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The short answer on is Texas law school worth it: pick it if you are a Texan. Skip it if you have no Texas connection and intend to practise in New York or California. It costs $63,634 a year and places 43.8 percent into large firms. The argument follows.
The best value in American legal education, in a booming legal market, with a clerkship record that beats most of the top ten.
The verified position: a 14.0 percent acceptance rate, a 172 LSAT and 3.89 GPA median, $63,634 a year with a $23,375 median grant reaching 94 percent of students, and 43.8 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys.
Verified figureValueAcceptance rate14.0% (881 offers on 6,297 applications)LSAT 25/50/75166 / 172 / 173GPA 25/50/753.75 / 3.89 / 3.96Annual cost of attendance$63,634Median grant / share receiving$23,375 to 94% of studentsClass of 2025 graduates308Firms of 101+ attorneys43.8% (135 graduates)Federal clerkships14.3% (44 graduates)Employed at 10 months99.7%Top marketsTX 227, NY 29, CA 10CityAustin, TXCar neededNoJanuary average low / July average high41.8F / 96.6F
Sources: Texas's 2025 ABA 509 report (https://law.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/TexasLaw_2025_Std509InfoReport_2025.pdf), its class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary (https://law.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/04/EQSummary-co2025.pdf), and its admissions pages (https://law.utexas.edu/admissions/apply/early-decision-admissions/). Climate from NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals. Verified July 26, 2026.
The admissions side of this school, percentiles, splitter treatment and scholarship posture, sits on our Texas law school acceptance rate page.
You are a Texan, you want the Texas market, you want a federal clerkship, or you simply want to graduate with very little debt.
Texans, anyone targeting the Texas market, clerkship hopefuls, and students who care about graduating with little or no debt.
The disclosed numbers behind that: 43.8 percent large-firm placement, 14.3 percent federal clerkships, 99.7 percent employed at ten months, and a placement pattern of TX 227, NY 29, CA 10.
You have no Texas connection and intend to practise in New York or California.
Someone determined to practice in New York or California who has no Texas connection, since UT's placement is heavily in-state.
The complaint current students actually make, which is the fairest warning available: Austin's cost of living has risen sharply, and out-of-state students pay a much less compelling price than residents.
UT placed 14.29% of the Class of 2025 into federal clerkships, sixth nationally, ahead of Duke, Penn, Columbia, NYU, Northwestern and Michigan. It also awards no conditional scholarships, which means your money cannot be taken away for a bad first semester.
It is checkable. Every number we have used is in Texas's own filings, linked above, and we would rather you verify it than trust us.
Out-of-state tuition of $56,822 changes the calculus substantially, and UT's placement is heavily concentrated in Texas.
Price it rather than dismissing it. The three-year net cost at the median grant is roughly $120,777, our arithmetic before interest, and that is the sum you are putting against the risk.
Since July 1, 2026 federal borrowing 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). Any gap above that cap here has to be closed privately, which sharpens every risk on this page.
You accept a Texas-centred job market in exchange for the lowest cost and the lowest debt of any school in this document.
Run the comparison on net cost after your actual offer rather than on sticker, because the median grant is a midpoint and half of recipients received less. Then weigh the outcome columns against the market you actually intend to practice in.
For the daily texture rather than the verdict, see what Texas Law is really like. For where it sits against every other school on outcomes and cost, our value table ranks all 31.
You are a Texan, you want the Texas market, you want a federal clerkship, or you simply want to graduate with very little debt. You have no Texas connection and intend to practise in New York or California.
Texans, anyone targeting the Texas market, clerkship hopefuls, and students who care about graduating with little or no debt. The verified case is 43.8 percent large-firm placement, 14.3 percent federal clerkships and 99.7 percent employed at ten months.
Someone determined to practice in New York or California who has no Texas connection, since UT's placement is heavily in-state. Austin's cost of living has risen sharply, and out-of-state students pay a much less compelling price than residents.
Out-of-state tuition of $56,822 changes the calculus substantially, and UT's placement is heavily concentrated in Texas. Against a three-year net cost of roughly $120,777 at the median grant, that risk deserves an explicit price.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
July 30, 2026
July 30, 2026