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Here is how to get into USC law school, numbers first: it admits 11.2 percent, 805 offers on 7,204 applications, with medians of 169 and 3.91 and 25th percentiles of 165 and 3.73. Everything after that is strategy, and this page is the strategy.
11.2 percent for the fall 2025 entering class: 805 offers of admission on 7,204 completed applications, per USC's own 2025 ABA 509 report.
An 11.2% acceptance rate makes USC more selective than Cornell, Vanderbilt, Berkeley, Georgetown, or Notre Dame this cycle.
Verified figureValueAcceptance rate11.2% (805 offers on 7,204 applications)LSAT 25/50/75165 / 169 / 170GPA 25/50/753.73 / 3.91 / 3.97Annual cost of attendance$118,246Median grant / share receiving$40,092 to 95% of studentsClass of 2025 graduates227Firms of 101+ attorneys67.8% (154 graduates)Federal clerkships3.5% (8 graduates)Employed at 10 months97.4%Top marketsCA 181, NY 20, DC 4CityLos Angeles, CACar neededYesJanuary average low / July average high48.9F / 82.0F
Sources: USC's 2025 ABA 509 report (https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=12&year=2025), its class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary (https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=12&year=2025), and its admissions pages (https://gould.usc.edu/academics/degrees/jd/deadlines/). Climate from NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals. Verified July 26, 2026.
The enrolled class tells you what USC actually takes. LSAT percentiles were 165 at the 25th, 169 at the median and 170 at the 75th.
A 169 clears the median and makes you numbers-competitive. A 170 puts you in the top quarter, which is where merit money conversations start. Below 165 you are under the disclosed floor and the rest of the file has to carry an unusual amount.
Moderately friendly.
GPA percentiles were 3.73 at the 25th, 3.91 at the median and 3.97 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 0.18, which is moderate, so a below-median GPA needs the LSAT to compensate.
Moderately unfriendly. An 11.2% acceptance rate leaves little room.
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 170+ and GPA 3.97+Above both 75th percentilesApply early and negotiate; you are who the aid budget exists forLSAT 169-170 and GPA 3.91-3.97At or above both mediansCompetitive; timing and the essay decide the marginLSAT 169+ and GPA below 3.73SplitterLSAT carries the file; addendum only if the GPA has a real storyLSAT 165-169 and GPA 3.91+Reverse splitterRetake is usually the highest-value moveLSAT 165-169 and GPA 3.73-3.91Below the class midpoint, inside the rangeEverything early and flawless; expect little aidBelow 165 or below 3.73Below the 25th percentileRetake, then rebuild the list
Percentile anchors from the 2025 ABA 509; the readings are our framework, not published admit rates.
Moderately unfriendly. An 11.2% acceptance rate leaves little room. Moderately friendly.
The disclosed evidence behind that: the GPA spread is 0.18 and the LSAT spread is 4 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: High. USC loses cross-admits to UCLA and Berkeley and protects accordingly.
Meaningful but not enough to close the gap with UCLA's resident tuition. This is the school's central competitive problem.
The disclosed figures: a median grant of $40,092 reaching 95 percent of students, against a cost of attendance of $118,246. That puts the median student at roughly $78,154 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 $68,246 a year at sticker to close privately, our arithmetic.
Early decision: Binding, one round, November 15, 2026 for fall 2027 entry. Applications available September 1, 2026. Other rounds: February 1, 2027 priority and April 1, 2027 regular.
Interviews: Not published, in either direction. Checked the deadlines, application requirements, apply, application status and early decision pages: no interview program appears anywhere, and USC also publishes no statement that it does not interview. This is a genuine blank rather than a no.
Scholarship effect of applying early: An inducement, not a cost, and the headline term of the program. Every student admitted through USC's early decision program is guaranteed a minimum scholarship covering at least 50 percent of first-year tuition, guaranteed for the remaining two years at that same dollar amount as long as the student remains in good standing.
Both lines come from the school's own admissions pages (https://gould.usc.edu/academics/degrees/jd/paths/early-decision/, https://gould.usc.edu/academics/degrees/jd/application/), verified July 26, 2026. Current cycle posted on the deadlines page: November 15, 2026. Its own ED detail page is a full cycle stale and still shows November 15, 2025.
One caution for anyone cross-checking us against a secondary summary. Widely circulated write-ups of this school's early decision and interview policy are out of date on this point, which is why every line above carries the school's own URL rather than a citation to a compilation.
Both get a page of their own: the full early decision terms and the interview format and prep.
USC reads for fit with a small, interdisciplinary, business-facing programme, and for genuine Los Angeles intent.
Work experience: Preferred.
Polished, connected, business-oriented, and heavily Californian. The Trojan alumni network is the most actively transactional of any school in these volumes.
Small, expensive, and the best Big Law placement rate of any school ranked below the top twenty.
The outcomes: 67.8 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys, 3.5 percent into federal clerkships, 97.4 percent employed at ten months, concentrated in CA 181, NY 20, DC 4.
For the daily texture see what USC Law is really like, and for the verdict see our honest take.
Our verified data layer for USC is missing the interview policy, which USC does not publish. 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 169 LSAT with a 165 twenty-fifth percentile and a 170 seventy-fifth. A 169 is numbers-competitive; 170 puts you in the top quarter.
11.2 percent for fall 2025, 805 offers on 7,204 completed applications, per its 2025 ABA 509 report.
Median 3.91, with a 3.73 twenty-fifth percentile and a 3.97 seventy-fifth. The spread of 0.18 between median and floor is what tells you how far below the middle the school will go.
Meaningful but not enough to close the gap with UCLA's resident tuition. This is the school's central competitive problem. The disclosed median grant is $40,092 reaching 95 percent of students.
Moderately unfriendly. An 11.2% acceptance rate leaves little room.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
July 30, 2026
July 30, 2026