JD Rankings
Indicative ranking
Students admitted to the Juris Doctor (JD) program may request an indicative ranking document from the Academic Support Office (ASO) if such a document is required for an application (e.g. to apply for a degree partnership program at New York University).
Indicative rankings are determined by the value of a student's weighted average mark (WAM) relative to the WAM of all students who commenced the JD in the same academic year, notwithstanding students who have withdrawn from the JD program.
Indicative rankings requests can take up to 21 business days to process. Please ensure that you submit your indicative ranking request in a timely manner, as we cannot guarantee that an indicative ranking can be processed in less than 21 business days in order for you to meet an application deadline.
Graduate ranking
Graduate ranking certificates are issued to students upon request. Rankings requests can take up to 21 business days to process.
Students who commence their final subject in the same academic year will be grouped together as a graduating cohort and ranked based on WAM. For example, if your final subject commenced December 2024 but did not conclude until March 2025, you will be considered a 2024 graduate. Due to this overlap between the academic and calendar year, we are not able to process graduate ranking certificates until March or April of the following year.
Recognition of Academic Excellence
Students who rank within the top 30% of their graduating cohort will automatically receive a Recognition of Academic Excellence letter confirming their JD graduating rank in late April/May after the end of their graduating period.
(for students commencing the JD in or after 2008)
- A system for recognising academic excellence exists for all students completing the JD.
- A student's aggregate performance will be calculated on the basis of results in all graded subjects offered by the Law School.
- Each individual student's statement of performance will be confidential with the placement of only the top 30% of students in each graduating year documented according to the following model: the top 10 students commended numerically followed by the remaining students in 5% bands until the 30th percentile
is reached. - Upon request, a student below the 30th percentile may receive a statement as to his or her position in the graduating class.
- Commended students will be notified of their standing by letter from the Melbourne Law School on appropriately watermarked letterhead.
- In general, accelerating students will be included, for these purposes, with the group with which they are completing rather than that with which they commenced. Students included are those who complete in the 12-month period running from 1 April of their final year of study to 31 March of the following
year. Only students who have completed all subjects, including the finalisation of assessment, will be included. - This exercise will be conducted once a year in late April and statements mailed shortly thereafter.
- Please note that students finishing their degree on exchange, study abroad, while studying at the Center for Transnational Legal Studies or undertaking a combined degree partnership will only be included in the final ranking calculations if their transcripts are received by the Academic Support Office
before 31 March.