Every year, the U.S. News & World Report releases a ranking of the top law schools in the United States. The 2019 list ranks law programs across the country, based on data from 2017 and 2018 that includes peer assessment scores, LSAT scores, undergraduate GPAs, acceptance rates, employment prospects, bar exam passage rates, and library resources.
When applying for law school or thinking about transferring, look at the full list to see what makes the most sense for you, your resume, and what you’re looking for in your legal education. And while a Top 10 or Top 25 school may look great on a future job application, keep in mind that one of the top schools may not be the best fit for your chosen field. That’s where the list of Specialty Program rankings come in.
Use the list to help you decide where to apply and to set realistic expectations for acceptance:
The Top 10
1) Yale Law School
https://law.yale.edu
Tuition: $62,170/year
LSAT scores (25th to 75th percentile): 170-175
Acceptance Rate: 8.4%
Full-time students: 625
Employed 10 months after graduation: 83.3%
Prominent alumni: President Bill Clinton, President Gerald Ford, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, California Governor Jerry Brown, NAACP President Cornell William Brooks, sexual harassment lawyer Lisa Bloom
2) Stanford Law School
https://law.stanford.edu
Tuition: $60,270/year
LSAT scores (25th to 75th percentile): 168-173
Acceptance Rate: 9.9%
Full-time students: 565
Employed 10 months after graduation: 91.8%
Prominent Alumni: Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, Executive Director of the ACLU Anthony Romero
3) Harvard Law School
http://hls.harvard.edu
Tuition: $62,792/year
LSAT scores (25th to 75th percentile): 170-175
Acceptance Rate: 15.8%
Full-time students: 1,757
Employed 10 months after graduation: 93.6%
Prominent alumni: President Barack Obama, President Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. Attorney Janet Reno, Senator Ted Cruz, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, Supreme Court Justice John G. Roberts, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, Massachussets Governor Mitt Romey
4) University of Chicago Law School
https://www.law.uchicago.edu
Tuition: $62,865
LSAT scores (25th to 75th percentile): 166-172
Acceptance Rate: 21.5%
Full-time students: 597
Employed 10 months after graduation: 95.3%
Prominent Alumni: Attorney General John Ashcroft, Director of the FBI James Comey
5) Columbia Law School
http://www.law.columbia.edu
Tuition: $67,564/year
LSAT scores (25th to 75th percentile): 169-173
Acceptance Rate: 20.3%
Full-time students: 1,264
Employed 10 months after graduation: 93.6%
Prominent Alumni: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Governor of New York John Jay, Director of the CIA William Colby, “Father of the CIA” William Joseph Donovan
6) New York University Law School
http://www.law.nyu.edu
Tuition: $63,986/year
LSAT scores (25th to 75th percentile): 166-170
Acceptance Rate: 27.2%
Full-time students: 1,364
Employed 10 months after graduation: 92%
Prominent Alumni: NYC Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, NYC Mayor Ed Koch, NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly
7) University of Pennsylvania Law School
https://www.law.upenn.edu
Tuition: $63,364
LSAT scores (25th to 75th percentile): 163-170
Acceptance Rate: 17.6%
Full-time students: 736
Employed 10 months after graduation: 95.7%
Prominent Alumni: Chairman of the EEOC William H. Brown
8) University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Law School
https://www.law.umich.edu/
Tuition: $57,262 (in-state) / $60,508 (out-of-state)
LSAT scores (25th to 75th percentile): 164-170
Acceptance Rate: 21.9%
Full-time students: 931
Employed 10 months after graduation: 92.4%
Prominent Alumni: Scopes Monkey Trial defense lawyer Clarence Darrow
9) TIE – University of Virginia Law School (-1)
http://content.law.virginia.edu
Tuition: $58,300 (in-state) / $61,300 (out-of-state)
LSAT scores (25th to 75th percentile): 163-170
Acceptance Rate: 18.3%
Full-time students: 912
Employed 10 months after graduation: 90.3%
Prominent Alumni: Attorney General of the United States Robert F. Kennedy, environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., United States Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
9) TIE-University of California-Berkeley School of Law (+3)
https://www.law.berkeley.edu
Tuition: $49,364 (in-state) / $53,315 (out-of-state)
LSAT scores (25th to 75th percentile): 164-168
Acceptance Rate: 22.7%
Full-time students: 936
Employed 10 months after graduation: 87.6%
Prominent Alumni: Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, United States Secretary of State Dean Rusk
The Rest of the Top 25
11) TIE - Duke University (-1), Northwestern University (-1)
13) Cornell University
14) Georgetown University (+1)
15) University of Texas, Austin (-1)
16) University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (-1)
17) Vanderbilt University
18) Washington University in St. Louis
19) University of Southern California
20) University of Minnesota (+3)
Top Specialty Programs
Clinical Training Programs: Georgetown University
Legal Writing: University of Nevada—Las Vegas
Trial Advocacy: Stetson University
Health Care Law: St. Louis University
Environmental Law: Vermont Law School
Dispute Resolution: Pepperdine University
Intellectual Property Law: Berkeley
International Law: New York University
Tax Law: New York University
