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American vs Howard law school: on published medians the LSAT gap is 162 against 156, Howard publishes a total cost of $78,031 where American's 509 prints no total, and on large-firm placement 17.3% against 38.1%. Every figure here is from American's own 2025 ABA 509 report.
Neither in general, and the comparison is not close on every axis, which is what makes it useful. Every figure below comes from each school's own 2025 ABA 509 report: American at https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdf and Howard at https://law.howard.edu/sites/law.howard.edu/files/2026-02/Std509InfoReport_2025_0.pdf.
On published medians American sits higher, at 162 against 156. On money and on market the answer can run the other way, which is the whole point of putting them side by side.
Read the table first and the prose second. The table is the evidence; everything after it is us telling you which rows we think should decide it.
FigureAmericanHowardAcceptance rate33.3%24.1%LSAT 25th / median / 75th157 / 162 / 163153 / 156 / 160GPA 25th / median / 75th3.32 / 3.63 / 3.753.40 / 3.63 / 3.80Total cost per yearnot published as a single figure$78,031 (509-derived: tuition plus the 509 living-expenses line, not an official published budget)Median grant$40,000 (2024-25 aid year, 509; 25th, 50th and 75th all print $40,000)$23,657Share receiving a grant59%48%Firms over 100 lawyers17.3% (69/399, Class of 2025 ABA Emp Summary)not in our verified setFederal clerkships1.0% (4/399; state/local 13.8%)not in our verified setEmployed at ten months86.2% (344/399, all employed categories at 10 mo)73.5%Top marketsDC (134), MD (51), NY (30)not in our verified set
American publishes the higher LSAT median, and both bands are in the table above.
But acceptance rates are 33.3% at American against 24.1% at Howard, and a rate is a ratio over a self-selected pool rather than a difficulty score. The two signals do not always point the same way.
The honest read is to place your own numbers against both bands. A candidate inside one band and below the other is not facing a general question about difficulty; they are facing two different applications.
From the two 509 reports: American shows a median grant of $40,000 (2024-25 aid year, 509; 25th, 50th and 75th all print $40,000) reaching 59% of students against a 509 total cost of not published by American as a single figure, and Howard shows $23,657 reaching 48% against a 509 total cost of $78,031 (509-derived: tuition plus the 509 living-expenses line, not an official published budget).
Reach matters as much as size. A school granting to almost everyone is running a broad discount, which is worth more to a below-median admit than a large median that reaches half the class.
No 509 publishes grant size by admissions band, so neither figure predicts your letter. What they do tell you is which school has shown it will spend to get people like you.
American placed 17.3% (69/399, Class of 2025 ABA Emp Summary) into firms over 100 lawyers with top markets of DC (134), MD (51), NY (30). Howard placed not in our verified set with top markets of not in our verified set.
Geography usually decides this comparison more cleanly than placement rate does. Both schools are strongest where their networks already sit, and that is much harder to overcome from inside than a grade is.
If you know which market you want, that knowledge outranks every other row in the table.
Pick American if your numbers sit better against its band, if its top markets are where you intend to practice, and if its award reaches you. Those three in that order.
Pick Howard on the same test applied to its own column. We are not going to declare a winner in the abstract, because the honest answer changes with your score, your money and your market.
Where the two are genuinely close on all three, take the cheaper one. A comparable outcome at materially less debt is not a close call, whatever the rankings say.
Our sheet holds no verified outcome data for Howard: the large-firm share, the clerkship share and the market breakdown are all recorded as not pulled. Those rows in the table above say so rather than carrying an estimate.
That means this comparison is complete on admissions and cost and incomplete on outcomes. We are telling you which half is missing rather than presenting a partial table as a whole one.
Until Howard's own ABA employment summary is read and recorded, treat any outcome claim about it, from us or anyone else, as unsourced.
Our master admissions file carries detailed committee texture for 31 schools: what the essay has to do, how hard the school protects yield, how it uses interviews, and how it behaves on scholarship. American is not one of the 31.
So this page makes no claim about how American's committee reads a file. Everything here comes from what American itself publishes: its ABA Standard 509 report and its own admissions pages.
A page that filled that gap with plausible-sounding advice would be indistinguishable from one that knew something, which is exactly why we would rather leave the hole visible. If you want committee-level read on this school, the honest source is the admissions office.
Put your own numbers beside the bands first. American publishes 157 to 163 on the LSAT and 3.32 to 3.75 on GPA, from its 2025 509 (https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdf), and everything else follows from where you land in those.
Then price it against the 509 again, noting that American posts no single total cost of attendance figure in its 509 against a median grant of $40,000 (2024-25 aid year, 509; 25th, 50th and 75th all print $40,000) reaching 59% of students. Three years of the gap is the number that will still matter in a decade.
Then decide what you would do with the degree, because a school's value is mostly a statement about a market rather than about a ranking, and the market is the part you cannot change from inside.
If any of those three is unresolved, that is the work to do next, and it is more useful than reading another page about this school.
Every American figure on this page was read from American's own 2025 ABA Standard 509 Required Disclosure Report at https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdf, and recorded in our data sheet with that URL against each individual field rather than as a single citation at the bottom.
Application mechanics come from American's own admissions pages at https://www.american.edu/wcl/school/admissions/jd/apply/first-year/requirements.cfm ; https://www.american.edu/wcl/school/admissions/jd/apply/first-year/early-decision.cfm ; https://www.american.edu/wcl/school/admissions/jd/apply/first-year/faq.cfm. Where our sheet holds a field as unverified, this page says so instead of presenting it as settled.
The 509 refiles every December, so every number here has a known expiry date. We would rather you knew that date than trusted the page indefinitely.
Every LSAC figure on this page was taken from LSAC's own pages and last checked on July 26, 2026. Prices, dates and policies move without notice, so the source link sits next to each number rather than in a bibliography at the bottom.
Where LSAC has not published something, this page says so in those words rather than filling the hole with a plausible number. That is the difference between a gap and a guess, and only one of them is safe to plan around.
Neither in general. American publishes the higher LSAT median, but cost, grant reach and market run differently, and every figure is in the table above from each school's own 509.
American publishes the higher LSAT median. Acceptance rates are 33.3% against 24.1%, and a rate is a ratio over a self-selected pool rather than a difficulty score.
Per the two 509 reports, American shows a total cost of not published by American as a single figure and Howard shows $78,031 (509-derived: tuition plus the 509 living-expenses line, not an official published budget), before any award. Grant reach is 59% against 48%.
American placed 17.3% (69/399, Class of 2025 ABA Emp Summary) into firms over 100 lawyers against not in our verified set at Howard. Top markets are DC (134), MD (51), NY (30) and not in our verified set.
Take the one whose market you want, at the price you can carry. Where outcome and market are close, the cheaper offer wins on arithmetic that rankings do not capture.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
August 5, 2026
August 5, 2026