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The Yale law school acceptance rate is 4.1 percent: 226 offers on 5,562 completed applications for fall 2025. Medians were 174 and 3.96, with 25th percentiles of 171 and 3.90; grants reach 63 percent of students. Here is how to get in against those numbers.
4.1 percent for the fall 2025 entering class: 226 offers of admission on 5,562 completed applications, per Yale's own 2025 ABA 509 report.
A 4.06% acceptance rate on 5,562 applications, with 226 offers. Numbers get you read; the writing gets you in.
Verified figureValueAcceptance rate4.1% (226 offers on 5,562 applications)LSAT 25/50/75171 / 174 / 177GPA 25/50/753.90 / 3.96 / 4.00Annual cost of attendance$109,040Median grant / share receiving$34,747 to 63% of studentsClass of 2025 graduates211Firms of 101+ attorneys37.4% (79 graduates)Federal clerkships23.2% (49 graduates)Employed at 10 months94.8%Top marketsNY 70, DC 46, CA 19CityNew Haven, CTCar neededNoJanuary average low / July average high23.0F / 82.1F
Sources: Yale's 2025 ABA 509 report (https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/std509inforeport.pdf), its class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary (https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/area/department/cdo/document/eqsummary-202-05-11-2026-14-08-29.pdf), and its admissions pages (https://law.yale.edu/admissions-financial-aid/jd-admissions/apply-yale-law-school/application-process). Climate from NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals. Verified July 26, 2026.
The enrolled class tells you what Yale actually takes. LSAT percentiles were 171 at the 25th, 174 at the median and 177 at the 75th.
A 174 clears the median and makes you numbers-competitive. A 177 puts you in the top quarter, which is where merit money conversations start. Below 171 you are under the disclosed floor and the rest of the file has to carry an unusual amount.
Equally hostile.
GPA percentiles were 3.90 at the 25th, 3.96 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 0.06, which is narrow, so this school protects its GPA median hard and a low transcript is difficult to overcome.
Very hostile. Yale rarely admits applicants below the 25th percentile on either number.
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 177+ and GPA 4.00+Above both 75th percentilesApply early and negotiate; you are who the aid budget exists forLSAT 174-177 and GPA 3.96-4.00At or above both mediansCompetitive; timing and the essay decide the marginLSAT 174+ and GPA below 3.90SplitterLSAT carries the file; addendum only if the GPA has a real storyLSAT 171-174 and GPA 3.96+Reverse splitterRetake is usually the highest-value moveLSAT 171-174 and GPA 3.90-3.96Below the class midpoint, inside the rangeEverything early and flawless; expect little aidBelow 171 or below 3.90Below the 25th percentileRetake, then rebuild the list
Percentile anchors from the 2025 ABA 509; the readings are our framework, not published admit rates.
Very hostile. Yale rarely admits applicants below the 25th percentile on either number. Equally hostile.
The disclosed evidence behind that: the GPA spread is 0.06 and the LSAT spread is 3 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: None. Yale wins nearly every cross-admit.
Need-based only, no merit aid, but the COAP loan repayment program is the most generous in the country and can eliminate loan payments entirely for public interest graduates.
The disclosed figures: a median grant of $34,747 reaching 63 percent of students, against a cost of attendance of $109,040. That puts the median student at roughly $74,293 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 $59,040 a year at sticker to close privately, our arithmetic.
Early decision: None offered
Interviews: Yes: invitation-only, required for admission
Both lines come from the school's own admissions pages (https://law.yale.edu/admissions-financial-aid/jd-admissions/apply-yale-law-school/application-process), 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.
The 250-word essay is the most consequential short piece of writing in law school admissions. It must show a mind, not a resume. The faculty reading committee is the actual decision-maker, which is unique.
Work experience: Strongly preferred. The median Yale student has multiple years out.
Future professors, future judges, future senators, and a high share of people who have already done something notable. Writerly, theory-forward, self-directed.
Not really a law school. A graduate school of legal thought that happens to hand out JDs, and the surest path into academia and the Supreme Court.
The outcomes: 37.4 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys, 23.2 percent into federal clerkships, 94.8 percent employed at ten months, concentrated in NY 70, DC 46, CA 19.
For the daily texture see what Yale Law is really like, and for the verdict see our honest take.
The fall 2025 enrolled medians were 174 LSAT with a 171 twenty-fifth percentile and a 177 seventy-fifth. A 174 is numbers-competitive; 177 puts you in the top quarter.
4.1 percent for fall 2025, 226 offers on 5,562 completed applications, per its 2025 ABA 509 report.
Median 3.96, with a 3.90 twenty-fifth percentile and a 4.00 seventy-fifth. The spread of 0.06 between median and floor is what tells you how far below the middle the school will go.
Need-based only, no merit aid, but the COAP loan repayment program is the most generous in the country and can eliminate loan payments entirely for public interest graduates. The disclosed median grant is $34,747 reaching 63 percent of students.
Very hostile. Yale rarely admits applicants below the 25th percentile on either number.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
July 30, 2026
July 30, 2026