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For GW law school LSAT and GPA targets, aim at the medians: 168 and 3.86 for the fall 2025 entering class, with 25th percentiles at 162 and 3.55 and 75th percentiles at 170 and 3.93, per GW's 2025 ABA 509 report. Here is what each band actually buys you.
The enrolled class tells you what GW actually takes, not what it advertises. These are the disclosed percentiles for students who matriculated in fall 2025.
GW fall 202525thMedian75thLSAT162168170GPA3.553.863.93
Source: GW 2025 ABA 509 report, verified July 26, 2026.
A 168 clears the median and makes you a numbers-competitive applicant. A 170 or above puts you in the top quarter of the enrolled class, which is where merit money conversations start; see our GW scholarships page for that math.
Notice the narrow top: only two points separate the median from the 75th percentile. GW's class is tightly packed at the high end of its LSAT range, so every point from 166 to 170 works hard for you.
The GPA median is 3.86, which is high, but look at the floor. The 25th percentile sits at 3.55, a 0.31 gap below the median, which is unusually wide and strategically important.
A quarter of the enrolled class had a 3.55 or below. That tells you GW regularly admits people whose GPA is well off its median when something else in the file, usually the LSAT, carries the weight.
If your GPA is below 3.55, the file has to explain it and outweigh it. A GPA addendum handles the explanation; the LSAT does the outweighing.
GW does not publish admit rates by score band, and we will not fabricate percentages. This grid is directional, built strictly from where each combination sits against the disclosed 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles.
Your numbersRead on your odds170+ LSAT, 3.86+ GPAAbove both medians: strong position, apply expecting real merit money168-169 LSAT, 3.86+ GPAAt or above both medians: competitive, timing and essays decide the margin168+ LSAT, 3.55-3.85 GPASplitter territory: viable, LSAT is doing the lifting, addendum if GPA has a story162-167 LSAT, 3.86+ GPAReverse splitter: below LSAT median, GPA helps, retake math usually favors you162-167 LSAT, below 3.86 GPABelow both medians: uphill, application needs to be early and flawlessBelow 162 LSATBelow the 25th percentile: long odds at sticker, retake before applying
Percentile anchors from the 2025 ABA 509; the readings are our directional framework, not published admit rates.
Yes, and the disclosed spread is the evidence. A 3.55 GPA floor beneath a 3.86 median means high-LSAT, lower-GPA applicants are a recurring part of GW's admitted pool.
The working profile is a 168 or better LSAT above a GPA in the 3.4 to 3.7 range. At that point your LSAT says you can do the work and your GPA becomes a question to answer, not a verdict.
Reverse splitters have the harder path here because the LSAT median is demanding and the 25th percentile LSAT is already 162. If you are sitting at 163 with a 3.9, the two-point retake is usually worth more than any essay polish; run your own numbers through the framework in our numbers pillar.
Above both medians: apply early in the cycle, and treat GW as a school you can negotiate with rather than beg. At the medians: everything on time, clean file, no wasted addenda.
Splitter: pair the strong LSAT with a one-page GPA addendum only if there is a real story, such as an illness, a work schedule, or a bad first year with a clear upward trend. Below both: the highest-leverage move is not a better personal statement, it is a better LSAT.
Whatever the band, your personal statement still has to earn its pages; the GW personal statement guide covers the verified prompt and length rules. The full application sequencing lives in the admissions pillar.
GW's LSAT band is compressed: 162 at the 25th, 168 at the median, 170 at the 75th. Eight points cover the entire middle half of the class, which makes each point unusually valuable here.
That compression is the retake argument. Moving from 164 to 168 relocates you from the bottom quarter's neighborhood to the class midpoint, a jump that at wider-banded schools might take twice the point gain.
The decision rule we use: if your official score sits below a target school's median and your practice-test average sits at or above it, the retake is usually worth a cycle's patience. If your practice average matches your official score, more study beats more attempts.
The 509 reports what last cycle's class looked like, not what this cycle's cutoff will be. Medians drift with applicant volume, and a hot national cycle can push every school's effective bar a point or two above its published number.
The planning posture that survives drift: build your target list so GW's published median is your floor for reach math, not your ceiling. Aim a point above the number you find here and volatility works in your favor instead of against you.
This is also why application timing compounds with numbers. The same 167 reads stronger in September, before the class fills, than in February; rolling review is not neutral about the calendar.
GPA is fixed at graduation, so for most applicants the LSAT is the only live variable, and every month spent deciding whether to retake is a month of the cycle spent. Set a hard decision date after each official score release.
Once the numbers are locked, the file work begins: the statement, the addendum if the GPA needs one, and recommenders briefed on your actual story. The GW statement guide covers the piece that takes longest.
The fall 2025 enrolled median was 168, with a 25th percentile of 162 and a 75th of 170. A 168 makes you competitive; a 170 puts you in the top quarter.
The median is 3.86, but the 25th percentile is 3.55, so a quarter of the class enrolled at 3.55 or below, usually with a strong LSAT doing the work.
Yes. The wide gap between GW's GPA median and its 3.55 floor shows high-LSAT splitters are regularly admitted. A 168+ LSAT over a mid-3s GPA is a viable file.
A 165 sits between the 25th percentile and the median, so it is below the class midpoint but inside the admitted range. Pair it with a strong GPA and an early application, or retake for the median.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
July 30, 2026
July 30, 2026