You may be waiting for decisions from law schools you’ve already applied to in this cycle. Or maybe you are gearing up to apply in a future admissions cycle. Either way, it’s a great time to start carefully researching law schools. You want to figure out which is the best law school for you.
But there’s so much information out there. Where’s a good place to start? Where can you find reliable information?
Here are some of the resources I often share with students who meet with me:
The American Bar Association 509 reports provide incredible insights into law schools. Data they collect in these reports includes employment outcomes, bar pass rates, scholarship information, information on the size of the class, the median GPA and LSAT scores, and other valuable and reliable information. Click on each school that interests you and the report for school specific information.
Similarly, the Law School Transparency reports are designed to help inform you about the different law schools and to compare them, as you make decisions. You can find a lot of data on admissions, job placement, careers in law, the cost of law school and many other resources on this site.
The Law School Admissions Council is the primary site for law school admissions, where you can find LSAT dates and register for the LSAT and how you can actually apply to law schools. Beyond that it has a wealth of information on just about everything related to law school, from practice LSATs to scholarship information, as well as an informative podcast about law school and law school admissions. It also has a very helpful article on steps for applying to law school.
Official Guide to ABA- Approved JD Programs
This guide provides a great benchmark for admissions. There is a chart where you can input your GPA and your LSAT score, and it will give you some probabilities for admission, based on data from the law schools. I find this chart to be useful when compiling your list of target, reach and safety schools, or trying to narrow down your list. You can sort it geographically, alphabetically, or by level of competitiveness based on your numbers. It is a very useful resource, and one that I refer to frequently.
The AccessLex Institute provides comprehensive information about how to pay for law school and has many financial resources, including a great scholarship database, with many scholarships that you can potentially apply for as you navigate law school admissions.
These resources should be able to provide you with some great statistical information as you make big decisions. Of course, there are many intangibles to consider too, as you try to find the right fit. I also recommend you try to visit law schools in person and talk to alumni, once you have decided on a primary list of schools.
