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General Law School GPA Requirements:
This article about Law School GPA Requirements is a result of personal experience and heavy research. If you are interested in figuring out which GPA can put you into which law school, I suggest you read or look through this article. But few important things to know:
GPA is one of the two most important law school admission factors,
LSAT still has higher weight than GPA ( and it’s a good thing),
That’s why GPA cannot be changed, but LSAT can partially cure GPA,
Low GPA can still get you into law school, albeit, lower ranking,
But the same GPA number from liberal arts undergraduate and from engineering undergad will be viewed very differently by admissions,
Low GPA is not the end of the world, it can be explained in personal statement,
TIP: to see the list of 6-7 law schools with the lowest GPA requirements in the USA please scroll to the end of the article. Or, you can check my post about 9 law schools that are easiest to get into. Otherwise, keep reading.
When some commentators online say that GPA is irrelevant and must pay attention primarily to LSAT – I disagree. GPA is very helpful for law schools to determine who will better fare in law school and beyond.
Researching law school GPA requirement is very important for an applicant because it will allow him or her to correctly select target schools without unnecessarily wasting money for application fees.
In my personal opinion, if one applied to the best possible law schools he or she thinks can get, and received 50% admissions and 50% rejections – that might indicate that target law schools were chosen correctly.
By the way, I suggest applying to more than 1 law school. Just in case. Unless, you want to apply to a specific law school for their convenient location and evening program, for example, so that you could go to school part-time and continue working.
The Law School GPA Requirements for law school admissions vary significantly between law schools depending on their rank. Top law schools are competitive and generally require undergraduate GPA starting at 3.6-3.7 and higher. Lower-tiered law schools can accept someone with a GPA of 3.3, 3.0 or even lower.
For example, Harvard Law School GPA requirements are an average of 3.89, with 3.79 being about the low 25% percentile for admitted students. And Yale Law School GPA average for accepted students is 3.9+.
However, these two schools pretty much are top within the top 14 and stand separately. Here is an important note – the lowest GPA accepted by Yale school of law was 3.32. This probably means, that if you have 3.33-3.4 GPA and 170+ LSAT – you may apply to Yale and any top law school.
The lowest average GPA among the top 14 – T14 law schools is at Columbia school of law, where the median undergraduate GPA is 3.7. Yes, there is a significant difference in applying when having a 3.6 or 3.8 GPA.
Law school medians vary greatly. If you pan on trying to get into top law school you should choose your major carefully and select something that you are good at, or something that might be easier for you.
It is true, however, that law school admissions officers know that 3.5 GPA in engineering is harder to obtain than 3.5 for some liberal arts majors, but GPA doe smatter for applying to higher-ranked law school.
Jeff Thomas, Kaplan Test Prep’s executive director of prelaw programs suggests that law school admissions look not only at the hard number but also the difficulty of courses taken in undergrad. He said that a law school applicant with a high GPA who took 400-level courses has a better chance than another applicant with the same GPA but who took introductory easy 100-level undergraduate courses. Source.
LSAT Prep for Law School
Of course, LSAT is very important for law school and carries great weight on law school application. You can read my blog post about LSAT for law school. I also wrote special post on how to prepare for LSAT thoroughly.
I cannot stress enough how important is good LSAT preparation. For future LSAT takers there many good courses. One of the courses I recommend is LSAT course by Magoosh – a top 10 test prep company globally.
Their courses are pretty easy and convenient for starter test takers – easy to digest, self-paced online videos, online library of materials, ability to ask LSAT tutors questions. Large library of video training, email support from instructors, and other perks will help you to increase your score.
Importantly, Magoosh LSAT course is one of the most affordable ones out there. Not bad for a top company like this.
Importantly, they offer excellent full access 7 day free training trial option on LSAT preparation. That equals to 15-30 hours of preparation for free.
In Which Law School 3.3 GPA Can Put an Applicant?
Well, this GPA alone will not get an applicant into top law school. Yale and Harvard are possibly out of reach completely, unless there is something really special about the applicant. Well, connected people may be able to get into. Because Law School GPA Requirements are just too strict.
But 3.3 GPA is still not bad for law school admission purposes. I have seen people with 3.3 GPA accepted in Georgetown, Northwestern, University of Virginia, Emory, American University, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, Pepperdine, Notre Dame, and other law schools.
If an applicant wants to get into top tier law schools with this GPA he or she needs a high LSAT score to compensate for such, well, lower than usually accepted GPA. I suggest taking a good LSAT preparation course and then you can study on your own.
Therefore, the top 15-50 law schools are within reach, and even maybe some lower T14, as long as LSAT is high enough 170+.
Hoe To Get Into Law School With 3.0 GPA
While this GPA is getting on the lower side, it can still put an applicant into the top 50 law school with the right GPA of 160 and higher and well-put application credentials. The University of Washington, University of Huston, Seattle University, University of Cincinnati, West Virginia University law schools are within reach. Their Law School GPA Requirements are within this limit.
However, the top 14 law school is likely out of reach and it may not be worth to apply unless the applicant has super-top LSAT. This is a possible scenario if an applicant puts 550% effort in preparing for LSAT to passes it with the score in the 170 range. I have met such cases in my research.
Overall, a 3.0 GPA may still offer admissions into top 100 law or even top 50 law schools, with solid LSAT. The higher the school the better it is for employment chances.
True, you may be able to transfer later, but it is better to get in the maximum possible higher-ranked law school the first time and ride to graduation.
A note about scholarship – I have seen people lose scholarships. I would not count on that too much. GPA 3.0 does not preclude from admission to law school, but limits which law schools can accept an applicant.
Micro Law School Experience
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Law school with 2.5 GPA
Law school and 2.5 GPA presents a challenge. While this score still can get into law school, from what I understand, anything below 3.0 does not look good.
The applicant still may go to law school, because LSAT has a greater weight for law school admissions. However, the top 14 schools are definitely out of reach. Top 50 maybe also very hard, if at all possible, to get into. Even getting into the top 100 will be a challenge.
But, if 2.5 GPA is from engineering undergrad, this may not be so bad and such an applicant can still succeed in law school and get employed as a patent attorney after passing the bar exam. But if it is from some easy program – then you will need to explain what had happened.
The Law School GPA Requirements of these schools are too strict for this number.
Do not get discouraged. Things may happen which affect a student’s undergraduate GPA, and if this is the case – please make sure that you explain it in your application package.
For example, my undergraduate is from abroad, where I got about a 3.8 overall GPA. Then I went through an MBA in the US. Initially, I was getting a top in the class grade in my ECON 500 class, really good grades in other classes, including finance.
But then, I got into a really bad car accident on Sunset boulevard, pretty much have spent 1-1.5 years rehabilitating while finishing an MBA.
Needless to say, my GPA suffered a lot and came up to be 3.1. And law admissions looked at my MBA and most likely gave it a great weight because my undergrad was from abroad.
Therefore, I do not get into top law school. But I explained in my application what has happened and I am sure it was also taken into account by someone who reviewed my application.
So, the application is your marketing material where you show that you can succeed in law school and as a lawyer – make sure you use it right. In short, 2.5 GPA’s can still become attorneys and even have a real career.
But for such low GPA i REALLY suggest to take good LSAT course (12 months to give you time to grow your LSAT score).
The Good GPA Which Will Get You Admitted
Good GPA for Law School Revealed!
Therefore, law schools view your GPA as a benchmark for evaluating how you will perform in law school. The higher the GPA the better they think a student will perform in school and as an attorney. As you can see from statistics above the truly good undergraduate GPA for law school probably starts somewhere in that range of 3.5-3.6.
Law schools take undergraduate GPA seriously also because it affects overall school rankings. For example, the US News and World Report rank law schools where student’s undergraduate GPA weighs about 10% of law school rank.
To get into the top 100 law schools, an average applicant must have a 3.0 undergrad GPA. The lower the GPA, the higher must be the score on LSAT for better chances of admissions. It looks like generally, LSAT score carries greater weight in the eyes of a law school admission officer.
Overall, for the top 50 law schools one needs to have at least 3.29 GPA and for the top 100 at least 2.95, those are their Law School GPA Requirements. Source.
If you want to obtain a scholarship at a particular law school, you need to have a GPA higher than that school’s 75th percentile for admitted students (top 25%).
By the way, if you see on the internet the word “splitter” in reference to law school admission it usually means that the applicant’s GPA and LSAT scores are not on corresponding levels.
Overall good GPA definition depends on target law school rank and its Law School GPA Requirements . What is good enough for a tier 4 law school most likely will be bad for the top 50 law school and will be out of the question for T14 law school.
The Average Across the Industry
Average GPA for law school admission – revealed! Well, US News calculates the overall average GPA of admitted students by breaking down all 197 or so ranked schools into 3 tiers. Among the bottom 10 law schools with the lowest admitted GPA average is below 3.0. Among the top, most demanding law schools’ average GPA is about 3.9. On a 4.0 scale, of course.
Yale law school has the highest GPA requirement among US law schools 3.9 and it is No. 1 in law school rankings. Source.
Please note, that GPA requirements are averages and some admitted students may have lower GPAs and still be admitted, especially if they have some other achievements (athletes, for example).
Overall, it looks like those with a GPA of 3.7 and higher and LSAT of at least 170 may apply to any top 10 law school including Harvard law school and Yale law school. GPA of 3.4-3.6 with less than stellar LSAT of 160, plus-minus 5 points, will open doors at the top 50 law schools.
Anything less than that, 3.0-3.3 GPA and 155 plus LSAT score – any top 51-100 law school is an option. With the LSAT score of 160 or higher, you may still try the top 50 law school even with this GPA.
According to official ABA data, the number of applicants is rising since its low in 2014-2015 (a result of economic crises of 2008-2010). There are more than 62,500 applicants each year. Source.
Law schools have become a little bit desperate for good talent in 2014-2015 and started accepting GRE results instead of LSAT, but that is another story.
Median GPA (and LSAT) numbers increased since 2015 due to a higher pool of applicants and generally Law School GPA Requirements increased in recent years.
OK. Now, here comes the number. The average applicant’s median undergraduate GPA across law schools in 2019 was 3.47. The average LSAT is 156.4. Source.
As you can see, the average is pretty high, primarily due to those applicants who apply to the top 50 or top 14 law schools in the US. Also, acceptance rates in law schools went down by about 1%. You can see law school acceptance rates here.
Yale University School of Law acceptance rate is only 6.9% of those super-achievers who applied. By the way, the acceptance rate does not necessarily correspond with law school rank. I already mentioned that it has the highest law school GPA requirements.
If an applicant did achieve this GPA, then even with LSAT of 155 he or she can enjoy a large variety of law schools to apply. If not, then it is recommended to work on LSAT very hard, because the choice of law school essentially may define the whole career.
If you want to calculate your chances of admission, you can do it with a law school admission calculator on LSAC’s website here.
Do not get alarmed – there are plenty of 3rd and 2nd tier law schools, and I have seen people from those law schools graduating in 2012 and making a decent career.
On the other hand, this increase in competitiveness probably is a good thing overall – more quality lawyers will be serving people’s needs, and those applicants who do not get into law schools will avoid huge student debt on their shoulders.
A separate note is grade inflation. Some commentators say that in recent 10-15 years many undergraduate universities gradually inflated GPAs of their students, and old statistics simply should not be looked at. I do not know if this is a case by which I think it may be. In such a case achieving 3.5 in modern undergrad is easier than it was 15 years ago.
If you are freshmen then you may know which classes you excelled at in high school and may choose similar classes in undergrad – history, science, English or whatever else you think you can know well.
It is not guaranteed that you will also excel in the same subject in college, but this may be worth trying. On the other hand, you should choose classes that will rather give you a career shall you decided not to apply to law schools.
Let’s say you did not achieve a good GPA – now what?
Applicant can be admitted despite Low GPA
Get Admitted Into Law School With Low GPA. Despite generally stringent law school GPA requirements, getting into law school with a low GPA is possible. This is not the end of the world. As I said, there are plenty of lower-tiered law schools to choose from. For example, I have many friends from 3rd tier law schools who are making a career.
True, jobs are hard to find, especially good jobs. But if being a lawyer is your dream and goal, all you need is to graduate from law school and pass the bar exam- right?
So, it is possible to have a low GPA and get accepted into law school even in spite of higher law school GPA requirements. The only problem is that choices are limited to fewer law schools of lower rank.
Here is a big piece of advice form me personally. If your GPA is low and LSAT is not very good – try applying to low-tiered law school located in the state with the easiest bar exam, and in the location where you could live. Preferably, in the larger city.
Do research – statistics published every year. Rural law schools are problematic because nobody knows them much, and it virtually impossible to find a job locally. So, choose more or less large job market and low bar admission requirements.
Why? Because you do not want to try bar 3 times, although I do know of someone who took bar exam 6 times without going to law school at all – in New York – and he passed on the 6th try.
But, if you like certain markets like if you live in a city where you already have a network of connections to get potential clients, have a network of support – relatives or friends – then it may make sense to go to local law school. Make sure that law school is known in the local area.
I already mentioned that you need to explain any reasons why you may have gotten a lower GPA – medical or family issues, other things. If those reasons are legitimate.
Skipping classes to protest climate change may be a reason, but I kind of doubt admissions will buy that. Low GPA law schools are available anyway.
Some extracurricular activity which is important to humanity also can boost your personal statement. Saving injured animals or working with indigenous communities can help.
Working for state or federal cause as a volunteer also will help. Just important is that you do not just pass fliers or greet and seat visitors, but do something meaningful and impactful yourself.
In my undergrad, I started a small newspaper and a foreign relations club. Of course, I put that on my resume.
As everyone says – high LSAT can cancel a low GPA. If you can achieve 170 LSAT score on your 7th try – go for it – it is well worth getting into a much better school. A GPA of 2.7 and LSAT of 165-170 can get an applicant into the top 30 law schools with better employment prospects after graduation.
Do not worry about taking LSAT 2 or 3 times – it is ok. As long as you prepare better and better for each next one and increase your score each time. If you started with 155 scores and somehow on your third or fourth try achieved 165 – you may mention that you worked hard to improve your abilities.
If you have a low GPA and got into law school – all you need is to finish it and then pass the bar exam. For how to study in law school you can check one of my articles on this blog.
Low GPA Law School Success Stories
Here is an interesting story – this gentleman got into Northwestern with a GPA of less than 3.0 because he achieved a high score on LSAT plus had a solid application package to show. Source.
He explained that most important factors for his success were high LSAT score, work experience, good explanation of reasons for low GPA, early application action and applying to a lot of law schools that accept low GPA, including top law schools. Northwestern is tier 1 law school, by the way.
Another person is Sanjay. Sunjay got a 2.99 GPA. So, he took the LSAT issue very seriously. He has retaken LSAT FIVE times, eventually achieving 170 scores on it – a nice increase from his initial score of 155. He was accepted at George Washington and Fordham schools with a full scholarship. These schools also have stringent law school GPA requirements. Source.
He also had a medical issue which affected his school attendance. Initially, he got bad grades, affecting his overall GPA. Eventually, he was able to get proper treatment for his condition, and started achieving good grades – he explained that in his personal statement.
Well, if you are still in your undergrad reading this article – try to obtain better grades. Even a small percentage change in grades may tip the scale in your favor in the future. Try to take classes in which you can excel.
If you are out of school, then now focus on LSAT. Work very hard, take it, study again and retake it, if the score does not satisfy you. Remember, taking a test can be learned too.
From examples above it is clear that you can increase your score significantly if you work hard and smart. If anything else, it will make you a smarter person.
Get very good recommendation letters and write an excellent unique personal statement – spend lots of time writing and rewriting it, after weeks or months of going through resources advising you on how to write it. Make it your own story vs. what you have found on the internet.
Apply to at least several law schools. Yes, it is costly, but this is the game. The wider net will yield greater results. I, myself, applied to several and was accepted only by two, as I recall correctly. And remember, not all successful lawyers graduated from top law schools. If you absolutely want to be a lawyer this motivation will stimulate you to become a good one.
Having said that, if you have problems both with GPA and with LSAT, and after several various attempts you see that you are failing – maybe law school is not an option. There are other good possibilities from accounting to coding to even plumbing. Yes, people still pay good money to plumbers.
I do not want to discourage anyone but you must learn how to look at your strengths and weaknesses adequately. And make a solid career choice – a career that will feed you and your family in the future.
On the other hand, I think that many people with low GPA can still succeed in law school if they can get their stuff together and push hard.
Lowest GPA to Get Into Law School
What is the lowest GPA that can still get an applicant admitted into law school? What is the lowest GPA to get into law school?
From my research, I see that B- students can get into law school.
Above I mentioned that 10 law schools requiring the lowest undergraduate GPA accept an average of 2.95. It means, that they also accept GPA below that.
Probably, 2.5 still will be OK, especially with a decent LSAT score. In the case of 2.0-2.3 GPA – I think, this is really where LSAT score will become the deciding factor.
I have read some people recommend for those with a GPA of 2.0 to get a whole new undergraduate degree which is much easier for them and obtain a good GPA. Well, I am not sure if this is worth it.
But 2.0 in mechanical engineering is better than 2.0 in drama. 2.0 in drama studies may indicate that this candidate will not make any drama in law school and as an attorney. Sorry, just kidding. Such students though may excel in accounting, for example.
Those who have only a 2.0-2.2 GPA and no solid explanation for such a low GPA to try taking LSAT, probably should stay away from applying to law school if LSAT score will be less than 154-152. It is just not worth the trouble. The lowest GPA to get into law school should be coupled with at least semi-decent LSAT score.
Well, but you came here to find out schools that accept a low GPA, right? SO, here is a list of schools – the easiest law school to get into. Or, the easiest law schools to get into because these schools have the lowest law school GPA requirements.
The easiest one is probably Western Michigan University, Cooley Law School. It has one of the highest acceptance rates and one of the lowest GPA requirements.
Another easy law school to get into is Concordia Law School in Idaho. Its average GPA accepted is 2.9 and it has one of the highest acceptance rates in the country.
John Marshall Law School in Chicago – 3.15 average GPA and 148 average LSAT accepted.
Southern University School of Law – a Louisiana law school with an average GPA of 2.91, LSAT of 144, low tuition, and very accepting for black students.
Appalachian Law School in Virginia – average GPA accepted is 2.86.
Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego – GPA of 2.84 average accepted. It seems that this school requires the lowest GPA to get into law school.
For details, see my post about easiest law schools to get into.
I reviewed tons and tons of information about this – this article pretty much summarizes what I know and what I have learned. The legal profession is quite unfair and you should realize it before jumping into law school treadmill. But now you can see what is the lowest GPA to get into law school – around 2.0.
A low GPA does not necessarily eliminate your chances of getting accepted into law school. But Law school is difficult and GPA below 2.5 probably indicates that you may not be able to manage it.
There are still miracles, but generally, this is the case. It is worth getting into debt only if you can get something out of it.
Shall you decide to pursue law school nevertheless – good luck to you and keep improving your skills and abilities. This will pay off eventually regardless of your future career paths.
Shall you decide to go to law school – check my detailed reviews of recommended LSAT preparation courses for getting a top LSAT score.