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Law School Admission Statistics
Law school admissions is largely a numbers game. First of all, law school admission chances depend on previous GPA and LSAT score. These two factors form the basis for the application selection process, and law school admission officers judge your ability to succeed in the first year of law school largely on these two factors.
You need to look at target law school admissions stats. Law school medians are important to look at when you judge your potential target law schools. Look at their acceptance median for GPA and LSAT and compare both of them to your stats. If they match, and your numbers fall within their medians – you can safely apply. If you are below, then get ready to waste application money and try to show some other good reason for an admission officer to see that you can succeed in law school and society after law school. School’s brand name is at stake.
And in good schools many applications may be tossed out into a trash can just because both GPA and LSAT are low, without even inquiring into a personal statement – that is my guess. But, in my opinion, before they deny an application, they still read your resume, essay, recommendation letters, to see if anything is interesting in it. So, put something in each of the documents you submit right on the top to catch their attention so they read more.
Law school stats are important, but they do not reveal the whole picture. Admission officers also look at your background – how will you fare in law school and society. They look at previous work experience. And they look at undergrad majors. Difficult majors, like science or engineering, probably get higher scores than liberal arts from the same college. And of course, excellent grades in writing and literature classes may indicate that you will be able to write good essays and law school exams. It is probably a plus.
Law schools also pay attention to their ranking, and students’ LSAT and GPA form percentage of law school rank, especially in U.S. News rankings. If you think you can retake LSAT with a better score then maybe it is better to wait, study more and retake it.
Law school acceptance rates
Law school admission rates are very different and usually depend on law school rankings. Law school numbers vary. The higher the rank of school, the more rigorously they review applications, the higher is the law school requirement and acceptance rates tend to be quite small at the top. The acceptance rates are not evenly spread along with the rankings. There is a significant acceptance GPA gap between top law schools – T14 – and the rest of the schools.
For example, T14 law schools tend to accept people with practically perfect grades close to 3.7 – 4.0 GPA average. And all other law schools give slack to candidates with, for example, a 3.0-3.6 GPA. Even now, that law school applications are down, top law schools still naturally enjoy high demand.
According to U.S. News, the national average law school acceptance rate was 45.8% in 2018. And for several top schools, the acceptance range was from high 19% to low 6% of everyone who applied. Interestingly, Harvard law school admissions numbers are lower than some other schools. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/the-short-list-grad-school/articles/law-schools-that-are-hardest-to-get-into
Harvard law school admissions statistics show an acceptance rate of 12.9%, way higher than, for example, Yale or Stanford (6.9% and 8.7%, respectively). Northwestern law school admission statistics show about 19.3% acceptance rate (top 10 law school in U.S. News rankings), and USC law school acceptance rate is almost the same – 19.2% accepted with 3.78 median LSAT score (School No.17). At the same time, New York University School of Law is noticeably less selective than USC, maybe for the same reason – lots of applicants to USC, including candidates from foreign countries https://www.accepted.com/law/selectivity-index
What is going on? Most likely, because USC enjoys a higher number of applicants than Northwestern. For disclosure – I applied to Northwestern in my early days. And was not accepted. No hard feelings.
For comparison, the UCLA law school acceptance rate is 22.5%, with a 3.72 median GPA. https://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/index/1/asc/Accept
UCLA has an enrollment of 58% females, and 12% of law students have STEM degrees. Also, 42% are minorities, and 17% are first-generation college students whose parents did not go to college. I guess this is a little bit of a factor for UCLA if they post it on their website at https://law.ucla.edu/admissions/class-profile/
In my humble opinion, to get into top law school one needs a GPA of at least 3.7, and LSAT of minimum 170. Then, to get into the top 50, LSAT 160+ and GPA 3.3+. That is a #lawschool game. And some other factors mentioned above.
In contrast, Willamette law school admission statistics show about 75% acceptance rate. Plus, for example, law school in New York or in Chicago or law school in Boston may have smaller admission rate than rural law school. And law school in California or in Florida may have smaller acceptance rate than law school in Vermont due to smaller pool of applicants.
Law school cost – how much does the law school cost – also may affect acceptance rates, where cheaper but higher ranked law schools will have smaller admission rate.
I don’t know what is Purdue law school acceptance rate, but apparently, Purdue University did not have its law school, so it purchased ABA unaccredited California-based Concord online law school, with low stats. Let’s see in the future how it works out. Purdue-Concord law school requires a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and LSAT is NOT required! (Because school is not accredited by ABA, but graduates are still eligible to sit for very difficult CA bar exam). Yes, and this pleasure costs about $50,000 annually. Amazing. I think I should open my law school))
Importance of law school LSAT scores
Law school candidates struggle with the eternal question about the importance of LSAT vs. GPA for law school admission. To be fair, law school LSAT and GPA importance depend on each school. However, from what I have read and understood while in law school, LSAT is probably more important. Some law schools openly claim that LSAT scores have most of the weight in their initial selection of applicants. I would consider that a base cut-off factor. And a single most important one.
Why? Very simple. Someone may graduate from MIT’s brutal engineering program with a 3.1 GPA . Another person may graduate from a ha-ha unknown or online easy-going college somewhere in the woods with a GPA of 3.7. Who do you think had it easier and who do you think is smarter? I think you have guessed it right. It is not easy to become a #lawstudent.
That is where LSAT comes in. Because LSAT is the same for everyone, it more accurately ranks students in terms of their ability to pass LSAT. Also, it is designed specifically to test the ability of a student to go through the first year of law school. Therefore, it makes sense for law schools to rely primarily on LSAT scores in their admission decisions.
Naturally, it is recommended to pump up your LSAT studies very hard. Drilling through those LSAT books and tests is worth the trouble. In my opinion, a good LSAT score may even counterbalance not so good GPA score. You can retake the LSAT score and, I think, that your highest of the two or three matters. Yes, law school studies start with undergrad college and LSAT studies.
I will indulge in LSAT scores discussion in another blog post, but it is worth noting that even if you get a lower score of 150 on your first try, you are better off delaying admission and retaking LSAT after studying. While LSAT score of 140-150 may get you in the bottom 50 law scjool (not counting unaccredited schools), I recommend trying at least one more time to obtain a higher score. The score of 150 is about the national median and you want to be better than the median.
I know someone who took LSAT 3 times and eventually got 160+ and got into school he wanted. Not T14 law school, but in his hometown. Test-taking is a skill that can be improved with trial and repetition. But, if you keep getting about 140 or less after a couple of tries and less than 2.7 GPA – maybe do not go to law school because there is a chance that you will not be able to pass the bar exam. Or, you are not preparing good enough.
On the other hand, if you scored easily 170 or more – meaning, you are in the top 3% of test-takers – maybe you should try some STEM program instead (grad program too) at top college in the country, or medical school. You may have a nicer career.
And if you are still high school or getting into college – try to get into as higher-ranking college as possible. I would say that even transferring to a much better undergrad college may offer its benefits in the future unless now you have a stellar GPA and/or solid scholarship. Careers are still a lot about pedigree.
Law School Acceptance Calculator
Law school acceptance calculators are designed to estimate law School Admission Probability. While no law school calculator can give an accurate estimate, modern data is sufficient to show the big picture. Law school applications are not cheap and law scjool acceptance predictor tools may come in handy to ensure that you do not waste your time. Please note, that these calculators can take into consideration most hard data numbers – LSAT score, GPA, etc.
They cannot calculate based on intangible things that you may put on your application. For example, if you are a former decorated military servicemember, these calculators usually cannot check how you can express that experience in your personal statement. And admissions specialists at, for example, Yale, or Stanford, may subconsciously like your candidacy and give you points for that experience, which distinguishes you from the rest of the crowd.
Let us look at which law school admissions calculator is out there, which may help you estimate your chances to application success.
Law school calculator
Start with the official Law School Admission Council’s LSAC calculator, which uses data from the previous year to estimate your chances of law school entry success. Law sxhool predictor by LSAC. It pretty much uses only your raw GPA and LSAT score data to predict – nuts and bolts. Again, this is not 100% accurate, because several schools do not participate in sharing data for this tool. Such schools like Harvard, Yale, Rutgers, and more do not provide data. You can also search law school geographically, alphabetically or by keywords.
You can find it here: https://officialguide.lsac.org/release/ugpalsat/ugpalsat.aspx
Then, there is a law school predictor. This tool measures more staff and somewhat harder to use. It also uses undergrad GPA and LSAT scores to match against formulas used by some law schools. Again, its data does not include some top law schools. But, I think it also gives chances of admission to part-time law schools. It can be found here: http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/gpa-calculator/
Finally, there is hourumd.com, which collects data provided by students themselves, and matches your data against that of self-reporting law students. Pretty simple to use. Based on my numbers, I found it surprisingly more or less accurate. It also shows law school scholarship data like amount.
Then there is a 7sage law school predictor. 7Sage is an authority website for law school admission, and the 7sage law school predictor is here. I like their easy to view the format of results. They show predictions for all 200+ law schools, plus additional information, like law school acceptance rate. Essentially, this tool matches your data with self-reported data of other law students who were accepted.
Then there is another law school predictor, which attempts to fill in the gap and try to predict chances of success for top law schools. https://jscalc.io/calc/zt21YwP4hMpgFuoT
Keep in mind that law school acceptance predictor simply uses total statistical data to give results, and does not take into consideration each case scenario. It also cannot predict the judgment of an admissions representative. If you have something, anything, interesting, unusual, worthy to show on your resume or personal statement, which can show to admission repo your probability of success in law school and in finding a job after graduation – show it. Law school schools watch their graduation statistics. If your dad or mom owns a law firm, and they will hire you – this informally can increase your chances of getting into higher-ranked law scxool. That is my personal opinion.
Law school matcher
Some law school calculators operate as a law school matcher. For example, here are law one of such matchers – it matches your data to particular law school you may apply too, broken down into several tiers according to your chances of success. Even a score of 155 may theoretically get you into some decent schools, where your listed “safety law schools” are those which are the most likely to accept you.
http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-Matcher.htm
Another interesting matcher is http://users.lawschoolnumbers.com/gpa-lsat
It offers a table with a grid of GPA/LSAT score. You can click on your numbers and the matcher will open another page with listed law schools where you can safely apply. The potential weakness of this tool is that it is based on data submitted by students, not on national data from law schools.
What you should do, is use all of these tools to get an idea of your prospects. Then select a list of law schools with high chances of success and sort them according to various criteria, including preferred geographic location, including local cost of living, tuition cost, and other factors. Then, start preparing applications. Remember, there is no perfect school – it is all about how you manage your education and career.
More thoughts on law school admission chances and law school calculators
Most of these tools are just to help you to get an idea. I do not think any of them are 100% accurate. You still need to put the work into preparing your supporting paperwork. Use them as much as you need to get you started. Remember that there may be some other intangible factors considered by an admission officer. It could be your background, your accomplishments, you are a single mom or single dad, you are local, veteran, your relative has a law firm and agreed to get you hired after graduation.
Stand in the shoes of admissions officer – they want candidates to be able to succeed on law school exams, pass the bar exam and find a job, thus improving or maintaining school statistics and ranking. School is not about serving you – it is usually a business and it is being run like one. You are a resource – a paying resource, not a customer. Sorry, but that what one of my MBA professors told us. And it is the truth. If you know this hard truth is may be able to make better and wiser decisions.
Graduating with $60,000 student debt from tier 3 law school is better than graduating from lower-tier 2 law school with $110,000 debt because of the existence of the student debt which limits career choices and mobility. Upper-tier 2 and tier 1 are a different matter though. Read my other post about law school rankings.
Law school admission statistics are averages – there may be exceptions to the rule. You may be one of those exceptions. Well, I also was one of those exceptions, which I will tell about some time in future posts. I succeeded in my way, and now I like to share knowledge with others. The most important thing to keep in mind is your future law school debt. Whatever you do, do everything possible to significantly lower your tuition and living expenses, even if it means going to lower-ranking law school or doing a part-time program while working.
Max Feo JD, MBA, Tax LLM