TL;DR: Every ABA-approved law school publishes a Standard 509 Information Report each December, and most top schools also post an entering class profile on their own site. In the most recent class each school has published, median LSAT scores across the traditional T14 and the 2026 U.S. News top 14 ran from 171 to 175 and median GPAs from 3.88 to 3.99, with Yale highest on the LSAT (175) and Virginia highest on GPA (3.99). The table below gives each figure with the class it describes, taken from the school itself.
Sources: law school entering class profiles and Standard 509 Information Reports, linked below; 2026 U.S. News law school ranking.
Where Law School Medians Actually Come From
The primary source for law school admissions numbers is the Standard 509 Information Report that the American Bar Association requires every approved school to publish. It discloses the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile undergraduate GPA and LSAT of the entering class, plus applicant, offer, and matriculant counts. Many schools also post a class profile on their admissions site, often before the 509 appears, and both are primary sources; the live 509 for any school is available at the ABA Required Disclosures portal. When a number on a blog disagrees with the school, the school wins.
What Are the Current T14 GPA and LSAT Medians?
The table shows the newest figures each school has published, with the class each figure describes. Schools post on different calendars, so some rows describe the class that entered in fall 2026 and others the class that entered in fall 2025. The 2026 U.S. News rank is included because the traditional T14 (which includes Berkeley and Georgetown) and the 2026 top 14 (15 schools, because of a three-way tie at 13th, including Vanderbilt, UCLA, and WashU) are no longer the same list. Acceptance rates appear only where the school published its offer count or rate.
| School and class reported | 2026 U.S. News rank | Median LSAT (25th to 75th) | Median GPA (25th to 75th) | Applicants and admits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanford (2025 509, fall 2025 class) | 1 | 173 (171 to 176) | 3.96 (3.87 to 4.00) | 5,526 applications; 337 offers (6.1%); 193 first-years |
| Yale (Class of 2029) | 2 (tie) | 175 (171 to 178) | 3.98 (3.92 to 4.00) | 5,648 applicants; 237 offers (4.2%, Oriel Admissions calculation); 209 enrolled |
| Chicago (Class of 2028) | 2 (tie) | 174 (171 to 176) | 3.97 (3.87 to 4.00) | 203 students; over 6,000 applications for about 195 to 200 seats |
| Penn Carey (Class of 2029) | 4 (tie) | 174 (167 to 176) | 3.96 (3.81 to 4.00) | 7,772 applicants; 258 enrolled |
| Virginia (fall 2026 class) | 4 (tie) | 173 (168 to 175) | 3.99 (3.82 to 4.04) | 6,508 applications in 2025-26; aims to enroll 300 |
| Harvard (Class of 2029) | 6 | 174 (172 to 176) | 3.97 (3.91 to 4.00) | 9,061 applicants; 780 offers (8.6%); 561 enrolled |
| Duke (Class of 2028) | 7 (tie) | 171 (169 to 172) | 3.91 (3.83 to 3.96) | 6,240 applicants; 804 offers (12.9%); 227 enrolled |
| NYU (fall 2026 class) | 7 (tie) | 173 (170 to 175) | 3.92 (3.80 to 3.97) | 10,871 applicants; 462 enrolled |
| Columbia (2026 entering class) | 9 (tie) | 173 (171 to 175) | 3.95 (3.88 to 4.00) | 8,591 applicants; 11.9% admitted; 424 enrolled |
| Michigan (2025 509, fall 2025 class) | 9 (tie) | 171 (168 to 173) | 3.88 (3.74 to 3.95) | 8,982 applications; 770 offers (8.6%); 343 first-years |
| Northwestern (2026 entering class) | 9 (tie) | 174 (169 to 176) | 3.95 (3.79 to 4.00) | 8,050 applications; 253 enrolled |
| Vanderbilt (Class of 2029) | 12 | 171 (167 to 172) | 3.90 (3.74 to 3.98) | 179 students |
| Cornell (Class of 2029) | 13 (tie) | 173 (167 to 175) | 3.94 (3.77 to 4.00) | 5,960 applicants; 14% acceptance rate; 218 enrolled |
| UCLA (Class of 2029) | 13 (tie) | 171 (167 to 172) | 3.96 (3.77 to 4.01) | 8,928 applicants; 335 enrolled |
| WashU (newest class posted) | 13 (tie) | Median not posted (165 to 176) | Median not posted (3.58 to 4.00) | 264 first-year students |
| Berkeley (Class of 2029) | 16 (tie) | 171 (169 to 173) | 3.93 (3.85 to 4.00) | 8,000 applications; 365 enrolled |
| Georgetown (fall 2025 class) | Outside the top 16 | 171 (range not posted) | 3.93 (range not posted) | 13,924 applications; 672 enrolled, including 78 evening students |
How to Read a 509 Report Like an Admissions Officer
At Oriel Admissions we use three habits to turn the raw quartiles into strategy. First, read the spread, not just the median: the gap between the 25th and 75th percentiles shows how much room a school leaves for files that win on something other than numbers, and a tight spread means the numbers carry more of the decision. Second, place yourself in the right quadrant: above both medians you are numerically competitive and the rest of the file decides; above one and below the other you are a splitter or reverse splitter, and the spread on your weaker number matters most; below both you need the essays, recommendations, and experience to justify an exception. Third, track direction: compare the newest profile with the prior year, because a school whose medians rose recently is admitting against the newer numbers.
Two technical details trip up self assessment every year. The GPA that matters is the one on your LSAC Credential Assembly Service report, which can differ from the number on your transcript (Berkeley, for example, notes that a failed pass or no pass course is converted to an F). And the quartiles describe enrolled students, not admits, so scholarship competition and yield can make a published class profile look different from the pool of offers. For students still choosing a college, our guides to the best colleges for pre-law and the best colleges for philosophy compare undergraduate preparation for law school.
Why Do Old Law School Medians Tables Go Wrong?
Old tables go wrong because the numbers move every year and the list itself moves. Harvard reported admitting 8.6% of applicants for its Class of 2029, and Yale reported a median LSAT of 175 for the same class; a grid built from older reports misses both. The ranking changed too: in the 2026 U.S. News ranking, Vanderbilt, UCLA, and WashU sit inside the top 14, Berkeley placed 16th, and Georgetown placed outside the top 16, so a table built on the traditional T14 now covers a different set of schools than the current ranking. Recheck every school on your list against its newest profile or 509 before finalizing strategy, and treat the T14 tier overview as the map rather than the measurement.
Frequently Asked Questions About Law School GPA and LSAT Medians
Standard 509 Information Reports are the annual consumer disclosures every ABA-approved law school must publish, covering entering class GPA and LSAT quartiles, applicant, offer, and enrollment counts, and more. Together with the class profiles schools post on their own sites, they are the primary source behind law school admissions statistics.
In the most recent class each school has published, median LSAT scores across the traditional T14 and the 2026 top 14 ran from 171 to 175, with Yale highest at 175. Aim at or above the median of each school on your list, using its newest profile or 509 report.
Median GPAs in the most recent published classes ran from 3.88 at Michigan to 3.99 at Virginia. The number that counts is the GPA on your LSAC Credential Assembly Service report, which can differ from the GPA your college reports.
An applicant above one median and below the other, most commonly a high LSAT with a lower GPA (a reverse splitter is the opposite). Oriel Admissions advises comparing the 25th to 75th percentile spread for your weaker number at each school and reading how each admissions office describes its review; Berkeley, for example, says academic record, test score, and the personal statement with recommendations each carry about one third of the weight.
Yes. Each school publishes a new profile for every entering class, and the figures shift from year to year. The 2026 U.S. News top 14 also no longer matches the traditional T14, so any table more than a cycle old can misclassify schools on your list.
On each school class profile page and in its Standard 509 Information Report, which the ABA Required Disclosures portal hosts for every approved school. Blog tables are only as good as their last refresh.
Enrolled students. The 509 quartiles and most school profiles describe the class that enrolled, so scholarship competition and yield can make the offer pool look different from the published class.
Not by itself. Half of every enrolled class sits at or below the median by definition, and the 25th percentiles show how far below: Michigan and Vanderbilt each reported a 25th percentile GPA of 3.74. Schools such as Georgetown and Cornell say they use no minimum GPA, so the rest of the file has to explain and outweigh the gap.
Sources: class profiles and 509 reports from Stanford 2025 509, Yale, Chicago, Penn Carey, Virginia, Harvard, Duke, NYU, Columbia, Michigan 2025 509, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Cornell, UCLA, WashU, Berkeley, and Georgetown; ABA Required Disclosures (Standard 509); U.S. News law school ranking.
About Oriel Admissions
Oriel Admissions is a college admissions consulting firm advising families nationwide on elite university admissions strategy, with offices in Princeton, New Jersey and New York. Our strength is a deeply experienced team and a distinctive 360 approach that treats every part of the application (academics, testing, activities, essays, and interviews) as one connected strategy. To discuss your strategy, schedule a consultation.
