2026 Law School Median Tracker

could use some work but has been giving me a good kick throughout this cycle (not the first time this has happened)

Beyond excited! My #1 choice going into this cycle!!!

Don't want to reveal too many specifics regarding my application, but I submitted earlier this month and just heard back after interviewing!!

WAHOOWA!

In case you haven’t seen it, here is some news from LSAC.

https://www.lsac.org/lsat-will-look-little-different-starting-august-2027

It’s not until August 2027 and Dave Killoran and I are podcasting soon so we will absolutely speak on this. Per LSAC, they are moving to embedded pretesting of new items on the LSAT, starting with the August 2027 test. No change in any of the skills being tested or any of the question types, just to change in how they present the unscored experimental questions. If you have any questions on admissions implications fire away although off the top of my head I don’t see any.

Edit. We added a bit more on what it will look like in 2027 on Insta since we were getting questions on that.

- Mike Spivey

I check AT LEAST every hour. Sometimes more. Send help.

I know everyone is sick of these posts at this point.. but oh my GODDDDD. Waiting to hear back from schools is agonizing!

I’m a habitual planner and not knowing what the next few years of my life will look like is driving me insane. I also DESPISE my current job and I need to know if the misery will end next fall or if I need to suffer another year while I study for an LSAT retake. Lol.

Feel free to lament about the waiting game in the comments!

Per LSAC data, we are about 20% of the way through the cycle in terms of total applicant count. Here's the breakdown of Applicants, compared to last year:

The applicant numbers have already come down since the first data was released about 10 days ago, and are now up only 6.8%. That may look bad but remember that over the last two years the early numbers were up 26% and 33%, so these increases are considerably lower than the prior two years. The numbers are fairly volatile this early in the cycle, but this quick drop is an encouraging sign that this cycle may end up less competitive than last year.

Because things are hard to read at this point, you’ll see law schools be a bit hesitant while they wait and see what happens, and that points to another slow cycle as far as decision-making is concerned.

Let’s take a look at the LSAT scores for the applicants so far:

These numbers are also down compared to the opening numbers, and with the October LSAT scores coming out this week we should see some additional movement. I’ll check back on these in more detail next week, but for now these numbers are lower compared to last year, which is good news.

TL;DR: We are only 20% of the way through the cycle, so numbers remain small and will move plenty in the coming weeks. Early applicant numbers are up, but not nearly as much in the prior two years, which is a hopeful sign we may see the overall number of applicants decrease eventually compared to last year.

Any questions, please let me know!

Got a Vandy ii and seeing conflicting things on here. Some are saying they offer it to everyone who asks, others say it is required for admission, others say it just highly boosts chances, others say the AdComms use their discretion for who to offer it to and it means something?? Any anecdotal feedback?

The new format essentially takes away the accommodations advantage. I use that term loosely here.

Now everyone takes the same number of sections and answers the same number of questions.

Of course, those who have the accommodations still get more time but overall the new structure is fairer especially since everyone also takes RC first then the two LR sections after.

How do you feel about the new format?

If anyone applied SKJD this cycle or any of the last couple cycles dm me!

I applied with early decision on September 30th, and I interviewed October 12th. I have a 4.02 LSAC GPA and I redacted my LSAT. I just heard back from them.

I got rejected from early decision and sent into the regular decision pool.

Not sure if this information is helpful for anyone, but I figured I would share 😆

Omg when are the first wave of ED for UGA coming out I’ve been waiting since September 10th and all the info I see points to the fact it should’ve been out today!

Hey everyone,

I'm 28 and at a bit of a crossroads career-wise. I have a bachelor's degree in film/media and spent some time working in entertainment, but with how unstable the industry has become, I've been looking into other career paths that offer more financial stability and long-term opportunities.

For the past year or so, I've been taking science prerequisites at community college while exploring healthcare careers, primarily physical therapy and nursing. The problem is, I'm finding that I really don't enjoy the coursework, and I'm starting to question whether I'd actually be happy working in healthcare.

Lately, I've been considering law, but before committing to another expensive, time-consuming educational path, I'd really appreciate some perspective from people who have actually gone through it.

Some of my biggest questions:

• Is law school worth the investment? How realistic is it to graduate with a manageable debt-to-income ratio, especially if you don't attend a top-ranked school?
• How much does school prestige matter? Is attending a T14 school practically a requirement for the higher-paying jobs, or can graduates from regional/online schools still do well?
• What is the job market actually like? How competitive is it to land a decent-paying position after graduation? Is the market oversaturated?
• What are realistic starting salaries? I see wildly different numbers online, from $70k to $200k+. What's typical for a new graduate, and how does that compare to student loan debt?
• How bad is the burnout/work-life balance? I constantly hear about attorneys working brutal hours, dealing with demanding clients, and eventually regretting their career choice. Is that the norm, or does it depend heavily on the area of law?
• How concerned should prospective lawyers be about AI? Do you see automation significantly reducing entry-level opportunities or affecting the long-term demand for attorneys?
• Does age matter? If I started law school around 29–30, would entering the profession in my early 30s put me at any disadvantage?
• Do you actually enjoy being a lawyer? Knowing what you know now, would you choose this career again?

I'm not expecting a career that's easy or stress-free. I'm willing to work hard, but after already spending years pursuing different directions, I'm trying to be much more deliberate about my next decision. I want something intellectually engaging that also offers a reasonable path toward financial security without completely sacrificing my personal life.

I also realize law is a very broad field, and experiences probably vary significantly depending on practice area and location. I'm in California, for context.

If you were in my position, what would you do to figure out whether law is actually a good fit before investing three years and potentially six figures into a JD?

I'd especially appreciate hearing from career changers or attorneys who had similar doubts before starting.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share their experience. I'm genuinely trying to make an informed decision and would appreciate any advice, including reasons not to pursue law.

Hellooooo people of reddit!

I'm currently a 3rd year pre-law undergraduate student at the University of Houston! I double Major in Poli Sci and Afro Am studies with a minor in law, criminology and deviance (Sociology Discipline). My career sights is to become a criminal attorney and do both defense and prosecution through the course of my career and then eventually transition into politics.

As far as stats go, I have a 3.6 GPA, 166 LST practice score ( 1 time, 0 studying) , heavy campus involvement and pretty beefy resume. I've always said that i want to go straight to law school, but taking a gap year is becoming veryyyyyy attractive. But i'm unsure whether or not it'll affect my chances.

My top choice at the moment is George Washington. I'm pretty confident that with a good LSAT score I can get in but my GPA is on the lower end for most applicants. I think in general tbh, my resume is what carries me. I've worked very hard to build it but i wont hold you guys, I am exhaustedddd! I think going straight into the stress of law school would send me into cardiac arrest. At the same time though, i dont want to lose my momentum.

What would you guys suggest? And if a gap year is a good idea, what types of jobs/roles can i start looking into right now to set my self up for success?

thanks in advanceeeeeeeee :)))

- 20 year old girl who is stressed and tired

I know the advice is to do all the optional essays but i'm crashing out about how many that will be given the number of schools i'm applying to that have specific essays that don't overlap. I'm not worried about the workload so much as applying in time. Does anyone have experience getting into schools without doing the supplements? I'm not sure if it's better to apply in December w supplements or November without

I've had a pretty non traditional path post grad and am not sure how to handle my resume. This is what I came up with but I would love critiques on anything! I also realize I did an inconsistent job trying to hide my identity, tbh my experiences are pretty specific so if you know me you will be able to guess who i am lol. One of the things i'm concerned about is that it is awkwardly 2 pages, but i'm not sure how to fix that. Oh also the red dates will be turned to black i'm just trying to confirm them.

Just thought I'd make a quick post because this happened to me a few times last admissions cycle😭 but guys plz don't ask law students you don't know (or even if you do know them lowkey) to recommend you. I'm not sure that's even a formal thing, and frankly, adcomms def dgaf what I have to say. But more importantly, the law school admissions process is already exclusionary enough, let's not try and leverage "connections" in this process.

I'm all for democratizing information and you definitely can and should reach out to law students with questions/tips on the admissions process!! But it's off-putting to ask someone to email admissions to "star" your application, esp if it's a cold linkedin dm.

Stay strong yall...I too was desperate as hell...YOU'LL MAKE IT THROUGH!

Applied RD 10/3.

What is the group interview like? What sorts of questions do they ask?

How long did it take for it to say file completed since you submitted through LSAC? Specifically for Georgetown

Just wanted to provide a data point! Applied 9/17, complete 10/13, and ii today 10/26!

Any advice or tips for the group interview would be greatly appreciated!

I am feeling kind of depressed lately. KJD graduating in 3 years. I suffered a pretty brutal accident where I broke some bones my senior year of high school, and it kind of crippled me for a year. I wrote an addendum, but it pretty much cooked my freshman year GPA.

KJD also has me feeling discouraged, but I worked at a private equity firm, and I have a LOR from my managing director there, along with about 4 other finance internships. Traveled and competed on my school's debate team. Kind of worried I will not get into any school I am proud to attend. I know this sounds dumb, and I am sorry for asking. Anywhere else should I apply?

I wanted to apply to some more reaches, but I am feeling very low motivation looking at LSD and not seeing a single green dot anywhere near me on the scatterplot. I know not everyone is included in this, but I have a rudimentary enough understanding of stats to know the odds of being at, say, the 25th percentile LSAT for Yale and, like, the 10th percentile GPA results in a probability of admission that is like sub-2 %. Like, take Cornell for instance; it is pretty crushing to see that 2 cycles ago I would have had 5x the odds of admission. I also do not think I can score higher if I retake. I PT between 168 and 171 and scored higher on the September test than I have literally ever PT'd before. Do any uncs who have walked through the valley of the shadow of LSAC death have some words of wisdom for me?

Thus far I have submitted:

• Vanderbilt University
• University of Georgia
• Cornell University
• University of Miami
• Georgetown University
• University of Michigan
• Emory University
• University of North Carolina
• University of Southern California
• Florida State University
• Fordham University
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Wisconsin
• University of Florida (Levin)
• Northeastern University
• George Washington University
• University of Notre Dame

I'm looking for feedback on my topic for a supplemental essay. I want to write something that I can use for a lot of the schools that have the updated diversity essay that include salient experiences, leadership roles and other past experience. I'm a middle class, queer, white Jewish American and don't have a lot to say about my identity that will be interesting because I haven't really experienced any hardship because of it.

I was thinking about writing about helping my sister with her disability case when her lawyer told her she had to write the pre-hearing brief herself. This isn't a personal identity thing more a unique experience I think could make my application stand out but I'm curious about what people think, especially for places like NYU that clearly are angling for identity based answers.