteed scholarship of $10,000 per year.
- Non-Residents: Eligibility for the Non-Resident Scholar reduced tuition rate.
Accelerated Undergraduate to J.D.
The South Carolina Honors College and the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law offer an innovative Accelerated Undergraduate to J.D. Program for highly qualified Honors students who aspire to become attorneys. This unique pathway allows students to complete the Bachelor of Arts and Sciences (BARSC) degree through the South Carolina Honors College and then earn a Juris Doctor from the USC Rice School of Law in just six years rather than the traditional seven.
Only first-year South Carolina Honors College students who have completed one semester at the Columbia campus are eligible to apply. Students admitted to the program are enrolled in the BARSC major and complete all Honors College, pre-law, and BARSC requirements within three years. They then matriculate to the USC Rice School of Law during their fourth year and complete the J.D. degree in three additional years.
Students admitted to the Accelerated Undergraduate to J.D. Program enjoy several advantages, including:
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- Early acceptance to the USC Rice School of Law
- No LSAT requirement
- Guaranteed scholarship (in-state) or tuition reduction (out-of-state)
- Undergraduate financial aid may be utilized to fund the first year of law school
- Waiver of the J.D. application fee
- Waiver of the $500 law school seat deposit
- Waiver of the LSAT Writing requirement
- Opportunities to connect and engage with the USC Rice School of Law community throughout their undergraduate experience
To be eligible, applicants must:
- Be a first-year South Carolina Honors College student who has completed one semester at the Columbia campus
- Have a minimum institutional GPA of 3.75 at the time of application
- Demonstrate performance at or above the 85th percentile nationally on the ACT or SAT at the time the examination was taken
- Submit one letter of recommendation
- Complete the program application by the published deadline
Students with a valid LSAT score are not eligible for admission through this program. Students admitted to the Accelerated Undergraduate to J.D. Program also agree not to register for future administrations of the LSAT.
- Application Opens: December 1*
- Application Deadline: January 15*
- Interview Invitations Sent: January 30*
- Applicant Interviews: February*
- Admission Decisions Released: March 1*
- Applicants offered admission to the program will have two weeks to accept or decline their offer.
*Please note that each of the dates above occur during the applicant’s first year at the South Carolina Honors College.
Students accepted into the program must complete a law school application through LSAC between September 1 and December 1 of their third undergraduate year. Prior to matriculation, students must maintain a minimum 3.75 institutional GPA as reported by LSAC and successfully complete the character and fitness review required of all law students.
Students admitted to the Accelerated Undergraduate to J.D. Program who successfully matriculate to the USC Rice School of Law will receive financial support upon enrollment:
- South Carolina Residents: A guaranteed scholarship of $10,000 per year.
- Non-Residents: Eligibility for the Non-Resident Scholar reduced tuition rate.
This financial support is in addition to the program benefits of early admission, application fee waiver, seat deposit waiver, and LSAT requirement waiver. For example, fourth year funding through a student’s general university scholarship and/or state scholarship can be used to fund the first year of law school.