From the School
Georgia State University College of Law offers outstanding programs and hands-on learning opportunities in the heart of downtown Atlanta. Surrounded by business, government, nonprofit and cultural organizations, Georgia State Law provides an ideal environment for gaining practical experience and engaging in interdisciplinary research. Offering nine dual degrees in our J.D. program and an LL.M., Georgia State Law is the smart choice.
The school was founded in 1982 in downtown Atlanta. It offers a fulland part-time J.D. program, which allows nine dual-degree options, and the LL.M. program. Through an innovative curriculum that blends hands-on, practice-based instruction with legal theory, the college graduates attorneys prepared to make a contribution from day one.
Our Clinics
HeLP Legal Services Clinic: Students develop professional skills in a variety of civil subject matter areas by representing low-income children receiving health care services at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta facilities.
Investor Advocacy Clinic: Student interns represent and counsel small investors who are victims of broker misconduct and cannot afford or find private legal representation because of the size of their claims.
Phillip C. Cook Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic: The tax clinic promotes professional skills and training as students represent low-income people during the post-audit stage of their Internal Revenue Service disputes.
Our External Clinics
Georgia State Law's external clinics operate separately from the Center for Clinical Education. Students take clinical courses and perform legal work in offices outside of the law school in the areas of criminal law and mediation under the supervision of adjunct faculty, who serve as mentors.
Capital Defender Clinic: Capital Defender Clinic students help the capital defender attorneys make a strong case for life at trial and build factual and legal narratives that will lead to the reversal of death sentences on appeal.
Landlord-Tenant Mediation Clinic:
Landlord-Tenant Mediation Clinic students will mediate landlord/tenant disputes and other disputes later in the year, including cases handled in the State and Magistrate courts; particularly small claim civil issues such as disputes between neighbors, consumers and businesses and creditors and debtors.
Our Externship Program provides legal support to more than 75 public agencies, courts and nonprofit organizations, resulting in 18,760 hours for 2013-14.
Overview
From The School
- Georgia State Law has a rolling admission policy.
- A bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited college or university is required to register.
- Georgia State Law cannot admit students who are ineligible for readmission to another law school.
- You must submit all required documents through the Credential Assembly Service of the Law School Admission Council (LSAC).
- Never send documents directly to our office unless requested.
- We do not grant personal interviews.
- For more information, sign up for an information session or class visit.
- The faculty admissions committee reviews files from January until the class is full.
- Full-time students cannot work more than 20 hours per week at any combination of jobs.
Learn more at http://law.gsu.edu/admissions/how-to-apply/first-year-applicants/
Test Scores
(enrolled students)
Deadlines
Application Process
Other Admission Factors
LSAT Score
Undergraduate GPA
Letters of Recommendation
Essay / Personal Statement
Selectivity Rating
Overall
From The School
Degrees Offered
The J.D.
Bachelor/J.D. (with the Honors College);
J.D./M.A. in Philosophy,
J.D./M.B.A.,
J.D./M.C.R.P. (Master of City and Regional Planning) with Georgia Institute of Technology,
J.D./M.P.A. (Master of Professional Accounting),
J.D./M.P.A. (Master of Public Administration) and J.D./M.P.H. (Master of Public Health);
J.D./M.S.H.A. and J.D./M.B.A./M.H.A (Master of Health Administration))
The LL.M. program
Programs and Curriculum
Georgia State Law's Academic Success Program gives you the tools you need to remain in good standing and succeed in law school. During the program's Study Skills Series, professors present skills and tips every law student will use throughout his or her time in school. In addition, ASP student assistants offer interactive workshops that integrate those competencies with assistance in the first year, required substantive coursework, giving you the aptitude to do your best from day one. We are all invested in your success.
Faculty
Student-faculty ratio: 10.4 to 1
Full-time faculty members: 63
Women: 52%
Diversity: 17.46%
More about our faculty
Faculty Information
Students Say
Students appreciate GSU COL’s “flexible class hours,” particularly those involved in the very popular part-time program. Some feel that, due to this program, there is “a weighting toward evening classes” and that those evening classes are “where the best adjuncts teach.” That said, others believe the “emphasis on the part-time program is a bit overstated.” “It’s available and great, but the full-time day classes are on par with any you will find,” says a 3L. Regardless of which program students partake in, the “effective” courses offered are roundly praised. “The health law program is dynamic and first-rate,” says a 2L. “Charity Scott is a legend in this city and any future health care attorney would be lucky to take a class with her.” “The school is not afraid to try new ideas,” adds another 2L. “I’ve taken ‘Law and the Internet,’ which is all about legal issues and the online community,” says one student, and another tells us, “I’m now in a new non-traditional class that combines Wills, Trusts, Estates, and Taxes, in which the students form their own law firms and actually prepare all of the documents as if in the real-world.”
By and large, students are very happy with their decision to attend GSU COL. However, when it comes to the school’s Career Services Office, some believe “they could do a better job.” Despite this, “the access to the Atlanta legal community” that GSU’s location offers goes a long way in making up for any career office shortcomings. “I have clerked for a year with a Superior Court judge, worked for a professor as a GRA, competed in a National Moot Court competition, become president of numerous societies, and have a job lined up after graduation,” says a 3L.
With a prime spot in downtown Atlanta, GSU’s location allows students to “walk to the 11th Circuit, Supreme Court, and Northern District of Georgia courthouses.” On campus, the law school’s buildings aren’t quite as appreciated as the university’s metropolitan location. “The technology available in the classrooms and libraries [is] high quality, but the classrooms themselves are not,” says a 1L. “The current law school is old, and was never meant to be used for anything aside from administrative purposes.” However, construction has been completed on a new—and “much more aesthetically pleasing”—building. “We are all looking forward to . . . the new law school,” which opened in Summer 2015, “because a new building will give the professors and students more opportunities to show just how amazing the school really is!” says a 2L.
Career overview
From The School
July 2014: 92 percent; state rate is 84.5 percent
February 2015: 93 percent; state rate is 72.7 percent
Career Services
Graduates Employed by Area
Graduates Employed by Region
Prominent Alumni
Overview
From The School
As of March 1, 2014, fees total $1,121.
Tuition
Tuition & Fees:
Full-Time Per Semester Full Time Per Year Part Time Per Credit Hour Fees Per Semester
Resident $7,308 $14,616 $609 $1,121
Nonresident $17,107 $34,214 $1,426 $1,121
Dates
Financial Aid Statistics
Expenses per Academic Year
Overall
From The School
Total Applicants: 1,913
Enrolled: 190
Average Age: 27
Men: 93 (49%)
Women: 97 (51%)
Minority Enrollment: 25% (66)
Part-Time Students: 46
Full-Time Students: 141
Percentile GPA LSAT
25th 3.12 155
Median 3.40 158
75th 3.61 160
Student Body Profile
Demographics
Campus Life
Students Say
“On the social side, there is a substantial group of part-time students that get together monthly on an ad-hoc basis, purely for social time, usually with spouses or significant others,” says a 2L. “I was pleasantly surprised.” Others find that the urban campus has a negative effect on socializing. “So many people are spread out all over the city…that no one stays around to socialize after class” says a 1L. “If you just go to class and go home I think you will miss out on the social life,” says a 2L. “If you make an effort to meet people then it is easy to make friends.”
More Information
Admissions Office Contact
From The School
Campus and Location
Centered in the historic financial hub of downtown Atlanta, the university provides more than 32,000 students with unsurpassed connections to the city's business, government, nonprofit and cultural organizations.
The university offers 250 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in more than 100 fields of study in its eight colleges and schools: the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, the Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing and Health Professions, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, the College of Law, the Honors College, the Institute of Public Health and the J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
Facilities
Senior Director of Admissions
Atlanta, GA 30302-4049