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Catholic vs howard law school: on published medians the LSAT gap is 161 (full-time) against 156, on cost it is $95,654 full-time against $78,031, and on large-firm placement 19.5% (whole class) against 38.1%. Every figure here is from Catholic'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: Catholic at https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdf and Howard at https://law.howard.edu/sites/law.howard.edu/files/2026-02/Std509InfoReport_2025_0.pdf.
On published medians Howard sits higher, at 156 against 0. 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.
Those LSAT and GPA figures are the full-time division. It is the only division Catholic breaks out in its 2025 509, which publishes no separate part-time percentiles.
FigureCatholicHowardAcceptance rate32.4% (both divisions)24.1%LSAT 25th / median / 75th157 (full-time) / 161 (full-time) / 163 (full-time)153 / 156 / 160GPA 25th / median / 75th3.53 (full-time) / 3.70 (full-time) / 3.85 (full-time)3.40 / 3.63 / 3.80Total cost per year$95,654 full-time off-campus (509-derived: tuition plus fees plus the 509 off-campus living line; $90,448 on-campus). The 509 prints no total$78,031 (509-derived: tuition plus the 509 living-expenses line, not an official published budget)Median grant$26,000 (both divisions)$23,657Share receiving a grant99% (369 of 374; both divisions)48%Firms over 100 lawyers19.5% (22 of 113; bands 101-250 6, 251-500 4, 501+ 12; whole class)38.1% (59 of 155; bands 101-250 3, 251-500 11, 501+ 45)Federal clerkships1.8% (2 of 113; state and local clerkships a separate 23; whole class)1.9% (3 of 155; state and local clerkships a separate 5)Employed at ten months92.9% (105 of 113; whole class)73.5%Top marketsDC 41, MD 24, VA 17 (whole class)DC 40, NY 29, MD 8
Howard publishes the higher LSAT median, and both bands are in the table above.
But acceptance rates are 32.4% (both divisions) at Catholic 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: Catholic shows a median grant of $26,000 (both divisions) reaching 99% (369 of 374; both divisions) of students against a 509 total cost of $95,654 full-time off-campus (509-derived: tuition plus fees plus the 509 off-campus living line; $90,448 on-campus). The 509 prints no total, 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.
Catholic placed 19.5% (22 of 113; bands 101-250 6, 251-500 4, 501+ 12; whole class) into firms over 100 lawyers with top markets of DC 41, MD 24, VA 17 (whole class). Howard placed 38.1% (59 of 155; bands 101-250 3, 251-500 11, 501+ 45) with top markets of DC 40, NY 29, MD 8.
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 Catholic 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.
Catholic runs a full-time day division and a part-time evening division, and its 2025 509 reports some figures by division and others for both together (https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdf). Reading a part-time applicant against a full-time percentile is the commonest way to misjudge this school.
So every figure here is labelled. Where the school reports in aggregate we say aggregate rather than quietly presenting it as the full-time number.
That matters most on the LSAT and GPA bands, which are the full-time division only. Catholic does not publish separate part-time percentiles in its 509, so we do not state any.
FigureWhich division it describesApplicants, offers and acceptance rateBoth divisions together. The 509 reports these in aggregate and does not split themLSAT and GPA percentilesFull-time divisionMatriculantsBoth divisions, itemized: 182 total, being 139 full-time and 43 part-timeTuitionReported separately: $61,580 a year full-time plus $1,700 fees, against $2,125 per credit part-time plus $1,130 feesCost of attendanceFull-time, off-campus. Derived from the 509's own tuition, fee and living lines because the report prints no totalGrant median and reachBoth divisions together at 369 of 374 students; the full-time division alone is 271 of 273EmploymentWhole graduating class. The ABA employment summary does not split outcomes by division
Every number in the table comes from each school's own 2025 ABA 509 report or its own Class of 2025 employment summary. Nothing here is modelled, averaged or inferred.
Where our master admissions file also covers a school, its committee texture appears below. Where it does not, this page says so rather than filling the gap.
That split is deliberate. Published disclosures and committee behavior are different kinds of claim and we do not want them reading as one.
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. Catholic is not one of the 31.
So this page makes no claim about how Catholic's committee reads a file. Everything here comes from what Catholic 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. Catholic publishes 157 (full-time) to 163 (full-time) on the LSAT and 3.53 (full-time) to 3.85 (full-time) on GPA, from its 2025 509 (https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdf), and everything else follows from where you land in those.
Then price it against the 509 again: total cost of $95,654 full-time off-campus (509-derived: tuition plus fees plus the 509 off-campus living line; $90,448 on-campus). The 509 prints no total against a median grant of $26,000 (both divisions) reaching 99% (369 of 374; both divisions) 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 Catholic figure on this page was read from Catholic's own 2025 ABA Standard 509 Required Disclosure Report at https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.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 Catholic's own admissions pages at https://www.law.edu/admissions/overview/apply-now/index.html. 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. Howard 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.
Howard publishes the higher LSAT median. Acceptance rates are 32.4% (both divisions) against 24.1%, and a rate is a ratio over a self-selected pool rather than a difficulty score.
Per the two 509 reports, Catholic shows a total cost of $95,654 full-time off-campus (509-derived: tuition plus fees plus the 509 off-campus living line; $90,448 on-campus). The 509 prints no total 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 99% (369 of 374; both divisions) against 48%.
Catholic placed 19.5% (22 of 113; bands 101-250 6, 251-500 4, 501+ 12; whole class) into firms over 100 lawyers against 38.1% (59 of 155; bands 101-250 3, 251-500 11, 501+ 45) at Howard. Top markets are DC 41, MD 24, VA 17 (whole class) and DC 40, NY 29, MD 8.
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