Electromagnetic volume scattering theories for random media using a coherent field approach require some understanding of the statistical behavior of the locations of individual scatterers within the random medium. This knowledge manifests itself as the correlation function or pair distribution function, which is used to characterize the medium. This article presents a method for simulating the arrangements of particles of arbitrary shape within a very dense random medium, thus allowing for these functions to be calculated numerically. To demonstrate the significance of the Monte Carlo simulation, the problem of scattering from a two-dimensional dense random medium is considered. Using a first-order solution based on the Born approximation, it is shown that the approximate theoretically derived correlation function may lead to significant errors in the prediction of the backscatter response. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995