SJD

Application Requirements

SJD Program Photo

A complete application to the S.J.D. Program must include the following materials:

  1. Application Form
  2. Resume or Curriculum Vita
    Your resume should list all universities you have attended, academic publications, and relevant extracurricular activities. Provide information about any honors, awards, and scholarships you may have received. You should also list any law or business-related professional experience you have, by providing your dates of employment, your employer, and the position you held.
  3. Personal Statement
    In English, please explain your reasons for pursuing an S.J.D. degree, your intellectual goals in pursuing doctoral studies, and how you plan to use your graduate degree for your short and long-term career plans. If there is a faculty member with whom you are particularly interested in working because of his area of expertise or research, please identify the individual and explain the reasons for your interest in this professor. Indicate all of your previous international experience, including your experiences in your LL.M. Program, and any particular interest you have in the Wake Forest School of Law S.J.D. Program.
  4. Official Transcripts
    You must submit transcripts from each university or college that you have attended. Transcripts must be in the language of the institution, as well as in English, and should explain the University's grading system.
  5. Two Letters of Recommendation
    Letters of recommendation, written in English or accompanied by an English translation, should come from persons identified as best suited to judge your academic eligibility. If an applicant has been enrolled in an LL.M. program at another U.S. law school, one of the letters of recommendation must be from a faculty member at that law school. Please provide each of your references with the Letter of Recommendation Information and Waiver Form. Letters of recommendation can either be submitted directly by the reference or included with your application package if recommendations are in sealed envelopes and signed across the seal.
  6. Writing Sample
    An applicant must demonstrate superior achievement in graduate-level legal research and writing in English, preferably by providing a copy of his thesis produced at the LL.M. level or by providing a substantial directed research paper submitted as an LL.M. candidate as evidence of his ability to conduct graduate-level legal research and writing in English. This writing sample should represent the applicant’s best scholarly work.
  7. Dissertation Proposal
    S.J.D. applicants must submit a dissertation proposal that is typed, double-spaced, and no more than 2,500 words (ten pages) accompanied by a bibliography that provides relevant research sources that may be used in the applicant’s dissertation. The proposal should provide enough detail to define the topic of the proposed dissertation with specificity and indicate its significance and issues to be investigated.
  8. Documentation of Financial Resources
    We require evidence that you have sufficient funds to cover your full course of study and living expenses while enrolled in the S.J.D. Program. Financial documentation consists of two parts:
    1. Certified Bank Statements
      You (or your sponsor) must provide certified bank statements or other official financial support statements, which must be accompanied by a cover letter on the financial institution's letterhead, verifying that you have or your sponsor has sufficient funds to provide for your full course of study and living expenses.
    2. Sponsorship Letter(s)
      If you have a scholarship, your sponsor must send us a letter affirming a commitment to provide funds for your S.J.D. studies and stating the amount of the scholarship. If your parents or other family members are your sponsors, they should be specific as to the amount they will be providing. You should submit a letter from them stating their commitment to financially support your education in the U.S. and specifying their relationship to you.
  9. SJD Program Photo TOEFL Score
    All S.J.D. applicants must be proficient in English. If you are from a non-English speaking country or your native tongue is not English, you are required to submit a TOEFL score or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score. The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Please request the ETS to send official TOEFL scores to Wake Forest University School of Law. Our institution code is 5885 and the department code is 03. The minimum TOEFL score is 100 (internet-based), 250 (computer-based), or 600 (paper-based). The minimum IELTS score is 7.0. If you have graduated from a U.S. LL.M. Program, the TOEFL requirement may occasionally be waived since evidence of English language proficiency includes the student’s performance in prior academic degree programs for which English was the language of instruction and his prior writings were produced in English.
  10. Application fee of $75.00
    The application fee is non-refundable and can be paid by (1) money order or official bank check drawn in U.S. currency, payable to Wake Forest University School of Law, or (2) wire transfer. Credit card payments are not accepted.
SJD Program Photo

Please send application materials to the below address. Omit the box number for express mail or courier delivery.

Attn: Dean Susan Montaquila
S.J.D. Admissions
Wake Forest University School of Law
Box 7206
1834 Wake Forest Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
USA

Telephone: 336-758-6116
Fax: 336-758-4496
Email: LLM@wfu.edu