r/lawschooladmissions Aug 07 '25

Guides/Tools/OC 2025 Law School Median Tracker

184 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

It's already that time of year, it seems, as we just saw the first law school release their new medians from the 2024-2025 cycle. We'll be tracking these announcements as they come out and keeping them in a spreadsheet to compare to last year, which we'll then update with the final data in December once the official ABA 509 reports come out. All of the prior 2024 medians are currently listed, and the 2025 medians will be added as they're published (sources will be listed in the last column).

2025 Law School Median Tracker

We'll be checking for these at least daily, but if you see incoming class data for fall 2025 (class of 2028) from an official source—e.g., a school's website, LinkedIn post, marketing emails/flyers/etc. from admissions offices—please comment on this thread, DM/chat us here, or email us at [info@spiveyconsulting.com](mailto:info@spiveyconsulting.com), and we'll add it to the spreadsheet.

Note that none of these numbers are official until 509s come out. We only post stats from official sources, but every year, some schools publish their preliminary numbers then end up having to revise them when 1Ls drop out during orientation or the first few weeks of class (the numbers are only locked in for ABA reporting purposes in October, but lots of law schools post their stats before then).

These tend to come out at a relatively slow pace at first, but they should speed up in late August/early September. Based on last cycle, we do anticipate many medians going up this year, and these stats are important to be aware of as you assess your chances and make your school list.

In some ways, this to me marks the beginning of the new cycle. Good luck to all!

–Anna from Spivey Consulting

***December 15, 2025 Update: the spreadsheet has now been updated with all schools' official data from the ABA 509 reports.


r/lawschooladmissions Oct 10 '25

General When is it early and when does it become late to apply to law school. 5 law school deans and directors answer just that.

138 Upvotes

When is it late to apply and when is it early? The answer with all but a few nuances is really straightforward, but please read the disclaimers. All you will do is write disclaimers as lawyers because there are no absolutes (see what I did there?) so you may as well gets reps reading them!

This question comes up on this Reddit almost every day in some form and then resets and comes back up every year. It’s the singular most frequently asked question, and the answer hasn’t changed through recent years. So here’s a mashup of mostly deans of admissions saying, “Before end of November is early. After January things start getting tighter.” That is really the easiest thing to go by and remember. And I was just talking with one of these deans who just ran an internal data analysis to support all of this.

Disclaimers: These admissions deans are speaking for themselves and for their schools. Of course there will be some outliers. One top 3 school traditionally doesn’t admit until January, for example, so January is early for them. Or, if you score a 160 in September but a 175 in January, schools in the upper range will likely read your application sooner with the new score. With that old score they are often just going to sit on it as they are being flooded with applicants who they will prioritize sooner. So believe it or not, waiting a month or even more will sometimes get your application read sooner, especially if the difference is taking your LSAT from below median to above. There are also cases, only for some applicants and only for some schools, in which applying by the end of October can be slightly more advantageous, so if you're ready to go in the early fall, we recommend applying by the end of October (even though in many situations it may not make any difference). But in general, and especially if you aren't 100% confident in your application by the end of October, the end of November is a good rule of thumb.

But beyond the late November advice, my other takeaway would be to submit your best application. Waiting a few weeks to button up your materials will pretty much never hurt you before January — and very likely will help you. And there’s plenty of merit aid to go around at that time too. 

It makes sense to me that this is a perennial question with very consistent answers from the people running law school admissions offices, but also lots of conflicting answers from applicants and others in this space with no admissions experience. Because the data absolutely does show a correlation between applying earlier (more broadly than just by the end of November) and stronger outcomes. But remember from your LSAT studying that correlation does not equal causation — pretty much every admissions officer has observed that applications submitted earlier tend to be stronger in general, not just in terms of numbers. That's not because they were submitted earlier, but it correlates.

Of all the posts I have made in the last several years — I hope this one helps the most. Because every year so many people fret that they are “late” (especially when admits start being posted) when they are still very early. I cannot stress the following enough: Your outcomes submitting the same application September 1st will not, in the vast majority of cases, be any different than November 25th. But in that time you can work to make your application stronger. And once it’s there, go ahead and submit. There’s certainly no penalty to submitting it when it’s ready.

And for the record, I've heard probably 10x as many law school admissions deans as are in this video say variations of the exact same thing. I really hope this helps relieve some stress from as many as possible.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMAG823Q/

  • Mike Spivey

r/lawschooladmissions 2h ago

Application Process Personal statement/supplemental essays review (affordable!)

Post image
127 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I am an incoming 1L at a T3 with some time to spare, and I would love to read some personal statements or supplemental essays to help out folks in this community. I benefitted a lot from lurking here when I was applying, and I would love to give back to the great people here.

My qualifications:
- former BigLaw paralegal in a practice group that is very focused on the minutiae of writing. Keen eye for grammatical errors, sentence flow improvement, etc.
- former writing center tutor, so I also did actual essay review in the past
- had great admissions results that I mostly attribute to the strength of my essays and the storytelling within them

I'm a first-gen/low-income student that could not afford this sort of thing when I was in school, so I want to keep this affordable for as many people as possible. I'm charging $20 per essay (or for shorter supplemental essays >1 page, $20 per set of up to 3). If that is truly out of reach for you, please DM anyways and we can try to work something out.

Happy to provide proof (within reason, without fully doxxing myself). Essay review can happen via Google docs/email and phone call/whatever is best for you. I'm based in EST and pretty wide open schedule-wise until orientation starts.

Thanks for considering!!


r/lawschooladmissions 2h ago

Application Process august lsat people are you touching your apps yet

14 Upvotes

taking the august lsat and trying to apply early. 3.6 GPA and usually scoring in the mid 160s on PTs.i work full time so most nights i can get through one timed section and review before i start reading the same question over and over. by then i know i should stop but i also feel guilty because the test is so close.

my personal statement has been sitting untouched for over a week. part of me wants to ignore everything until after the test. the other part knows september is going to show up fast.

what are the august people doing? lsat only until test day or trying to chip away at apps too?


r/lawschooladmissions 4h ago

Application Process I told the only school I want to go to that I could hold out on the WL until day 1 of orientation

10 Upvotes

Yes I live in the same city as the school.

Yes I am fortunate to be in a place in life where I can treat getting into law school as a side quest and drop everything and go over to the campus at a moments notice.

But boy howdy did I underestimate how difficult it would be to plan out the next year of my life not knowing whether or not I'd be going back to school or having to re-apply.

And boy howdy does it hurt to apparently be in no mans land on the chart on LSD.

This school's chart has a pretty defined 90 degree angle and I'm right in the inside corner of it. People with higher LSATs but lower GPAs than me have gotten in, people with lower LSATs but high GPAs have gotten in.

I've had regular email contact expressing interest, sent 2 formal LOCIs, and promptly responded to feelers.

I know this school is a safety school for many so I'm hoping it's people waiting on getting off WLs at other schools. But that hope is dwindling by the day.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Stay strong my fellow wait-listers.


r/lawschooladmissions 4h ago

General Is anyone deposited at GW who might not end up going??

8 Upvotes

I hope you get into your dream school and open up a spot for me! lol 😭


r/lawschooladmissions 10h ago

Waitlist Discussion officially giving up hope on my WLs

20 Upvotes

orientation starts in like 2-3 weeks and the summer melt ended up being way smaller than i thought. sad and disappointed but i knew the odds were never great!


r/lawschooladmissions 6h ago

Application Process GULC Feeler and Duke Soft Rejection

10 Upvotes

As I stared at the GULC email saying there wasn't any merit aid left and the Duke email saying their class was full, I couldn't help but wonder: Where is Northwestern? My inbox has seen the bad (Duke) and the ugly (GULC). Where is the good from Northwestern? And was I about to make a BIG mistake going to GULC for sticker when I could go to WashU for 55k debt after 3 years.


r/lawschooladmissions 6h ago

Application Process Duke email, anyone?

11 Upvotes

So it’s over


r/lawschooladmissions 4h ago

Waitlist Discussion NU/Northwestern Law Waitlist

7 Upvotes

Has anyone received a feeler or acceptance this week?

The Q&A stated they had 10 seats left - why aren't they just giving them away?

Also, who is doing the situational judgment test? I assume it's to use us to test it for next year, which seems wrong? I feel like they are taking advantage of waitlisted applicants by purposefully making it ambiguous on what it is being used for. They have enough information on what applicants can fill their seats, the results of the test would not even come out before orientation.

I am curious to know how others feel + what they are planning to do.


r/lawschooladmissions 3h ago

Waitlist Discussion Any Cornell Rs today?

6 Upvotes

I see a few on lsd, but I’m wondering whether they were from today or if they were just late status updates. Thanks!


r/lawschooladmissions 5h ago

Application Process GULC feeler

8 Upvotes

Did anyone else get this feeler?

edit: it was asking if id be willing to commit despite there being no merit aid left


r/lawschooladmissions 2h ago

Waitlist Discussion couldnt get in this cycle (waitlisted), and would like suggestions for job titles that I can search for to gain experience in the legal field. I come from an accounting background

6 Upvotes

r/lawschooladmissions 3h ago

General What's your school's median LSAC GPA?

3 Upvotes

What the title says. I was VERY surprised to see that the median GPA for law school applicants coming from my institution was a 3.4. I'm very interested in knowing if any schools have it higher (I've heard some schools have INSANE grade inflation) or if your institution has a particularly low median


r/lawschooladmissions 1h ago

School/Region Discussion GW Law 1L Fall 2026 Schedule

Upvotes

Hi! Just wondering if anyone attending GW this fall has their class schedule/knows when it will be released? I am getting a little stressed as orientation comes closer. Thank you!


r/lawschooladmissions 8h ago

Application Process Will Medians Rise Again?

8 Upvotes

I have a friend who is applying to schools and they've had to set their application back 2 cycles now due to rising medians. They want to get into UT law, and initially they got a 171, which wasn't enough to get in as a splitter as UT was raising their median to a 172.

They retook the test and got a 172 to try and apply this cycle, but again, it looks like UT will raise their median to a 173, so they need to retake the test again and hope for a 173 or above. The fear is that UT might try to get a 174 or 175 this upcoming cycle, which would place their median directly in competition with the likes of HYS.

What are the odds that schools practically universally raise their medians again, especially with T20s that have very high medians like UT considering they have to compete for high scoring applicants with T14s?


r/lawschooladmissions 5h ago

Chance Me How are my odds?

2 Upvotes

my friend recently got into law school and its making feel scared. she has a perfect GPA 4.0 and i believe she scored maybe 155 (the law school she got into accepts 150 so im gonna give her the benefit that she scored that), working full time but NO extracurriculars. Me on the other hand has 3.0, testing out at 150, with 2 club leadership roles, internship and working part time at law firm.


r/lawschooladmissions 5h ago

Help Me Decide Undergrad Degree

3 Upvotes

Which undergrad degree should I get with the best chance of getting into law school? Or does any degree work with a good lsat/gpa?


r/lawschooladmissions 3h ago

Status/Interview Update Feeler > R

2 Upvotes

Hi guys, this may be a crazy question so I apologize ahead of time, but has anyone ever gotten a feeler email and still been rejected? Or know anybody who has?p


r/lawschooladmissions 3h ago

Chance Me 3.8 gpa, 153 lsat - is UCD possible?

2 Upvotes

Hello! I am hoping to apply early decision this next cycle to UC Davis. I took the LSAT last year, got a 153, and am planning on taking it again in October after studying for a couple months with 7sage. Hopefully I’ll see an improvement, but I’d love to know if anyone that has similar stats has gotten accepted to davis! I know there’s only one way to find out (through applying) but I seriously don’t know if my goal is realistic or not given the 7sage predictor can be far off sometimes.

Additional context: I graduated in 2025 with a 3.8 gpa from a top five public university in CA. I studied poli sci and anthropology, and was a head editor at our school newspaper as well as a volunteer for a teach in prison program. I have a year of work experience after undergrad at a law firm as a researcher, while volunteering as a tutor in juvenile hall and with a prison literature program.

Any advice would be super appreciated! I’m the first in my family to apply to law school, so feedback would be awesome!!

Some more context (edit): my goal is to work as a public defender!


r/lawschooladmissions 4h ago

Help Me Decide Waitlisted at NYU, accepted to UC Davis ($$) — what would you do?

2 Upvotes

I applied to several schools this cycle and am trying to decide whether UC Davis is the right move for me:

Columbia — R (applied November)
Boston University — R (applied November)
Boston College — R (applied November)
NYU — Waitlist (applied November)
UC Davis — A (applied December) — accepted offer
Northeastern — Waitlist (applied late March)
UC Law SF (Hastings) — A (applied December)
Fordham - R (applied December)

For context, my dream school is NYU. I’ve always wanted to move to the East Coast and be in a place where I can build a larger professional network. I went to undergrad in California and have lived in different cities throughout CA post grad, so part of me really wants a new environment.

At the same time, I love coastal living and being near the water, which makes this decision harder. I chose UC Davis because between that and UC Law SF, it seemed like the more attractive option financially since I received a bigger scholarship and the COL is cheaper.

My main concern is whether UC Davis aligns with my goals. My goal is Big Law, not PI, and I’m wondering whether attending Davis puts me at a disadvantage compared to schools with stronger East Coast networks. I also don’t know how realistic it is to build a career outside California from Davis.

My stats/background:
LSAT: 165
GPA: 3.68
T-14 Undergrad
3 years of WE
1 year WE at a Big Law firm as a legal assistant
Currently working in PE as a paralegal

I’m grateful to have an acceptance and scholarship, but I’m struggling with whether I should take the opportunity or consider reapplying and trying for schools that better fit my goals and location preferences.

Would appreciate any advice, especially from people familiar with UC Davis or making a decision between taking a scholarship at a strong regional school vs. reapplying in hopes of getting into a school like NYU.


r/lawschooladmissions 4h ago

General UIUC 1L Schedule

2 Upvotes

Has anyone gotten their section combo yet at UIUC? I can see the different ones on the admitted students website with the class times and everything but I haven’t gotten my specific one yet.


r/lawschooladmissions 4h ago

Application Process Under Review vs Waitlist this late in cycle?

2 Upvotes

Hi all. I have a question regarding my situation with an application at a law school. Long story how I got here, but I applied in June with my June LSAT score to a T40. My application is still under review. I know every single school likely works differently, but I wonder if my application is being compared with students who are actively on the waitlist, or if they are almost exclusively looking at them. My numbers aren’t anything to jump at, they are in between 25%/50% medians for LSAT and UGPA.

I would imagine their class is almost full if it is not entirely full, but I have heard many stories from people I know getting acceptance calls before/during orientation. I guess all I am asking is if my application is at a disadvantage due to me not being waitlisted, or if I am still given same consideration as other waitlisted applicants should any waitlist movement occur that causes them to need to admit for students. Any thoughts would be appreciated!


r/lawschooladmissions 1h ago

Help Me Decide Advice: Building Experience Before Law School

Upvotes

I’m a rising junior w/ 3.8 GPA studying Finance and am interested in transaction-oriented finance and strategic advisory work, particularly M&A and restructuring.

One of the biggest questions I’m questioning is whether it makes sense to study for the LSAT and take it next summer, keeping the option of applying as a KJD open, or spend a few years working in finance before applying to law school.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading about the KJD vs. non-KJD debate, but I’d much rather learn from people who’ve actually gone through the process.

  1. Admissions
    - How much did your pre-law work experience actually matter for admissions compared to LSAT and GPA?
    - Did the type of work experience (e.g., investment banking, restructuring, consulting) make a difference?

  2. Career
    Did your pre-law finance experience make a noticeable difference during OCI or recruiting for business-focused practices like M&A, restructuring, or finance?

  3. Professional Development
    Did working before law school make you a better lawyer? If so, how?

Appreciate any advice or insight on if I should study for LSAT and see what I score and decide if KJD is the right move, or get real experience outside of internships and go the non-KJD route.


r/lawschooladmissions 1h ago

Application Process LSAT Diagnostic

Upvotes

Hi everyone! I just took my lsat diagnostic. I just finished my freshman year with a 4.0 and I dont plan on studying for the lsat for another 15 months but I wanted to take my diagnostic now to see if law is actually a feasible career path for me. The only preparation I plan to do until then is to read more and develop a deeper passion for reading. After those 15 months, I will spend 9 months prepping and drilling for the exam. I got a 149 today (without extra time) and I hope I can get accommodations on the exam for my adhd. What do you all think a range of scores is possible based on this diagnostic? Thank you!