October 3, 2012
Keio University Law School, while responding to the changing circumstances surrounding law schools since their establishment and returning to the principles of the law school system and the Juku Law School, will implement the following changes to its entrance examination for the 2014 academic year in order to achieve its original goal of training a diverse range of individuals to become legal professionals.
Please refer to the application guidelines for the 2014 academic year for details on these changes.
1. The examinations for the 3-year Course (for students without a law degree) and the 2-year Course will be held on separate dates.
For the 2014 entrance examination, the examination for the 3-year Course for students without a law degree is scheduled for Sunday, September 1, 2013, and the examination for the 2-year Course is scheduled for Saturday, August 31, 2013. This will allow applicants to apply for both courses.
There will be no advantage or disadvantage in applying for both courses.
In addition, for the 2-year Course, applications will be accepted from third-year undergraduate students with outstanding academic records who wish to enter the program early (so-called "tobikyu" or early admission).
2. Submission of proof of foreign language proficiency will no longer be mandatory.
Starting with the 2014 entrance examination, submission of proof of foreign language proficiency will not be mandatory but will be accepted as "other documents." However, scores equivalent to an A rank on the foreign language conversion table used up to the 2013 entrance examination will be evaluated separately in the applicant's personal statement.
3. In the applicant's personal statement, special consideration will be given to applicants with the following distinctive qualities.
Applicants with outstanding foreign language skills (those who have achieved a score equivalent to an A rank on the foreign language conversion table used up to the 2013 entrance examination) who aspire to become legal professionals active on a global scale in the future.
Applicants who have graduated or are expected to graduate from science-related undergraduate or graduate programs and who aspire to become legal professionals active in interdisciplinary and cutting-edge legal fields by utilizing their knowledge in the future.
Applicants who are expected to graduate early from their undergraduate program with a shortened period of study due to outstanding academic performance, or who are expected to leave their undergraduate program mid-course for early admission ("tobikyu"), and who have received intensive education and possess remarkable aptitude in specific foreign languages, international liberal arts, or specific fields of humanities and social sciences within their faculty.
Applicants with extensive professional experience in a specific field who aspire to become legal professionals specializing in a particular area of law by leveraging that experience in the future.
4. The point allocation for each subject will be partially revised.