Schools With The Most Competitive LSAT Scores

LSAT

Law Schools With The Most Competitive LSAT Scores

 
Despite a few recent changes, an LSAT score has traditionally been the single most important part of a law school application. Don’t have a stellar undergraduate GPA? Make it up with the LSAT. Want to jump from undergrad straight to law school without an work experience? Hit the LSAT out of the park. Don’t have the most intriguing personal narrative? Get a 170 or better on the test. You get the point.
With fewer people taking the LSAT and median scores slightly decreasing, a good (or even decent) LSAT score looks mighty attractive to admissions offices. So what are students at some of the top schools scoring on the LSAT (which is scored from 120 to 180)?
U.S. News & World Report collected data from 187 American Bar Association (ABA) accredited law schools on LSAT scores from the law school class that entered during the fall of 2014. There are currently 201 ABA accredited law schools. The schools self-reported their data to the U.S. News. And the findings show it still takes quite a high LSAT score to get into the top schools.
The schools with the highest median LSAT scores for this year’s class of 1Ls was Harvard and Yale both with 173. Next up were Columbia and Stanford, both with 172. Rounding out the top five were New York University and the University of Chicago, both with median LSAT scores of 170. There was a three-way tie at 169 with Duke University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Virginia. Rounding out the top 10 were Northwestern University and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor both with 168.
At the other end of the rankings were Ave Maria School of Law and Charlotte School of Law, both with a median LSAT score of 143.
Interestingly, Columbia and Stanford both increased their median LSAT scores by a point from 2013’s entering class. The only other change among the top 10 was the absence of the Law Center at Georgetown University. Georgetown dropped from 168 to 167 and, thus, fell off the list.
The list of top 10 schools based on median LSAT scores

School LSAT Score Tipping the Scales Rank
Harvard University 173 3 (tie)
Yale University 173 2
Columbia University 172 10
Stanford University 172 1
New York University 170 13
University of Chicago 170 5
Duke University 169 8 (tie)
University of Pennsylvania 169 3 (tie)
University of Virginia 169 6
Northwestern University 168 8 (tie)
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 168

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Source: U.S. News
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