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

The short answer to how to get into Drake Law School is to clear the medians from Drake University Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure: a 156 LSAT and a 3.67 GPA. The middle 50 percent scored 153 to 159 and held a 3.38 to 3.89 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 Drake University Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class), the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, and the school's own published pages.

Drake University Law School is one of only two law schools in Iowa, and it sits in Des Moines, the state capital, which shapes everything about where its graduates go. According to the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 72.0% of Drake Law graduates went to work in Iowa and 80.0% across the top three markets, a heavily in-state placement profile built around the capital's courts, firms, and government offices. The value matches the focus: Drake University Law School reports that 82% of students receive grants, lists 22 full-tuition awards in its 2025 ABA 509, and leaves a median-grant recipient paying about $19,920 in tuition and fees before living costs. The thesis of this page follows from those figures: Drake Law is the capital-city value play for anyone who wants to practice in Iowa, competitive at a 156 LSAT and forgiving of a lower GPA when the LSAT is strong.

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

Drake University Law School posts a 156 LSAT median, a 3.67 GPA median, and a 54.82% acceptance rate in its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure. Full-time tuition and fees run $50,920, with living expenses of $20,923. More than four in five students receive grants. The table below collects Drake Law's headline admissions, cost, and outcome numbers.

MetricDrake University Law School (fall 2025 entering class)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)153 / 156 / 159GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.38 / 3.67 / 3.89Acceptance rate54.82%Applications788Offers of admission432Matriculants from the applicant pool141First-year class141Full-time tuition and fees$50,920Living expenses$20,923Share receiving grants82%Median grant$31,000 (25th $24,000, 75th $37,080)Conditional scholarshipsNoFirst-time bar passage85.71% (exam year 2024, Iowa)Employed at ten months91.0% (91 of 100)

Source: Drake University Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class), with employment from the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 and bar passage from Drake Law'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 invent one.

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

Drake University Law School reports an LSAT spread of 153 to 159 and a GPA spread of 3.38 to 3.89 in its 2025 ABA 509. A 156 and a 3.67 sit at both medians. Below the 153 LSAT or the 3.38 GPA, an applicant needs a clear compensating strength on the other number.

Drake University Law School reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 153, 156, and 159, and a GPA 25th, 50th, and 75th of 3.38, 3.67, and 3.89 for the fall 2025 entering class, per its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. The median is the fiftieth percentile: half of enrolled students at Drake Law scored above 156 on the LSAT and above 3.67 in GPA, and half below. A median is a target, not a cutoff, but at Drake University Law School the two medians together mark the center of a competitive file.

The bands are evenly balanced and forgiving. The LSAT runs symmetrically from 153 at the 25th to 159 at the 75th, three points on each side of the 156 median, so a 153 is a genuine admit range at Drake University Law School rather than a long shot. The GPA runs from 3.38 at the 25th to 3.89 at the 75th, a wide 0.51 spread, meaning Drake Law enrolls a broad range of transcripts. An applicant at or above both medians is competitive on the numbers, while an applicant below one median leans on the other to carry the file.

Lovare reads Drake University Law School as splitter friendly, with a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.29 and an LSAT 25th-to-median spread of three points. 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. Drake Law leans splitter, so a strong LSAT in the high 150s paired with a GPA below 3.38 has a real path, while a high GPA with an LSAT under 153 is the tougher of the two imbalanced files. If your LSAT is your strength, Drake University Law School is a school where that strength carries weight.

Is Drake University Law School harder to get into than its reputation?

Drake University Law School is more accessible than the middle of its LSAT band. Lovare's band analysis places Drake Law 49th most selective of the 58 ABA schools whose median LSAT is within two points of its 156, using acceptance rate from the 2025 ABA 509. That lower-band position is exactly why a mid-150s applicant is competitive here.

Reputation places Drake University Law School as a solid regional school with a strong Iowa footprint, and the selectivity data is consistent with that. Lovare built a peer band of the 58 ABA law schools whose median LSAT falls within two points of Drake Law's 156, that is a median of 154 to 158, then ranked them by acceptance rate from the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. Drake University Law School comes in 49th most selective of the 58, which places it in the more accessible part of a large band.

Read that as an opportunity rather than a mark against the school. A 54.82% acceptance rate and a lower-band position mean Drake University Law School is the kind of school where an applicant at or near its 156 LSAT and 3.67 GPA medians has a realistic, well-matched shot rather than a long-odds gamble. With 432 offers made against 788 applications, Drake Law admits a healthy share of its pool. For a candidate aiming at an Iowa career whose numbers sit in the mid-150s, Drake University Law School is a strong target, and a score above the median starts to pull the larger grant awards the school offers.

There is a strategic upside to that accessibility. Because Drake University Law School admits a majority of its applicants at a 54.82% rate, an applicant with numbers at or above the 156 and 3.67 medians is not merely likely to be admitted but positioned to negotiate from strength on scholarship. At schools that admit under a fifth of their pool, a median applicant is fighting simply to get in; at Drake Law, a median-or-better applicant is often choosing among aid offers instead. That shifts the real question from whether Drake University Law School will admit you to how much of its 82% grant reach and 22 full-tuition awards your numbers can capture.

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

Drake University Law School lists full-time tuition and fees of $50,920 in its 2025 ABA 509, plus $20,923 in living expenses. Grants reach 82% of students, with a median award of $31,000. A median-grant recipient nets about $19,920 in tuition and fees before living costs, and the awards are not conditional.

Start with the sticker. Drake University Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $50,920, plus $20,923 in living expenses. 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 Drake Law reports, and this page will not manufacture one. The $20,923 living figure is on the lower side nationally, reflecting Des Moines costs.

Aid reaches most students and runs deep. According to the same 509, 82% of Drake University Law School students receive grant aid, with awards at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of $24,000, $31,000, and $37,080. Drake Law reports 22 full-tuition awards and 9 awards above full tuition, a healthy count of full rides for a first-year class of 141. Against the $50,920 sticker, a student on Drake Law's median grant of $31,000 nets about $19,920 in tuition and fees before living costs, using figures from the 2025 ABA 509 disclosure. Those grants include both merit and need-based aid, so not every dollar is a merit discount.

The aid is also stable. Drake University Law School does not use conditional scholarships, 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 Drake Law quotes at admission is the grant you keep for all three years, which removes a common financial trap and makes the school's discount dependable. Combined with a below-median living cost and 82% grant reach, that stability is the heart of Drake University Law School's value case.

Put the pieces together and Drake University Law School reads as a genuine value for its market. A median-grant student nets about $19,920 in tuition and fees, and Des Moines living costs of $20,923 are modest by national standards, so the burden a typical Drake Law student carries is lower than the sticker alone suggests. Because Drake University Law School reports 22 full-tuition awards and 9 awards above full tuition against a first-year class of 141, a meaningful slice of each class pays little or nothing in tuition, which is the clearest expression of the school's value for an Iowa-bound applicant.

What are your real chances off the Drake University Law School waitlist?

Drake University Law School does not disclose waitlist offers or admits, and no ABA report does. The honest proxy is implied yield: 141 matriculants against 432 offers is a 32.6% yield in the 2025 ABA 509. That is a moderate yield, so Drake Law fills most of its class from first-round offers while leaving some room for waitlist movement.

Here is the reasoning in full. Drake University Law School enrolled 141 matriculants from 432 offers in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, an implied yield of 32.6%. No ABA disclosure, Drake Law'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 roughly a third of admitted students enroll, a school fills most of its class from first-round offers but still leaves some room that a waitlist can fill.

A 32.6% yield is moderate, which puts Drake University Law School between the extremes. It is higher than a school that yields a quarter of its offers and leans hard on its waitlist, and lower than a school that yields close to half and barely moves its list. For a waitlisted applicant to Drake Law, that means real but limited hope: some cycles will see movement, others little. Send a concise letter of continued interest naming Drake University Law School as a top choice, add any new score or grades, and keep another acceptance in hand.

One clean note on the class figures. Drake University Law School's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure lists 141 matriculants from the applicant pool and a first-year class of exactly 141, so the class fills entirely from this cycle's pool with no gap from deferrals or other paths. The 32.6% implied yield is computed from those 141 matriculants against the 432 offers, which is the correct comparison for reasoning about this cycle's waitlist odds at Drake University Law School.

Where do Drake University Law School graduates actually work?

Drake University Law School is a concentrated Iowa placement school anchored in the state capital. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 72.0% of graduates went to work in Iowa and 80.0% across the top three markets. Large firms of 101 or more lawyers took 10.0%, and 1.0% won federal clerkships.

Lead with the concentration, because it defines a Drake University Law School degree. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Drake Law placed 72 of its graduates in Iowa, 4 in Minnesota, and 4 in Missouri. That is a 72.0% top-market share and an 80.0% top-three share, a heavily in-state profile centered on Des Moines. Nearly three in four graduates practice in Iowa, which fits a school located in the capital, where the state courts, the legislature, and many of Iowa's largest firms and agencies sit.

Why lead with concentration rather than the raw employment rate? Because the rate is strong but not distinctive. Drake University Law School reported 91 of 100 graduates employed at ten months, or 91.0%, in the same ABA Employment Summary, a solid figure that resembles many peer schools. The 72.0% Iowa share is what tells you whether the school fits your plan. If you want to practice in Iowa, especially in Des Moines, Drake Law is exceptionally well-networked there. If your target is a distant national market, the Iowa concentration is a candid signal that the school's reach runs regional.

On firm size and clerkships, Drake University Law School reflects its market. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 10.0% of Drake Law graduates entering large firms of 101 or more lawyers and 1.0% taking federal clerkships. Those shares are modest, consistent with an Iowa legal economy built more on midsize firms, government, and public-interest work than on national BigLaw. An applicant drawn to Drake University Law School for its capital-city government and policy connections will find the numbers pointed the right way.

When are Drake University Law School's application deadlines?

This page's sources do not specify Drake University Law School's application deadlines or its Early Decision terms. Both should be confirmed directly on Drake Law's admissions page rather than taken from any date this page cannot verify. The guidance here is dated: it reflects what was verifiable in August 2026.

Because the school's Early Decision terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle, Drake University Law School applicants should treat the school's own admissions page as the authority on deadlines, decision rounds, and whether any early or binding option exists. Rather than state a specific date that this page's primary sources do not support, the honest approach is to point you to Drake Law directly. Cycle dates shift from year to year, so confirm the current timeline on Drake University Law School's site before you plan around it.

The numbers still support a timing strategy. Drake University Law School drew 788 applications and extended 432 offers for a first-year class of 141, per its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure. With 82% of students receiving grants and 22 full-tuition awards in play, the scholarship stakes reward an early, complete application even at an accessible school, because the strongest early files tend to draw the largest awards. Apply to Drake University Law School when your file is ready and your LSAT is at its best, and confirm the current dates on the school's site.

Frequently asked questions about getting into Drake University Law School

Is a 156 LSAT good enough for Drake University Law School?

A 156 is exactly the LSAT median at Drake University Law School, per its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, where the middle 50 percent scored 153 to 159. A 156 puts you at the fiftieth percentile, competitive but not a lock. Pair it with a GPA at or above the 3.67 median and you are a strong candidate at Drake University Law School.

What GPA do you need for Drake University Law School?

Drake University Law School reports a GPA median of 3.67, with a 25th to 75th range of 3.38 to 3.89, in its 2025 ABA 509. Aim for 3.67 or higher. Because Drake Law is splitter friendly, a strong LSAT can help carry a GPA below the 3.38 lower quartile, so applicants with an imbalanced file should lean on their LSAT at Drake University Law School.

What is Drake University Law School's acceptance rate?

Drake University Law School admitted 54.82% of applicants for the fall 2025 class, extending 432 offers against 788 applications, according to its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. That accessible rate, and a lower-band standing of 49th of 58 in its LSAT band, makes Drake University Law School a realistic, well-matched target for an applicant scoring in the mid-150s.

How many people apply to Drake University Law School?

Drake University Law School received 788 applications for the fall 2025 entering class, made 432 offers, and enrolled 141 matriculants for a first-year class of exactly 141, per its 2025 ABA 509. The clean match between matriculants and class size means Drake University Law School filled its class entirely from this cycle's pool, with no gap from deferrals.

How much does Drake University Law School cost?

Drake University Law School lists full-time tuition and fees of $50,920, plus $20,923 in living expenses, in its 2025 ABA 509. Drake Law 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 Drake University Law School. The living figure is modest, reflecting Des Moines costs.

Does Drake University Law School give scholarships?

Yes, generously. Drake University Law School reports that 82% of students receive grant aid, with awards of $24,000, $31,000, and $37,080 at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles, plus 22 full-tuition awards and 9 above full tuition, per its 2025 ABA 509. Those awards are not conditional, so a Drake University Law School grant cannot be cut if your grades fall.

What is Drake University Law School's bar passage rate?

Drake University Law School posted an 85.71% first-time bar passage rate for exam year 2024, with Iowa as the largest jurisdiction, according to its ABA bar-passage report. Its ultimate pass rate for the 2022 cohort was 93.55%. Both figures are strong and show that the large majority of Drake University Law School graduates who sit for a bar exam ultimately pass.

Where do Drake University Law School graduates work?

Mostly in Iowa. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows Drake University Law School placed 72 graduates in Iowa, 4 in Minnesota, and 4 in Missouri, a 72.0% top-market share and 80.0% across the top three. Anchored in Des Moines, Drake University Law School is one of the most Iowa-focused schools in the country.

Can a splitter get into Drake University Law School?

Yes. Lovare reads Drake University Law School as splitter friendly, with a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.29 and an LSAT spread of three points in the 2025 ABA 509. That means Drake Law forgives a lower GPA when the LSAT is high, so a high-LSAT applicant with a GPA below the 3.38 lower quartile is more viable at Drake University Law School than the reverse.

How selective is Drake University Law School compared with schools at the same LSAT?

Drake University Law School is 49th most selective of the 58 ABA schools whose median LSAT is within two points of its 156, ranked by acceptance rate in the 2025 ABA 509, per Lovare's analysis. That lower-band standing means Drake Law is more accessible than most schools posting the same median LSAT, which makes it a realistic target for a mid-150s applicant.

Is Drake University Law School worth it?

For an Iowa career, the value is strong. Drake University Law School pairs a $50,920 sticker with 82% grant reach, 22 full-tuition awards, a modest Des Moines living cost, an 85.71% first-time bar pass rate, and 72.0% of graduates working in Iowa, per its 2025 ABA 509 and the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024. For an Iowa-focused applicant, Drake University Law School is a high-value choice.

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

Drake University Law School reports first-year academic attrition of 2.0% in its 2025 ABA 509, meaning only a small share of first-year students were dismissed for academic reasons in the reported year. That low figure, combined with the school's non-conditional scholarships, means a demanding first year at Drake University Law School threatens neither a student's standing nor their grant aid in most cases.

Why is Drake University Law School good for government and policy careers?

Location. Drake University Law School sits in Des Moines, Iowa's capital, where the state courts, legislature, and agencies are based, and the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 72.0% of graduates working in Iowa. That capital-city setting gives Drake University Law School students direct access to government, judicial, and policy employers concentrated in one place.

What is the difference between Drake University Law School's first-time and ultimate bar passage rates?

Drake University Law School reports an 85.71% first-time bar passage rate for exam year 2024 and a 93.55% ultimate rate for the 2022 cohort, per its ABA bar-passage report. The first-time rate measures passage on the initial attempt, while the ultimate rate counts those who pass within two years. The gap shows that most Drake University Law School graduates who miss on the first try pass on a later attempt.

What LSAT and GPA give the best shot at a Drake University Law School scholarship?

Scores above the medians. Because Drake University Law School reports 22 full-tuition awards and a 75th-percentile grant of $37,080 in its 2025 ABA 509, an LSAT above the 156 median toward 159 paired with a GPA above 3.67 toward the 3.89 upper quartile positions you for the largest awards, including a full ride, at Drake University Law School.

Sources

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

Drake University Law School 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class): https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=55&year=2025

Drake University Law School ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=55&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=55&year=2024

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