A personal statement is an important and required part of your application. This statement should be limited to no more than three double-spaced pages typed in 12-point font. There is no specific prompt for you to write on. This statement should enable the reviewer to know you, your interests, and/or challenges that you may have experienced that have led you to this stage in your life.

An applicant who believes that their background or life experience may have adversely affected them and their past educational performance, should provide detailed information about their background or life experience in this separate adversity statement. You may describe any challenges, disadvantages, traumatic events, forms of social exclusion, or any other kinds of adversity that you have experienced, and how these life experiences may have adversely affected you and your past educational performance. If so, please discuss how you overcame these adverse experiences and/or how they have shaped the person you are.

An applicant who believes that their application contains any perceived weakness(es) (such as a low undergraduate GPA or a low admission test score) should provide a statement to further explain the perceived weakness(es) in their application.

Submit a résumé outlining your employment history, organizational memberships, volunteer experiences, and other pertinent information related to your work or volunteer history.

Applicants are required to answer the following questions fully and honestly. Applicants have a continuing duty prior to and after matriculation to inform California Western of any and all changes to their answers to these questions. Failure to make such disclosure(s) may result in revocation of admission or disciplinary action by California Western, or denial of permission to practice law by the state in which the applicant seeks admission.

In addition to a bar examination, there are character, fitness, and other qualifications for admission to the bar in every U.S. jurisdiction. Applicants are encouraged to determine the requirements for any jurisdiction in which they intend to seek admission by contacting the jurisdiction. Addresses for all relevant agencies are available through the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

1. Have you ever been found guilty of an honor code violation (or its equivalent) at any institution of higher learning?

2. Provide a full explanation that specifies the surrounding circumstances, applicable dates, and repercussions of each honor code violation. Attach additional documentation ONLY IF your explanation exceeds the character limits allotted. (maximum characters 5000)

3. Have you ever, either as an adult or a juvenile, been apprehended, cited, arrested, taken into custody for, charged with, indicted or tried for, or pleaded guilty or no contest (nolo contendere) to the commission of any felony or misdemeanor or the violation of any law, except for minor traffic violations unrelated to the use of intoxicants, or been the subject of juvenile delinquency or youthful offender proceedings, or is any such action pending or expected to be brought against you? Answer affirmatively even if the applicable offense has been dismissed or expunged.

4. Provide a full explanation that specifies the surrounding circumstances, applicable dates, and the sentencing, if any, be it incarceration, probation, community service, community control, restitution, fine, revocation or suspension of driving privileges, or suspension of sentence altogether. Attach additional documentation ONLY IF your explanation exceeds the character limits allotted. (maximum characters 5000)

5. Have you ever been a plaintiff or defendant in a civil lawsuit?

6. Provide a full explanation that specifies the surrounding circumstances, whether you were the plaintiff or defendant, applicable dates, and the outcome of each lawsuit. Attach additional documentation ONLY IF your explanation exceeds the character limits allotted. (maximum characters 5000)

7. Have you ever been informally or formally dropped, suspended, warned, placed on disciplinary probation, expelled, or requested to resign or allowed to resign in lieu of discipline by any educational institution, or otherwise subjected to any academic or non-academic discipline by any such institution or requested or advised by any such institution to discontinue your studies therein?

8. Provide a full explanation that specifies the surrounding circumstances, applicable dates, and repercussions of every disciplinary action taken against you. Attach additional documentation ONLY IF your explanation exceeds the character limits allotted. (maximum characters 5000)

9. Has any governmental or administrative agency (including any branch of the armed forces), or employer ever taken disciplinary action against you?

10. Provide a full explanation that specifies the surrounding circumstances, applicable dates, and repercussions of every disciplinary action taken against you. Attach additional documentation ONLY IF your explanation exceeds the character limits allotted. (maximum characters 5000)

GENERAL Applications must be processed electronically through LSAC's Credential Assembly Service (CAS). Any supporting documents or supplemental statements should also be processed through LSAC's electronic application service or sent via e-mail to admissions@cwsl.edu. Our priority application deadline is April 1, 2027. However, we continue to accept applications after that on a rolling basis typically until July 31, 2027.

PART-TIME EVENING JD PROGRAM Please note that our part-time JD program is an evening program, which is designed primarily for working professionals or individuals with family responsibilities or other commitments that might prevent them from enrolling in the full-time program. Please click here for more information about our part-time evening program.

JD/MBA DUAL-DEGREE PROGRAM You must apply separately to California Western and San Diego State University. Please click here to view the program and application timeframe and requirements.

ADMISSION TEST All applicants are required to take at least one of the following exams: the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test, or the JD-Next Exam. We must receive your score report no later than July of your law school entering class year. You may choose which test to take; however, please note the following guidelines:

If you take the LSAT in addition to the GRE or JD-Next Exam, you must submit all reportable LSAT scores but may choose whether or not to submit your GRE or JD-Next score(s). If you elect to submit a GRE and/or JD-Next score, you must submit all reportable GRE and/or JD-Next scores on file with the Educational Testing Service (ETS) or Aspen Publishing, as applicable. GRE scores should be submitted directly to California Western by ETS using California Western's ETS school code, 0118. For the JD-Next Exam, please follow Aspen Publishing's instructions regarding how to submit your score report to CWSL. If you are applying only with a GRE or JD-Next score, you are still required to subscribe to and utilize LSAC's CAS system for the submission of your application, transcripts, and letters of recommendation.

GRADE POINT AVERAGE In evaluating your undergraduate GPA, the following factors will be considered: The age of the grades, difficulty of coursework, outside commitments while attending college, dependent care during school, grading patterns at the school attended, and grade trends or discrepancies among your grades.

PERSONAL STATEMENT (REQUIRED) A personal statement is an important and required part of your application. This statement should be limited to no more than three double-spaced pages typed in 12-point font. There is no specific prompt for you to write on. This statement should enable the reviewer to know you, your interests, and/or challenges that you may have experienced that have led you to this stage in your life.

ADVERSITY STATEMENT (OPTIONAL) An applicant who believes that their background or life experience may have adversely affected them and their past educational performance, should provide detailed information about their background or life experience in this separate adversity statement. You may describe any challenges, disadvantages, traumatic events, forms of social exclusion, or any other kinds of adversity that you have experienced, and how these life experiences may have adversely affected you and your past educational performance. If so, please discuss how you overcame these adverse experiences and/or how they have shaped the person you are.

PERCEIVED WEAKNESS STATEMENT (OPTIONAL) An applicant who believes that their application contains any perceived weakness(es) (such as a low undergraduate GPA or a low admission test score) should provide a statement to further explain the perceived weakness(es) in their application.

ORIGINAL WORK Aside from editing assistance, all the writing in this application and any supporting materials (other than letters of recommendation) must be your own original work and not generated in whole or in part by artificial intelligence tools (e.g. ChatGPT). The submission of any false, incomplete, or AI-generated materials may be grounds for denial of admission, or if discovered after admission, grounds for revocation of your admission, dismissal from California Western School of Law, or revocation of your degree.

PRIOR LAW SCHOOL ATTENDANCE If you attended another law school, you must provide a letter of attendance stating the dates of enrollment and withdrawal and a transcript from each law school attended. Students who have been academically disqualified from law school previously are only eligible to apply for admission beginning with the first entering class starting more than two years after the date of their dismissal.

DUTY TO UPDATE Please ensure your contact information includes your legal name and a beginning and estimated end date for each address provided. If you have any updates to your application, please send them to admissions@cwsl.edu.

FONTS Do not use all caps or all lowercase print.

DECISIONS All decision information is delivered via email. Admission decisions can take up to 4-6 weeks from the time an application is complete and ready for review. This timeline is subject to change based on where we are in the admissions cycle. For example, it could take longer to receive an admission decision during peak application review times, such as January and April.

If you have questions about the application, please contact us at (619) 525-1401 or admissions@cwsl.edu.

STATEMENT FOR NON-DISCRIMINATION California Western School of Law does not discriminate on the basis of age; ancestry; citizenship status; color; creed; disability or medical condition; gender; pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions; gender identity or expression; marital, military or parental status; national origin; race; religion; sexual orientation, or any other basis prohibited by law. For questions about discrimination on the basis of a disability or to file a Section 504 complaint alleging discrimination on the basis of a disability, contact the Vice Dean for Academic & Student Affairs, located at 225 Cedar Street, Second Floor, San Diego, CA 92101, (619) 525-1409.