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

The short answer to how to get into Loyola Marymount Law School is to hit the medians from LMU Loyola Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure: a 163 LSAT and a 3.74 GPA. The middle 50 percent scored 160 to 165 on the LSAT and 3.52 to 3.89 in 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. The admissions figures on this page come from LMU Loyola Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report for the fall 2025 entering class, the employment figures from the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, and the bar-passage figures from the school's ABA bar-passage report, together with its own published pages. LMU Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

Loyola Marymount Law School is a Los Angeles and California machine, and its employment data shows it in the extreme. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 90.8 percent of LMU Loyola Law School graduates went to work in California, one of the highest single-state concentrations of any law school in the country, and 26.2 percent joined large firms of 101 or more lawyers, a strong big-firm share. The thesis of this page is that Loyola Marymount Law School is a premier feeder into the California legal market, especially Los Angeles, and that its main tradeoffs are a high cost of attendance and conditional scholarships that can be cut for grades. If your career is aimed at California, LMU Loyola belongs near the top of your list, with eyes open on price.

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

Loyola Marymount Law School posts a 163 LSAT median, a 3.74 GPA median, and a 26.05 percent acceptance rate in LMU Loyola Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Full-time tuition and fees are $71,386. The table below gathers the headline admissions, cost, and outcome numbers for LMU Loyola.

MetricLMU Loyola Law School (fall 2025 entering class)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)160 / 163 / 165GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.52 / 3.74 / 3.89Acceptance rate26.05%Applications4,549Offers of admission1,185Matriculants from the applicant pool337First-year class338 (287 full-time, 51 part-time)Full-time tuition and fees$71,386Living expenses$43,030Share receiving grants62%Grant amount (25th / 50th / 75th)$35,000 / $45,000 / $52,000Full-tuition awards0 full-tuition, 14 above full tuitionConditional scholarshipsYes (can be cut for grades)First-time bar passage84.19% (exam year 2024, California)Employed at ten months95.2% (320 of 336)

Source: LMU Loyola 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 the 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 invent one.

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

Loyola Marymount Law School reports an LSAT spread of 160 to 165 and a GPA spread of 3.52 to 3.89 in LMU Loyola Law School's 2025 ABA 509. A 163 and a 3.74 sit at both medians. Below the 160 LSAT or the 3.52 GPA, you need a clear compensating strength on the other number to keep an LMU Loyola file competitive.

LMU Loyola reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 160, 163, and 165, and a GPA 25th, 50th, and 75th of 3.52, 3.74, and 3.89 for the fall 2025 entering class, per LMU Loyola Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. The median is the fiftieth percentile: half of enrolled students scored above 163 on the LSAT and above 3.74 in GPA, and half scored below. A median is a target rather than a cutoff, but at Loyola Marymount Law School the two medians set the center of the class and are the numbers to aim for.

The realistic read at Loyola Marymount Law School is that a 163 LSAT and a 3.74 GPA make you a solid competitor, with the 25th percentiles marking the edge of the comfortable range. A 160 LSAT, the bottom quartile, is a live admit number at LMU Loyola when paired with a GPA at or above the 3.74 median, and a 3.52 GPA, likewise the bottom quartile, wants an LSAT at or above 163. Because LMU Loyola is meaningfully selective, a file below both 25th percentiles at once faces real resistance, so lift at least one number toward the median before applying.

The shape of the two bands makes Loyola Marymount Law School splitter friendly. Lovare's read of the 509 spreads shows a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.22 against an LSAT 25th-to-median spread of 3 points, so the GPA band runs comparatively wide. 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. LMU Loyola leans splitter, so a strong LSAT at or above 163 can carry a GPA that dips toward the 3.52 quartile. If your LSAT is your stronger number, Loyola Marymount Law School is a school where that profile plays well.

Is Loyola Marymount Law School harder to get into than its reputation?

Loyola Marymount Law School sits in the middle of its LSAT band. Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures ranks LMU Loyola Law School 20th most selective of the 41 ABA law schools whose median LSAT falls within two points of its 163, right around the midpoint. Its selectivity is roughly in line with its reputation as a leading Los Angeles law school.

Reputation places Loyola Marymount Law School among the established private law schools in Los Angeles, with a strong local brand and deep ties to the California bar. To test that reputation against selectivity, Lovare built a peer band of the 41 ABA law schools whose median LSAT lands within two points of LMU Loyola's 163, that is, a median of 161 to 165, then ranked them by acceptance rate from the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. LMU Loyola comes in 20th most selective of the 41, essentially the middle of the group.

That midpoint position is a useful anchor. A 26.05 percent acceptance rate, from LMU Loyola Law School's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, reflects a school that drew a large pool of 4,549 applications and made 1,185 offers to fill a first-year class of 338. The selectivity is real but not extreme for its band: about as many peer schools admit a smaller share as admit a larger one. For an applicant, that means Loyola Marymount Law School behaves the way its numbers say it should, so plan around the 163 and 3.74 medians rather than hoping a strong brand will forgive a weak file or fearing a hidden reach.

The honest verdict is that Loyola Marymount Law School is exactly as selective as its reputation implies, no more and no less. It is a competitive Los Angeles private school where the medians are the gate and the acceptance rate is neither unusually forgiving nor unusually harsh. Hit the medians and LMU Loyola is a genuine target, with the real strategic questions falling on cost and scholarship rather than on whether you can get in.

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

Loyola Marymount Law School charges $71,386 in full-time tuition and fees, per LMU Loyola Law School's 2025 ABA 509, plus a high $43,030 in living expenses. Sixty-two percent of students receive grants, with a large median award of $45,000. A median-grant recipient nets about $26,386 in tuition and fees before living costs. LMU Loyola uses conditional scholarships, so read the terms closely.

Loyola Marymount Law School carries the highest sticker of the schools profiled here, and its Los Angeles location drives an unusually high cost of living. LMU Loyola Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $71,386, plus $43,030 in living expenses, the latter one of the steepest living figures in legal education and a direct reflection of Los Angeles housing costs. 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 LMU Loyola reports, and this page will not invent one.

The scholarship story has two sides. According to the same 509, 62 percent of Loyola Marymount Law School students receive grant aid, a more selective reach than at some peers, with awards at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of $35,000, $45,000, and $52,000. LMU Loyola reports no full-tuition awards but 14 awards above full tuition. The awards that do land are large: a $45,000 median grant is among the biggest on a dollar basis you will see, and against the $71,386 sticker it brings tuition and fees to about $26,386 before living costs, using figures from LMU Loyola's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure. The flip side is that 38 percent of students receive no grant at all, so a meaningful share of the class faces the full sticker.

Now the warning every Loyola Marymount Law School applicant needs to hear plainly. LMU Loyola Law School's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure reports that the school uses conditional scholarships, which means a first-year award can be reduced or cut if your grades fall below the threshold the school sets. A conditional scholarship is not a guaranteed three-year grant. In a graded first-year curve, some students who hold the same conditional award will finish below the line and lose part of it. Before you accept an LMU Loyola offer, get the exact retention standard in writing, ask how many students held that scholarship last year, and ask how many kept it, so you can budget around the number you are actually likely to pay rather than the best-case net.

Put the pieces together and the cost calculus at Loyola Marymount Law School is real. The awards are large when you win them, but they reach a smaller share of the class, they can be cut for grades, and the Los Angeles living figure of $43,030 adds heavily to the total. Weigh a large LMU Loyola grant against its conditions and against the cost of living, and treat the sticker net of $26,386 as a best case rather than a certainty.

What are your real chances off the Loyola Marymount Law School waitlist?

Loyola Marymount Law School does not disclose waitlist offers or admits, and no ABA report does. The honest proxy is implied yield: 337 matriculants against 1,185 offers is a 28.4 percent yield in LMU Loyola Law School's 2025 ABA 509. That is a moderate yield, so LMU Loyola fills much of its class from first-round offers while leaving some room for waitlist movement.

Here is the reasoning in full. Loyola Marymount Law School enrolled 337 matriculants from 1,185 offers in LMU Loyola Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, an implied yield of 28.4 percent. No ABA disclosure, LMU Loyola's included, publishes how many applicants are admitted from the waitlist or how many accept, so implied yield is the honest proxy for waitlist movement. When under three in ten admitted students enroll, a school makes a broad set of offers and keeps some flexibility for the waitlist to fill late gaps.

A 28.4 percent yield is moderate, which places Loyola Marymount 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 LMU Loyola, that means real but limited hope: some cycles will see movement, others little, depending on how the school's first-round yield lands in a given year.

If you land on the Loyola Marymount Law School waitlist, the play is the standard one: send a concise letter of continued interest naming LMU Loyola as a top choice, add any new LSAT score or improved grades, and keep another acceptance in hand as your plan of record. Treat an LMU Loyola waitlist spot as a live possibility rather than a plan, and secure a seat elsewhere while the moderate odds play out.

Where do Loyola Marymount Law School graduates actually work?

In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Loyola Marymount Law School placed 90.8 percent of graduates in California and 92.3 percent across its top three markets. Large firms of 101 or more lawyers took 26.2 percent, and 1.5 percent won federal clerkships. LMU Loyola is one of the most California-concentrated law schools in the country and a genuine large-firm feeder in Los Angeles.

Loyola Marymount Law School is a California school in the fullest sense, and the employment data is emphatic. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, LMU Loyola Law School placed 305 of its graduates in California, 3 in the District of Columbia, and 2 in New York. That is a 90.8 percent top-market share and a 92.3 percent top-three share, so more than nine in ten graduates work in California and the out-of-state markets are tiny. Very few law schools tie their outcomes to a single state as completely as LMU Loyola does, which is exactly what makes it powerful for a California-bound applicant and limiting for anyone aiming elsewhere.

The strength of that concentration is matched by strong overall placement. Loyola Marymount Law School reported 320 of 336 graduates employed at ten months, or 95.2 percent, in the same ABA Employment Summary, one of the higher employment rates among the schools on this page. Combined with the California concentration, the message is that LMU Loyola reliably places its graduates, and that it places them at home: in Los Angeles firms, California companies, and state and local government across the state.

On firm size, Loyola Marymount Law School is a genuine large-firm feeder. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 26.2 percent of LMU Loyola Law School graduates entering large firms of 101 or more lawyers, better than one in four and a strong share for its band, most of it in the Los Angeles market. Federal clerkships are a smaller channel, at 1.5 percent in the same summary, so an applicant set on a clerkship should calibrate accordingly. The honest summary is that LMU Loyola is built for the California legal market and for large-firm and in-house careers in Los Angeles, and its outcomes reward applicants whose plans match that geography.

When are Loyola Marymount Law School's application deadlines?

This page's sources do not publish Loyola Marymount Law School's application calendar, and LMU Loyola Law School's Early Decision terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle. Confirm the current regular deadlines and any Early Decision terms directly on the school's admissions site. The guidance here is dated: verified August 2026.

The primary sources behind this page, the 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, and LMU Loyola's ABA bar-passage report, report admissions, cost, and outcome figures but not the cycle-by-cycle application calendar. For that reason this page does not state a specific regular-decision deadline for Loyola Marymount Law School, and it does not state specific Early Decision terms, because those terms are not confirmed here. The honest instruction is to verify the current deadlines on LMU Loyola's own admissions page before you rely on them.

As general practice across law schools rather than a published LMU Loyola rule, applying earlier in a cycle tends to help, because seats and scholarship money are more available before a class fills. That principle matters at Loyola Marymount Law School, where large but conditional awards reach a limited share of the class and the earliest strong files compete best for them. Take your strongest LSAT before you apply, confirm the exact deadlines on LMU Loyola's admissions page, and treat this guidance as verified August 2026.

Frequently asked questions about getting into Loyola Marymount Law School

Is a 163 LSAT good enough for LMU Loyola Law School?

A 163 is exactly the LSAT median at LMU Loyola Law School, per its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, where the middle 50 percent scored 160 to 165. A 163 puts you at the fiftieth percentile, competitive but not a lock. Pair it with a GPA at or above the 3.74 median and you are a strong candidate at Loyola Marymount Law School.

What GPA do you need for LMU Loyola Law School?

LMU Loyola Law School reports a GPA median of 3.74, with a 25th-to-75th range of 3.52 to 3.89, in its 2025 ABA 509. Aim for 3.74 or higher. Because Loyola Marymount Law School is splitter friendly, a strong LSAT can help carry a GPA toward the 3.52 quartile, but a transcript at or above the median keeps the file comfortably inside the class.

What is LMU Loyola Law School's acceptance rate?

LMU Loyola Law School admitted 26.05 percent of applicants for the fall 2025 class, extending 1,185 offers against 4,549 applications, according to its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Lovare's analysis ranks Loyola Marymount Law School 20th most selective of the 41 schools within two points of its 163 median, right around the middle of its band.

How many people apply to LMU Loyola Law School?

LMU Loyola Law School received 4,549 applications for the fall 2025 entering class, made 1,185 offers, and enrolled 337 matriculants from the pool for a first-year class of 338, which includes 287 full-time and 51 part-time students, per its 2025 ABA 509. That large pool supports Loyola Marymount Law School's selective 26.05 percent acceptance rate.

How much does LMU Loyola Law School cost?

LMU Loyola Law School lists full-time tuition and fees of $71,386, plus a high $43,030 in living expenses, in its 2025 ABA 509. Loyola Marymount Law School does not publish a single cost-of-attendance total in the 509, so tuition and living are best read separately. A median grant of $45,000 brings tuition and fees to about $26,386 before living costs.

Does LMU Loyola Law School give scholarships?

Yes, and large ones, but to a smaller share. LMU Loyola Law School reports that 62 percent of students receive grants, with awards of $35,000, $45,000, and $52,000 at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles, per its 2025 ABA 509. Those awards at Loyola Marymount Law School are conditional, so a first-year grant can be cut if your grades fall below the school's threshold.

What is LMU Loyola Law School's bar passage rate?

LMU Loyola Law School posted an 84.19 percent first-time bar passage rate for exam year 2024, with California as the largest jurisdiction, according to its ABA bar-passage report. Its ultimate pass rate, measured two years out for the 2022 cohort, was 93.52 percent. Both are solid figures on the demanding California exam, and the ultimate rate shows most Loyola Marymount Law School graduates eventually pass.

Where do LMU Loyola Law School graduates work?

Almost entirely in California. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows LMU Loyola Law School placed 305 graduates in California, 3 in the District of Columbia, and 2 in New York, a 90.8 percent top-market share and 92.3 percent across the top three. Loyola Marymount Law School is one of the most California-concentrated schools in the country, built for the Los Angeles market.

Can a splitter get into LMU Loyola Law School?

A splitter has a real path. Lovare reads LMU Loyola Law School as splitter friendly, with a wider GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.22 against an LSAT spread of 3 points in the 2025 ABA 509. That means Loyola Marymount Law School forgives a lower GPA when the LSAT is high, so a strong-LSAT applicant with a GPA toward the 3.52 quartile is a viable candidate.

How selective is LMU Loyola Law School compared with schools at the same LSAT?

LMU Loyola Law School is squarely mid-band. Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures ranks Loyola Marymount Law School 20th most selective of the 41 schools whose median LSAT sits within two points of its 163. In plain terms, about as many peer schools admit a smaller share of applicants as admit a larger one, so LMU Loyola is an average admit for its scores.

Is LMU Loyola Law School worth it?

For a California career, the outcomes are strong, but weigh the cost. LMU Loyola Law School pairs a $71,386 sticker and a high $43,030 living figure with a 95.2 percent employment rate and a 26.2 percent large-firm share in the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024. For a Los Angeles-bound applicant who wins a large grant, Loyola Marymount Law School can be worth it, but the conditional aid and living cost matter.

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

Scores above the medians. Because LMU Loyola Law School reserves its large awards for the strongest files, an LSAT above the 163 median toward the 165 upper quartile, paired with a GPA above 3.74 toward the 3.89 quartile, positions you for the top of Loyola Marymount Law School's grant range, where the 75th-percentile award reaches $52,000. Higher scores also cushion you against the conditional retention threshold.

Can LMU Loyola Law School take away my scholarship?

It can. LMU Loyola Law School reports in its 2025 ABA 509 that it uses conditional scholarships, so a first-year award can be reduced or cut if your grades fall below a set threshold. Before accepting an offer from Loyola Marymount Law School, get the exact retention standard in writing and ask how many students kept the same award last year, since a graded first-year curve guarantees some will not.

Do LMU Loyola Law School graduates leave California?

Very few do. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows LMU Loyola Law School placed 305 of its graduates in California against just 3 in the District of Columbia and 2 in New York. With a 90.8 percent California share, Loyola Marymount Law School is a California-focused school, so an applicant planning to practice outside the state should weigh that concentration carefully.

Sources

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

LMU Loyola Law School 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class): https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=10&year=2025

LMU Loyola Law School ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=10&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=10&year=2024

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