2026 Law School Median Tracker

On a real note, obviously they don't give a fuck about either

Prior to researching law school admissions, I was under the impression my softs were decent. I got a big 4 internship and served on the E-Board for the accounting academic honor society which I thought was pretty good for an accounting background. However, when I saw the actual tiers for softs I realized I was mistaken. If I'm understanding correctly, I would be T4, the lowest tier. Obviously my softs aren't that insane but this did surprise me.

My question is how is this possible? The medians for T14 in regards to LSAT are 97th-99th percentile which, if my math is correct, would be like 2000-6000 people total. If the classes for these schools range from ~200-500 people each how are there nearly enough people with T1, T2, and T3 softs to fill them? Maybe I'm out of touch and there's more NCAA athletes and published researchers applying than I thought but this just really surprised me. Can somebody clear up where I'm mistaken with this?

I’ve been reading some posts here and there on this sub discussing BL outcomes for law schools based on their raw BLFC%, and I just wanted to put forward some insight that, generally speaking, the total % isn’t really indicative of where you need to place in the class to securely get a BL job.

For example, I attended a T20 with ~50% BLFC rates, so I thought, somewhat stupidly, that as long as I was median I would have a good shot at BL. Come recruiting time, I started to realize as I networked with alumni and upperclassmen and got advice from my CSO that you really needed to be top 30% to have a strong shot.

People who got offers below that had valuable backgrounds, ie STEM for IP, with these folk notably tending to get most of the “soft” pre grade offers where they were saved a position as long as their grades weren’t below median. Others who comprised the total 50% did so through 3L hiring, and most of the people there were top of the class material, usually on law review, who simply didn’t pursue BL early but could’ve gotten it had they done so.

That all being said, unless you’re at a T14 or T20 that places >60% of its class into BL, know that you very likely need to be solidly above median for these jobs.

Has anyone heard from any Boston schools (BU, BC, Northeastern, Suffolk) yet? I applied early September and am waiting impatiently!

basically title—do people typically bring a laptop or pen/paper when they sit in on a law school class? is there something else I should bring? any info would be helpful, thanks :)

How do you guys know if you are ii on status checkers? For schools like UCLA, Vanderbilt, UT, Georgetown, etc. there is no info expect saying its complete.

So for the Yale activities list, specifically college activities during the academic year, I only have 2 things that were sustained commitments throughout college. I have a bunch of things I did for 3-6 months here and there that I honestly can’t even remember the details of now because I’m 4+ years post grad.

All the examples they share have tons of clubs and activities. Should I be trying to fill the page with the shorter stuff from my freshman and sophomore years or am I fine leaving it off?

How bad does a one pass/no pass class look freshman fall. I am in a marketing class which is kind of easy on paper but it’s 70% graded based on group projects and my group sucked so we’re gonna get a bad grade in the class. It’s a really bad grading system so I got kind of cooked, but I’m just curious if this looks bad for law schools admit. I’m going to keep my grades up next 4 years and will 100% not fail this, but just curious

Super Splitter here. 176 LSAT, 2.9 undergrad GPA with no real defining reason except laziness at the time, graduated in 2023. Have been working professionally post-grad for 3 years, however, my job is not necessarily applicable / attractive towards law.

Sending applications to as many reputable schools as you could think of - what are my chances at anything T14 and in the range of schools outside.

All insight is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

LSAC seems so greedy. I had to pay to send all of my college transcripts, which wouldn't have been a problem if it had been one or two, but they made me send individual transcripts from the college classes I took in high school, even though they were already on my college transcript. So instead of paying $8 one time, I paid $8 eight times. $64 just to get my transcripts sent to LSAC. Then I need to pay $45 for them to send the documents I just paid to get sent to them? I have a fee waiver tier two, I believe, so they paid for three of my CAS reports, which I am thankful for, but they made me jump through hoops to get them. I had to show therapy bills, medication payments, my bank account statements, etc. What college student can reasonably afford to pay this much money just to apply to law schools? On top of paying for the LSAT, paying for test prep, etc.

Splitter, 3.75 math+physics major 178 LSAT going for patent law

Not sure how to tier my softs but got plenty of internships at top defense companies; will have 2 years WE at one of top defense companies in R&D department with TS clearance; first gen student

Side question (ik I can google but want other opinions): what to do to improve softs?

I’ve been working with unions and state governments on projects from strike actions to voter registration since early 2024 and I’ve worked on multiple projects in 7 or 8 states. Is this anything?

It’s my favorite holiday - should I dress up?

Does this NYU question include internships or are they just asking about volunteering?

As the title suggests, I missed two virtual information/program sessions I signed up for earlier in the month. It's my dream to enter the school that hosted these sessions, and I am genuinely so upset about missing them as I was really looking forward to learning more about the school.

I can definitely find the recordings online, as I just received the link for one in an e-mail, but what worries me is the chance that missing these sessions reflects badly on my application. Will having missed these sessions impact my chance of getting into this school? Or do I have nothing to worry about?

My PS is three and a half pages double spaced right now. I'm applying to about 12 schools this cycle, a mix of T14 reaches and a few regional schools with scholarship potential

Some of them say two pages, some say two to three and a few say nothing at all. Cutting a page and a half feels like I'd lose half the story. How long should a law school personal statement be if I want one version that works everywhere?

Applied Oct 26th, asked to interview today (27th)! Hope this is a good sign!

I understand that law schools generally want applicants to demonstrate accountability for past criminal history in an addendum, but how does that apply to charges that were dismissed or resulted in an acquittal? How should an applicant explain a charge that didn’t result in a conviction, particularly if they believe they were falsely accused? Is there a good way to explain what happened without coming across as defensive or unwilling to take accountability for something they maintain they didn’t do? Thanks for any insights.

Hi, I’m currently deciding which letters of rec to use as a KJD. I currently have 1 from a professor I’m close with, 1 from the lawyer I work for as a paralegal, and 1 from a judge I canvassed for in his election. I’m waiting on 1 more from another professor I took 3 classes with, but I’m not as close with him. I’m at a very large public undergrad so it was hard to get close with professors. I’m very close with the first professor, lawyer, and the judge.

For one of my schools that accepts 3 letters, I’m not sure if I should submit the 3 recommenders I’m close with and omit the 2nd professor. I’m fairly sure the 2nd professor’s LOR will be nice but generic.

What would you guys do? Since I’m a KJD, I’m not sure if a second professor’s letter would look better or if I should use the letters I know for sure will be positive and specific. Would a generic letter from a professor harm my application?

I know it’s probably just a money grab, but is there actually a legitimate rationale for having to pay $45 per school ON TOP OF the CAS subscription fee?

Like, I think the subscription is for generating a standardized report of all your transcripts, test scores, and LOR’s. So why the extra $45 to send an already created report? Was there ever a time where applicants could just send the reports CAS made to law schools themselves?

Like for example would investment banking be considered more highly than regular corporate roles? Or paralegal considered more highly than regular corporate roles?

I know they send packages to lots of people, but I was still thrilled to receive one. I’m not exactly a competitive applicant, but this was a good reminder to ensure that your application materials give us a full picture of what you would bring to our community proofread my application before sending it.