Transfer Policy

Statement of Policy Regarding Transfer Credits, Required Courses, and Official GPA

Transfer Credits Accepted (Law School Academic Rules 3.3(e) and 8.1)

Up to 35 law credits earned at other ABA-accredited law schools may be applied to University of Minnesota J.D. requirements. Only courses in which a student earned a grade of at least "C" (2.000) or the equivalent will be accepted for transfer credit. If a student is enrolled for Summer Session credits at another institution at the time of admission and transcript review, it is the student's responsibility to request an updated official transcript reflecting completed coursework and to request a re-evaluation of total transfer credits.

Review of Official Transcript

The dean of students determines the number of credits to be awarded and whether required courses have been satisfied based on review of the final official transcript from the transfer student's previous law school(s). Each transfer student is responsible for requesting that a final official transcript be sent from the previous institution(s) directly to the Office of Admissions at:
Office of Admissions
University of Minnesota Law School
N130 Mondale Hall 229 19th Ave South
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Required and Elective Courses (See Law School Academic Rules 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, and 8.1)

Transfer students' records are reviewed to determine which substantive course requirements have already been completed and which courses they will be required to take at the University of Minnesota. In some cases, a student will be asked to provide a syllabus to determine whether sufficient coverage of a given subject was satisfied at the previous institution. Students who satisfactorily completed a required or elective course at a previous law school are not permitted to re-take the course for a grade.

Required courses at the University of Minnesota Law School

Course (credits) Semester
1L Constitutional Law I (3) Fall
1L Contracts (4) Fall
1L Torts (4) Fall
1L Civil Procedure (4) Fall
1L Legal Research & Writing & Statutory Interpretation (4) Fall AND Spring
1L Criminal Law (3) Spring
1L Property (4) Spring
1L Law in Practice (3)
May be satisfied by completion of a Clinic, Capstone, or Skills course.
2L or 3L year,
Fall OR Spring
2L Legal Writing, moot court or journal Fall AND Spring
Upper-division Constitutional Law Requirement (3) Fall OR Spring
2L/3L Professional Responsibility (3) Fall OR Spring
3L Writing Requirement (variable) Fall OR Spring

Transfer students receive a memo prior to the start of the fall semester (after an official final transcript with spring and/or summer grades has been received and reviewed) specifying which required courses will need to be completed at the University of Minnesota. It is the responsibility of each transfer student to ensure that he or she enrolls in and completes required courses, which may not be available through the usual registration procedures. All transfer students are expected to take any remaining required 1L courses during their 2L year.

Transcript Notations for Transfer Students

When transfer students matriculate at the University of Minnesota Law School, their University of Minnesota official transcript will reflect the total credits accepted toward J.D. degree requirements from a previous institution but will not contain substantive notations about individual classes or grades earned there.

Grade Point Average, Ranking, Order of the Coif (Academic Rules 12.3 and 12.5)

Grades from coursework completed at previous law schools or at other University departments are not used in computing J.D. candidates' cumulative grade point average. For students who transfer from the University of Minnesota's LL.M program into the J.D. program, grades received in the LL.M. program are not used in computing their J.D. cumulative GPA.

The Law School ranks each class of students and determines quartile thresholds at the end of each Spring semester based on the cumulative GPA, excluding courses as noted above. During their 2L year at the University of Minnesota, transfer students will not have an official rank or quartile. They will be ranked for the first time after all grades have been entered at the conclusion of the Spring semester.

Order of the Coif requires that at least 75 percent of a student's credits toward degree requirements be in "graded courses" that count toward the J.D. GPA; thus, eligibility for Order of the Coif requires a minimum of 66 total graded credits earned in coursework at the University of Minnesota Law School and the student's first-year law school.