University of Illinois, College of Law Admission
University of Illinois, College of Law Undergraduate Program
University of Illinois, College of Law Application

The Facts

The University of Illinois is a rather large, public institution located in the town of Champaign, Illinois, and has a combined graduate and undergraduate population of over 40,000 students. The university’s College of Law, however, is significantly smaller, and is home to about 680 graduate law students. The average age of enrollment is around 25, and it is fairly rare for any of the students to enter the school directly from their undergraduate education. The school is perhaps best known for its wonderful research resources, as well as for its strong ties within the Illinois legal and professional communities. The school offers degrees in the 3 year JD, the 1 year LLM, as well as combined degrees in the JD/MBA, the JD/PhD, the JD/DVM, the JD/MD, the JD/MUP, the JD/MHRIR, the JD/MED, the JD/MS in chemistry, the JD/MS in journalism, the JD/MCS, as well as the JD/MSNRES. Some of the most popular programs include courses in the areas of civil procedure, commercial law, constitutional law, corporation securities law, criminal law, environmental law, government services, human rights law, intellectual property law, international law, labor law, legal history, legal philosophy, property law, as well as taxation.

Admission to the College of Law is quite competitive among the many students who apply; last year, over 2,930 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 676 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 228 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming semester. The admitted students had an average LSAT score ranging from 160 to 166, as well as an average undergraduate GPA of about a 3.4. Students are notified of their admissions status on a rolling basis, and are able to take advantage of the school’s early application program if they so choose.

The College of Law has 71 faculty members, all of whom come from very diverse legal and professional backgrounds. Students rave about their balance between tough and accessible, saying they push their students without being unreasonable. The school has a very manageable student to faculty ratio of about 14:1, and the small classes allow for plenty of discussion and interaction between students and their professors.

Employment Facts

Students at the College of Law don’t seem terribly anxious about finding a job after graduation. In fact, over 99% of the most recently graduating students were able to find jobs within a few months of receiving their degrees, and had an average starting salary around $75,072. Students are most frequently hired by employers such as Brinks Hofer Gilson and Lione, Bell Boyd and Lloyd, Foley and Lardner, the City of Chicago law department, Cook County’s state attorney, Deloitte Touche, Gardner Carton and Douglas, Husch and Eppenberger, Jenner and Block, Jones Day, Kirkland and Ellis, KMZ Rosenman, Latham and Watkins, as well as Sidley Austin Brown and Wood.

What's Good

“There are so many choices here in terms of specializations and courses. It’s great.”

“The faculty here really pushes you to be the best you can be, so to speak, but they aren’t ridiculous about it.”

“The career services office is amazing. They draw a lot of powerful firms to our campus.”

What's Bad

“A lot of students get very competitive, and feel the need to squash others on their way to the top.”

“There is never enough on campus graduate housing available, which drives me nuts.”

”Classrooms tend to be a bit over crowded, which is a difficult environment to learn in.”

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