Best Law Schools
Ranked in 2013 | Best Law Schools Rankings Methodology
A career in law starts with finding the school that fits you best. With U.S. News's rankings of the top law schools, narrow your search by location, tuition, school size, and test scores.
| Rank | School name | Tuition & Fees | Enrollment (full-time) |
LSAT scores (25th-75th percentile)
|
Acceptance rate
|
Employed 9 months after graduation 2
|
Assessment score by lawyers/judges (out of 5)
|
Bar passage rate (first-time test takers)
|
GPA (25th-75th percentile)
|
Employed at graduation 2
|
Peer assessment score (out of 5)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 |
Yale University
New Haven, CT |
$53,600 per year (full-time) | 615 | ||||||||
| #2 |
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA |
$50,880 per year (full-time) | 1,727 | ||||||||
| #2 |
Stanford University
Stanford, CA |
$50,802 per year (full-time) | 575 | ||||||||
| #4 |
Columbia University
New York, NY |
$55,488 per year (full-time) | 1,290 | ||||||||
| #4 |
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL |
$50,727 per year (full-time) | 610 | ||||||||
| #6 |
New York University
New York, NY |
$51,150 per year (full-time) | 1,471 | ||||||||
| #7 |
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA |
$53,138 per year (full-time) | 776 | ||||||||
| #7 |
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA |
$46,400 per year (in-state, full-time); $51,400 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 1,078 | ||||||||
| #9 |
University of California–Berkeley
Berkeley, CA |
$48,068 per year (in-state, full-time); $52,019 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 856 | ||||||||
| #9 |
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI |
$48,250 per year (in-state, full-time); $51,250 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 1,124 | ||||||||
| #11 |
Duke University
Durham, NC |
$50,750 per year (full-time) | 660 | ||||||||
| #12 |
Northwestern University
Chicago, IL |
$53,468 per year (full-time) | 811 | ||||||||
| #13 |
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY |
$55,220 per year (full-time) | 596 | ||||||||
| #14 |
Georgetown University
Washington, DC |
$48,835 per year (full-time) | 1,683 | ||||||||
| #15 |
University of Texas–Austin
Austin, TX |
$32,376 per year (in-state, full-time); $48,075 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 1,065 | ||||||||
| #15 |
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN |
$46,804 per year (full-time) | 580 | ||||||||
| #17 |
University of California–Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA |
$45,221 per year (in-state, full-time); $51,715 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 994 | ||||||||
| #18 |
University of Southern California (Gould)
Los Angeles, CA |
$52,598 per year (full-time) | 637 | ||||||||
| #19 |
University of Minnesota–Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN |
$36,820 per year (in-state, full-time); $45,484 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 740 | ||||||||
| #19 |
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, MO |
$47,490 per year (full-time) | 768 | ||||||||
| #21 |
George Washington University
Washington, DC |
$47,535 per year (full-time) | 1,351 | ||||||||
| #21 |
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL |
$19,660 per year (in-state, full-time); $32,920 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 487 | ||||||||
| #23 |
Emory University
Atlanta, GA |
$46,414 per year (full-time) | 813 | ||||||||
| #23 |
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN |
$45,980 per year (full-time) | 545 | ||||||||
| #25 |
Indiana University–Bloomington (Maurer)
Bloomington, IN |
$29,946 per year (in-state, full-time); $48,021 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 665 |
U.S. News Law School Compass
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