Cornell Law’s 3+3 Accelerated Pathway Scholar Program allows a selective number of undergraduates from Cornell, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and St. Lawrence University to complete their final year of undergraduate study during their first year of law school.
According to the Cornell Law School website, approximately 7 percent of the Cornell Law Class of 2027 came specifically from the 3+3 program.
Unlike the general law school application process, 3+3 applicants are encouraged to apply by January of their junior year. Rather than submitting the LSAT, Cornell undergraduates submit an SAT or ACT score, and are exempt from the $80 application fee.
The Sun interviewed three recent 3+3 program admits, who will be entering Cornell Law School’s Class of 2028 in the fall. The three spoke about their academic backgrounds, legal interests and application experiences.
Felipe Lopez ’26, Nolan School of Hotel Administration
Felipe Lopez ’26 is a student in the hotel school, interested in pursuing corporate law or working for the federal government. Lopez comes from a financial background, having interned at both Bank of America and EY, and is a Rawlings Presidential Research Scholar.
While Lopez knew of the 3+3 program when he entered Cornell as a freshman, it was not until the end of his first year that he became serious about pursuing the program. Lopez said he would still have been interested in attending Cornell Law without the accelerated program, though he lauded the value of the program, as well as the value of a law degree when pursuing a government career and as an additional resume credential.
“I think the 3+3 is just really good bang for your buck, for lack of a better word,” said Lopez. “If you do the net present value analysis of saving one year of tuition and one year opportunity cost of getting to work earlier, and then no LSAT, it works out to like hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings.”
Lopez said the law school’s admissions office and his own writing professors were useful resources throughout the application process.
When discussing what he did not like about the application process, Lopez mentioned the requirement that 3+3 applicants needed to complete their degree requirements in three years, and the specific challenges that the extensive Hotel Administration degree requirements provided. Lopez had to take summer classes for two summers as well as a winter class in order to complete his degree requirements within three years.
“Basically, the whole premise is you have to finish all your degree and major requirements in three years. So for us, that means about 116 [or] 117 credits… versus, if you're a government [major in] Arts and Sciences, you can get that all done in like 50 to 80 credits,” Lopez said.
Overall, Lopez recommended that students interested in the 3+3 program make a decision early on in their Cornell careers — especially if they are in the hotel school.
Olivia Hosie ’26, Nolan School of Hotel Administration
Olivia Hosie ’26, currently enrolled in the hotel school, first entered Cornell as an Animal Science major but discovered she missed the human connections she experienced while working as a restaurant server in high school.
“I truly enjoyed forming connections with the people that I was serving … and providing them meaningful experiences,” Hosie said. “So that sparked me into transferring to the hotel school and exploring that interest in hospitality,” Hosie said.
After learning of the 3+3 program from a classmate in the spring of her sophomore year, Hosie spoke with Cornell Law’s dean of admissions as well as current Cornell Law students to discuss pursuing a legal career.
These meetings solidified her interest in continuing her education at Cornell Law School and participating in the 3+3 program. Her internship with Sonesta Hotels during her sophomore summer reinforced this desire.
When asked why she wanted to pursue the 3+3 program, Hosie spoke of her love of Cornell and her classmates here. The small size of Cornell Law appealed to Hosie, which reminded her of the small, close-knit community she found at the hotel school.
“You know everyone that you're sitting in class with and they're very supportive of you … and I think that I truly do thrive in these environments where I do get to know my classmates on a personal level,” Hosie said. “For me Cornell was never really a question. I always wanted to just stay here.”
Hosie encouraged interested students to explore their interests and speak with relevant individuals to ensure they truly want to do it.
“If it is what you want to do, just follow your heart and you can do anything that you put your mind to,” Hosie said. “Just believe in yourself.”
Matthew Mah ’26, School of Industrial and Labor Relations
Matthew Mah ’26, who studies Industrial and Labor Relations, transferred from The George Washington University and is a Meinig Scholar.
Mah discovered the 3+3 program while researching Cornell programs before he arrived on campus as a sophomore. He decided to pursue law after taking Labor and Employment Law taught by Prof. Gali Racabi, industrial labor relations, and getting a job as an IT assistant at Cornell Law School.
“Once I experienced the community at Cornell Law, I was very much like, ‘This is where I can see myself in a few years,’” Mah said. “I feel like if I didn’t at least apply to it, especially with the feeling that I wanted to be there, I would, in five years, look back on this moment and be like I really regret what happened.”
Reflecting on the application process, Mah was grateful for the advice he received from past 3+3 candidates on the application process and what to expect throughout, as well as seminars held by the law school which provided information about the 3+3 program.
Mah also commented on the fear of being “pigeonholed” into a social circle of only other 3+3 students once at Cornell Law, which he was warned sometimes happens by a current law student.
Ultimately, Mah recommended that students only pursue the 3+3 program if they are genuinely interested, and not for the prestige of the program or the legal profession. He emphasized that the 3+3 program is not the only path to success and to avoid viewing other students as competition.
“You really want to appreciate the community around you, even if it’s the case where you’re technically competing, don’t think about them as competition, think about them as peers,” Mah said. “There’s abundance here. There’s enough for everyone to succeed.”
Evelyn Mullen Walsh ’27 is a Sun contributor and can be reached at eam435@cornell.edu.
