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How to get into american law school: 33.3% for the 2025 reporting year, with a published LSAT median of 162 and a GPA median of 3.63. A quarter of the admitted class sat at or below 157, which is the number worth planning against rather than the median.
33.3% for the 2025 reporting year, from American's own ABA Standard 509 Required Disclosure Report (https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdf), last checked on July 28, 2026.
The rate on its own tells you less than the three numbers behind it. 5,952 people applied, 1,981 received offers and 405 (incl. 51 PT 1Ls) enrolled, all from the same report.
Yield is the number worth watching there. A school that makes many offers to fill a small class is managing a pool that does not always choose it, and that shows up in how it treats waitlists and scholarship negotiation.
Figure2025 reporting yearSourceApplicants5,952https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdfOffers1,981https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdfAcceptance rate33.3%https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdfMatriculants405 (incl. 51 PT 1Ls)https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdfClass of 2025 graduateshttps://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdf
The published median is 162, with a 157 twenty-fifth percentile and a 163 seventy-fifth, from American's own 2025 509 report (https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdf).
In national terms a 162 sits at between the 72.92 percentile at 160 and the 86.50 percentile at 165, since LSAC publishes the table at those points and we do not interpolate between them, per LSAC published percentile ranks (https://www.lsac.org/data-research/data/lsat-percentiles). That is your standing among test takers, which is a different question from your standing in this applicant pool.
The number to plan against is the 25th percentile rather than the median. A quarter of the admitted class scored at or below 157, which means admits below the median are not exceptions here; they are a quarter of the class by construction.
PercentileLSATGPA25th1573.32Median1623.6375th1633.75
The published median is 3.63, between a 3.32 twenty-fifth percentile and a 3.75 seventy-fifth, from the same 509 report (https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdf).
The GPA spread here runs 0.43 points and the LSAT spread runs 6 points. Which of those is wider tells you which axis this school is willing to flex on.
One thing no 509 report publishes, at any school, is the joint distribution: how LSAT and GPA travel together among admits. The two quartile sets are reported separately, so nobody outside the admissions office can tell you what a specific pairing is worth.
Below is where a given pairing sits against American's published bands. It is a position map rather than a probability table, because the joint distribution is not published and any percentage attached to a cell would be invented.
Read it as: this is what the admissions committee sees when your file lands, before anything else in the application is considered.
Your LSATAgainst American's bandWhat it means for the rest of the file163 or aboveAt or above the 75th percentileThe numbers are doing the work. The file needs to not undo them162 to 162Between the median and the 75thComfortably inside. Scholarship position rather than admission is the live question157 to 161Between the 25th and the medianInside the published band and below the middle, which is where the essays decide itBelow 157Below the published 25th percentileA quarter of admits sat at or below the 25th, so this is not closed, but the rest of the file has to carry itYour GPAAgainst American's bandHow it pairs3.75 or aboveAt or above the 75th percentileCan offset an LSAT below the median, which is the reverse-splitter path3.63 to 3.75Between the median and the 75thNeutral. Neither axis is carrying the other3.32 to 3.63Between the 25th and the medianWants an LSAT at or above the median to balanceBelow 3.32Below the published 25th percentileNeeds a genuinely high LSAT, which is the splitter path
A wide gap between a school's 25th percentile and its 75th means it admits across a range on that axis. American publishes an LSAT spread of 6 points and a GPA spread of 0.43, from its own 509 (https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdf).
That LSAT spread is wide, which is the signature of a school that will take a lower score when something else in the file justifies it.
The GPA spread is wide too, so reverse splitters with a strong LSAT and a weaker transcript have a genuine path.
None of that is a probability. It is what the published quartiles imply about which axis the school has been willing to flex on, and it is the most a 509 report can support.
The 2025 509 reports a median grant of $40,000 (2024-25 aid year, 509; 25th, 50th and 75th all print $40,000) reaching 59% of students (https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdf). Those two numbers together say more than either alone.
A high median reaching a small share means concentrated awards to the top of the class. A modest median reaching almost everyone means a discount applied broadly, which is a different financial proposition and often a better one below the median.
Published tuition on the 509 is $66,990 FT + $2,182 fees (2025-26, 509); PT $2,481/credit, and American posts no single total cost of attendance figure in its 509, from that same 509 report and, where the report carries no annual total, from the school's own cost page.
Money figure2025 reporting yearSourceMedian grant$40,000 (2024-25 aid year, 509; 25th, 50th and 75th all print $40,000)https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdfShare receiving a grant59%https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdfTuition$66,990 FT + $2,182 fees (2025-26, 509); PT $2,481/credithttps://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdfTotal cost per yearnot published as a single figurehttps://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdfEmployed at ten months86.2% (344/399, all employed categories at 10 mo)
Our verified data sheet now covers 57 law schools with published LSAT bands, running from a median of 147 to a median of 175, each traced to its own 509 report and last checked on July 28, 2026.
American's median of 162 places it 41th of those 57 by published LSAT median. That is a fact about one number rather than a ranking, and we do not hold a verified ranking source to offer you instead.
Use it the way it is meant: to know whether a target is a reach, a match or a safety against your own score, rather than to argue about prestige.
Three things, named rather than papered over. First, the master admissions file we work from carries detailed texture on essays, interviews, yield protection and scholarship posture for 31 schools, and American is not one of them. This page therefore carries no claims about how American's committee reads a file, because we do not have verified ones.
Second, no 509 report publishes grant size by LSAT band, so the median grant above describes the whole class and not your likely offer. A candidate admitted below the median generally sits below the median grant, and the size of that gap is not published anywhere.
Third, no school publishes its lowest admitted score. The 25th percentile is a quartile, not a floor, and any page that gives you a minimum is reading a number that does not exist.
Every American figure on this page was read from American's own 2025 ABA Standard 509 Required Disclosure Report at https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/2025-standard-509-information-report-12-16-25-2.pdf ; Emp Summary: https://www.american.edu/wcl/academics/academicservices/registrar/aba-required-disclosure/upload/aba-employment-summary-2025.pdf, and recorded in our data sheet with that URL against each field.
The 509 is refiled each December, so this page carries the 2025 reporting year and will be wrong the month the 2026 report lands. Check the source link before you rely on a number for a decision.
Where a field was not obtainable from a source we actually fetched, our sheet records that rather than an estimate, and this page repeats the absence rather than filling it.
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.
The published median is 162, with a 157 twenty-fifth percentile and a 163 seventy-fifth, from the 2025 509 report. A quarter of the admitted class scored at or below 157.
33.3% for the 2025 reporting year: 1,981 offers on 5,952 applications, with 405 (incl. 51 PT 1Ls) enrolling, all from the school's own 509 report.
The published median is 3.63, between a 3.32 twenty-fifth percentile and a 3.75 seventy-fifth, from the same 509 report.
The 2025 509 reports a median grant of $40,000 (2024-25 aid year, 509; 25th, 50th and 75th all print $40,000) reaching 59% of students. No 509 publishes grant size by LSAT band, so that figure describes the class rather than your offer.
Nobody knows, because no school publishes it. The 25th percentile is a quartile marker rather than a floor, so any page giving you a minimum accepted score is reading a number that does not exist.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
August 5, 2026
August 5, 2026