How to Get Into Albany Law School: LSAT, GPA & Admissions (2026)

The short answer to how to get into Albany Law School is to reach the medians in Albany Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure: a 158 LSAT and a 3.54 GPA. The middle 50 percent of the entering class scored 154 to 161 on the LSAT and held a 3.16 to 3.75 GPA. Clear both and you are competitive.

By Ali Unar, Georgetown Law, Founder of Lovare Institut. Ali Unar is a Georgetown Law student and the founder of Lovare Institut, an admissions and LSAT-prep practice built on primary-source law school data. Verified August 2026. Every figure on this page comes from Albany Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report for the fall 2025 entering class, the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, and Albany Law School's own published pages.

The most distinctive fact about Albany Law School is its combination of reach and value. According to Albany Law School's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, 94% of students receive grants, the widest grant reach among its New York peers, and Albany Law School reports 40 full-tuition awards plus 18 awards above full tuition, meaning some students receive tuition plus a stipend. None of that money is conditional: Albany Law School does not use scholarships that can be cut for grades. Its $64,234 sticker and $21,844 living expenses are also lower than the New York City private schools, and its GPA 25th percentile of 3.16 makes Albany Law School genuinely reachable for a strong-LSAT applicant whose transcript is not perfect. The honest counterweight is outcomes: Albany Law School's first-time bar passage rate of 74.27% for exam year 2024 is a real consideration, and its 8.8% large-firm share reflects a capital-region, public-service orientation rather than a big-firm pipeline. The thesis of this page is that Albany Law School is an access-and-value school where the numbers are honest in both directions.

Albany Law School at a glance: LSAT, GPA, acceptance rate and cost

Albany Law School posts a 158 LSAT median, a 3.54 GPA median, and a 37.45% acceptance rate in Albany Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Full-time tuition and fees run $64,234 a year. The table below gathers the headline admissions, cost, and outcome numbers for Albany Law School in one place.

MetricAlbany Law School (fall 2025 entering class)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)154 / 158 / 161GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.16 / 3.54 / 3.75Acceptance rate37.45%Applications2,638Offers of admission988Matriculants237First-year class237 (233 full-time and 4 part-time)Full-time tuition and fees$64,234 a yearLiving expenses$21,844Share receiving grants94%Median grant$38,000Conditional scholarshipsNo (awards are not tied to a first-year grade threshold)First-time bar passage74.27% (exam year 2024, largest jurisdiction New York)Employed at ten months92.7% (190 of 205 graduates, Class of 2024)

Source: Albany Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report for the fall 2025 entering class, with employment from the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 and bar passage from Albany Law School's ABA bar-passage report. Tuition and living expenses are printed separately in the 509, which does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance total, so this page does not sum them into an invented all-in figure.

What LSAT and GPA do you really need to get into Albany Law School?

Albany Law School reports an LSAT spread of 154 to 161 and a GPA spread of 3.16 to 3.75 in its 2025 ABA 509. A 158 LSAT and a 3.54 GPA sit at both medians. Below the 154 LSAT or the 3.16 GPA, you need a clear compensating strength on the other number.

Albany Law School reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 154, 158, and 161, and a GPA 25th, 50th, and 75th of 3.16, 3.54, and 3.75 for the fall 2025 entering class, according to Albany Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. The median is the fiftieth percentile: half of the enrolled class scored above 158 on the LSAT and above 3.54 in GPA, and half scored below. A 158 and a 3.54 sit at the center of the admitted class, so they make you a competitive applicant at Albany Law School rather than a reach.

What stands out at Albany Law School is the reach on the GPA axis. The GPA 25th percentile is 3.16, which is a full 0.59 below the 3.75 upper quartile and well under the mid-3.6s and 3.7s medians at the New York City private schools. In plain terms, Albany Law School genuinely admits students with GPAs in the low 3.1s, so if your transcript took a hit but your LSAT is solid, this is a school where you are competitive rather than a long shot. A 154, the LSAT bottom quartile, is likewise a real admit range at Albany Law School, though it wants a GPA at or above the 3.54 median to carry the file. If you sit below both the 154 LSAT and the 3.16 GPA at the same time, Albany Law School becomes a reach unless something outside the numbers is unusually strong.

That shape makes Albany Law School splitter friendly. Lovare's read of the 509 spreads shows a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.38 and an LSAT 25th-to-median spread of four points, so the GPA band is the more forgiving of the two. A splitter-friendly school forgives a lower GPA when the LSAT is high; a reverse-splitter-friendly school forgives a lower LSAT when the GPA is high. Albany Law School leans splitter friendly, so a high LSAT paired with a GPA in the low 3.2s or even the 3.1s has a genuine path. If your LSAT is your stronger number, Albany Law School is one of the more welcoming targets in New York for your profile.

Is Albany Law School harder to get into than its reputation?

It is a touch more selective than many assume, but still reachable. Among the 47 ABA law schools whose median LSAT is within two points of Albany Law School's 158, that is 156 to 160, Albany Law School ranks 20th most selective of 47 by acceptance rate, per Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. That is upper-middle of its band.

Reputation frames Albany Law School as New York's capital-region law school with a long history and a public-service bent, and applicants sometimes assume that translates into an easy admit. The band data pushes back gently. Lovare built a peer band of the 47 ABA law schools whose median LSAT falls within two points of Albany Law School's 158, a median of 156 to 160, then ranked them by acceptance rate from the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. By that ranking, Albany Law School comes in 20th most selective of 47, placing it in the upper-middle of its band rather than at the open end.

According to Albany Law School's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, Albany Law School received 2,638 applications, made 988 offers, and enrolled 237 students, for a 37.45% acceptance rate. Admitting a little over a third of applicants is neither a lock nor a wall. The honest verdict is that Albany Law School is modestly more selective than its reputation implies, but for an applicant with numbers in its bands, and especially the accessible 3.16 GPA floor, it remains a realistic target. Do not treat Albany Law School as a guaranteed backup, but do not overestimate its difficulty either.

The consumer-protective facts belong here in plain view. Albany Law School reports a first-year academic attrition rate of 2.0% in its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, a low figure, so few first-year students leave for academic reasons. More significant is the bar result: Albany Law School's first-time bar passage rate of 74.27% for exam year 2024, with New York as its largest jurisdiction, is the kind of number you should weigh openly rather than skip past. Its ultimate pass rate for the 2022 cohort was 88.68%, so most Albany Law School graduates who do not pass on the first attempt eventually do, but a roughly one-in-four first-time miss rate means bar preparation is a serious, front-of-mind task if you enroll.

How much does Albany Law School cost, and how much scholarship money will you get?

Albany Law School charges $64,234 a year in full-time tuition and fees, per Albany Law School's 2025 ABA 509, plus $21,844 in living expenses. Ninety-four percent of students receive grants, with a median award of $38,000. A median-grant recipient nets about $26,234 in tuition and fees before living costs.

Albany Law School is the most affordable private option among its New York peers on this page, and the numbers show it from the top line down. Albany Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $64,234 a year, roughly ten thousand dollars below the New York City private schools, plus $21,844 in living expenses, which reflects the lower cost of the capital region. The 509 prints tuition and living separately and does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance total, so any all-in annual number quoted elsewhere is someone's arithmetic rather than a figure Albany Law School reports, and this page will not invent one.

The aid at Albany Law School is both broad and, at the top, unusually deep. According to the same 509, 94% of Albany Law School students receive grant aid, the widest reach among its peers on this page, with awards at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of $20,000, $38,000, and $46,000. Beyond those percentiles, Albany Law School reports 40 full-tuition awards and, notably, 18 awards above full tuition, which means 18 students receive grants that cover tuition and add a stipend on top. For a median recipient, a $38,000 grant against the $64,234 sticker nets about $26,234 in tuition and fees before living costs, using figures from Albany Law School's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure.

The reliability of that aid is the part applicants often miss. Albany Law School does not use conditional scholarships, per its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, so an award is not tied to a first-year class-rank or GPA threshold and cannot be cut if your grades slip. The grant Albany Law School quotes at admission is the grant you carry through all three years. Combined with the lower sticker and lower living costs, that stability makes Albany Law School one of the cleaner value propositions in New York: a below-market price, the widest grant reach on this page, real awards above full tuition, and no fine print that lets the school take the money back.

What are your real chances off the Albany Law School waitlist?

Albany Law School does not disclose waitlist offers or admits, and no ABA report does. The honest proxy is implied yield: 237 matriculants against 988 offers is a 24.0% yield in Albany Law School's 2025 ABA 509. That is a moderate yield, so Albany Law School fills much of its class from first-round offers while leaving some waitlist room.

Here is the reasoning in full. Albany Law School enrolled 237 matriculants from 988 offers in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, an implied yield of 24.0%. No ABA disclosure, Albany Law School's included, publishes how many applicants are admitted off the waitlist or how many accept, so implied yield is the honest proxy for waitlist movement. When a little under a quarter of admitted students enroll, a school extends a fair number of offers to fill its seats and typically keeps a waitlist active to close the gap between offers and deposits.

A 24.0% yield is moderate, which puts Albany Law School in the middle of the range for waitlist behavior. It is not so high that the class fills entirely from first-round deposits, and not so low that the school leans heavily on its list. For a waitlisted applicant to Albany Law School, that means real but limited hope: some cycles will see movement, others little. If you land on the Albany Law School waitlist, send a concise letter of continued interest naming Albany Law School as a top choice, add any new LSAT score or improved grades, and keep another acceptance in hand. Because Albany Law School is splitter friendly, a late LSAT increase can meaningfully strengthen a waitlisted file.

Where do Albany Law School graduates actually work?

In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Albany Law School placed 171 of 205 graduates in New York, an 83.4% top-market share, and 86.3% across its top three markets. Large firms of 101 or more lawyers took 8.8% of the class, and 1.5% won federal clerkships. Albany Law School is a capital-region, public-service-oriented school.

Market concentration is the first thing to understand about an Albany Law School degree. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Albany Law School placed 171 graduates in New York, 3 in the District of Columbia, and 3 in Massachusetts. That is an 83.4% top-market share and an 86.3% top-three share, a concentrated New York profile with a small footprint in the District of Columbia that fits a capital-region school with government connections. If your target is New York State practice, especially in and around Albany, that concentration is a strength. If your goal is a distant market, the same concentration is a warning that Albany Law School's network runs regional.

The large-firm number is where honesty matters most. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows just 8.8% of Albany Law School graduates taking jobs at large firms of 101 or more lawyers, a low share that tells you Albany Law School is not a big-firm feeder. That is not a hidden failure; it reflects orientation. Most Albany Law School graduates work outside the largest firms, and the school's location in New York's capital, together with its presence in the District of Columbia among its top markets, points toward government, public-sector, and smaller-firm practice rather than corporate BigLaw. If a large-firm salary is your primary objective, weigh that 8.8% share carefully; if public service, government, or regional practice is your goal, Albany Law School is squarely aimed there.

The overall rate and clerkships round out the picture. Albany Law School reported 190 of 205 graduates employed at ten months, or 92.7%, in the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, a healthy overall rate, and 1.5% of graduates entered federal clerkships. Read the outcomes together and Albany Law School reliably places graduates into New York and capital-region practice, weighted toward government and smaller firms rather than the largest ones, with a small but real clerkship presence.

When are Albany Law School's application deadlines?

The sources behind this page do not include Albany Law School's application deadlines or the terms of any Early Decision program, so both should be confirmed directly on Albany Law School's admissions site. What this page can date is the data: the admissions, cost, and outcome figures here were verified in August 2026 against Albany Law School's primary disclosures.

Application cycles reward early, complete files, so even without a published deadline in front of you, the practical advice for Albany Law School is to apply as early in the cycle as your strongest LSAT allows. Law school admissions at schools like Albany Law School are typically rolling, which means seats and scholarship money are more plentiful earlier and thinner later. Given how broadly Albany Law School distributes aid, including awards above full tuition, applying early is the best way to be considered while the deepest awards remain open. Because this page's sources do not specify Albany Law School's exact deadlines or whether it offers a binding Early Decision round, confirm the current dates and any binding terms on Albany Law School's own admissions pages before you build your timeline around them.

Frequently asked questions about getting into Albany Law School

Is a 158 LSAT good enough for Albany Law School?

A 158 is exactly the LSAT median at Albany Law School, per Albany Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, where the middle 50 percent scored 154 to 161. A 158 puts you at the fiftieth percentile, competitive rather than a lock. Pair it with a GPA at or above the 3.54 median and you are a strong candidate at Albany Law School.

What GPA do you need for Albany Law School?

Albany Law School reports a GPA median of 3.54, with a 25th to 75th range of 3.16 to 3.75, in its 2025 ABA 509. The 3.16 bottom quartile is notably accessible, so Albany Law School genuinely admits applicants with GPAs in the low 3.1s. Because Albany Law School is splitter friendly, a lower GPA works best when paired with an LSAT at or above 158.

Can you get into Albany Law School with a lower GPA?

Yes, more readily than at many peers. Albany Law School's GPA 25th percentile is 3.16 in its 2025 ABA 509, which means a full quarter of the enrolled class held a GPA of 3.16 or below. A strong LSAT at or above the 158 median makes a low-3.1s GPA competitive at Albany Law School, which is one of the more accessible New York options for a strong-LSAT, lower-GPA applicant.

What is Albany Law School's acceptance rate?

Albany Law School admitted 37.45% of applicants for the fall 2025 class, extending 988 offers against 2,638 applications, according to Albany Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Admitting a little over a third of applicants places Albany Law School in the upper-middle of its LSAT band, so applicants near its medians should treat it as a realistic target.

How many people apply to Albany Law School each year?

Albany Law School received 2,638 applications for the fall 2025 entering class, made 988 offers, and enrolled 237 students, split into 233 full-time and 4 part-time, per Albany Law School's 2025 ABA 509. That applicant pool against the offer count is what produces Albany Law School's 37.45% acceptance rate.

How much does Albany Law School cost per year?

Albany Law School lists full-time tuition and fees of $64,234 a year, plus $21,844 in living expenses, in its 2025 ABA 509, both lower than the New York City private schools. Albany Law School does not publish a single cost-of-attendance total in the 509, so tuition and living are best read separately rather than summed into an invented all-in figure for Albany Law School.

Does Albany Law School give scholarships?

Yes, very broadly. Albany Law School reports that 94% of students receive grant aid, with awards of $20,000, $38,000, and $46,000 at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles, plus 40 full-tuition awards and 18 awards above full tuition, per Albany Law School's 2025 ABA 509. A median recipient nets about $26,234 in tuition and fees before living costs at Albany Law School.

Are Albany Law School scholarships guaranteed for all three years?

Effectively yes. Albany Law School does not use conditional scholarships, per its 2025 ABA 509, so an award is not tied to a first-year class-rank or GPA threshold and cannot be cut if your grades slip. The grant Albany Law School quotes at admission is the grant you keep, which makes its broad, below-market aid especially reliable.

What is Albany Law School's bar passage rate?

Albany Law School posted a 74.27% first-time bar passage rate for exam year 2024, with New York as its largest jurisdiction, according to Albany Law School's ABA bar-passage report. That is a number to weigh openly, roughly a one-in-four first-time miss. Its ultimate pass rate for the 2022 cohort was 88.68%, so most Albany Law School graduates who miss on the first attempt eventually pass.

What is Albany Law School's first-year attrition rate?

Albany Law School reports a low first-year academic attrition rate of 2.0% in its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, so few first-year students leave for academic reasons. Because Albany Law School also does not use conditional scholarships, a first-year student is not at risk of losing an award for grades, which makes the early path at Albany Law School relatively stable.

Where do Albany Law School graduates work?

Mostly in New York, weighted toward the capital region. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows Albany Law School placed 171 graduates in New York, 3 in the District of Columbia, and 3 in Massachusetts, an 83.4% top-market share and 86.3% across the top three. Albany Law School's network runs regional, with a government-oriented footprint.

Do Albany Law School graduates get large-firm jobs?

At a low rate, by design. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 8.8% of Albany Law School graduates took jobs at large firms of 101 or more lawyers. That low share reflects a capital-region, public-service orientation rather than a big-firm pipeline, so choose Albany Law School for government, public-sector, or regional practice rather than for corporate BigLaw.

Can a splitter get into Albany Law School?

A splitter has a real path. Lovare reads Albany Law School as splitter friendly, with a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.38 against an LSAT spread of four points in the 2025 ABA 509. That means Albany Law School forgives a lower GPA when the LSAT is high, so a strong-LSAT applicant with a GPA in the low 3.2s or 3.1s is genuinely viable at Albany Law School.

Is Albany Law School worth it?

For the right goal, the value is strong. Albany Law School pairs a below-market $64,234 sticker with 94% grant reach, awards above full tuition, and no conditional strings, per its 2025 ABA 509. The caveats are a 74.27% first-time bar rate and an 8.8% large-firm share. Albany Law School is worth it for a cost-conscious applicant aiming at New York government, public-service, or regional practice.

What LSAT and GPA give the best shot at an Albany Law School scholarship?

Numbers above the medians. Because merit money tracks the strength of your file, an LSAT above the 158 median and a GPA above 3.54, pushing toward the 161 and 3.75 upper quartiles in Albany Law School's 2025 ABA 509, position you for the largest awards, including the 40 full-tuition grants and 18 above-full-tuition awards Albany Law School reports, none of which are conditional.

Sources

Every figure on this page is drawn from primary disclosures, listed here so readers can verify each one directly.

Albany Law School 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class): https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=97&year=2025

Albany Law School ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=97&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=97&year=2024

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