When it comes to a strong Law School Admission Test score, law schools have varying benchmarks.
The median LSAT score for the 2025 incoming class, for instance, was nearly 160, according to data collected by U.S. News on 196 law schools. Washington University School of Law in Missouri had a median score of 175 — the highest among all schools that submitted this data — while Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico School of Law had the lowest, 139, per U.S. News data.
Seventeen of the 196 law schools had a median LSAT score above 170, per U.S. News data. Five of those 17 — Duke University School of Law in North Carolina, Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Minnesota Law School — had a median score of 171.
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The LSAT is scored on a scale from 120 to 180.
Twelve of the 17 law schools are private. New York is home to three, the most of any state, followed by California and Illinois each with two.
While all law schools accredited by the American Bar Association accept the LSAT, a growing number also allow applicants to submit the Graduate Record Examination, or GRE.
[Read: 7 Key Differences Between the LSAT and GRE]
A strong test score isn’t the only way to be a competitive law school candidate, however. Admissions officers also review other application components, such as transcripts, work and volunteer experience, and recommendation letters.
Here’s a list of the 17 law schools with the highest median LSAT scores among incoming students in fall 2025. Law schools that didn’t submit test information were not considered for this report. Don’t see your school on this list? See the complete U.S. News Best Law Schools rankings here. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
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17 Law Schools With the Highest LSAT Scores originally appeared on usnews.com
