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Catholic law early decision: Catholic's early round is non-binding, per its own admissions FAQ, and needs no separate application. File complete by November 1 for a decision before the New Year, or by December 1 for a decision by January 16, keeping the ability to compare offers either way.
Catholic runs an early round and its own FAQ says it is non-binding. In the school's words, all applicants who have completed application files by November 1 will receive a decision before the New Year, that this is a non-binding program, and that it does not require a separate application (https://www.law.edu/admissions/overview/faqs.html).
Its apply page adds a second tier: submit a completed application by December 1 and you find out by January 16 (https://www.law.edu/admissions/overview/apply-now/index.html). Both divisions use the same application.
That combination is unusual and it is worth naming plainly. You get the early answer without surrendering the ability to compare offers, which is the thing an early round normally costs you.
RoundFile complete byDecision byBinding?SourceFirst early roundNovember 1December 31No, per the school's FAQhttps://www.law.edu/admissions/overview/faqs.htmlSecond early roundDecember 1January 16No, per the school's FAQhttps://www.law.edu/admissions/overview/faqs.htmlRegular, rollingSee the deadline note below4 to 6 weeks after completionNohttps://www.law.edu/admissions/overview/apply-now/index.html
Three live school pages give three different dates. The apply page says the preferred deadline for applicants to both day and evening divisions is March 15 (https://www.law.edu/admissions/overview/apply-now/index.html).
The admissions FAQ says the preferred deadline is March 31, 2026, extended to July 31, 2026 so that June LSAT takers can be considered (https://www.law.edu/admissions/overview/faqs.html). The admissions overview says the application for fall 2026 closes June 30 (https://www.law.edu/admissions/overview/index.html).
We are reporting all three as published rather than picking one. Treat the earliest as your working deadline and confirm with the admissions office before you rely on any of them, because a rolling process rewards the early date regardless of which is official.
No, and the school says so itself. Its FAQ calls the program non-binding and requires no separate application, so the usual early decision trade does not apply at Catholic.
This matters more here than at most schools because of how broadly Catholic funds its class: a median grant of $26,000 (both divisions) reaching 99% (369 of 374; both divisions) of students across both divisions, from its 2025 509 (https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdf).
At a school that grants to almost everyone, keeping the ability to compare awards is worth real money, and here you keep it by default.
The admissions advantage is not a published number. No ABA 509 report breaks acceptance out by application round, so nobody can quote you one at this school or any other (https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdf).
The published picture is the aggregate: 32.4% (both divisions) on 1867 applications, reported for both divisions together because the 509 does not split them.
The mechanical advantage is real even where the admissions one is unproven. Catholic reviews on a rolling basis from October, so an early complete file meets a fuller scholarship budget and an emptier class.
Figure2025 reporting yearSourceApplicants1867https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdfOffers605https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdfAcceptance rate32.4% (both divisions)https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdfLSAT 25th / median / 75th157 (full-time) / 161 (full-time) / 163 (full-time)https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdfGPA 25th / median / 75th3.53 (full-time) / 3.70 (full-time) / 3.85 (full-time)https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdfMedian grant$26,000 (both divisions)https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdfShare receiving a grant99% (369 of 374; both divisions)https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdfTotal cost per year$95,654 full-time off-campus (509-derived: tuition plus fees plus the 509 off-campus living line; $90,448 on-campus). The 509 prints no totalhttps://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdf
No ABA 509 report publishes grant size by LSAT or GPA band, at any school. The median grant therefore describes the whole entering class rather than predicting your letter.
Money follows the numbers, and the further above a median you sit the more of it follows. That direction is reliable; the magnitude is not published anywhere.
Renewal conditions are the other unpublished variable. Some awards carry a GPA condition and 509 reports do not disclose them, so ask in writing before comparing two offers.
Our master admissions file carries detailed committee texture for 31 schools: what the essay has to do, how hard the school protects yield, how it uses interviews, and how it behaves on scholarship. Catholic is not one of the 31.
So this page makes no claim about how Catholic's committee reads a file. Everything here comes from what Catholic itself publishes: its ABA Standard 509 report and its own admissions pages.
A page that filled that gap with plausible-sounding advice would be indistinguishable from one that knew something, which is exactly why we would rather leave the hole visible. If you want committee-level read on this school, the honest source is the admissions office.
Catholic runs a full-time day division and a part-time evening division, and its 2025 509 reports some figures by division and others for both together (https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdf). Reading a part-time applicant against a full-time percentile is the commonest way to misjudge this school.
So every figure here is labelled. Where the school reports in aggregate we say aggregate rather than quietly presenting it as the full-time number.
That matters most on the LSAT and GPA bands, which are the full-time division only. Catholic does not publish separate part-time percentiles in its 509, so we do not state any.
FigureWhich division it describesApplicants, offers and acceptance rateBoth divisions together. The 509 reports these in aggregate and does not split themLSAT and GPA percentilesFull-time divisionMatriculantsBoth divisions, itemized: 182 total, being 139 full-time and 43 part-timeTuitionReported separately: $61,580 a year full-time plus $1,700 fees, against $2,125 per credit part-time plus $1,130 feesCost of attendanceFull-time, off-campus. Derived from the 509's own tuition, fee and living lines because the report prints no totalGrant median and reachBoth divisions together at 369 of 374 students; the full-time division alone is 271 of 273EmploymentWhole graduating class. The ABA employment summary does not split outcomes by division
Our sheet records Catholic's top markets as DC 41, MD 24, VA 17 (whole class), from its own ABA employment reporting (https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2026-employmentclassof2025.pdf). Read the concentration rather than the list.
Alongside that, 19.5% (22 of 113; bands 101-250 6, 251-500 4, 501+ 12; whole class) of the class went to firms over 100 lawyers and 1.8% (2 of 113; state and local clerkships a separate 23; whole class) took federal clerkships, from the same reporting.
In the Washington market specifically, those two numbers pull in different directions. Federal agencies, the Hill and the public interest sector employ heavily and appear in neither the large-firm column nor the clerkship column, so a modest large-firm rate here does not mean what it would mean in New York.
That is the honest way to read a DC school's outcomes: the large-firm figure describes one route out of several, and the geography column tells you which city's version of all of them you are buying into.
Put your own numbers beside the bands first. Catholic publishes 157 (full-time) to 163 (full-time) on the LSAT and 3.53 (full-time) to 3.85 (full-time) on GPA, from its 2025 509 (https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdf), and everything else follows from where you land in those.
Then price it against the 509 again: total cost of $95,654 full-time off-campus (509-derived: tuition plus fees plus the 509 off-campus living line; $90,448 on-campus). The 509 prints no total against a median grant of $26,000 (both divisions) reaching 99% (369 of 374; both divisions) of students. Three years of the gap is the number that will still matter in a decade.
Then decide what you would do with the degree, because a school's value is mostly a statement about a market rather than about a ranking, and the market is the part you cannot change from inside.
If any of those three is unresolved, that is the work to do next, and it is more useful than reading another page about this school.
Open https://www.law.edu/admissions/overview/apply-now/index.html and confirm every deadline, prompt and requirement against the live application, because everything on this page carries a date for a reason.
Place yourself against the published bands rather than the acceptance rate: 157 (full-time) to 163 (full-time) on the LSAT and 3.53 (full-time) to 3.85 (full-time) on GPA, from the 2025 509 (https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdf). Your position there decides what the rest of the application has to do.
Decide what this school is to you before drafting anything: a reach where the file must argue, a match where it must not get in the way, or a safety where the real question is how much money you can extract. Those are three different applications.
Every Catholic figure on this page was read from Catholic's own 2025 ABA Standard 509 Required Disclosure Report at https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdf, and recorded in our data sheet with that URL against each individual field rather than as a single citation at the bottom.
Application mechanics come from Catholic's own admissions pages at https://www.law.edu/admissions/overview/apply-now/index.html. Where our sheet holds a field as unverified, this page says so instead of presenting it as settled.
The 509 refiles every December, so every number here has a known expiry date. We would rather you knew that date than trusted the page indefinitely.
Every LSAC figure on this page was taken from LSAC's own pages and last checked on July 26, 2026. Prices, dates and policies move without notice, so the source link sits next to each number rather than in a bibliography at the bottom.
Where LSAC has not published something, this page says so in those words rather than filling the hole with a plausible number. That is the difference between a gap and a guess, and only one of them is safe to plan around.
Catholic runs an early round and its own FAQ states it is non-binding with no separate application. Complete your file by November 1 for a decision before the New Year, or by December 1 for a decision by January 16.
No. The school's admissions FAQ calls the program non-binding, so you keep the ability to compare offers. At a school granting to almost its entire class, that is worth real money.
The admissions advantage is unpublished, as it is everywhere, because no 509 breaks acceptance out by round. The mechanical advantage is real: rolling review from October means an early file meets a fuller scholarship budget.
Three of the school's own live pages disagree: March 15 preferred for both divisions on the apply page, March 31 preferred extended to July 31 on the FAQ, and June 30 closes on the admissions overview. Work to the earliest and confirm with admissions.
No separate application and no separate early round. The apply page gives both divisions the same March 15 preferred deadline, and the school publishes no distinct evening admissions standard.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
August 5, 2026
August 5, 2026