People love to ridicule this profession, but they should well remember that many of America’s presidents were lawyers. Usually after nearly a decade of intense training, lawyers perform an important and difficult service: tending the rule of law.
The rule of law is perhaps the difference between order and chaos. While the U.S. legal system is by no means perfect — the institution may work in favor of those with the power to direct its authority, for example — any justice that is to take place rests on the bedrock of these rules. And it is always evolving. The law of the land must be constantly written and rewritten, interpreted and deployed, to keep up with societal shifts and resolve disputes.
Hundreds of law schools churn out an army of lawyers to courtrooms, offices, classrooms, and corporate boardrooms across the United States. Various academic institutions accept hundreds of thousands of applications every year, and not all have the same quality and prestige.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed data — including LSAT scores, average GPA of accepted applicants, and acceptance rates — for over 200 top law schools from the American Bar Association to determine the hardest law schools to get into.
Click here to see the hardest law schools to get into.
Click here to see our detailed findings and methodology.
50. University of Nevada-Las Vegas
> Acceptance rate: 34.4%
> No. of applicants: 665
> Median GPA: 3.52
> Median LSAT: 157
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49. Arizona State University
> Acceptance rate: 41.9%
> No. of applicants: 1,860
> Median GPA: 3.64
> Median LSAT: 161
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48. Northeastern University
> Acceptance rate: 38.2%
> No. of applicants: 2,951
> Median GPA: 3.55
> Median LSAT: 161
47. University of Tennessee
> Acceptance rate: 36.5%
> No. of applicants: 1,003
> Median GPA: 3.59
> Median LSAT: 158
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46. Florida State University
> Acceptance rate: 34.3%
> No. of applicants: 1,855
> Median GPA: 3.52
> Median LSAT: 159
45. Boston College
> Acceptance rate: 37.1%
> No. of applicants: 4,520
> Median GPA: 3.50
> Median LSAT: 163
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44. Indiana University-Bloomington
> Acceptance rate: 41.6%
> No. of applicants: 1,633
> Median GPA: 3.71
> Median LSAT: 161
43. Fordham University
> Acceptance rate: 37.4%
> No. of applicants: 4,637
> Median GPA: 3.53
> Median LSAT: 163
42. Baylor University
> Acceptance rate: 33.3%
> No. of applicants: 2,904
> Median GPA: 3.55
> Median LSAT: 159
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41. Georgia State University
> Acceptance rate: 27.3%
> No. of applicants: 1,952
> Median GPA: 3.41
> Median LSAT: 158
40. University of Houston
> Acceptance rate: 32.3%
> No. of applicants: 2,508
> Median GPA: 3.53
> Median LSAT: 159
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39. Southern Methodist University
> Acceptance rate: 39.0%
> No. of applicants: 1,831
> Median GPA: 3.67
> Median LSAT: 161
38. University Florida
> Acceptance rate: 35.6%
> No. of applicants: 2,703
> Median GPA: 3.60
> Median LSAT: 160
37. University of Minnesota
> Acceptance rate: 44.5%
> No. of applicants: 1,960
> Median GPA: 3.76
> Median LSAT: 164
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36. Brigham Young University
> Acceptance rate: 43.8%
> No. of applicants: 436
> Median GPA: 3.80
> Median LSAT: 162
35. University of Arizona
> Acceptance rate: 34.5%
> No. of applicants: 1,392
> Median GPA: 3.57
> Median LSAT: 161
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34. William and Mary law school
> Acceptance rate: 40.6%
> No. of applicants: 4,227
> Median GPA: 3.75
> Median LSAT: 162
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33. Texas A&M University
> Acceptance rate: 23.9%
> No. of applicants: 1,893
> Median GPA: 3.41
> Median LSAT: 157
32. University of California-Davis
> Acceptance rate: 32.8%
> No. of applicants: 2,852
> Median GPA: 3.52
> Median LSAT: 163
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31. University of Richmond
> Acceptance rate: 31.0%
> No. of applicants: 1,872
> Median GPA: 3.55
> Median LSAT: 161
30. Florida International University
> Acceptance rate: 28.7%
> No. of applicants: 1,901
> Median GPA: 3.64
> Median LSAT: 156
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29. George Washington University
> Acceptance rate: 38.9%
> No. of applicants: 6,943
> Median GPA: 3.71
> Median LSAT: 165
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28. University of Colorado
> Acceptance rate: 34.3%
> No. of applicants: 3,280
> Median GPA: 3.69
> Median LSAT: 162
27. University of California-Irvine
> Acceptance rate: 27.2%
> No. of applicants: 2,035
> Median GPA: 3.54
> Median LSAT: 163
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26. Emory University
> Acceptance rate: 36.9%
> No. of applicants: 4,016
> Median GPA: 3.78
> Median LSAT: 165
25. University of Georgia
> Acceptance rate: 29.5%
> No. of applicants: 2,225
> Median GPA: 3.73
> Median LSAT: 162
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24. Boston University
> Acceptance rate: 29.3%
> No. of applicants: 4,804
> Median GPA: 3.68
> Median LSAT: 164
23. University of Notre dame
> Acceptance rate: 30.3%
> No. of applicants: 2,612
> Median GPA: 3.71
> Median LSAT: 164
22. Vanderbilt University
> Acceptance rate: 32.3%
> No. of applicants: 4,380
> Median GPA: 3.70
> Median LSAT: 167
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21. Washington University
> Acceptance rate: 31.9%
> No. of applicants: 4,113
> Median GPA: 3.67
> Median LSAT: 168
20. University of Washington
> Acceptance rate: 26.9%
> No. of applicants: 2,517
> Median GPA: 3.68
> Median LSAT: 163
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19. University of Alabama
> Acceptance rate: 31.5%
> No. of applicants: 1,624
> Median GPA: 3.82
> Median LSAT: 163
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18. George Mason University
> Acceptance rate: 23.8%
> No. of applicants: 2,587
> Median GPA: 3.66
> Median LSAT: 162
17. University of Southern California
> Acceptance rate: 30.0%
> No. of applicants: 4,526
> Median GPA: 3.76
> Median LSAT: 165
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16. University of Texas at Austin
> Acceptance rate: 27.1%
> No. of applicants: 4,424
> Median GPA: 3.70
> Median LSAT: 16
15. University of California-Los Angeles
> Acceptance rate: 28.0%
> No. of applicants: 5,353
> Median GPA: 3.74
> Median LSAT: 167
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14. New York University
> Acceptance rate: 29.8%
> No. of applicants: 6,245
> Median GPA: 3.81
> Median LSAT: 169
13. Cornell University
> Acceptance rate: 24.1%
> No. of applicants: 4,101
> Median GPA: 3.73
> Median LSAT: 167
12. University of California-Berkeley
> Acceptance rate: 24.9%
> No. of applicants: 5,336
> Median GPA: 3.79
> Median LSAT: 166
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11. Georgetown University
> Acceptance rate: 23.5%
> No. of applicants: 9,862
> Median GPA: 3.77
> Median LSAT: 167
10. University of Michigan
> Acceptance rate: 23.7%
> No. of applicants: 5,076
> Median GPA: 3.78
> Median LSAT: 168
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9. Duke University
> Acceptance rate: 20.2%
> No. of applicants: 5,095
> Median GPA: 3.76
> Median LSAT: 169
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8. Columbia University
> Acceptance rate: 20.8%
> No. of applicants: 5,877
> Median GPA: 3.70
> Median LSAT: 172
7. Northwestern University
> Acceptance rate: 17.8%
> No. of applicants: 4,625
> Median GPA: 3.81
> Median LSAT: 168
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6. University of Virginia
> Acceptance rate: 19.9%
> No. of applicants: 4,794
> Median GPA: 3.86
> Median LSAT: 169
5. University of Chicago
> Acceptance rate: 20.7%
> No. of applicants: 4,380
> Median GPA: 3.90
> Median LSAT: 170
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4. University of Pennsylvania
> Acceptance rate: 17.0%
> No. of applicants: 5,593
> Median GPA: 3.90
> Median LSAT: 169
3. Harvard University
> Acceptance rate: 16.6%
> No. of applicants: 5,454
> Median GPA: 3.86
> Median LSAT: 172
2. Stanford University
> Acceptance rate: 10.7%
> No. of applicants: 3,821
> Median GPA: 3.87
> Median LSAT: 171
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1. Yale University
> Acceptance rate: 9.5%
> No. of applicants: 2,735
> Median GPA: 3.89
> Median LSAT: 173
Detailed Findings and Methodology:
There are around 780,000 lawyers in the United States, and the typical lawyer earns well over $100,000 annually. As is generally the case for other degrees, graduates of some institutions tend to earn more than others, and this is often tied to how much students end up paying to receive that education. Of the 50 hardest law schools to get into, 23 report average tuition for full-time students of over $50,000 per school year. Only one of the 50 bottom-ranked schools costs so much.
For the privilege of paying to attend some of these schools, one must first be accepted. LSAT scores and GPA of prospective students were factors in this ranking, but the acceptance rate is the main determination of how difficult it is to attend a given school. Fifteen of these 50 law schools accept fewer than 25% of applicants. None of the 50 accept more than half of people who wish to attend.
At the same time, because Americans interested in becoming lawyers typically apply to numerous schools, only a few of these top school report matriculation rates greater than 50%. Yale University, Harvard University, Brigham Young University, and the University of Nevada are the only institutions on this list where accepted students are more likely than not to actually attend the school.
To determine the hardest law schools to get into, 24/7 Wall St. constructed an index using data from the American Bar Association. Half the index relied on a law school’s acceptance rate. The other half of the index consisted of the median LSAT score and median undergraduate GPA of those accepted to the school.
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