The Law Schools That Are The Toughest To Get Into (2024)

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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.

The latest Princeton Review law school rankings are out, and today, we’ll focus on yet another incredibly important ranking for those who are trying to get into law school in the first place: The law schools that are the toughest to get into.

Which law schools do you think came out on top of this list?

First, we’ll begin with the methodology Princeton Review used to determine which law schools are the toughest to get into. This ranking was based on school-reported data, including the median LSAT scores and undergraduate GPAs of entering 1L students, the percent of applicants accepted, and the percent of accepted applicants who later enrolled.

According to Princeton Review, these are the law schools that are the most difficult to get into:

1. Yale University Law School (no change)
2. Harvard University Law School (no change)
3. Stanford University School of Law (ranked #7 last year)
4. University of Virginia School of Law (ranked #5 last year)
5. New York University School of Law (ranked #4 last year)
6. University of Michigan Law School (ranked #3 last year)
7. Washington University School of Law (unranked last year)
8. Duke University School of Law (ranked #9 last year)
9. Columbia University School of Law (ranked #6 last year)
10. University of Pennsylvania Law School (no change)

It’s not at all shocking that some of the best law schools in the nation are listed here, but what is shocking is their order, the law schools that were left out entirely — like Chicago, which is a Top 3 school according to both U.S. News and Above the Law, but can’t be found on the Princeton Review list for toughest to get into — as well as the school that managed to make it into the Top 10 despite finding itself outside that tier in both the U.S. News and Above the Law rankings (Washington University, which is in a three-way tie at #16 per USN and #12 per ATL).

Did your law school make the cut? If it did, do you think it was ranked fairly? If it didn’t make the list for being toughest to get into, do you agree with that assessment? Please email us or text us (646-820-8477) your thoughts.

Best Law Schools 2024 [Princeton Review]
Toughest to Get Into 2024 [Princeton Review]

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 X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.