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Reviewed by:
Former Head of Pre-Law Office, Northeastern University, & Admissions Officer, Brown University
Reviewed: 11/16/23
If you see law as a powerful tool to challenge the status quo, you’ll want to learn more about Vermont Law School. Read on to learn more about how you can join this forward-thinking school!
Vermont Law School specializes in its environmental law programs and is dedicated to addressing the complex and unprecedented environmental challenges the world currently faces.
With the goal to create a new generation of leaders to meet these needs, Vermont offers the most comprehensive environmental law program in the country—it includes five legal clinics, six centers and institutes, 67 courses, and 76 faculty.
If environmental law isn’t your area of interest, Vermont also offers rigorous curriculums and clinics in various other specialties, including animal law, business law, criminal law, food and agricultural law, and international and comparative law.
If you’re intrigued to learn more about this school, its admission requirements, rankings, and more, this guide has got you covered!
Vermont Law School has an acceptance rate of 59.6%. In the 2022-2023 admissions cycle, this school received 888 applications and extended offers of admission to 529 applicants.
The University of Vermont Law School acceptance rate has remained around 60-70% for the last few years:
Getting into Vermont Law School is relatively easy; about 6 out of every 10 applicants is offered admission. In contrast, T14 schools typically admit only 1 out of every 10 applicants!
Vermont Law offers law degrees to students in every stage of their legal journey:
Vermont Law School ranks as the 164th-best law school in the country. It is highly regarded for its environmental law program, which ranks 4th.
As a less competitive school, Vermont is an excellent option for students with lower GPAs and LSAT scores.
Students admitted to the 2022-2023 Vermont Law class had an average GPA of 3.36. Successful applicants had GPAs within the range of 3.09 to 3.69.
Vermont Law School’s average LSAT score for the 2022 entering class was 154. This score falls around the 55th percentile.
Vermont requires the following application materials from its prospective students:
Vermont requires two letters of recommendation from each of its applicants. At least one of these letters should be written by a professor. It should speak specifically about your academic potential and relevant personal qualities.
If you’ve been out of school for a few years and are unable to get a recommendation from a professor, you may ask an employer. Regardless of who writes your recommendations, they should be thoughtful and substantive!
Students are required to write a personal essay to tell the committee more about their motivations to go to law school. This application component plays a crucial role in humanizing your application and adding color to it!
Vermont asks students to respond to the following prompt for their essay:
Describe the goals that are motivating you to pursue a JD degree. How do you think the skills and experience you will gain at Vermont Law School will help you achieve these goals?
“I come from a family of doctors - my dad's a cardiologist, my mom's a pathologist, and my younger sister is following in their footsteps to become a neurologist. It seemed like my path was set from the start: continue our family's legacy, meet a respectable doctor to marry, and have doctor kids to continue the tradition. I was the obedient child, always getting good grades, following the rules, and never causing any trouble.
But everything changed when my best friend was diagnosed with cancer. I turned to our family's network of doctors for help, but their faces told me what their words couldn't - they couldn't save her. It was a frustrating and helpless experience, seeing all these healers unable to heal someone I loved. It made me question everything.
So, I started looking into other careers, and that's when I stumbled upon the idea of studying law. It seemed like a way to make a real difference in people's lives, even if it was in a different way than medicine. The law, with its rules and structure, felt more straightforward compared to the uncertainties of medicine. In my mind, it had two simple outcomes: guilty or innocent. Of course, I've since learned that the law is far from black and white, but that initial spark of wanting to become a lawyer and make a difference has never faded.
My goal in pursuing a JD degree is to be part of the solution, to help people in a different way than the doctors in my family. I want to advocate for justice, represent those who can't speak for themselves, and make the legal system work for the betterment of society. I want to navigate the complexities of the legal world, and even though it's not as clear-cut as I once thought, I'm ready for the challenge.
Vermont Law School is where I see myself taking these goals to the next level. Their reputation and their strong focus on environmental law align with my passion for making a positive impact on the world. I believe that the skills and experiences I'll gain at Vermont Law School will prepare me to be an effective advocate and a force for positive change. It's a place where I can learn, grow, and become part of a community of like-minded individuals who want to make a difference.
In essence, my journey to a JD degree is a personal one, rooted in the realization that healing can take many forms, and the law provides a unique path to bring about positive change. Vermont Law School is my chosen destination on this journey, and I'm excited about the opportunities it offers to develop my skills, connect with others who share my vision, and work towards a fairer and more compassionate world.”
This essay begins with a captivating personal story, which draws the readers in from the beginning and explains their deep-seated motivation to pursue law.
The connection between the family's medical background, the applicant's realization of the limitations of medicine, and the desire to make a positive impact in the world through the law is clearly and passionately conveyed.
Additionally, the applicant's willingness to acknowledge and learn from their initial simplification of the legal field demonstrates self-awareness, adaptability, and open-mindedness, qualities that are valuable for success in law school!
Along with the mentioned required essay, students are given the opportunity to further demonstrate their writing skills and help the committee know them better through the following optional essays:
Writing these essays can further differentiate and strengthen your application.
Tuition to attend Vermont Law School is $51,700 a year. With the addition of other costs, like textbooks and transportation, the total cost to attend Vermont is estimated to be around $74,072-$79,308.
Let’s delve into the details of these expenses:
Since these high costs can make attending law school seem impossible, Vermont offers various merit-based, need-based, and opportunity-based scholarships to all of its students.
In fact, 98% of the most recent entering class received some form of merit-based scholarship, and the average overall scholarship amount awarded to students was $29,000, which covers more than half of Vermont’s tuition costs!
In case you require more financial aid, there are also several external scholarships you can apply for that can cover the full or partial costs of your tuition!
Vermont Law School opens its applications in September and closes them on April 15th for regular Fall decision applicants. However, Vermont allows students to apply for two different start dates, a summer and fall semester, each with different deadlines.
Here are the corresponding deadlines:
While the priority deadline for regular decision applications is April 15, Vermont will continue to admit students until August 1. However, if you wait to submit your application past the priority deadline, you will be competing for even fewer spots, which will decrease your chances of admission.
The Vermont Law School ranking itself may discourage you from applying, considering this school ranks 164th in the nation. However, its environmental law program ranks significantly higher as the fourth best in the country.
For environmental enthusiasts, this law school can certainly provide you with the experiences and education to succeed in this field!
Vermont School of Law has a bar passage rate of 59%. While a higher bar passage rate is desirable, Vermont makes every effort to offer support and prepare its students for the legal profession.
Following these tried-and-true tips will improve your chances of getting into Vermont Law:
Vermont Law urges students to maintain competitive scores to increase their chances of admission, and state students’ GPA and LSAT scores are the two most important admissions criteria they consider.
Focus on content for your resume! The goal isn’t to show off your graphic design skills, so keep your resume to a basic black-and-white format and avoid using pictures that will take up valuable space. Remember, your resume should only be 1-2 pages long! Consider also saving your resume as a PDF to avoid any formatting issues.
Vermont Law admissions committees appreciate when students add hobby or interests sections to their resumes so that they can learn more about who you are and how you’d fit into the community! You should also share any languages you know, as this can make you stand out more!
Most of Vermont’s successful applicants have some form of paid employment experience on their resumes, whether it be part-time work or permanent positions. The committee looks upon your employment history as indicative of your ambition and persistence.
The admissions committee also looks favorably on applicants who demonstrate a commitment to the greater community through participation in civic, charitable, volunteer, and other activities.
What Vermont Law School is looking for is applicants who demonstrate academic excellence and can prove they will use their education and skills to contribute to the profession and the community in which they live.
Thus, they value students who demonstrate a sense of civic responsibility, ambition, and persistence in their pursuits, whether it be their academics, extracurriculars, or passion projects!
For any remaining questions about Vermont Law School, read on to find your answers.
No, Vermont Law is not considered to be a hard school to get into. It has a high acceptance rate and relatively low score requirements.
Despite its lower ranking, Vermont is considered to be a good school, especially for its environmental law and advocacy program. Vermont’s extensive clinical and experiential programs also offer practical learning opportunities that help students develop essential legal skills to ensure they’re career-ready.
The bar passage rate for Vermont Law is 59%.
Yes, all Vermont applicants must write the LSAT. However, considering the median LSAT score of previous applicants is only 154, students can feel some ease knowing they do not have to score extremely high to be considered competitive applicants.
Students should aim for a GPA of around 3.36 to maximize their chances of acceptance to Vermont Law.
Aside from meeting the LSAT and GPA medians, students should engage in meaningful extracurricular, work, and volunteer experiences to increase their chances of admission. Vermont appreciates when students can juggle multiple opportunities at once, are dedicated to their passions, and give back to the community.
Whether you’re applying to Vermont Law as a safety school or for its outstanding environmental law program, it’s essential you focus on your scores and submit a standout application. Despite this school being only slightly selective, you’ll still want to put your best effort forward to start your legal journey on the right foot!
