Law School Interviews by School, 2026-27

Law School Interviews by School, 2026-27

No law school we checked interviews every applicant. Of 12 schools whose pages loaded, 4 say they do not interview in regular first-year J.D. review (Stanford, Penn, NYU, Duke), and the other 8 use five different arrangements: invitations to an interview the school calls necessary for admission, invitation-only live video, opt-in recorded video, invitation-only recorded video, and an alumni program.

Our view: there is no single "law school interview", so a generic bank of 50 questions prepares you for none of them. Prepare for the instrument your school publishes, and prepare from your own file. Every interviewer on this page reads your law school personal statement, résumé and addenda before asking anything.

Every school page quoted below was checked on November 3, 2026. Only Cornell's FAQ names the cycle (it says it was updated for the season that opened September 1, 2026); the others state no year, so recheck before you rely on a detail. For the rest of each school's checklist, see the T14 law school application requirements; this page covers only the interview.

The short answer: who interviews in the 2026-27 cycle

• Required for admission, by invitation: Harvard and Yale. Both say an interview is necessary for admission and that not everyone is invited.
• By invitation, live by video: Columbia and Chicago. Chicago adds a rule that matters: once you agree to interview, it stops evaluating your file until the interview is done.
• Opt-in, recorded: Northwestern. You choose it in the application form; its early decision round, now closed, required it.
• By invitation, recorded: Cornell (a Kira Online Assessment) and Berkeley (an optional Kira video interview).
• Alumni conversations: Georgetown runs an alumni program. The page we found is written for alumni volunteers, not applicants.
• No interview in regular review: Stanford, Penn, NYU and Duke.

What each school publishes about its interview

Four details sit outside the table because they change what you do:

• Berkeley gives the format. "The interview consists of two separate questions. Question one asks you to demonstrate your unique interest in all that Berkeley Law has to offer. Question two is a randomized situational question that you can answer freely. You will have four minutes to record your answer to each question (eight minutes total)."
• Duke has two narrow exceptions. Admitted applicants who apply for scholarships "will have the option to participate in a virtual interview." And some international applicants must complete "an InitialView interview" or submit a TOEFL score. Duke replaces the regular interview with an optional one-page essay, which our Duke Law short answers guide covers.
• Northwestern required the interview for early decision. Its early decision page says: "Completion of an online video interview is a requirement for ED applicants." That round closed on October 31, 2026, so for a regular-decision applicant the interview is the opt-in described above.
• Michigan is not in the table. Its J.D. application page returned HTTP 403 to us on November 3, 2026, so we did not quote it. We did not check schools outside these 13.

Invited, opt-in or required: what each kind tells you

Run your school through this procedure. Each step has one action.

1. The school says an interview is necessary for admission (Harvard, Yale). Treat the invitation as a required step. Schedule it, and prepare as you would for a written component.
2. The invitation pauses review (Chicago). Chicago says: "If you choose to interview, the Admissions Committee will not further evaluate your application until after the interview is completed." It adds: "Interview slots are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis." Book the earliest slot you can do well. Every day you wait is a day your file sits still.
3. You opt in on the form (Northwestern). The decision is yours at submission. Northwestern says the interview gives "additional information about the applicant's interpersonal and communication skills, maturity, and motivation." If you can speak to camera about your file, opting in adds a channel the paper file lacks.
4. The invitation is a screening signal (Cornell). Cornell invites "those applicants whom we are strongly considering for admission." That is the school's own description of who gets one, not an admission promise.
5. The school does not interview (Stanford, Penn, NYU, Duke). Do not ask for one. Put what you would have said into the written file: Duke says its optional essay exists because it cannot interview.

What an invitation does not mean. Chicago says "there will be no pre-determined weight or value given to the interview" and that it "may also invite some waitlisted candidates to interview later in the admissions process." Harvard publishes its own counts: in 2025–2026, 9,061 applications, 1,051 interviews and 780 offers of admission. More people interviewed than received offers, so an invitation is a step, not a decision. We do not turn those counts into individual odds.

The countercase: if you were not invited, Chicago's answer is direct: "Every application will be seriously considered on its merits and will receive a thorough review regardless of whether the applicant has been invited for an interview." At Chicago, Columbia and Berkeley you cannot request one, so do not write to ask.

Preparing from your own file, not a question bank

Harvard says its questions come from your file: "You can expect to answer about six or seven questions that your interviewer prepared after thoroughly reviewing your application materials." Chicago says: "You should be prepared to discuss anything mentioned in your application file (including your resume)," and "We will not be asking you any legal questions."

Chicago's interviewers may ask about any résumé line, and Chicago asks for weekly hours on each one; see the law school resume format page.

So the best preparation is a reread, not a script. Use this file-reread drill the night before a live interview:

1. Reread your personal statement and list the two claims an interviewer is most likely to ask about.
2. For every résumé line, say one sentence on what you did and one on what you learned. Unexplained jargon on the résumé becomes a follow-up question.
3. Reread every addendum. If you explained a grade dip or a gap, be ready to say it again in three sentences, without new excuses.
4. Write down why this school, with two specifics you could expand. Our why this law school essay guide covers how to find them.
5. Prepare one question to ask. Harvard closes with "an opportunity to ask your top question about Harvard Law School."

Harvard also publishes its own favorite questions, including "Tell me about a time when you changed your mind." The Harvard Law interview guide quotes all seven with HLS's own notes. Any question on this page that is not quoted from a school is ours, not a school's.

For recorded formats (Northwestern, Cornell, Berkeley), the same reread applies, but practice answering to a timer. Berkeley's four minutes per question is the only per-answer limit a school in this table publishes.

After the interview: thank-you notes and follow-ups

None of the 12 schools' pages we checked asks for a thank-you note or forbids one. That is the published position: silent. Our recommendation is a short email to the interviewer, if you have their address, the same or next day. It costs nothing and creates no record you would regret. Do not use it to add new material; updates have their own route, covered in law school update letters before a decision.

Constructed example: a three-sentence thank-you email

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. Context (invented): Ananya Rao interviewed with a Chicago admissions officer by Zoom.

Thank you for speaking with me this afternoon about my application to the University of Chicago Law School. I enjoyed our conversation about my two years as a housing-court navigator, and your description of the first-year legal writing program made the school's approach clearer to me. I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from the Admissions Committee.

Why it works: one thank-you, one specific detail from the conversation, one close. It adds no new facts and asks for nothing. Chicago says that after the interview "your interviewer will complete an evaluation for your file," so a note will not change what is already written; it is a courtesy, nothing more.

Questions about law school interviews

Does an interview invitation mean I will be admitted?

No. Chicago gives the interview "no pre-determined weight," and Harvard's own 2025–2026 figures show 1,051 interviews and 780 offers. Cornell's invitation goes to applicants it is "strongly considering," which is still not an offer.

Can I ask a law school for an interview?

Not at Chicago, Columbia or Berkeley; each says so. Stanford says it "does not grant interviews." Northwestern is the exception in our table: you opt in on the application form.

What if I was not invited?

At Chicago, your file "will receive a thorough review regardless." At schools that do not interview, nobody is invited, so the written file carries everything.

Is the interview about law?

Chicago says it will not ask legal questions. Harvard's published questions are about your work, studies, motivation and how you handle disagreement. Neither school asks you to argue a case.

Will I know who is interviewing me?

At Chicago, "You will not know the name of the person interviewing you until the day of the interview," and interviews are "conducted by a member of the Admissions Committee." Georgetown's program uses alumni volunteers. Score questions are not interview questions; law schools' highest LSAT score policies are quoted school by school.

Get a free review of your law school personal statement

Get a free Quick Review of your law school personal statement against GradPilot's law school personal statement rubric. It reads whether your statement centers on one subject about you, shows you acting rather than naming roles, and shows what you made of the experience: the same material an interviewer reads before your call. Browse every law school essay guide for your other documents.

More guides for the post-submission stretch:

• Harvard Law interview: what HLS says to expect: the seven HLS questions and a timing plan.
• Law school update letters before a decision: what LSAC already sends, and when a letter is still worth writing.
• Harvard Law purpose vs perspective statements: the written statements your HLS interviewer has read.
• Georgetown Law personal statement and optional responses: the written file at the school with an alumni interview program.

Sources

Retrieved November 3, 2026, except where noted.

• Harvard Law School, Application Toolkit: Interview (no cycle year on the page; data for 2025–2026): required-for-admits rule, Zoom, about 15 minutes, six or seven questions, interview counts.
• Harvard Law School, Our Favorite Interview Questions (no year stated): the changed-your-mind question.
• Yale Law School, Application Components (no year stated): interview necessary for admission.
• Columbia Law School, Regular Admission (no year stated): video-conference interviews; no requests.
• University of Chicago Law School, FAQs: Interviewing Program (no year stated): invitation only, review pause, first-come slots, weight, preparation, waitlist interviews.
• Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Admissions Interviews (no year stated): optional, opt-in recorded video.
• Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Early Decision Program (August 2027 start; deadline October 31, 2026): video interview required for ED applicants.
• Cornell Law School, J.D. FAQ (updated for the season opening September 1, 2026): Kira Online Assessment by invitation.
• Berkeley Law, Ready to Apply (no year stated): optional video interview, two questions, four minutes each.
• Georgetown Law, Alumni Admissions Interview Program (volunteer-facing; no year stated): alumni interview volume.
• Stanford Law School, J.D. Application Process (no year stated): no interviews.
• Penn Carey Law, J.D. FAQs (no year stated): no first-year J.D. interviews.
• NYU Law, Admissions Information and Instructions (no year stated): no interviews in regular selection.
• Duke Law, J.D. Program (no year stated): no interviews; scholarship interview option; InitialView or TOEFL rule.
• Not quoted: University of Michigan Law School's J.D. application page (HTTP 403 on November 3, 2026).