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By Emily von Hoffmann
Aspiring lawyers can rejoice 鈥� but not relax 鈥� due to recent trends in law school admissions. The number of people applying to law school has , leading to admissions standards at the top-ranked programs. This doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 a breeze to get into Harvard, however.
According to US News & World Report, the way this most concretely affects applicants is probably through greater at the schools just below the most prestigious. These schools may be able to boost their medians 鈥� and their prestige 鈥� by enticing top-scoring students to attend their programs with lowered tuition costs.
Using data from the , created an Acceptance Index to determine which law schools are the toughest to gain admittance to. The Acceptance Index is calculated by factoring both enrolled students鈥� median undergraduate GPA and median LSAT score. The absolute most competitive programs have largely maintained their reign, but admissions trends may have allowed a few surprises to slide into our list.
#10. Northwestern University School of Law
#9. Duke University School of Law
Acceptance Index: 3.58
Acceptance Rate: 23.3 percent
Median LSAT Score: 169
Median Undergraduate GPA: 3.76
Duke Law鈥檚 alumni base features former U.S. president Richard Nixon, sports agent Drew Rosenhaus and humorist Tucker Max.
#8. Columbia University Law School
#7. New York University School of Law
Acceptance Index: 3.66
Acceptance Rate: 33.1 percent
Median LSAT Score: 169
Median Undergraduate GPA: 3.78
At 33.1 percent, NYU School of Law admits the highest percentage of applicants among the top 15 schools on this list.
#6. University of Virginia School of Law
#5. University of Pennsylvania Law School
Acceptance Index: 4.09
Acceptance Rate: 18.8 percent
Median LSAT Score: 169
Median Undergraduate GPA: 3.89
University of Pennsylvania Law School has an acceptance rate of 18.8 percent, the fourth-lowest among schools on this list.
#4. University of Chicago Law School
#3. Stanford Law School
Acceptance Index: 4.38
Acceptance Rate: 11.3 percent
Median LSAT Score: 171
Median Undergraduate GPA: 3.89
Stanford鈥檚 acceptance rate is the second-lowest in the country. The school was the original setting proposed for the film 鈥淟egally Blonde,鈥� which was based on the book written by alumni Amanda Brown, but the University administration didn鈥檛 approve of the script.
#2. Harvard Law School
#1. Yale Law School
Acceptance Index: 4.83
Acceptance Rate: 9.7 percent
Median LSAT Score: 173
Median Undergraduate GPA: 3.93
In fitting fashion as the hardest law school to get into, Yale has the absolute lowest acceptance rate (9.7 percent), the highest median GPA (3.93), and ties for the highest median LSAT score (173) on this list. With former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford among its alumni, Yale Law is still the standard bearer for American law schools.
