Please attach a Personal Statement of approximately 2 pages in length, double spaced. Your Personal Statement should help the Admissions Committee get to know you and better understand your strengths, motivations, and contributions you will make to our community of learners. You may write about anything you choose, although here are some recommended topics to help guide you: your motivation for law study, factors that demonstrate the likelihood of your success in law school, a description of how you have overcome obstacles, and/or how you will contribute to the class.

UMKC Law is dedicated to supporting the foundations of good lawyering: respect for people, for knowledge and ideas, and for justice. We recognize that a proven record of overcoming adversity demonstrates an ability to succeed as a law student and to better serve your future clients as an attorney. We therefore welcome you, although we do not require you, to submit a statement that addresses how you have dealt with adversity in your life and how that experience has helped you to develop personal qualities that will enable you to overcome meaningful challenges and contribute to the ideals of the law school and the legal community. You may choose to address the impact of any challenging experiences you have faced.

To ensure you receive full scholarship consideration we advise you to submit a Supplemental Statement as an addendum, although it is not required.

1. Why are you interested in attending UMKC School of Law for your JD degree? (maximum characters 300)

Feel free to submit an additional addendum to explain any relevant information you did not address in your personal statement. This is your opportunity to address any areas of concern in your application materials.

A résumé must be electronically attached to your application. Resumes should include information about your education, employment, activities, community service, etc.

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.

You may find a bar admission guide online at http://www.ncbex.org/publications/bar-admissions-guide/.

The questions in this section of the application are very similar to those that will be asked by the state Supreme Court bar admission authorities when you apply for admission to practice law. While the bar admission authorities ask these questions in order to determine whether you can practice law in a competent and ethical manner, we ask these questions to help us determine your ability to perform competently and ethically as a law student and to assess whether you can be admitted to practice law upon graduation. We hold your responses in the strictest confidence, sharing them only as is necessary for the law school and bar admission processes. If you have any concerns about these questions or how to respond to them, we urge you to let us know. If you are unsure as to whether to make a disclosure, we encourage you to err on the side of disclosure. Having some matters to disclose in response to these questions is common and certainly does not necessarily disqualify you from being admitted to law school. The candor you display in answering the questions is a positive factor in the consideration of your application.

If the answer to any of the questions is yes, please provide a supplemental statement in your own words accurately and fully describing the incident. If the matter has been concluded (for example, if a charge or claim was brought against you and the proceedings relating to it have been completed), please explain how it was resolved. If the matter is not completed (for example, if a charge or claim is still pending), please explain the situation and how and when you expect it to be resolved. For every question, if the answer is currently ‘no’ but there have been events that you believe may cause the answer to change to ‘yes,’ you should disclose that. (For example, if you were involved in an incident that may result in criminal charges being filed against you, you should disclose the incident even though no charges have been filed yet.) Please include all relevant dates, such as when an incident occurred and when it was resolved.

1. At any college or university or other institution of higher education, were you ever suspended, placed on probation, expelled, warned, reprimanded, or disciplined formally or informally, or were you ever the subject of a complaint, a probable cause hearing, or any other form of initial inquiry concerning your conduct? You must disclose every instance in which this has occurred regardless of whether the record has been expunged, cancelled, annulled, or no record was made by the school. You must disclose every incident whether it was an academic or non-academic matter.

2. Have you ever been held in contempt of court, had sanctions entered against you by a court, or otherwise been disqualified from participating in any legal proceeding?

3. As a holder of public office or as a member of any profession, have you ever been suspended, censured, reprimanded, disqualified, subject to discipline, allowed to resign in lieu of discipline, or been the subject of any charges, complaints, or grievances concerning your conduct? You must disclose all matters, even if the outcome was favorable to you, it was dismissed, no discipline was imposed, discipline was stayed or held in abeyance subject to a diversion or other agreement, or the matter was deemed confidential or closed.

4. Have you ever been a party to any noncriminal legal proceeding, such as a civil lawsuit, an arbitration, an administrative legal proceeding, or a family court or domestic abuse proceeding? Being a party to a legal proceeding means that you are one of the participants who has a legal interest in the outcome, such as if you sued or were sued by someone, and it includes having any type of order of protection issued against you. It does not include merely being a witness in a legal proceeding.

5. Has any entity that you owned, managed, or participated in the control or management of been charged with fraud, larceny, embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, misrepresentation, or similar misconduct, in any civil, criminal, or administrative legal proceeding?

6. Have you ever been arrested, charged, cited, issued a summons, taken into custody, or been convicted for the violation of any law? You must disclose every instance in which this has occurred even if charges ultimately were not brought against you or were dismissed, you were acquitted, you received a suspended imposition of sentence, the conviction was stayed or vacated, you were placed on probation, you were granted deferred adjudication, you participated in any type of pretrial diversion, or the record was sealed or expunged. You must disclose every incident regardless of whether you were an adult or a juvenile at the time. You must disclose every incident regardless of whether you have been advised by any source (such as legal counsel) that you need not disclose the incident. No statute, court order, or legal proceeding withholding adjudication, expunging or sealing any record, dismissing, vacating, or setting aside an arrest, charge, or conviction shall excuse less than full disclosure of the incident in this application. The incidents that must be disclosed include (but are not limited to) any violation relating to alcohol or controlled substances (such as driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated, minor in possession, public intoxication, or possession or use of false identification). You may exclude violations of traffic laws (such as speeding tickets or parking tickets) unless the violation resulted in time spent in jail, issuance of an arrest warrant, or revocation or suspension of your driver’s license.

If you are a Permanent Resident Alien, please attach a copy of your card.

The Application Process - Fall Start Thank you for your interest in UMKC School of Law! The admissions process is both highly competitive and selective, due in large part to the limited number of seats available in an entering class. Please know that each application is reviewed in its entirety.

All applicants for admission must take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). We recommend you take the LSAT as early as possible, usually June or August. February is the last test date for the priority deadline of March 1 and the Summer Start Program. We will consider applicants who take the test as late as June for the following fall, although because we offer rolling admissions, classes may fill up early. You may take the test more than once. We do not accept scores older than five years from the date of your application.

Applicants must complete a bachelor's degree based on a program of courses with substantial intellectual content from an approved institution before the start of law school or have made arrangements to apply via a 90+, 3+3, or other approved 6-year program.

90+ Program (3+3 Program) To qualify, students must complete at least 90 hours of credit in courses with substantial intellectual content from an approved institution, complete all non-elective coursework toward a bachelor?s degree, and make arrangements with the school that will award the degree to accept law school credits for the remainder of the work required to earn that degree, so the student will earn their bachelor's degree either previous to or concurrent with the JD degree. If you have not yet earned an undergraduate degree, you must have a letter from your undergraduate school confirming that it will accept credits earned from UMKC School of Law to complete the undergraduate degree. For more detailed information about the UMKC 90+ Program and 3+3 Programs, please see our website at https://law.umkc.edu/admissions/3-plus-3-programs.html. Otherwise, refer to your undergraduate institution's guidelines for more details.

Fall Start Program This is the application for the Fall Start Program. March 1st is the priority application deadline. April 1st is the application deadline for full admission consideration. Please allow 4-6 weeks for the processing of your complete application from the time your application is complete to receive a decision. Please plan accordingly for the March 1 priority deadline and submit your complete application at least 4-6 weeks prior to March 1 as this is during the height of the admissions cycle.

There are some major scholarship opportunities (including several prestigious full-ride scholarships) that will be awarded in early March. In order to have a chance to be considered for those, you would need to apply by the beginning of February. If you apply after that point, there are still many excellent scholarship opportunities for which you will be considered. But if you want to be considered for every possible scholarship, you must apply by the beginning of February.

For more detailed information about our admission timeline, please see our website at https://law.umkc.edu/admissions/jd-degree/index.html. Mandatory orientation will take place August 16-19, 2027.

Summer Start Program If you fill out the Fall Start application and decide you want to start in Summer, do not submit another application. Please email law@umkc.edu to request a change in start terms. For more detailed information about the Summer Start option, please see our website at https://law.umkc.edu/admissions/jd-degree/index.html

Résumé and Personal Statement A résumé and personal statement must be attached to your application. Applicants should include an updated résumé in their application materials uploaded to their LSAC accounts. Résumés should include information about your education, employment, activities, community service, etc.

Personal statements should be approximately two pages, double spaced. You should avoid restating things that can be found elsewhere in your application (such as on your résumé or transcripts). We suggest you write about something else you would like us to know about you, such as what motivates your decision to attend law school or what unique perspectives you can bring to a law school classroom. Make sure you proofread carefully. We suggest bringing it to your undergraduate school?s writing center for assistance.

UMKC School of Law?s admissions philosophy aims to give weight to the entirety of an applicant?s authentic skills and experience. As such, we expect all written submissions to be originated by the applicant and to reflect their personal voice, individualized experiences, and ideas. As part of this process, the use of artificial intelligence technology and tools to assist with editing and similar tasks of an applicant?s written submissions is appropriate. Merely entering prompts into an AI tool and submitting the result as one?s written submission, however, is both inappropriate and will not provide UMKC School of Law with authentic insight into the applicant?s readiness for law school.

Optional Addendum Feel free to submit an additional addendum to explain any relevant information you did not address in your personal statement. This is your opportunity to address any areas of concern in your application materials.

Optional Supplemental Statement UMKC Law is dedicated to supporting the foundations of good lawyering: respect for people, for knowledge and ideas, and for justice. We recognize that a proven record of overcoming adversity demonstrates an ability to succeed as a law student and to better serve your future clients as an attorney. We therefore welcome you, although we do not require you, to submit a statement that addresses how you have dealt with adversity in your life and how that experience has helped you to develop personal qualities that will enable you to overcome meaningful challenges and contribute to the ideals of the law school and the legal community. You may choose to address the impact of any challenging experiences you have faced.

To ensure you receive full scholarship consideration we advise you to submit a Supplemental Statement as an addendum, although it is not required.

Letters of Recommendation If you are still in undergraduate school or you have recently graduated, you should have professors provide your letters of recommendation. If you have been out of school for at least three years, we still encourage recommendations from professors, although you may also ask an employer or someone who knows you well. The recommender should be able to assess issues that will be critical to your success in law school, such as intellect, motivation, and communication skills. Choose recommenders who are impressed by you and your achievements over those whom you think we will find impressive due to their title.

Recommendations from peers, family, and family friends will not be accepted. Letters of recommendation are not intended to serve as mere character references. Applicants must submit letters of recommendation to us through the Credential Assembly Service (CAS). We require two letters but can accept as many as four.

Interviews UMKC utilizes interviews as part of our personalized admissions process. Interviews are by invitation and not by request, and we do not guarantee that all applicants will receive an interview. The Admissions staff will contact applicants on an individual basis to schedule an interview appointment.

International Students We require that international applicants who attended a post-secondary institution in which the primary language of instruction was not English submit either a TOEFL or IELTS score taken within the past two years. Applicants who are not U.S. citizens or Permanent Residents, if admitted, will be asked to supply additional documents required for processing by the UMKC International Student Affairs Office. In order to give adequate time for this processing, applications from international students must be complete by March 1.

Notice of Nondiscrimination UMKC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, ancestry, disability, military status, veteran status, in admissions, educational programs or activities and employment. The University complies with all federal and state laws and University of Missouri System policy regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the State of Missouri Human Rights Act Chapter 213 RSMO. Your responses to questions regarding race and ethnicity on the application will not be viewed, accessed, or considered during the review of your application.

UMKC considers any allegations of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, sexual violence and sex/gender discrimination serious and will thoroughly investigate. KC Atchinson is UMKC's Title IX Coordinator. KC can be reached at atchinsonk@umkc.edu or 816-235-6705.

Any person who feels they have been discriminated against or who has inquiries regarding this institution's compliance with the foregoing regulations may contact UMKC's Affirmative Action by visiting The Office of Affirmative Action; Administrative Center; 5115 Oak Street, Room 212, Kansas City, MO 64110 or calling (816) 235-1771.

Application Fee For domestic students, a non-refundable $60 application processing fee paid via LSAC must accompany this application. For international students, the fee is $75. Former degree-seeking UMKC students who attended starting Fall 1975 or later, as well as veterans, are not required to pay and should email the Admissions Office at law@umkc.edu for an application fee waiver, before submitting the application.