Best Law Schools
Ranked in 2016 | Best Law Schools Rankings Methodology
A career in law starts with finding the school that fits you best. With the U.S. News rankings of the top law schools, narrow your search by location, tuition, school size and test scores.
| Rank | School name | Tuition and fees | Enrollment (full-time) |
LSAT scores (25th-75th percentile)
|
Acceptance rate
|
Employed 10 months after graduation2
|
Assessment score by lawyers/judges (out of 5)
|
Bar passage rate (first-time test takers)
|
GPA (25th-75th percentile)
|
Employed at graduation2
|
Peer assessment score (out of 5)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#1
Overall Score: Overall Score: 100 out of 100.
|
Yale University
New Haven, CT |
$58,050 per year (full-time) | 614 | ||||||||
|
#2Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 97 out of 100.
|
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA |
$58,242 per year (full-time) | 1,767 | ||||||||
|
#2Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 97 out of 100.
|
Stanford University
Stanford, CA |
$56,274 per year (full-time) | 572 | ||||||||
|
#4Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 94 out of 100.
|
Columbia University
New York, NY |
$62,700 per year (full-time) | 1,165 | ||||||||
|
#4Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 94 out of 100.
|
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL |
$56,916 per year (full-time) | 617 | ||||||||
|
#6
Overall Score: Overall Score: 91 out of 100.
|
New York University
New York, NY |
$59,330 per year (full-time) | 1,395 | ||||||||
|
#7
Overall Score: Overall Score: 89 out of 100.
|
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA |
$58,918 per year (full-time) | 753 | ||||||||
|
#8Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 86 out of 100.
|
University of California—Berkeley
Berkeley, CA |
$48,679 per year (in-state, full-time); $52,630 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 935 | ||||||||
|
#8Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 86 out of 100.
|
University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI |
$53,112 per year (in-state, full-time); $56,112 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 932 | ||||||||
|
#8Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 86 out of 100.
|
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA |
$54,000 per year (in-state, full-time); $57,000 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 934 | ||||||||
|
#11
Overall Score: Overall Score: 84 out of 100.
|
Duke University
Durham, NC |
$57,717 per year (full-time) | 668 | ||||||||
|
#12
Overall Score: Overall Score: 83 out of 100.
|
Northwestern University (Pritzker)
Chicago, IL |
$58,398 per year (full-time) | 658 | ||||||||
|
#13
Overall Score: Overall Score: 82 out of 100.
|
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY |
$59,900 per year (full-time) | 588 | ||||||||
|
#14
Overall Score: Overall Score: 77 out of 100.
|
Georgetown University
Washington, DC |
$55,255 per year (full-time) | 1,725 | ||||||||
|
#15
Overall Score: Overall Score: 76 out of 100.
|
University of Texas—Austin
Austin, TX |
$33,162 per year (in-state, full-time); $49,244 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 949 | ||||||||
|
#16
Overall Score: Overall Score: 75 out of 100.
|
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN |
$51,360 per year (full-time) | 538 | ||||||||
|
#17
Overall Score: Overall Score: 74 out of 100.
|
University of California—Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA |
$45,284 per year (in-state, full-time); $51,778 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 974 | ||||||||
|
#18
Overall Score: Overall Score: 73 out of 100.
|
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, MO |
$51,626 per year (full-time) | 684 | ||||||||
|
#19
Overall Score: Overall Score: 71 out of 100.
|
University of Southern California (Gould)
Los Angeles, CA |
$58,022 per year (full-time) | 598 | ||||||||
|
#20Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 68 out of 100.
|
Boston University
Boston, MA |
$49,330 per year (full-time) | 672 | ||||||||
|
#20Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 68 out of 100.
|
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA |
$24,177 per year (in-state, full-time); $42,021 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 387 | ||||||||
|
#22Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 67 out of 100.
|
Emory University
Atlanta, GA |
$51,510 per year (full-time) | 836 | ||||||||
|
#22Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 67 out of 100.
|
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN |
$42,231 per year (in-state, full-time); $50,373 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 632 | ||||||||
|
#22Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 67 out of 100.
|
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN |
$52,372 per year (full-time) | 581 | ||||||||
|
#25Tie
Overall Score: Overall Score: 64 out of 100.
|
Arizona State University (O'Connor)
Tempe, AZ |
$27,074 per year (in-state, full-time); $42,794 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 623 | ||||||||
U.S. News Law School Compass
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