This is the fourth article in our six-part law school guide (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). See also our general policy graduate school advice and policy master’s guide.

Summary

• Admission to a top law school may be within reach, even for people who haven’t been planning to attend law school. Earning admission to a top law school is a realistic option for people with good college grades (especially grades above a ~3.8 GPA) and some aptitude for learning and taking standardized tests, even if they did not go to a top college and do not have a conventional “pre-law” background.
• Other law schools can be good options. Law school is also an option for people with lower college grades or less comfort with standardized tests. People in these groups may want to consider applying to mid-ranked schools in the region where they hope to work after graduation, in addition to more selective schools. (See here for more details on which schools may be in range with different combinations of grades and test scores.) For example, top-35 nationally-ranked schools in Washington DC may be great options for those interested in US federal policy careers.

How much to prioritize rankings?

Law school applicants often hear the advice, “Go to the best law school you can get into and afford.” People giving (and receiving) this advice often equate “best” with “most highly ranked in the most recent US News and World Report ranking of law schools.” The ranking tends to be correlated with graduates’ employment outcomes and the strength of the school’s network, especially in its local market.

“Aim high” is good advice for most people, and the US News rankings are a fair place to start when sorting out which schools are the most attractive. All else being equal, a law degree from a school with a higher ranking is likely to advance your professional development more. Law school rankings tend to be correlated with graduates’ overall employment outcomes and the strength of the school’s alumni network, especially in its local market.

Generally speaking, rankings matter most if you’re aiming for a conventionally prestigious legal career in legal practice or academia, and less if you’re considering other paths. Law school rank will also matter less when your goal is to get non-legal jobs where your hiring managers are not themselves lawyers, as is true for many policy positions.

Considerations by career path

Practicing law

Within the legal profession, Yale, Stanford, and Harvard have historically been regarded as the “top three” US law schools. Recently, the University of Chicago has risen in law school rankings, in part because of its excellent employment outcomes. Graduates of these schools are well-represented in influential government offices, elite private law firms, and top roles within selective nonprofits. Before Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court in 2020, the last person to be appointed to the Supreme Court without having attended Yale, Stanford, or Harvard was Justice John Paul Stevens, in 1975.¹

For people interested in practicing law, career outcomes can vary a lot between law schools, so attending a highly ranked law school can be especially important. Prospective applicants should think carefully before accepting a seat at a law school outside the “T14“—the schools that most frequently claim the top 14 spots in the yearly U.S. News & World Report ranking of American law schools—where tuition is similar to that at top schools but career outcomes may be very different.

The demand for many legal jobs in the federal government, litigation, or advocacy, significantly exceeds supply, so employers often resort to filtering candidates using simple proxies, including which law school a person attended. The focus on where people earned their degrees is stronger in the legal profession than in some other fields, so attending a mid-ranked law school may have very different career consequences from, for example, attending a mid-ranked college (which may be an excellent choice for many people). There may be an exception to this rule for those who can easily chart their own career paths (e.g. opening up their own impact litigation nonprofit), but the personal risks of that path are high, and even here getting a top-ranked degree can help. Law school rank will also matter less when your goal is to get non-legal jobs where your hiring managers are not themselves lawyers, as is true for certain congressional or think tank positions.

In some regional legal markets, especially outside major cities like New York, DC, and Chicago, recruiters may prefer graduates of local law schools.

Policy

Some senior DC policy professionals advise that a law degree from Yale, Harvard, or Stanford is most valuable for DC policy careers. After that point, people disagree about whether rank (e.g. University of Chicago, which is #3 in the 2023 US News and World Report rankings) or proximity (e.g. Georgetown, located in DC) matters more. Lower-ranked DC-based schools George Washington University, and perhaps George Mason University may also be worth considering.

The US News rankings are influenced by factors that are likely to be less relevant to those interested in careers in policy, nonprofit, and government settings, such as the impressions of hiring partners of large law firms.

Law degrees can open many impactful career opportunities in US policy. For those interested in pursuing this path, law schools that place many graduates in DC careers may be particularly attractive. Employment rates in the DC area are not specifically factored into the US News rankings, so some schools with lower rankings may be much more promising for advancing policy-relevant professional development than they appear based on rankings alone.

As one illustration of this idea, consider this perspective from an admissions consultant:

A school like George Washington (GW), for example, may be ranked 25th in the US News rankings (as of March 2022) but places its graduates at some of the most coveted DC positions. This is in large part because GW’s staff has intimate connections to various government and firm positions and can place students at these institutions through externships and internships.

Similarly, as of 2019, Georgetown was the second-most common law school alma mater of Members of Congress (14 alumni), after Harvard (23 alumni).²

Many people with successful, high-impact policy careers received law degrees from schools outside the top handful of highest-ranked schools; for example: Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence (Georgetown); Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security (Loyola Marymount); Lisa Murkowski, US Senator from Alaska (Willamette); Kathy Hochul, Governor of New York (Catholic); and Leon Panetta, former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director, among other roles (Santa Clara).

Legal academia

Most legal academics (especially those without a PhD) attended law school at Yale, Harvard, or Stanford. 

Schools to consider

Here are two lists of schools to consider aiming for: the conventional “T14” highest-ranked schools in the US News list, and two other top-30 schools that place many graduates in DC policy roles.

Conventional “top 14” law schools

School	Acceptance rate (2021)	Graduating class size (2021)	Median LSAT score (2021)	Median undergrad GPA (2021)	% of graduates working in DC the year after graduation	US News Ranking (2023)
Yale	4.1%	218	174	3.94	21%	1
Stanford	6.3%	184	172	3.91	16%	2
U Chicago	11.9%	213	172	3.91	n.d.	3
Harvard	6.9%	594	174	3.92	18%	4 (tie)
Columbia	11.4%	460	174	3.84	5%	4 (tie)
U Pennsylvania	9.4%	257	171	3.90	12%	6
NYU	14.5%	466	172	3.86	7%	7
U Virginia	9.7%	318	171	3.91	24%	8
UC Berkeley	13.7%	327	169	3.83	6%	9
U Michigan	10.6%	363	171	3.84	13%	10
Duke	14.4%	251	170	3.82	11%	11
Cornell	15.4%	193	171	3.86	7%	12
Northwestern	13.9%	273	171	3.86	n.d.	13
Georgetown	12.9%	672	171	3.85	41%	14

Two more law schools to consider in DC

For people particularly interested in policy roles, it may make sense to consider two additional law schools with especially strong, relevant networks in DC, where most federal policymakers work. The law school at George Mason University might be particularly worth considering for readers interested in building networks among conservative policymakers.

School	Acceptance rate (2021)	Graduating class size (2021)	Median LSAT score (2021)	Median undergrad. GPA (2021)	% of graduates working in DC the year after graduation	US News Ranking (2023)
George Washington	21.6%	564	167	3.83	41%	25
George Mason	27.1%	161	164	3.81	31%	30 (tie)

Where to find more data

For much more comprehensive data comparing law schools, prospective applicants can review the disclosure forms the American Bar Association requires all accredited law schools to complete each year, including the ABA 509 form, employment outcome reports, and bar passage reports. This guide may be helpful in interpreting the ABA 509 form.

Special program types

Part-time programs

Some JD students attend law school part time, usually by taking evening or weekend classes while working. These programs typically take four years to complete, often including some summer coursework, but some schools offer three- or three-and-a-half-year tracks.

The part-time JD programs at Georgetown and George Washington University are well-regarded and could be a good fit for people who are interested in gaining policy-related work experience in DC while pursuing a JD.

Attending law school part-time could be a good fit for some students, but may not be the best choice for everyone (this blog post lists several factors to consider).

Accelerated programs

A small number of law schools offer two-year JD programs for students who already hold a bachelor’s degree.

Some universities also offer “3+3” B.A./JD programs, in which students who have just completed high school (or its equivalent) complete both an initial bachelor’s degree and a law degree in a total of six years, rather than the typical seven.

In general, the law schools with the strongest track record of placing students into selective roles do not offer accelerated JD programs. But Columbia Law School’s Accelerated Interdisciplinary Legal Education Program, a “3+3” option available to students at Columbia College and Barnard College, is an exception that may be worth considering for students at those schools.

These programs carry some risks. Some students in accelerated programs feel that they committed too early to what they later consider to be a suboptimal decision to attend law school. Compressing academic requirements into a smaller number of years might also reduce valuable opportunities to build credentials and gain experiences from internships and other hands-on experiences during law school.

While accelerated programs might be the right fit for some people, it seems especially important to have a clear plan for how you plan to use your law degree before committing to such a program.

Dual- and joint-degree programs

Many law schools offer dual- or joint-degree programs, allowing students to complete a JD and another graduate degree in a shorter time (and often at a lower total cost) than would be required to obtain the two degrees independently. Gaining the networks and disciplinary perspectives of two professional schools has its advantages, but readers should also consider the diminishing returns of elite credentials and, if applicable, the opportunity costs of another year of study.

Common degree combinations include:

• JD / Master in Public Policy (MPP). Generally a four-year program. See also the JD / Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA-ID) at Harvard.
• JD / Master of Business Administration (MBA). Generally a four-year program, but see three-year programs at Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, George Mason, and Notre Dame.
• JD / Master of Public Health (MPH). Either a three- or four-year program, depending on the school.

All of the most highly ranked law schools offer dual- or joint-degree programs, but specific offerings vary between schools. Refer to the links below for more information about specific dual- and joint-degree programs available at several law schools that may be of particular interest to readers:

• Chicago
• Columbia
• Cornell
• Duke
• George Washington
• Georgetown (the joint degrees offered with the Walsh School of Foreign Service—particularly the joint JD/MA Security Studies—may be of particular interest to prospective law students interested in international relations and security policy)
• Harvard
• New York University
• Northwestern
• Stanford
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of Virginia
• Yale

LL.M. programs

People who hope to work in the US and already hold a law degree from a non-US institution—often an LL.B., or an equivalent undergraduate degree in law—could consider applying for an LL.M. (“Master of Laws”) program at a US law school. LL.M. programs are typically one-year programs requiring a mix of coursework and research. LL.M. students often enroll in the same courses as JD students.

For students who earned their bachelor’s degree in the US, earning admission to an LL.M. program generally requires first completing a JD. Because an LL.M. from a US law school provides relatively little marginal benefit on top of a JD, pursuing both degrees is an uncommon path.

S.JD and PhD programs

A small number of students pursue research doctorates at US law schools. Many US law schools offer either an S.JD (“Doctor of Juridical Science”) or PhD as a terminal degree for students interested in the academic study of law who already hold an LL.M. As with research doctorates in other fields, program lengths vary. Students typically complete coursework and a research dissertation.

An S.JD or PhD program can be a good choice for someone who plans to become a law professor, but would be an unusual step for someone planning to practice law or become a policymaker.

Footnotes