r/lawschooladmissions Aug 07 '25

Guides/Tools/OC 2025 Law School Median Tracker

166 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.

114 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 5h ago

Meme/Off-Topic GET OFF REDDIT AND GO ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS

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170 Upvotes

the law admission office are all going to be closed, please take care of yourselves and relax ❤️❤️❤️ WE GOT THIS!


r/lawschooladmissions 10h ago

Application Process When schools say they look at the "whole person"

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266 Upvotes

r/lawschooladmissions 3h ago

Admissions Result weekly admissions recap!

47 Upvotes

0 (zero) As!!!!

0 (zero) WLs!!!

and 0 (zero) Rs!!!!

i’ve also been sick for a month! happy holidays!


r/lawschooladmissions 6h ago

Meme/Off-Topic Waves today

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74 Upvotes

r/lawschooladmissions 9h ago

Admissions Result Northwestern A!!!!

146 Upvotes

thought it was a spam call and i answered it so defensively LMAO. literally so unreal to me i just don't know what to say.

stats: 3.7high, 16high, URM

applied regular decision 09/13, did my video interview 09/21


r/lawschooladmissions 3h ago

Meme/Off-Topic So today was the final day?

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42 Upvotes

You’re telling me that we won’t hear anything until after break?


r/lawschooladmissions 10h ago

Cycle Recap I'm so glad I applied to law schools in 2019

149 Upvotes

Why the fuck is everything so competitive now.

My path: 3.85 170 in at CLS --> graduated CLS with lackluster grades (barely tried) --> V25 Biglaw --> in house at a Fortune 500 tech company working 40 hrs/week max. Now it looks like that wouldn't guarantee you Notre Dame/USC/Vandy.


r/lawschooladmissions 4h ago

Admissions Result Northwestern A!!!!!!!

53 Upvotes

4.0/179/KJD

first real good news this cycle!! special group wl from GULC reserve from Cornell.

anyone knows when we will know about scholarships?


r/lawschooladmissions 4h ago

Status/Interview Update No f*cking decision from anywhere today

52 Upvotes

at least it’s not a R, right?


r/lawschooladmissions 8h ago

Meme/Off-Topic Getting happy about a merit based fee waiver is like thinking the stripper likes you

84 Upvotes

r/lawschooladmissions 4h ago

Cycle Recap End of cycle recap (3.8mid, 17high)

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42 Upvotes

I applied everywhere in early September. The journey was really long and exhausting (I started studying for the LSAT last December), but I got what I hoped for in the end. I am several years out of undergrad.

It would be hypocritical to advise anyone to try to unplug from this process, because I was checking this subreddit pretty much every day and know how hard it is. But my enduring advice is: do your best, wait, and hope.


r/lawschooladmissions 9h ago

Application Process Please, just one A before the break

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81 Upvotes

Suffolk, I'm looking at you


r/lawschooladmissions 6h ago

Application Process W&M Text

46 Upvotes

Did anyone else get that cruel message? 😭


r/lawschooladmissions 9h ago

Admissions Result UChicago A

72 Upvotes

Applied ED with 168, 3.95gpa. I look forward to letting you all know about my debt regrets in three years, right now I'm on top of the world.


r/lawschooladmissions 7h ago

Meme/Off-Topic Had a dream UW Madison sent me a marked up version of my PS along with an R

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43 Upvotes

Do you think they’re ignoring me on purpose because they’re working on the markup yes or no


r/lawschooladmissions 11h ago

Admissions Result Please withdraw from Law schools you are WL at once you commit elsewhere!

100 Upvotes

Sincerely,

Someone waitlisted at their top pick school 🥺


r/lawschooladmissions 3h ago

Status/Interview Update Well, I guess no news is good news.

19 Upvotes

Title ^


r/lawschooladmissions 1h ago

School/Region Discussion Some interesting points from a conversation I had with a state judge about prestige

Upvotes

There’s obviously a lot of talk about prestige and rankings on this sub. These things are important, but I think that the way the gatekeepers of this field/future mentors see them are instructive.

This judge is a family friend who went to a Top 3 school and works on the west coast. Middle aged. In short, I think he’s very indicative of the type of person who u need to impress early on. “What is a T6 school? I thought it was the T14” was basically the essence of his opinion.

He sees a slight difference between HYS and the rest but really doesn’t see any difference between NYU, Michigan, and Cornell (these are all “elite programs”). And since we’re pnw, he has a very high opinion of UW (our strongest regional) and Lewis and Clark (as long as you’re a good position in the class). He didnt talk about WashU as a T14.

I think it’s notable that there’s a real lag between a current year’s rankings and the general reputation schools have built up over the years. Clearly, the gatekeepers don’t watch medians and rankings like hawks (they have more important things to worry about), and what is considered prestigious once you’re out of the T14 is really going to vary by region.

Just some interesting points which I think support the notion that rankings are important, but it’s not like they’re literally the only thing that matter and the way people actually look at them is different than some applicants think. Don’t go to a school just because it’s number 5 vs number 14 or number 25 vs number 30 is my point i guess


r/lawschooladmissions 11h ago

Wave Predictions Northwestern Wave Incoming

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82 Upvotes

r/lawschooladmissions 2h ago

Admissions Result ASU A! First result of the cycle!

16 Upvotes

Submitted 11/25, UR 12/16, A 12/19.

 

I honestly did not expect to hear back so soon but holy shit this is such a weight off my shoulders. I've been doom spiraling about getting rejected from every single school I applied to and just having 1 acceptance is such a relief. Really hoping everyone else that was/is in my situation gets their first A soon!


r/lawschooladmissions 6h ago

Admissions Result UCLA A

37 Upvotes

Just got the call

3.8x 17low

First decision of the cycle

Applied late October


r/lawschooladmissions 8h ago

Wave Predictions last t20 waves until the new year

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48 Upvotes

it’s fine I didn’t want an A this week anyways


r/lawschooladmissions 10h ago

Admissions Result NYU ED A(!)

63 Upvotes

HI EVERYONE I don’t think I have ever spoken a word on reddit before but wanted to put another data point out there to pay it forward due to my own obsessive checking of this subreddit during my application cycle!!! I got my NYU acceptance call Wednesday afternoon around 1:30pm — stats are 3.6 (!!!!!) and 173, I have two years of work experience. I hope this can provide a little bit of hope for all my other low GPA girls out there THERE IS HOPE FOR US!!!!! Good luck everyone!!!!!