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Maryland vs catholic law school: on published medians the LSAT gap is 164 against 161 (full-time), on cost it is $70,672 resident against $95,654 full-time, and Catholic placed 19.5% (whole class) into firms over 100 lawyers, which we do not yet hold for Maryland Carey. Every figure here is from Maryland Carey's own 2025 ABA 509 report.
Neither in general, and the comparison is not close on every axis, which is what makes it useful. Every figure below comes from each school's own 2025 ABA 509 report: Maryland Carey at https://www.law.umaryland.edu/media/sol/sol-2022-images-and-files/aba-required-disclosures/Std509InfoReport_2025-2_accessible.pdf and Catholic at https://www.law.edu/_media/aba-info/2025-CatholicLaw-Std509InfoReport.pdf.
On published medians Maryland Carey sits higher, at 164 against 161. On money and on market the answer can run the other way, which is the whole point of putting them side by side.
Read the table first and the prose second. The table is the evidence; everything after it is us telling you which rows we think should decide it.
FigureMaryland CareyCatholicAcceptance rate26.1%32.4%LSAT 25th / median / 75th156 / 164 / 166157 / 161 / 163GPA 25th / median / 75th3.37 / 3.72 / 3.883.53 / 3.70 / 3.85Total cost per year$70,672 resident / $88,686 non-resident (509-derived, not an official published budget)$95,654 full-time off-campus (509-derived: tuition plus fees plus the 509 off-campus living line; $90,448 on-campus). The 509 prints no totalMedian grant$28,000$26,000Share receiving a grant79%99% (369 of 374)Firms over 100 lawyersnot in our verified set19.5% (22 of 113; bands 101-250 6, 251-500 4, 501+ 12)Federal clerkshipsnot in our verified set1.8% (2 of 113; state and local clerkships a separate 23)Employed at ten months95.7%92.9% (105 of 113)Top marketsnot in our verified setDC 41, MD 24, VA 17
Maryland Carey publishes the higher LSAT median, and both bands are in the table above.
But acceptance rates are 26.1% at Maryland Carey against 32.4% at Catholic, and a rate is a ratio over a self-selected pool rather than a difficulty score. The two signals do not always point the same way.
The honest read is to place your own numbers against both bands. A candidate inside one band and below the other is not facing a general question about difficulty; they are facing two different applications.
From the two 509 reports: Maryland Carey shows a median grant of $28,000 reaching 79% of students against a 509 total cost of $70,672 resident / $88,686 non-resident (509-derived, not an official published budget), and Catholic shows $26,000 reaching 99% (369 of 374) against a 509 total cost of $95,654 full-time off-campus (509-derived: tuition plus fees plus the 509 off-campus living line; $90,448 on-campus). The 509 prints no total.
Reach matters as much as size. A school granting to almost everyone is running a broad discount, which is worth more to a below-median admit than a large median that reaches half the class.
No 509 publishes grant size by admissions band, so neither figure predicts your letter. What they do tell you is which school has shown it will spend to get people like you.
Maryland Carey placed not in our verified set into firms over 100 lawyers with top markets of not in our verified set. Catholic placed 19.5% (22 of 113; bands 101-250 6, 251-500 4, 501+ 12) with top markets of DC 41, MD 24, VA 17.
Geography usually decides this comparison more cleanly than placement rate does. Both schools are strongest where their networks already sit, and that is much harder to overcome from inside than a grade is.
If you know which market you want, that knowledge outranks every other row in the table.
Pick Maryland Carey if your numbers sit better against its band, if its top markets are where you intend to practice, and if its award reaches you. Those three in that order.
Pick Catholic on the same test applied to its own column. We are not going to declare a winner in the abstract, because the honest answer changes with your score, your money and your market.
Where the two are genuinely close on all three, take the cheaper one. A comparable outcome at materially less debt is not a close call, whatever the rankings say.
Every number in the table comes from each school's own 2025 ABA 509 report or its own Class of 2025 employment summary. Nothing here is modelled, averaged or inferred.
Where our master admissions file also covers a school, its committee texture appears below. Where it does not, this page says so rather than filling the gap.
That split is deliberate. Published disclosures and committee behavior are different kinds of claim and we do not want them reading as one.
Our master admissions file carries detailed committee texture for 31 schools: what the essay has to do, how hard the school protects yield, how it uses interviews, and how it behaves on scholarship. Maryland Carey is not one of the 31.
So this page makes no claim about how Maryland Carey's committee reads a file. Everything here comes from what Maryland Carey itself publishes: its ABA Standard 509 report and its own admissions pages.
A page that filled that gap with plausible-sounding advice would be indistinguishable from one that knew something, which is exactly why we would rather leave the hole visible. If you want committee-level read on this school, the honest source is the admissions office.
Put your own numbers beside the bands first. Maryland Carey publishes 156 to 166 on the LSAT and 3.37 to 3.88 on GPA, from its 2025 509 (https://www.law.umaryland.edu/media/sol/sol-2022-images-and-files/aba-required-disclosures/Std509InfoReport_2025-2_accessible.pdf), and everything else follows from where you land in those.
Then price it against the 509 again: total cost of $70,672 resident / $88,686 non-resident (509-derived, not an official published budget) against a median grant of $28,000 reaching 79% of students. Three years of the gap is the number that will still matter in a decade.
Then decide what you would do with the degree, because a school's value is mostly a statement about a market rather than about a ranking, and the market is the part you cannot change from inside.
If any of those three is unresolved, that is the work to do next, and it is more useful than reading another page about this school.
Every Maryland Carey figure on this page was read from Maryland Carey's own 2025 ABA Standard 509 Required Disclosure Report at https://www.law.umaryland.edu/media/sol/sol-2022-images-and-files/aba-required-disclosures/Std509InfoReport_2025-2_accessible.pdf, and recorded in our data sheet with that URL against each individual field rather than as a single citation at the bottom.
Application mechanics come from Maryland Carey's own admissions pages at the school's own admissions pages. Where our sheet holds a field as unverified, this page says so instead of presenting it as settled.
The 509 refiles every December, so every number here has a known expiry date. We would rather you knew that date than trusted the page indefinitely.
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.
Neither in general. Maryland Carey publishes the higher LSAT median, but cost, grant reach and market run differently, and every figure is in the table above from each school's own 509.
Maryland Carey publishes the higher LSAT median. Acceptance rates are 26.1% against 32.4%, and a rate is a ratio over a self-selected pool rather than a difficulty score.
Per the two 509 reports, Maryland Carey shows a total cost of $70,672 resident / $88,686 non-resident (509-derived, not an official published budget) and Catholic shows $95,654 full-time off-campus (509-derived: tuition plus fees plus the 509 off-campus living line; $90,448 on-campus). The 509 prints no total, before any award. Grant reach is 79% against 99% (369 of 374).
Maryland Carey placed not in our verified set into firms over 100 lawyers against 19.5% (22 of 113; bands 101-250 6, 251-500 4, 501+ 12) at Catholic. Top markets are not in our verified set and DC 41, MD 24, VA 17.
Take the one whose market you want, at the price you can carry. Where outcome and market are close, the cheaper offer wins on arithmetic that rankings do not capture.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
August 5, 2026
August 5, 2026