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

The short answer to how to get into UC Davis Law School is to hit the medians from UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure: a 165 LSAT and a 3.7 GPA. The middle 50 percent scored 160 to 167 on the LSAT and 3.49 to 3.87 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. Every figure on this page comes from UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class), the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, and UC Davis Law's own published pages.

UC Davis Law School gives grant aid to nearly its entire class, and that fact is the one to lead with. According to UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, 99 percent of students receive grants, one of the highest grant-reach figures you will find at any law school. That value sits alongside real selectivity: among the 34 ABA law schools whose median LSAT is within two points of UC Davis Law's 165, ranked by acceptance rate, UC Davis Law is 8th most selective of 34, per Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures, which places it in the upper quartile of its band. It also posts the strongest first-time bar passage in this set, 88.94 percent for exam year 2024 per UC Davis Law's ABA bar-passage report. The thesis of this page is that UC Davis Law School is a selective, high-value California public school that funds almost everyone it admits and graduates them into the state at a high bar-passage rate.

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

UC Davis Law School posts a 165 LSAT median, a 3.7 GPA median, and a 21.06 percent acceptance rate in UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Full-time tuition and fees run $59,870 for residents and $72,115 for nonresidents, with living expenses of $33,048 listed separately. The table below collects the headline numbers.

MetricUC Davis Law School (fall 2025 entering class)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)160 / 165 / 167GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.49 / 3.7 / 3.87Acceptance rate21.06%Applications3,912Offers of admission824Matriculants from the applicant pool205First-year class209Full-time tuition and feesresident $59,870 / nonresident $72,115Living expenses$33,048Share receiving grants99%Median grant$25,000Conditional scholarshipsNoFirst-time bar passage88.94%Employed at ten months93.0% (226 of 243)

Source: UC Davis 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 UC Davis Law's ABA bar-passage report. Tuition is reported separately for residents and nonresidents, and the 509 lists living expenses on their own and does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance total, so this page reports the components rather than inventing an all-in figure for UC Davis Law.

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

UC Davis Law School reports an LSAT spread of 160 to 167 and a GPA spread of 3.49 to 3.87 in its 2025 ABA 509. A 165 and a 3.7 sit at both medians. Below the 160 LSAT or the 3.49 GPA, you need a clear compensating strength on the other number to stay competitive.

UC Davis Law School reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 160, 165, and 167, and a GPA 25th, 50th, and 75th of 3.49, 3.7, and 3.87 for the fall 2025 entering class, per UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. The median is the fiftieth percentile: half of enrolled students scored above 165 on the LSAT and above 3.7 in GPA, and half below. At UC Davis Law the medians are attainable for a strong applicant, and clearing both puts you at the center of the class.

Read the realistic range this way. A 165 LSAT paired with a 3.7 GPA sits at both medians of UC Davis Law School, a strong and competitive position. The LSAT band is wide on the low side, running from 160 at the 25th percentile up to the 165 median, a five-point drop, which means UC Davis Law admits a meaningful number of students in the low 160s. A 160, the 25th percentile, is real admit territory, but it wants a GPA at or above the 3.7 median to carry it. Below the 160 LSAT or the 3.49 GPA, an applicant needs a clear compensating strength on the other number.

The shape of the two bands makes UC Davis Law School reverse-splitter friendly. Lovare's read of the 509 spreads shows a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.21 and an LSAT 25th-to-median spread of five points, so the LSAT band runs wider on the low side than the GPA band. A reverse-splitter-friendly school forgives a lower LSAT when the GPA is high, while a splitter-friendly school forgives a lower GPA when the LSAT is high. UC Davis Law leans reverse-splitter: a strong GPA near the 3.87 upper quartile paired with an LSAT in the low 160s has a genuine path, more so than a high LSAT sitting on a sub-3.49 GPA. If your transcript is your stronger number, UC Davis Law School is a school worth targeting.

One reassuring number sits underneath all of this. UC Davis Law School reports first-year academic attrition of 0.0 percent in its 2025 ABA 509, which means essentially no members of a recent first-year class left for academic reasons. For an applicant weighing whether a school pushes people out after admitting them, UC Davis Law's 0.0 percent academic attrition is a signal that the class it admits is the class it keeps.

Is UC Davis Law School harder to get into than its reputation?

A bit harder, in fact. By raw acceptance rate, UC Davis Law School ranks 8th most selective of the 34 schools within two points of its 165 LSAT median, per Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509. That upper-quartile placement means UC Davis Law is more selective than most schools at its LSAT level.

Reputation places UC Davis Law School among the well-regarded public law schools with a strong California footprint, and its 165 LSAT median fits that standing. Its acceptance rate is a step more selective than that reputation might suggest. Lovare built a peer band of the 34 ABA law schools whose median LSAT falls within two points of UC Davis Law's 165, that is, a median of 163 to 167, then ranked them by acceptance rate from the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. By that ranking, UC Davis Law School comes in 8th most selective of the 34, in the upper quartile of the band.

In plain terms, UC Davis Law School admits a smaller share of applicants than most schools posting a similar LSAT median. According to UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, the school received 3,912 applications, made 824 offers, and enrolled a first-year class of 209, for a 21.06 percent acceptance rate. That strong applicant pool, drawn heavily from California, is part of why the admit rate lands below one in five.

The honest verdict is that UC Davis Law School is a touch more selective than its reputation implies rather than less. For an applicant at or above the medians, it is a realistic target, and for an applicant below the 160 LSAT quartile, it is a genuine reach that needs a strong GPA to convert, which fits the school's reverse-splitter lean. Read UC Davis Law School as quietly competitive for its band.

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

UC Davis Law School charges $59,870 in resident tuition and fees and $72,115 for nonresidents, per UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA 509, plus $33,048 in living expenses. Ninety-nine percent of students receive grants, the median award is $25,000, and a nonresident on the median grant nets about $47,115 in tuition and fees before living costs.

Start with the sticker, which comes in two versions. UC Davis Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $59,870 for California residents and $72,115 for nonresidents, plus $33,048 in living expenses. The 509 prints tuition and living costs 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 UC Davis Law reports, and this page will not invent one. Residents begin from the lower $59,870 base, the single biggest cost lever at a public school like UC Davis Law.

On aid, UC Davis Law School reaches nearly every student, which is its standout financial feature. According to the same 509, 99 percent of UC Davis Law students receive grant aid, with awards at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of $14,500, $25,000, and $35,000. UC Davis Law reports 0 full-tuition awards and 5 awards above full tuition, so while a couple of top applicants receive more than the full sticker, the more important story is how broad the aid is: almost no one at UC Davis Law pays the full price with no grant at all.

The math for a typical recipient works out like this. Against the $72,115 nonresident sticker, a student receiving UC Davis Law School's median grant of $25,000 nets about $47,115 in tuition and fees before living costs, per Lovare's read of the 2025 ABA 509 disclosure. A resident holding the same $25,000 median grant starts from the lower $59,870 base and therefore pays materially less. The aid is also stable: UC Davis Law reports that its scholarships are not conditional, so an award is not tied to a first-year GPA or class-rank threshold and cannot be cut if your grades slip. The grant UC Davis Law School quotes at admission is the grant you keep.

What are your real chances off the UC Davis Law School waitlist?

UC Davis Law School does not disclose waitlist offers or admits, and no ABA report does. The honest proxy is implied yield: 205 matriculants against 824 offers is a 24.9 percent yield, per Lovare's read of UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA 509. That relatively low yield suggests the UC Davis Law waitlist can move in some cycles.

Here is the reasoning in full. UC Davis Law School enrolled 205 matriculants from the applicant pool against 824 offers in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, an implied yield of 24.9 percent. No ABA disclosure, UC Davis 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 about a quarter of admitted students enroll, a school extends offers well beyond the seats it needs and often returns to its waitlist to complete the class.

A 24.9 percent yield is on the lower side, which for a waitlisted applicant to UC Davis Law School is cautiously encouraging. A low yield means the school leans on a larger admitted pool and, in cycles where deposits fall short, on its waitlist. That is different from a school yielding close to half its offers and barely moving its list. UC Davis Law's number leaves the door genuinely ajar.

If you land on the UC Davis Law School waitlist, the play is standard: send a concise letter of continued interest naming UC Davis Law as a top choice, add any new LSAT score or grades, and keep another acceptance in hand as your floor. One honest note on the class figures: UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA 509 lists 205 matriculants from the pool but a first-year class of 209, a small gap that reflects students who arrive through paths other than this single cycle, such as prior-year deferrals. The 24.9 percent implied yield uses the 205 pool matriculants against the 824 offers, which is the right comparison for reasoning about UC Davis Law waitlist odds.

Where do UC Davis Law School graduates actually work?

In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, UC Davis Law School placed 79.0 percent of graduates in California and 83.5 percent across its top three markets. Large firms of 101 or more lawyers took 32.1 percent, and 1.2 percent won federal clerkships. UC Davis Law is a California-concentrated school with a solid large-firm share.

Start with concentration, because it is what predicts fit. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, UC Davis Law School placed 192 of its graduates in California, 7 in the District of Columbia, and 4 in Alaska. That is a 79.0 percent top-market share and an 83.5 percent top-three share, describing a school whose network runs deep in California. If you want to practice in Sacramento, the Bay Area, or elsewhere in the state, UC Davis Law School is aimed squarely at your market. If your target is Washington or the East Coast, that 83.5 percent top-three concentration is a signal that UC Davis Law's alumni pull is heavily Californian.

On firm outcomes, UC Davis Law School is a solid large-firm performer. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 32.1 percent of UC Davis Law graduates taking jobs at large firms of 101 or more lawyers, a strong share for a public school that signals a real, if not dominant, large-firm pipeline into the California market. Nearly a third of the class entering large-firm practice is a meaningful outcome for an applicant weighing UC Davis Law School against its peers.

The rest of the picture rounds it out. UC Davis Law School reported 226 of 243 graduates employed at ten months, or 93.0 percent, in the same ABA Employment Summary, a solid overall employment rate. Federal clerkships are a smaller slice: the summary shows 1.2 percent of UC Davis Law graduates entering federal clerkships. Taken together, the outcomes describe a school that places most of its class into California practice, with a healthy large-firm share and a modest clerkship footprint at UC Davis Law School.

When are UC Davis Law School's application deadlines?

UC Davis Law School's specific application deadlines and any Early Decision terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle, so confirm them directly on UC Davis Law's admissions site. The sources here, the 2025 ABA 509 and the ABA employment and bar reports, do not publish cycle dates. This guidance is dated August 2026.

To be transparent about what this page can and cannot verify: the primary disclosures behind UC Davis Law School's numbers, namely the 2025 ABA Standard 509 report and the ABA employment and bar-passage reports, do not include application deadlines or the terms of any binding Early Decision program. Rather than state a date this page cannot source, the honest step is to send you to UC Davis Law School's own admissions page for the current cycle's deadlines and any Early Decision option, verified as of August 2026.

As a general matter in law school admissions, applying earlier in a cycle tends to help, because offers and scholarship funds deplete as a class fills. That general dynamic is consistent with UC Davis Law School's 24.9 percent implied yield from its 2025 ABA 509, which shows a school that extends many offers to build its class. Because UC Davis Law funds almost every admitted student, submitting a complete, strong application early, well before any posted final deadline you confirm on the school's site, is the lower-risk approach at UC Davis Law School.

Frequently asked questions about getting into UC Davis Law School

Is a 165 LSAT good enough for UC Davis Law?

A 165 is exactly the LSAT median at UC Davis Law School, per UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, where the middle 50 percent scored 160 to 167. A 165 puts you at the fiftieth percentile, competitive rather than a lock. Pair it with a GPA at or above the 3.7 median and you are a strong candidate at UC Davis Law School.

What GPA do you need to get into UC Davis Law?

UC Davis Law School reports a GPA median of 3.7, with a 25th to 75th range of 3.49 to 3.87, in its 2025 ABA 509. Aim for 3.7 or higher. Because UC Davis Law is reverse-splitter friendly, a strong GPA can help carry an LSAT in the low 160s, so a high transcript is especially valuable at UC Davis Law School.

What is UC Davis Law's acceptance rate?

UC Davis Law School admitted 21.06 percent of applicants for the fall 2025 class, extending 824 offers against 3,912 applications, according to UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. That rate ranks 8th most selective of the 34 schools in its LSAT band, so UC Davis Law School is more selective than most schools at its LSAT level.

How many people apply to UC Davis Law each year?

UC Davis Law School received 3,912 applications for the fall 2025 entering class, made 824 offers, and enrolled a first-year class of 209, per UC Davis Law's 2025 ABA 509. That large pool against a limited number of offers is what produces UC Davis Law School's 21.06 percent acceptance rate and its upper-quartile standing in its band.

How much does UC Davis Law cost per year?

UC Davis Law School lists full-time tuition and fees of $59,870 for residents and $72,115 for nonresidents, plus $33,048 in living expenses, in its 2025 ABA 509. UC Davis 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 UC Davis Law School.

Does UC Davis Law give scholarships?

Yes, to almost everyone. UC Davis Law School reports that 99 percent of students receive grant aid, with awards of $14,500, $25,000, and $35,000 at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles, plus 5 awards above full tuition, in its 2025 ABA 509. The awards are not conditional, so a UC Davis Law grant cannot be cut for grades.

What is UC Davis Law's bar passage rate?

UC Davis Law School posted an 88.94 percent first-time bar passage rate for exam year 2024, with California as its largest jurisdiction, according to UC Davis Law's ABA bar-passage report. Its ultimate pass rate for the 2022 cohort was 92.82 percent. That first-time rate is the strongest in this set and is excellent for California, where the bar exam is among the nation's toughest.

Where do most UC Davis Law graduates work?

Most stay in California. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows UC Davis Law School placed 192 graduates in California, 7 in the District of Columbia, and 4 in Alaska, a 79.0 percent top-market share and 83.5 percent across the top three. UC Davis Law School has a strongly California-concentrated placement profile.

Do UC Davis Law graduates get large-firm jobs?

Many do. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, UC Davis Law School sent 32.1 percent of graduates to large firms of 101 or more lawyers, a strong share for a public school. UC Davis Law School also placed 1.2 percent of its class into federal clerkships in the same summary, so its main private-sector strength is the large-firm pipeline.

Can a splitter get into UC Davis Law?

A reverse-splitter has a real path. Lovare reads UC Davis Law School as reverse-splitter friendly, with a wide LSAT 25th-to-median spread of five points but a narrower GPA spread of 0.21 in the 2025 ABA 509. That means UC Davis Law forgives a lower LSAT when the GPA is high, so a strong-GPA applicant with an LSAT in the low 160s is viable at UC Davis Law School.

How selective is UC Davis Law compared with schools at the same LSAT?

More selective than most. Among the 34 schools whose median LSAT is within two points of UC Davis Law School's 165, ranked by acceptance rate, UC Davis Law is 8th most selective of 34, per Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509. So UC Davis Law School admits a smaller share of applicants than most schools at its LSAT level.

Is UC Davis Law worth it?

For a California career, the value case is strong. UC Davis Law School pairs its tuition with 99 percent grant reach, a $25,000 median award, and, in the Class of 2024 summary, 93.0 percent employment at ten months and a 32.1 percent large-firm share. Add an 88.94 percent first-time bar pass rate, and the numbers favor UC Davis Law School, especially for residents paying the lower tuition.

Does UC Davis Law push out first-year students?

No. UC Davis Law School reports first-year academic attrition of 0.0 percent in its 2025 ABA 509, meaning essentially no first-year students left for academic reasons. Combined with scholarships that are not conditional, that tells an applicant the class UC Davis Law admits is the class it keeps, without a hidden first-year washout risk at UC Davis Law School.

Does the UC Davis Law waitlist move?

Sometimes. UC Davis Law School's implied yield is 24.9 percent, from 205 matriculants against 824 offers in its 2025 ABA 509, per Lovare's read. That relatively low yield means UC Davis Law extends many offers to fill its class and can return to its waitlist in some cycles, so a waitlisted applicant to UC Davis Law has real if limited hope.

What LSAT and GPA give the best shot at a UC Davis Law scholarship?

Numbers above the medians, with a strong GPA carrying weight. Because UC Davis Law School reports a $35,000 upper-quartile grant and 5 awards above full tuition in its 2025 ABA 509, an LSAT above 165 and a GPA above 3.7, near the 167 and 3.87 upper quartiles, position you for the largest awards at UC Davis Law School.

Sources

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

UC Davis Law School 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class): https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=8&year=2025

UC Davis Law School ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=8&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=8&year=2024

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