Registration and Schedules

Graduation Requirements for 2L & 3L Students

Students must successfully complete 90 credit hours to graduate, including the following required courses, if not previously taken:

• For students who began before Fall 2025:
  • Constitutional Law
  • Evidence
  • Federal Income Taxation
  • Property II
  • Professional Responsibility (by 60th credit hour)

• For students who began in Fall 2025 or later:
  • Evidence
  • Federal lncome Taxation
  • First Amendment
  • Professional Responsibility (by 60th credit hour)

Additional Upper-Level Required Courses

• For students who began before Fall 2025:
  • Criminal Procedure
  • First Amendment
  • Substantial Writing Course
  • Experiential Learning Courses – At least six (6) credit hours of experiential learning coursework must be completed before graduation
• For students who began in Fall 2025 or later:
  • Substantial Writing Course
  • Experiential Learning Courses – At least nine (9) credit hours of experiential learning coursework must be completed, and one (1) experiential course must be a “live client” clinic or externship.

Texas Uniform Bar Examination Courses

In addition to the first year required courses and those set out above, because of the centrality of these subjects to law practice and their relevance to the Texas Uniform Bar Examination, the faculty strongly recommends that all students take each of the following courses, even if they are eligible to choose not to do so:

• Students who began before Fall 2025:
  • Agency & Partnership
  • Corporations
  • Family Law
  • Secured Transactions (as of November 2025, no longer required)
  • Wills, Trusts, & Estates
  • Bar Preview Program* (must register in the fall or spring semester before graduation or the semester before taking the bar exam, whichever comes first)

• Students who began in Fall 2025 or later:
  • Agency & Partnership or Corporations
  • Criminal Procedure
  • Family Law
  • Bar Preview Program* (must register in the fall or spring semester before graduation or the semester before taking the bar exam, whichever comes first)

*Bar Preview Program: Required for students under Academic Supervision and students in their final semester whose GPA is below 3.200 at the time of registration. STCL Houston’s Bar Preview Program is designed to help students develop the skills required to prepare for and pass the bar exam. This course is a graded, three credit hour course. Students must earn a passing grade to obtain STCL Houston certification to take the bar exam. The Bar Preview program is not intended to be a substitute for a commercial bar preparation course.

Academic Supervision

A student meeting either of the following two criteria will be required to take the aforementioned Texas Uniform Bar Examination Courses as a condition of graduation:

• A full-time student whose cumulative GPA is below 3.000 immediately after having attempted 30 credit hours or having completed 2 semesters, whichever occurs first.
• A part-time student whose cumulative GPA is below 3.000 immediately after having attempted 30 semester hours or having completed 4 semesters or sessions, whichever occurs first.

Legal Skills

• For students who began before Spring 2025: This course is required and limited to all students whose first semester cumulative GPA is below 2.400
• For students who began in Spring 2025 or later: This course is required and limited to all students whose first semester cumulative GPA is below 2.700.

Advanced Legal Skills

• For students who began before Spring 2025: Required for and limited to students with a cumulative GPA of 2.700 or lower entering their penultimate (second to last) fall/spring semester and must be taken prior to the Bar Preview Program course.
• For students who began in Spring 2025 or later:
  • Full-time students: This course must be taken by students with a cumulative GPA less than 2.700 entering their third semester
  • Part-time students: This course must be taken by students with a cumulative GPA less than 2.700 entering their second year fall semester.

Registration

To register for classes, follow these registration instructions and be sure to register for your block first. You will also find steps for:

• Registering for a waitlist;
• Dropping a course;
• Registering for a course that requires instructor approval (e.g. Law Review, Moot Court, etc.); and
• Planning your schedule.

Early Dismissal Rule

Early Dismissal RuleFor students who began in Spring 2025 and thereafter, any full-time student who fails to achieve a cumulative 2.000 GPA after their first semester, or any part-time student who fails to achieve a cumulative 2.000 GPA after their second semester, will be immediately dismissed for academic deficiency.

First Year Dismissal Rule

• For students who began before Fall 2025: Any full-time or part-time student who fails to achieve at least a cumulative 2.300 GPA after their first two long semesters will be immediately dismissed for academic deficiency.
• For students who began in Fall 2025 or later: Any full-time student who fails to achieve at least a cumulative 2.300 GPA after their first two long semesters will be immediately dismissed for academic deficiency. Any part-time student who fails to achieve at least a cumulative 2.300 GPA after their first three enrollment periods (i.e., the fall semester, spring semester, and summer session) will be immediately dismissed for academic deficiency

Registration/Degree Audit

Additional details along with mutual exclusions can be found on the Registration/Degree Audit Worksheet. You may also complete the form and submit it for an advisor to review and send you a list of any outstanding graduation requirements you may have.