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The Harvard law school acceptance rate is 9.2 percent: 816 offers on 8,872 completed applications for fall 2025. Medians were 174 and 3.96, with 25th percentiles of 171 and 3.89; grants reach 38 percent of students. Here is how to get in against those numbers.
9.2 percent for the fall 2025 entering class: 816 offers of admission on 8,872 completed applications, per Harvard's own 2025 ABA 509 report.
A 9.2% acceptance rate on roughly 9,000 applications. The interview stage is where Harvard applications are actually decided.
Verified figureValueAcceptance rate9.2% (816 offers on 8,872 applications)LSAT 25/50/75171 / 174 / 176GPA 25/50/753.89 / 3.96 / 4.00Annual cost of attendance$121,250Median grant / share receiving$27,510 to 38% of studentsClass of 2025 graduates602Firms of 101+ attorneys58.8% (354 graduates)Federal clerkships16.6% (100 graduates)Employed at 10 months98.7%Top marketsNY 207, DC 121, MA 59CityCambridge, MACar neededNoJanuary average low / July average high23.1F / 82.1F
Sources: Harvard's 2025 ABA 509 report (https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Standard-509-Information-Report.pdf), its class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary (https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Employment-Questionnaire-Summary-Report-Class-of-2025.pdf), and its admissions pages (https://hls.harvard.edu/jdadmissions/apply-to-harvard-law-school/jdapplicants/jd-application-components/). Climate from NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals. Verified July 26, 2026.
The enrolled class tells you what Harvard 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.
Moderately friendly.
GPA percentiles were 3.89 at the 25th, 3.96 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 0.07, which is narrow, so this school protects its GPA median hard and a low transcript is difficult to overcome.
Moderately friendly on the LSAT.
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 3.96-4.00At or above both mediansCompetitive; timing and the essay decide the marginLSAT 174+ and GPA below 3.89SplitterLSAT carries the file; addendum only if the GPA has a real storyLSAT 171-174 and GPA 3.96+Reverse splitterRetake is usually the highest-value moveLSAT 171-174 and GPA 3.89-3.96Below the class midpoint, inside the rangeEverything early and flawless; expect little aidBelow 171 or below 3.89Below 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 on the LSAT. Moderately friendly.
The disclosed evidence behind that: the GPA spread is 0.07 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: Low.
Need-based only, no merit aid. Just 38% receive grants, the lowest rate in the tier, which is the main reason Harvard loses cross-admits it used to win. LIPP is the best loan repayment program in the country.
The disclosed figures: a median grant of $27,510 reaching 38 percent of students, against a cost of attendance of $121,250. That puts the median student at roughly $93,740 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 $71,250 a year at sticker to close privately, our arithmetic.
Early decision: None offered
Interviews: Yes: invitation-only, 15-minute Zoom
Both lines come from the school's own admissions pages (https://hls.harvard.edu/jdadmissions/apply-to-harvard-law-school/jdapplicants/jd-application-components/), verified July 26, 2026. Terms reflect the most recently posted cycle; re-verify in September.
Harvard wants scale of impact. The file should demonstrate that you have already changed something.
Work experience: Strongly preferred. 84% of the entering class had at least one year out; 69% had two or more.
Every archetype. That is the point and the problem. Aspiring politicians, movement lawyers, hedge fund refugees, and future BigLaw partners in the same section.
The biggest, broadest, loudest law school in the world. Whatever you want to do with a JD, someone here is doing it and the institution will fund it.
The outcomes: 58.8 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys, 16.6 percent into federal clerkships, 98.7 percent employed at ten months, concentrated in NY 207, DC 121, MA 59.
For the daily texture see what Harvard Law is really like, and for the verdict see our honest take.
Our verified data layer for Harvard is missing a single agreed tuition figure, since the 509 and the financial aid office publish different numbers. Everything else on this page is sourced; that one item is not, so we have written around it rather than guessing. Confirm it with the admissions office before you rely on it.
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.
9.2 percent for fall 2025, 816 offers on 8,872 completed applications, per its 2025 ABA 509 report.
Median 3.96, with a 3.89 twenty-fifth percentile and a 4.00 seventy-fifth. The spread of 0.07 between median and floor is what tells you how far below the middle the school will go.
Need-based only, no merit aid. Just 38% receive grants, the lowest rate in the tier, which is the main reason Harvard loses cross-admits it used to win. LIPP is the best loan repayment program in the country. The disclosed median grant is $27,510 reaching 38 percent of students.
Moderately friendly on the LSAT.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
July 30, 2026
July 30, 2026