How can you measure a law school’s worth, aside from the employment statistics of its graduates? Another telling sign of its success may be its selectivity, that is, a school’s acceptance rate.
But which law schools had the lowest acceptance rates? There’s a ranking for that, of course.
According to U.S. News, the average acceptance rate in fall 2025 was 36 percent. Among the schools with the lowest acceptance rates, the average rate was much lower, at 11 percent. As you may have guessed, the law schools with the lowest acceptance rates are some of the usual suspects, the elite schools found at the tippy top of the U.S. News rankings.
Schenck Price Works Smarter with Lexis+ AI and Protégé
LexisNexis sat down with John Ursin, Managing Partner at Schenck Price, to learn how the firm is using legal AI to strengthen client service and daily legal work.
Please feel free to check them out below, courtesy of U.S. News.
| School | Applicants Fall 2025 | Acceptances Fall 2025 | Acceptance Rate | U.S. News Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yale University (CT) | 5,562 | 226 | 4% | 2 (tie) |
| Stanford University (CA) | 5,526 | 337 | 6% | 1 |
| University of Pennsylvania (Carey) | 8,074 | 650 | 8% | 4 (tie) |
| Boston College (MA) | 7,668 | 650 | 8% | 20 (tie) |
| University of Michigan | 8,982 | 770 | 9% | 9 (tie) |
| Harvard University (MA) | 8,872 | 816 | 9% | 6 |
| University of Virginia | 6,734 | 685 | 10% | 4 (tie) |
| University of Chicago (IL) | 6,581 | 641 | 10% | 2 (tie) |
| University of Southern California (Gould) | 7,204 | 805 | 11% | 26 (tie) |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 3,459 | 387 | 11% | 18 (tie) |
| Columbia University (NY) | 9,463 | 1,120 | 12% | 9 (tie) |
| University of California, Los Angeles | 8,623 | 1,039 | 12% | 13 (tie) |
| Northwestern University (Pritzker) (IL) | 7,976 | 981 | 12% | 9 (tie) |
| Boston University (MA) | 7,892 | 953 | 12% | 24 (tie) |
| Texas A&M University | 5,240 | 634 | 12% | 22 (tie) |
| New York University | 10,546 | 1,412 | 13% | 7 (tie) |
| Duke University (NC) | 6,240 | 804 | 13% | 7 (tie) |
| Vanderbilt University (TN) | 6,124 | 812 | 13% | 12 |
| University of Georgia | 4,695 | 597 | 13% | 26 (tie) |
| University of Texas at Austin | 6,297 | 881 | 14% | 16 (tie) |
Thirteen of the 20 law schools with the lowest acceptance rates fall within the top of the most recent U.S. News rankings, with Texas (#16), UNC (#18), Boston College (#20), Texas A&M (#22), Boston University (#24), USC (#26), and Georgia (#26) sneaking in to complete the list. The only top 14 schools that didn’t make the cut here were Cornell and Washington University in St. Louis, with acceptance rates of about 18 percent and 19 percent, respectively.
AI Is Reshaping Legal Practice—But Tools Aren’t The Real Differentiator.
Explore the mindset, cultural shifts, and training strategies that define the AI‑savvy lawyer, revealing why human judgment, standardized competence, and integrated learning—not technology alone—will shape the future of the profession.
Where does your law school stand when it comes to its acceptance rate? Check out your school’s most recent Standard 509 Report to find out.
20 Law Schools That Are Hardest to Get Into [Short List / U.S. News]
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of 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 Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.