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The UCLA law school acceptance rate is 12.1 percent: 1,039 offers on 8,623 completed applications for fall 2025. Medians were 171 and 3.95, with 25th percentiles of 166 and 3.73; grants reach 83 percent of students. Here is how to get in against those numbers.
12.1 percent for the fall 2025 entering class: 1,039 offers of admission on 8,623 completed applications, per UCLA's own 2025 ABA 509 report.
Resident tuition of $59,084 is the lowest of any school ranked in the top fifteen. If you are a Californian, this is the arithmetic that should drive your decision.
Verified figureValueAcceptance rate12.1% (1,039 offers on 8,623 applications)LSAT 25/50/75166 / 171 / 172GPA 25/50/753.73 / 3.95 / 4.00Annual cost of attendance$99,130Median grant / share receiving$24,456 to 83% of studentsClass of 2025 graduates332Firms of 101+ attorneys60.8% (202 graduates)Federal clerkships3.9% (13 graduates)Employed at 10 months97.3%Top marketsCA 266, NY 30, DC 4CityLos Angeles, CACar neededNoJanuary average low / July average high48.9F / 82.0F
Sources: UCLA's 2025 ABA 509 report (https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=9&year=2025), its class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary (https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=9&year=2025), and its admissions pages (https://law.ucla.edu/admissions/jd-admissions/early-decision-program). Climate from NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals. Verified July 26, 2026.
The enrolled class tells you what UCLA actually takes. LSAT percentiles were 166 at the 25th, 171 at the median and 172 at the 75th.
A 171 clears the median and makes you numbers-competitive. A 172 puts you in the top quarter, which is where merit money conversations start. Below 166 you are under the disclosed floor and the rest of the file has to carry an unusual amount.
Friendly. UCLA's 4.00 GPA 75th percentile shows how heavily it weights undergraduate performance.
GPA percentiles were 3.73 at the 25th, 3.95 at the median and 4.00 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 0.22, which is unusually wide and means a damaged transcript survives here more often than at peers.
Moderately friendly.
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 172+ and GPA 4.00+Above both 75th percentilesApply early and negotiate; you are who the aid budget exists forLSAT 171-172 and GPA 3.95-4.00At or above both mediansCompetitive; timing and the essay decide the marginLSAT 171+ and GPA below 3.73SplitterLSAT carries the file; addendum only if the GPA has a real storyLSAT 166-171 and GPA 3.95+Reverse splitterRetake is usually the highest-value moveLSAT 166-171 and GPA 3.73-3.95Below the class midpoint, inside the rangeEverything early and flawless; expect little aidBelow 166 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 friendly. Friendly. UCLA's 4.00 GPA 75th percentile shows how heavily it weights undergraduate performance.
The disclosed evidence behind that: the GPA spread is 0.22 and the LSAT spread is 5 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: Moderate.
83% receive grants. California residency is worth roughly $12,000 a year in tuition and is the single largest financial variable at this school.
The disclosed figures: a median grant of $24,456 reaching 83 percent of students, against a cost of attendance of $99,130. That puts the median student at roughly $74,674 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 $49,130 a year at sticker to close privately, our arithmetic.
Early decision: Binding, Nov 16
Interviews: Case by case, not required
Both lines come from the school's own admissions pages (https://law.ucla.edu/admissions/jd-admissions/early-decision-program), verified July 26, 2026. Terms reflect the most recently posted cycle; re-verify in September.
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.
UCLA's specialisation programmes are applied to separately in some cases and always benefit from being named. An applicant who articulates a specific track reads as serious.
Work experience: Neutral.
Californian, diverse, entrepreneurial, and increasingly split between entertainment and technology aspirants on one side and public interest and immigration advocates on the other.
The best law school in Southern California, and the cheapest elite legal education in the country for a California resident.
The outcomes: 60.8 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys, 3.9 percent into federal clerkships, 97.3 percent employed at ten months, concentrated in CA 266, NY 30, DC 4.
For the daily texture see what UCLA Law is really like, and for the verdict see our honest take.
Our verified data layer for UCLA is missing the matriculant count and a firm interview policy. 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 171 LSAT with a 166 twenty-fifth percentile and a 172 seventy-fifth. A 171 is numbers-competitive; 172 puts you in the top quarter.
12.1 percent for fall 2025, 1,039 offers on 8,623 completed applications, per its 2025 ABA 509 report.
Median 3.95, with a 3.73 twenty-fifth percentile and a 4.00 seventy-fifth. The spread of 0.22 between median and floor is what tells you how far below the middle the school will go.
83% receive grants. California residency is worth roughly $12,000 a year in tuition and is the single largest financial variable at this school. The disclosed median grant is $24,456 reaching 83 percent of students.
Moderately friendly.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
July 30, 2026
July 30, 2026