Admission with Advanced Standing

A transfer student is a student who has taken some or all of his or her first-year curriculum at another law school and is admitted to earn a J.D. degree at the College of Law.  As described more fully below, the College of Law accepts transfer students only from other law schools accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA). The College will not accept transfer applicants from law schools that do not award letter grades (or their numerical equivalent) during the first academic year or its equivalent.  All candidates who transfer to the College of Law from another ABA-accredited law school must satisfactorily complete courses aggregating at least forty-five (45) credit hours at the College of Law.  In addition, a transfer student must earn the last thirty (30) credit hours at the College of Law. 

The College of Law will accept transfer credits only for courses where the student earned a grade of C or better. In exceptional circumstances, the Academic Standards Committee may approve the transfer of a small number of pass/fail credits. The Committee will determine the total number of credit hours that will transfer; however, only in exceptional cases will the Committee give credit for more than thirty-two (32) credit hours. The Committee will also determine whether particular courses taken at another law school satisfy specific course requirements at the College of Law. Graded credits at other law schools that transfer to the College of Law will be entered on the student’s College of Law record as pass/fail credits, and hence will not affect the student’s College of Law grade point average. 

In order to graduate, all transfer students must obtain a cumulative grade point average of 2.50 or better on courses taken at the College of Law.  Transfer students are not eligible for election to Order of the Coif at the College of Law.

The deadline for transfer applications is July 15th. A completed transfer application is comprised of the following required documents:

  1. Applicant form
  2. Personal Statement
  3. Resume
  4. Two letters of recommendation from law professors
  5. LSAT and/or GRE
  6. Transcripts from undergraduate institution
  7. Transcripts from current law school institution
  8. LSAC Credential Assembly Service (CAS) law school report
  9. Letter of good standing from current law school institution
  10. Character and fitness information
  11. TOEFL (see Admissions website for applicability)

The following are optional or may be requested of the candidate by the Enrollment Management Committee:

  1. Addendum
  2. Interview

In addition to the aforementioned criteria, applicants must have completed at least one academic year of study or its equivalent at the institution from which transfer is being sought. For admission purposes, one year of study or its equivalent is equal to a minimum of twenty-eight (28) credit hours of coursework.  The twenty-eight (28) credit hours should ideally include the following coursework, but the College of Law will consider transfer applicants who have a substantial number of the listed courses:

  1. Civil Procedure 
  2. Contracts I
  3. Torts I
  4. Constitutional Law
  5. Criminal Law
  6. Property I
  7. Legal Research
  8. Legal Writing

As previously noted, applications from students seeking to transfer from schools that are not accredited by the ABA will not be accepted under any circumstances.  However, the applicant may apply as a first-year student.
In considering applications for admission from individuals with credits or degrees from foreign institutions, the Enrollment Management Office shall have the authority to make any of the below stated decisions with regard to the applicant:

  1. Admitting the applicant as a first-year entering student.
  2. Admitting the applicant with advanced standing by granting credit for specific course work completed at another institution. (AALS Executive Committee Regulations 2.8 and 2.9 prescribe limitations on the award of advanced standing.)
  3. Admitting the applicant as a special student for the purposes of auditing courses or transferring course work to another institution.
  4. Denying admission to the applicant.


The West Virginia University College of Law has established as guidelines for the Enrollment Management Committee, certain requirements for reviewing applications for Advanced Standing.

  1. In reviewing applications for advanced standing, preference will be given by the Enrollment Management Committee to West Virginia residents.

  2. Successful completion of Legal Research and Writing before matriculation is highly recommended for transfer students.


  3. Applications for transfer to the College of Law for the second year will be considered by the Committee on the basis of:

    1. The size of the returning second-year class.

    2. The applicant’s grades and/or class rank at her/his law school. Applicants from law schools who do not provide either a GPA or class rank for 1L students will not be considered for transfer.

    3. Whether the applicant would have been admitted to the College of Law in the first year had the applicant applied.

    4. The academic strength of the law school attended by the applying student, including whether it is accredited by the AALS. (ABA accreditation is required.)

    5. Recommendation(s) from a law professor in whose class the applicant was enrolled. (At least one is required.)

    6. Residency of the applicant.

    7. All of those facts, performance records, recommendations, and other matters which the Committee normally considers for applicants to the first-year class, including everything that might implicate the student’s fitness for the practice of law.

    8. Any other activities and experiences of the applicant occurring since the student began law school.

    9. Any other information regarding the applicant that may be considered relevant to success in law school.