Yale Law School Gpa

Yale Law ranks #4 in terms of bar passage rate among first-time test takers (98.3%), and it outperforms by +22.6% the state of New York’s overall bar passage rate of 75.7%. (A national comparison on this metric should be taken in a qualified sense and with caution, because every state has a different bar passage rate.)

Yale University

Yale Law ranks #1 in terms of student selectivity with an acceptance rate of 6.9% among those who applied for admission.

#1 in Median LSAT

Yale Law is tied for #1 in terms of the median LSAT score (173) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students. The LSAT measures reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning.

#1 in Private Sector Salary

Yale Law is tied for #1 in terms of the median starting salary among graduates working in private practice as law firm associates ($180,000).

#2 in Median Undergraduate GPA

Yale Law ranks #2 in terms of highest median undergraduate GPA (3.92) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students.

#3 in Library Size

Yale Law ranks #3 in terms of library size with 1,364,230 volumes or equivalents.

#4 in Bar Passage Rate

Yale Law ranks #4 in terms of bar passage rate among first-time test takers (98.3%), and it outperforms by +22.6% the state of New York’s overall bar passage rate of 75.7%. (A national comparison on this metric should be taken in a qualified sense and with caution, because every state has a different bar passage rate.)

#6 in Student to Faculty Ratio

Yale Law is tied for #6 in terms of lowest student to faculty ratio (4.2:1).

#9 in Highest Tuition

Yale Law ranks #9 in terms of highest tuition among full-time law students ($64,267). We rank from a total of 283 tuition rates from 194 law schools, ranking twice those law schools that have different in-state and out-of-state tuition rates.

#13 in Employment Rate at Graduation

#43 in Employment Rate at 10 Months Yale Law ranks #13 in terms of graduates employed at the time of graduation (81.7%) and #43 in terms of graduates employed ten months after graduation (83.5%).

#15 in Public Sector Salary

Yale Law is tied for #15 in terms of median starting salary among graduates working in government jobs or judicial clerkships at the federal or state level ($62,591).

#38 in Presence of Minority Students

Yale Law ranks #38 in terms of the highest percentage of students who are racial or ethnic minority (46.1%).

#111 in Presence of Minority Faculty

Yale Law ranks #111 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are racial or ethnic minority (11.7%).

#139 in Presence of Female Faculty

Yale Law is tied for #139 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are female (35.0%).

About this Report

This report was released in spring 2019.

GPA & LSAT

References to the lowest, median, and highest GPA and LSAT scores reflect those of the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile, respectively, among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students in fall 2018.

Acceptance Rates

The acceptance rate is that of applicants granted admission as full-time students for classes commencing in fall 2018. The acceptance rate of the applicants does not reflect actual enrollment rates, a subset figure.

Student-to-Faculty Ratios

The student-to-faculty ratio shows the number of students for that class per faculty member. This ratio reflects the applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students in fall 2018.

Bar Passage Rates

The bar passage rates reflect those among first-time test takers for the winter and summer 2017 administrations of the bar examinations. The state noted is that in which the greatest number of the law school’s graduates took the bar exam for the reported period.

Employment Rates

The employment rates shown are those of the 2017 full-time graduates at the time of graduation and ten months after graduation.

Law Library Volumes

The data indicate the number of print and microform volumes, as well as volume equivalents.

Gender, Race & Ethnicity

The data shown indicate the percentage of the faculty that are male and female, respectively, and the percentage of the faculty and students that are racial or ethnic minority (Hispanics of any race, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, multiracial, non-resident alien, or unknown race).

Salaries

The salary statistics are those of full-time, long-term employed law graduates for the class of 2017 at the time of graduation and within ten months after graduation (approximately spring 2018 ), as self-reported by the graduates.

The salaries indicated for “Median Salary Private” reflect those salaries of the 50th percentile, among those graduates working in private practice as law firm associates. The salaries indicated for “Median Salary Public” reflect those salaries of the 50th percentile, among those graduates working in government jobs or judicial clerkships at the federal or state level.

In determining median salaries, jobs classified as “JD advantage” have been excluded (i.e., positions in which the employer requires a JD or considers it an advantage to hold such a degree, but in which admission to the bar is not required).

Report Title

The rationale behind entitling this report as the “2020” report is that our 2020 Law School Rankings report and 2020 Law School Profiles are of considerable interest to prospective law school applicants who seek to enroll in classes commencing in fall 2020. At the time of our publication of this report in spring 2019, these employment statistics reflected the most current data available.

Source: The data have been compiled from a variety of public sources, including data released by the law schools and from the bar examiner offices in each jurisdiction.

Next Release: Our 2021 report is slated for publication in spring 2020.

Yale Law School by the Numbers

Yale Law School offers an unmatched intellectual environment with numerous opportunities for students to immerse themselves in the law and make a positive impact on society. Our innovative curriculum trains future lawyers and leaders to tackle the biggest challenges of our time.

As you consider which law school best fits your goals, we invite you to review this webpage, which highlights information about our impressive student body, world-renowned faculty, academic and extracurricular experiences, wide variety of career paths available to graduates, extensive clinics and programs, excellent financial aid and support, and remarkable alumni community.

No set of metrics could ever fully capture our exceptional academic community, but we are committed to providing detailed, transparent information so you can make an informed decision about the right law school for you. We believe this data showcases what sets Yale Law School apart as a leader in legal education.

For a deeper look into life at Yale Law School and the New Haven region, here are a few ways to further explore everything Yale Law School has to offer:

• Browse the website and follow us on social media.
• Take a virtual tour or in-person tour of the campus.
• Listen to the Inside Yale Law School podcast with Dean Heather K. Gerken and the Navigating Law School Admissions podcast.
• Watch and read profiles of students and alumni speaking about their Law School experience.
• Connect with our Admissions team.

American Bar Association

All law schools, including Yale Law School, submit information to the American Bar Association, which creates a Standard 509 Information Report for every school annually with information on curricular offerings, financial aid, enrollment, tuition, faculty, and admissions. To view reports by school and year, visit the ABA website. Additional Consumer Information is available here.

Ya le Law School students are academically excellent, contribute meaningfully to their communities, and are diverse in many ways. The information below provides only a small window into the Class of 2026. Another important source for class statistics is the ABA 509 report. However, please note that the ABA defines certain terms differently than Yale Law School. We have included our definitions below.

Admissions & Academic Stats

• 4,471 applicants
• 201 J.D. students matriculated (this includes students who were admitted in a prior admissions cycle and deferred admission to the fall of 2023)
• 87% yield on new offers (unlike the ABA 509 report, this includes students who accepted their offer and deferred to a future class)
• Median GPA: 3.96 (range: 3.25 to 4.27)
• Median LSAT: 175 (range: 158 to 180)
• Median GRE: Verbal Reasoning – 167; Quantitative Reasoning – 163; Analytical Writing – 5.5 (includes 18 students)
• Students representing 87 undergraduate institutions

Demographic Stats

• 51% women
• 57% students of color (this is based on the race/ethnicity categories defined by the Department of Education and the ABA; unlike the ABA 509 report, it does not distinguish based on citizenship status)
• 31% first-generation professionals (first generation of their immediate families to attend any graduate or professional school program)
• 18% first-generation college students (first generation of their immediate families to graduate from a four-year college, university, or its equivalent)
• 14 veterans and service members (7% of the class)

Fun Facts Outside the Numbers

This year’s class includes a film producer, an Osprey pilot, a college professor, and an AI researcher! Learn more about our remarkable 1L class and the admissions process at Yale Law School.

Ea ch year, the Law School admits a small number of graduate students from around the world to pursue studies in law beyond the first professional degree. Students enjoy the camaraderie of their fellow J.D. and graduate law students, the intimacy of a small program, and close relationships with the Yale Law School faculty.

During the 2023–2024 academic year, the Law School welcomed 27 LL.M. students, 8 J.S.D. students, and 3 M.S.L. student. Graduate students hail from 17 different countries and 6 continents and their interests range from intellectual property law to family law to bioethics to comparative and international law.

Ya le Law School’s Financial Aid Office awards scholarships based on financial need and individual circumstances, and Yale Law is one of only two law schools in the country to award aid based on need alone. For a full breakdown of the cost of attendance, visit the Financial Aid website.

In 2022–2023, Yale Law School launched the Hurst Horizon Scholarship Program, which provides full-tuition scholarships to every student whose family income falls below the federal poverty line. In 2023–2024, this program will expand to include students whose family income falls below 200% of the federal poverty line.

• In its inaugural year, the Law School awarded full-tuition scholarships to 51 J.D. students, which provides ~$72,000 per year to every Hurst Horizon Scholar.
• 75 J.D. students will receive full-tuition scholarships during the 2023–2024 academic year with the expansion of the program.

The Hurst Horizons Scholarship Program bolsters our exceptional financial-aid program. In 2022–2023:

• 74% of the student body received need-based financial aid, which includes both loans and scholarships.
• 64% of the student body received a scholarship as part of their financial aid award.
• The average scholarship awarded to J.D. students was ~$34K.
• Students graduated with an average loan amount of ~$130K.
• Each year, dozens of students are awarded funding from the Safety Net Fund to cover unexpected emergencies, including expenses related to medical and dental care, childcare, stolen property, and emergency travel.

“Entering law school, I grappled with the choice between going into the private sector and helping my family financially or going into the public sector and helping families like mine through policy change. This program has eliminated the distinction between these two choices.”
— Alphonse Simon ’24 on the Hurst Horizon Scholarship Program

Additional Financial Support

Yale Law School’s financial support isn’t limited to financial aid. We also provide robust support for students doing public-interest work over the summer and after graduation, fund students’ academic work, and offer a loan-forgiveness program that supports students in a broad range of careers.

• Through the Summer Public Interest Fellowship (SPIF) program and the Schell Center’s Kirby Simon Summer Fellowship Program, 192 students were awarded funding for 2022 summer internships in the U.S. and abroad.
• We proudly offer significantly more post-graduate public interest fellowships per student than any other law school in the country, enabling an average of 34 graduates each year to work for the public-interest organization of their choice on our dime. Learn more in the Careers section below.
• We also provide generous financial support for students’ academic research, travel, and conference participation.

Career Options Assistance Program

The Career Options Assistance Program (COAP), Yale Law School’s loan repayment program, provides generous assistance with educational loan repayment for graduates who choose lower paying positions. COAP has many key features, including significant flexibility. What makes COAP most distinctive is that, unlike our peers’ loan-forgiveness programs, it supports graduates taking low-paying jobs across sectors and is not confined to a particular type of public interest work.

Since its inception, more than 2,000 Yale Law School graduates have participated in COAP and received more than $58 million in benefits. In 2021:

• Despite the federal government’s pause on loan repayment, which decreased the number of participants, ~370 graduates participated in COAP and ~$5 million was awarded to pay back graduates’ loans.
• Graduates worked at a wide array of organizations, including:
  • Law schools and universities in the U.S. and abroad
  • Nonprofits and NGOs
  • Small law firms
  • Churches and religious organizations
  • Media organizations
  • Government
  • IGOs and humanitarian organizations
  • Self-employed

  Key Resources

  

  Wi th hundreds of courses taught by world-renowned faculty and a thriving network of legal clinics and intellectual centers, Yale Law School provides many ways for students to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to make an impact on the world at large. Yale Law School boasts a remarkable faculty–student ratio and invites a wide range of scholars and practitioners to teach in New Haven.

  • 192 courses offered last year
  • 153 courses with under 25 people
  • Only 3 classes with more than 100 students
  • 5:1 student ratio
  • More than 30 clinics and dozens of centers, programs, and workshops

  Unparalleled Freedom & Flexibility

  Students enjoy far more freedom at YLS to choose their classes than they do at peer schools. For the majority of our peers, 1Ls must take required courses for most of their first year. At Yale, students are able to select their courses as soon as they reach their second semester. Yale Law School is also unusual in that students can enroll in a clinic during the second semester of their first year.

  Yale Law School’s strong student–faculty ratio creates truly unparalleled learning experiences, including:

  • The 1L Small Group
    During their first semester, students are assigned to a “small group” of 16–18 people for one of their four classes and take all of their first semester classes together. This cohort is a formative experience that helps students develop community bonds with their peers and strong connections to faculty.
  • Numerous opportunities to serve as research or teaching assistants
    In the 2021–2022 academic year, there were ~350 research assistant opportunities and ~50 first-term teaching assistant opportunities.
  • The chance to do serious intellectual work with faculty in your chosen field
    Students have the opportunity to work with faculty on two major writing projects before they graduate: a substantial paper and a supervised analytic writing (SAW). Read more about academic collaborations between faculty and students.

  

  

  “After my 1L fall term, I get to choose all of my own classes. And being able to join a clinic this spring and start helping people right away — it’s just incredible.”
  — Margo Darragh ’25

  Grading

  Yale Law School fosters an environment of collaboration rather than competition. All first-term courses are graded on a credit/fail basis. After that, classes are graded on an honors / pass / low pass / fail basis with the option to take certain classes credit / fail.

  Clinics

  Our clinics are known for doing extraordinarily ambitious and wide-ranging work. In addition to serving individuals within the community, Yale Law School’s clinics have won three nationwide injunctions in the last few years, and their work regularly makes national headlines. Yale Law School’s clinical program is unique in that many academic faculty teach clinics as part of their regular teaching commitments.

  • More than 30 clinics with a variety of topics and areas of focus including criminal law, health law, entrepreneurship, and many more.
  • Unlike most other schools, students can begin taking clinics — and appearing in court — during the spring of their first year and can remain in that clinic for a full 5 semesters.
  • Nearly 90% of our students take advantage of this unique opportunity to combine theory with practice; many students take more than one clinic.

  Centers & Programs

  The intellectual life at Yale Law School is enriched by dozens of centers, programs, and workshops that serve as hubs for critical scholarly work and make a difference in communities in New Haven, around the country, and globally. This work cuts across many disciplines, giving students abundant opportunities to engage with their interests outside of the classroom. View the full list.

  

  

  “The faculty here don’t just teach you the rigid rules of the law. They really push your thinking in terms of understanding why the law exists in its current form, what effects the law has on the broader society, and they also push you to creatively think through how you can change the law for the better.”
  — Henock Dory ’24

  T he Yale Law School faculty is as broad ranging in its interests and expertise as it is distinguished. It includes prominent scholars of economics, philosophy, sociology, and history, as well as leading specialists in many areas of law. The scholarship of our faculty elevates innovative ideas, serves as foundational texts in a variety of scholarly fields, and engages with some of the most urgent questions facing the world today. Learn more about faculty activities and scholarship or read the latest clips in the press.

  • 64 tenure and tenure-track faculty
  • 150+ visiting and non-full-time faculty who teach a diverse array of courses every year
  • Many faculty members direct centers and programs, supervise clinics, and run engaging workshops that enhance the intellectual life of the school.
  • One of the most influential law faculties in the country in terms of scholarly impact and citations
  • Our faculty includes former prosecutors, public defenders, State Department officials, and Supreme Court advocates, and are frequently recognized with prestigious awards for their scholarship and service.

  

  

  “At Yale Law School, we think hard about law, with freedom to challenge basic assumptions embedded within our legal institutions and to construct new frameworks. The best thing about teaching here is getting to do that alongside such inspiring students, unparalleled in intellectual depth, breadth of experience, flexibility, and humaneness.”
  — Monica Bell ’09, Professor of Law

  Yale Law School graduates pursue a range of diverse career paths that make an impact across every sector of society. We train lawyers’ lawyers and lawyers writ large. Our graduates are entrepreneurs, nonprofit founders, litigators, CEOs, and public servants. They are Cabinet officials and city council members; environmentalists and inventors; Hollywood agents and U.S. attorneys; poets and coders. Read more about our alumni leaders.

  The Career Development Office (CDO) provides support and resources to students as they navigate career choices, including one-on-one counseling, career education and job search programming, and interview programs to facilitate hiring. CDO also provides career advising for alumni in all stages of their careers.

  10 years after law school, on average 91% of graduates express job satisfaction, 46% have held public interest jobs, and 50% have clerked for a judge (according to a five-year average collected from CDO’s 10-year employment surveys).

  Post-Grad & Summer Employment

  Yale Law students are among the most sought after in the nation by employers of all types. 10 months after graduation, 99% of the Class of 2022 had long-term, full-time employment, including those pursuing fellowships and advanced degrees.

  Class reports provide detailed data about the sector, salary, and geographic destinations of our graduates. Law school summers also provide the opportunity for our students to explore employment possibilities and gain insight into different legal practice areas and work settings. Take a closer look at employment data.

  Postgraduate Public Interest Fellowships

  Yale Law students secure many highly selective public interest fellowships offered by external funders. In addition, Yale Law School offers significantly more postgraduate public interest fellowships than any other law school in the country, enabling more than 30 graduates each year to work for a public interest organization at no cost to the organization. Both externally and internally funded fellowships enable our graduates to jumpstart their careers while serving the legal needs of underserved members of our society.

  • In the last five years, Yale Law School graduates have received on average 17 prestigious external fellowships per year. This includes:
    • 19 Skadden Fellowships
    • 16 Equal Justice Works Fellowships
    • 22 Justice Catalyst Fellowships
    • 42% of Yale Law School fellowship recipients received offers to remain with the fellowship organization.
    • 45% of fellows remained with host organization or joined another public sector employer.
    • 29% of fellows clerked for a judge.

    Law Teaching

    Yale Law School supports students and graduates interested in academic careers with robust programming beginning when they are students and continuing through the time when they are on the job market through the Law Teaching Program.

    Yale Law School places more students per capita in teaching jobs than any other school in the country, as reflected in the annual Entry Level Hiring Report, compiled by Professor Sarah Lawsky ’01 of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

    • From 2016–2022, ~18% of U.S. law teaching jobs went to Yale Law School graduates. YLS placed more people in teaching jobs than any other law school in the country — significantly more than our closest competitor — despite our small size.
    • In the last five years, ~75% of Yale Law graduates who went on the market were successful at securing a teaching job, and more than 20% of these graduates received positions at leading law schools.

    Judicial Clerkships

    Yale Law School graduates have an excellent record of securing judicial clerkships at the state and federal level. Students work for state and federal courts as well as outside the United States.

    • 32% of employed graduates clerk immediately after graduation (five-year average for Classes 2017–21).
    • ~50% of graduates from each class clerk at some point after graduation.
    • Since 1988, 302 Yale Law School graduates have clerked or will clerk on the U.S. Supreme Court.
    • 199 Yale Law School graduates currently serve as judges on federal, state, and administrative courts.

    Law Firms

    Preeminent law firms recruit Yale Law School students for summer and post-graduate positions, from global firms with 1,000+ attorneys to small, cutting-edge litigation boutiques and public interest law firms working for social and economic justice. More than 80% of students who join firms after graduation work for firms of 500+ lawyers. The average starting salary of graduates working for firms in the Class of 2021 was $212,830. Yale Law School alumni work in law firms around the world. 145 Yale Law School alumni serve in leadership positions within their firms, including 14 firm-wide managing partners.

    Government

    In addition to serving in government through judicial clerkships after graduation, ~50% of YLS students intern during a summer in federal, state, and local government including the Department of Justice and other federal agencies; U.S. Attorneys’ offices; state attorneys’ general offices; and on Capitol Hill. Through the Heyman Federal Public Service Fellowship, numerous graduates each year work closely with high-level leaders in executive offices, agencies, commissions, and legislative committees. YLS alumni serve in leadership positions throughout government, including as Attorneys General; U.S. Attorneys; Senators; Representatives; Mayors; General Counsel to the CIA and Department of Defense; FBI Director; Secretary of Commerce; and Chair of the FTC.

    For a full view of the variety of career paths available to Yale Law School graduates, including public service, entrepreneurship, business, and government, visit the Career Development and The Tsai Leadership Program websites.