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The Chicago law school acceptance rate is 9.7 percent: 641 offers on 6,581 completed applications for fall 2025. Medians were 174 and 3.97, with 25th percentiles of 171 and 3.87; grants reach 78 percent of students. Here is how to get in against those numbers.
9.7 percent for the fall 2025 entering class: 641 offers of admission on 6,581 completed applications, per UChicago's own 2025 ABA 509 report.
If you want a federal clerkship and you are not going to Yale, this is the highest-probability path.
Verified figureValueAcceptance rate9.7% (641 offers on 6,581 applications)LSAT 25/50/75171 / 174 / 176GPA 25/50/753.87 / 3.97 / 4.00Annual cost of attendance$122,034Median grant / share receiving$15,000 to 78% of studentsClass of 2025 graduates216Firms of 101+ attorneys63.9% (138 graduates)Federal clerkships22.7% (49 graduates)Employed at 10 months98.1%Top marketsIL 61, NY 57, CA 23CityChicago, ILCar neededNoJanuary average low / July average high18.8F / 84.5F
Sources: UChicago's 2025 ABA 509 report (https://www.law.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/Updated%20509%20Report_2025.pdf), its class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary (https://www.law.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/ABA%20Employment%20Summary%20Class%20of%202025.pdf), and its admissions pages (https://www.law.uchicago.edu/apply-early). Climate from NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals. Verified July 26, 2026.
The enrolled class tells you what UChicago actually takes. LSAT percentiles were 171 at the 25th, 174 at the median and 176 at the 75th.
A 174 clears the median and makes you numbers-competitive. A 176 puts you in the top quarter, which is where merit money conversations start. Below 171 you are under the disclosed floor and the rest of the file has to carry an unusual amount.
Less friendly to reverse splitters; Chicago weights the LSAT heavily.
GPA percentiles were 3.87 at the 25th, 3.97 at the median and 4.00 at the 75th. The 25th percentile is the number that matters most if your transcript is the weaker half of your file, because it is the disclosed floor rather than the advertised middle.
The spread between the median and the 25th is 0.10, which is narrow, so this school protects its GPA median hard and a low transcript is difficult to overcome.
Moderately friendly to high-LSAT splitters.
No school publishes admit rates by score band, so this grid is directional and built strictly from where each combination sits against the disclosed percentiles above.
Your positionRead on your oddsWhat to doLSAT 176+ and GPA 4.00+Above both 75th percentilesApply early and negotiate; you are who the aid budget exists forLSAT 174-176 and GPA 3.97-4.00At or above both mediansCompetitive; timing and the essay decide the marginLSAT 174+ and GPA below 3.87SplitterLSAT carries the file; addendum only if the GPA has a real storyLSAT 171-174 and GPA 3.97+Reverse splitterRetake is usually the highest-value moveLSAT 171-174 and GPA 3.87-3.97Below the class midpoint, inside the rangeEverything early and flawless; expect little aidBelow 171 or below 3.87Below the 25th percentileRetake, then rebuild the list
Percentile anchors from the 2025 ABA 509; the readings are our framework, not published admit rates.
Moderately friendly to high-LSAT splitters. Less friendly to reverse splitters; Chicago weights the LSAT heavily.
The disclosed evidence behind that: the GPA spread is 0.10 and the LSAT spread is 3 points. A wide GPA spread means the school routinely enrolls students well below its own transcript midpoint; a wide LSAT spread means the same on the test.
Yield protection: Moderate. Chicago will waitlist strong candidates it doubts will enroll.
Generous: 78% of students receive grant aid. Rubenstein and Kirkland scholarships are full-tuition.
The disclosed figures: a median grant of $15,000 reaching 78 percent of students, against a cost of attendance of $122,034. That puts the median student at roughly $107,034 a year before interest.
Since July 1, 2026 federal borrowing for professional students is capped at $50,000 a year and $200,000 in aggregate with Grad PLUS eliminated, under the Reimagining and Improving Student Education final rule, which attributes the change to the Working Families Tax Cuts Act (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/01/2026-08556/reimagining-and-improving-student-education-federal-student-loan-program-final-regulations). That leaves about $72,034 a year at sticker to close privately, our arithmetic.
Early decision: Binding, one round, December 1. ED applicants are accepted, denied, or waitlisted for further review in regular decision. The November LSAT is the last administration considered.
Interviews: Yes: invitation-only, live Zoom with Admissions Committee members, approximately 20 minutes, evaluative. Requests explicitly refused. Chicago states no pre-determined weight is given to the interview and that not being invited does not hurt an applicant.
Scholarship effect of applying early: All ED candidates are considered for scholarship aid, but you confirm intent to enroll before receiving a financial aid decision, typically mid-March. The Chicago Law Scholars Program ($150,000) shares the December 1 deadline but is open only to UChicago undergraduates.
Both lines come from the school's own admissions pages (https://www.law.uchicago.edu/apply-early, https://www.law.uchicago.edu/interviews), verified July 26, 2026. No year published at all. Chicago's application calendar states its dates are estimates that vary from year to year.
Both get a page of their own: the full early decision terms and the interview format and prep.
Chicago wants intellectual seriousness on the page. The 'Why Chicago' answer must show you understand what the school actually is.
Work experience: Neutral. Chicago admits straight from undergraduate more readily than Northwestern or Yale.
The person who actually enjoyed their political theory seminar. Analytically aggressive, economically literate, argumentative in a friendly way.
The seminar that never ends. The most genuinely intellectual law school in America, and the most demanding about it.
The outcomes: 63.9 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys, 22.7 percent into federal clerkships, 98.1 percent employed at ten months, concentrated in IL 61, NY 57, CA 23.
For the daily texture see what UChicago Law is really like, and for the verdict see our honest take.
The fall 2025 enrolled medians were 174 LSAT with a 171 twenty-fifth percentile and a 176 seventy-fifth. A 174 is numbers-competitive; 176 puts you in the top quarter.
9.7 percent for fall 2025, 641 offers on 6,581 completed applications, per its 2025 ABA 509 report.
Median 3.97, with a 3.87 twenty-fifth percentile and a 4.00 seventy-fifth. The spread of 0.10 between median and floor is what tells you how far below the middle the school will go.
Generous: 78% of students receive grant aid. Rubenstein and Kirkland scholarships are full-tuition. The disclosed median grant is $15,000 reaching 78 percent of students.
Moderately friendly to high-LSAT splitters.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
July 30, 2026
July 30, 2026