Tightest Law Schools To Admit with the Lowest Acceptance Rate

36.09% Average Law School Acceptance Rate

An acceptance rate is the ratio of the number of admitted applicants to the total number of applicants. In general, the law school acceptance rate is much lower than the rate in general college admission. For the academic year 2025-2026, the average law school acceptance rate is 36.09% over 199 ABA-accredited law school in United States. A total of 427,004 students applied to law school(s) and 135,678 students accepted one or more law schools.

Tightest Law Schools Hard To Get In

Yale Law School has the lowest acceptance rate of 4.06%. Stanford Law School and University of Pennsylvania Law School follow it with 6.10% and 8.05% acceptance rate respectively.

Related Rankings

For comparison, you may also explore law schools with the highest acceptance rate to see schools at the other end of the selectivity spectrum.

Top 25 Law Schools with the Lowest Acceptance Rates

The following table compares the top 25 Law Schools with the Lowest Acceptance Rates with important academic indicators.
The rankings include 11 public and 14 law schools are included.
For the Law Schools with the Lowest Acceptance Rates, the average 2027 tuition & fees is $48,553 state residents and $63,882 for out-of-state students in public law schools. In private law schools in the rankings, the tuition & fees is $84,756. The average financial aid amount of them is $29,206 which is 38.65% of tuition & fees.
You can sort the table by a column by clicking/touching the column title.
Comparison between Law Schools with the Lowest Acceptance Rates with 2026-2027 Tuition
RankSchoolAcceptance RateYieldApplication FeeTuition & FeesLSAT ScoreGPAEnrollment
1 Yale Law SchoolPrivateNew Haven, CT4.06%77.43%$85$81,8181743.96676
2 Stanford Law SchoolPrivateStanford, CA6.10%51.34%$85$82,1221733.96670
3 University of Pennsylvania Law SchoolPrivatePhiladelphia, PA8.05%39.08%$80$88,1841733.951,032
4 Boston College Law SchoolPrivateNewton, MA8.48%33.23%$75$75,6801683.83638
5 University of Michigan Law SchoolPublicAnn Arbor, MI8.57%42.73%$75$83,4221713.881,032
6 Harvard Law SchoolPrivateCambridge, MA9.20%59.19%$85$86,3441743.962,025
7 University of Chicago Law SchoolPrivateChicago, IL9.74%29.80%$90$88,5001743.97710
8 University of Virginia School of LawPublicCharlottesville, VA10.17%44.09%$85$84,9001733.99982
9 Gould School of LawPrivateLos Angeles, CA11.17%28.20%$75$88,4361693.911,543
10 University of North Carolina School of LawPublicChapel Hill, NC11.19%45.48%$75$57,8541683.89543
11 Columbia Law SchoolPrivateNew York, NY11.84%36.70%$85$92,1941733.921,740
12 Los Angeles School of LawPublicLos Angeles, CA12.05%30.99%$75$76,9921713.951,376
13 Boston University School of LawPrivateBoston, MA12.08%24.55%$85$74,5821703.881,084
14 Texas A&M University School of LawPublicFort Worth, TX12.10%19.09%$65$50,1451694.002,396
15 Northwestern Pritzker School of LawPrivateChicago, IL12.30%24.97%$75$83,9381733.961,205
16 University of Georgia School of LawPublicAthens, GA12.72%31.16%$50$41,6461693.921,000
17 Duke University School of LawPrivateDurham, NC12.88%27.61%$80$85,0741713.91830
18 Vanderbilt University Law SchoolPrivateNashville, TN13.26%20.94%$70$81,4921703.91656
19 New York University School of LawPrivateNew York, NY13.39%30.45%$85$90,6381723.922,172
20 University of Texas School of LawPublicAustin, TX13.99%40.98%$70$56,8221723.89960
21 Berkeley School of LawPublicBerkeley, CA14.84%35.73%$75$84,4761703.921,128
22 Irvine School of LawPublicIrvine, CA14.92%33.87%No Fee$76,3961693.80532
23 Georgetown University Law CenterPrivateWashington, DC15.75%28.68%$85$87,5881713.933,028
24 George Mason University School of LawPublicArlington, VA15.87%35.89%$70$44,0441693.93810
25 Florida State University College of LawPublicTallahassee, FL15.97%35.33%$30$46,0091663.931,419
*The tuition & fees for the 2026-2027 academic year and Other admission date is for the 2025-2026.