Merit Scholarships

For first-year students, qualification for a merit scholarship is based on undergraduate academic records, standardized admissions test scores (LSAT or GRE), probability of superior scholarship in the School of Law, potential for leadership in the legal profession, and character.  Scholarships are automatically renewed for the second and third year at Washington and Lee University School of Law as long as a student maintains good academic standing and a standard of behavior representative of a prospective member of the legal profession.  We anticipate that scholarship award decisions will be made beginning in late November, and admitted students will receive notification of any scholarship award they may be offered within two weeks of admission.  Thereafter, awards are made periodically throughout the remainder of the admissions cycle.

Applicants whose files are completed by February 1 will receive full consideration for merit-based scholarships.  While we encourage applicants to complete their applications by February 1 to be eligible for merit scholarship consideration, this is not a hard deadline.  Application files completed after February 1 will be considered for merit-based scholarship assistance to the extent funds remain available.  As with many other aspects of the law school application process, the sooner you can complete your application the better.

Special Note to Yellow Ribbon Applicants

Washington and Lee University participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program. W&L Law applicants or current students who are awarded the VA Yellow Ribbon (YR) benefit will receive a combination of the VA YR grant and a W&L YR grant that will meet and not exceed W&L Law Tuition and Fees. Since the Yellow Ribbon benefit covers tuition and fees, participants are not eligible to receive additional W&L awards (i.e. merit scholarships). If you exhaust your benefits before completing the JD program you must notify the Office of Financial Aid.

More information about the Yellow Ribbon Program can be found here.