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The short answer on should I go to WashU law school: pick it if you have a high LSAT and a lower GPA. Skip it if you need immediate national brand recognition. It costs $102,287 a year and places 53.5 percent into large firms. The argument follows.
The most aggressive numbers-and-money play in American legal education, executed deliberately and very well.
The verified position: a 19.0 percent acceptance rate, a 175 LSAT and 3.96 GPA median, $102,287 a year with a $48,000 median grant reaching 94 percent of students, and 53.5 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys.
Verified figureValueAcceptance rate19.0% (1,065 offers on 5,616 applications)LSAT 25/50/75165 / 175 / 176GPA 25/50/753.58 / 3.96 / 4.00Annual cost of attendance$102,287Median grant / share receiving$48,000 to 94% of studentsClass of 2025 graduates273Firms of 101+ attorneys53.5% (146 graduates)Federal clerkships11.7% (32 graduates)Employed at 10 months98.5%Top marketsMO 52, IL 44, NY 33CitySt. Louis, MOCar neededYesJanuary average low / July average high23.8F / 89.6F
Sources: WashU's 2025 ABA 509 report (https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=88&year=2025), its class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary (https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=88&year=2025), and its admissions pages (https://law.washu.edu/admissions/apply/jd-program-application/). 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 how to get into washu law school page.
You have a high LSAT and a lower GPA, you are debt-averse, and you are willing to run an out-of-market job search.
High-LSAT splitters, anyone debt-averse, and students targeting Chicago, DC, or a clerkship who are willing to network out of market.
The disclosed numbers behind that: 53.5 percent large-firm placement, 11.7 percent federal clerkships, 98.5 percent employed at ten months, and a placement pattern of MO 52, IL 44, NY 33.
You need immediate national brand recognition, or you want to practise in St. Louis, which is a small market.
Anyone who needs immediate national brand recognition or who wants to stay in St. Louis, which is a small legal market.
The complaint current students actually make, which is the fairest warning available: The national brand has not caught up to the class profile. Students with a 175 LSAT sometimes feel they are explaining themselves.
WashU's 175 LSAT median is the highest of any school in the top fifteen, higher than Yale's, Harvard's, Chicago's or Stanford's. It was purchased with scholarship money at a 19% acceptance rate, and that is the entire strategy.
It is checkable. Every number we have used is in WashU's own filings, linked above, and we would rather you verify it than trust us.
The brand has not caught up to the class profile, and it may not for years. You are buying an outcome, not a signal.
Price it rather than dismissing it. The three-year net cost at the median grant is roughly $162,861, 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 smaller national brand and an out-of-market job search in exchange for a very large scholarship and a low cost of living.
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 WashU Law is really like. For where it sits against every other school on outcomes and cost, our value table ranks all 31.
Our verified data layer for WashU is missing the early decision deadline and whether it is binding, neither of which WashU posts. 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.
You have a high LSAT and a lower GPA, you are debt-averse, and you are willing to run an out-of-market job search. You need immediate national brand recognition, or you want to practise in St. Louis, which is a small market.
High-LSAT splitters, anyone debt-averse, and students targeting Chicago, DC, or a clerkship who are willing to network out of market. The verified case is 53.5 percent large-firm placement, 11.7 percent federal clerkships and 98.5 percent employed at ten months.
Anyone who needs immediate national brand recognition or who wants to stay in St. Louis, which is a small legal market.
The national brand has not caught up to the class profile. Students with a 175 LSAT sometimes feel they are explaining themselves.
The brand has not caught up to the class profile, and it may not for years. You are buying an outcome, not a signal. Against a three-year net cost of roughly $162,861 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