The Top 50 Law Schools By First-Time Bar Exam Pass Rates (2018)

For prospective law students, bar exam pass rates should be pretty close to the top of the list of things to research — right along with employment statistics and average graduate indebtedness — when deciding which law schools to apply to and which law school to eventually enroll at after being accepted. For the past few years, bar exam pass rates across the country have plummeted, but there’s hope on the horizon with the news that the average national score on the July 2019 administration of Multistate Bar Exam climbed to a 141.1, fresh off a 34-year low set in 2018. For what it’s worth, 74.82 percent of 2018 law school graduates who took the bar passed on their first try.

While we eagerly wait for the results of the July 2019 bar exam to be released and for the 2019 calendar year results to be compiled across all law schools, it’s worth taking a look at the law schools whose recent graduates did the best on the 2018 exam. After all, with the right bar prep company, you, too, could excel and count your name among the law school graduates who passed the test.

Which law schools are putting their graduates in the best position to pass the bar exam on the first try?

In partnership with Themis Bar Review, here are the Top 50 law schools by first-time bar pass rate for the 2018 calendar year:^[1]

1. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	97.35%
2. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	97.28%
3. YALE UNIVERSITY	96.76%
4. HARVARD UNIVERSITY	96.50%
5. LIBERTY UNIVERSITY	95.65%
6. UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA	95.35%
7. DUKE UNIVERSITY	94.87%
8. STANFORD UNIVERSITY	94.68%
9. VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY	93.89%
10. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN	93.79%
11. CORNELL UNIVERSITY	93.65%
12. BELMONT UNIVERSITY	93.59%
13. WILLIAM AND MARY LAW SCHOOL	92.78%
14. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA	92.09%
15. BAYLOR UNIVERSITY	92.03%
16. NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	91.97%
17. CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY	91.57%
18. BOSTON UNIVERSITY	91.52%
19. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON	91.02%
20. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN	90.88%
21. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA	90.78%
22. UC-BERKELEY	90.70%
23. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO	90.29%
24. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY	90.22%
25. LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY	89.10%
26. FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY	89.08%
27. UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA	87.79%
28. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY	87.75%
29. FORDHAM UNIVERSITY	87.74%
30. UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME	87.62%
31. BOSTON COLLEGE	87.56%
32. UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS	87.50%
32. SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY	87.50%
33. BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY	87.40%
33. PENNSYLVANIA STATE – PENN STATE LAW	87.40%
34. TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY	87.07%
35. OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY	86.84%
36. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY	86.77%
37. UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI	86.52%
38. WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY	86.44%
39. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH	86.36%
40. UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	86.33%
41. UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	86.02%
42. NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY	85.71%
43. UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	85.57%
44. UNIVERSITY OF TULSA	85.53%
45. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA	85.33%
46. UC-LOS ANGELES	85.00%
47. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	84.83%
48. SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY	84.81%
49. ST. JOHN’S UNIVERSITY	84.78%
50. UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA	84.75%

[1] It should also be noted that Wisconsin had a 100 percent “pass rate” and Marquette had a 98.80 percent “pass rate” thanks to diploma privilege, a court rule that allows graduates of ABA-accredited law schools within the state to skip the bar exam entirely.

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.