How to Get Into UC Law San Francisco: LSAT, GPA & Admissions (2026)

The short answer to how to get into UC Law San Francisco is to hit the medians from UC Law San Francisco's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure: a 161 LSAT and a 3.71 GPA. The middle 50 percent scored 158 to 163 on the LSAT and 3.55 to 3.83 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 Law San Francisco's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class), the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, and UC Law San Francisco's own published pages.

UC Law San Francisco is one of the most California-concentrated law schools in the country, and that fact is the one to lead with. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 86.3 percent of UC Law San Francisco graduates worked in California, with 89.1 percent across the top three markets, the deepest home-state concentration in this set. It feeds that market at scale from a large class: UC Law San Francisco reported 380 first-year students in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, and 34.4 percent of the Class of 2024 went to large firms of 101 or more lawyers. It is also a relative value among California options, with resident tuition and fees of $54,329. One caution belongs up front: UC Law San Francisco uses conditional scholarships, so a first-year award can be reduced if grades fall below the school's threshold. The thesis of this page is that UC Law San Francisco is a large, California-focused public school that channels most of its graduates into the state, with a scholarship structure applicants should read carefully.

UC Law San Francisco at a glance: LSAT, GPA, acceptance rate and cost

UC Law San Francisco posts a 161 LSAT median, a 3.71 GPA median, and a 27.48 percent acceptance rate in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Full-time tuition and fees run $54,329 for residents and $63,015 for nonresidents, with living expenses of $34,466 listed separately. The table below collects the headline numbers.

MetricUC Law San Francisco (fall 2025 entering class)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)158 / 161 / 163GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.55 / 3.71 / 3.83Acceptance rate27.48%Applications4,593Offers of admission1,262Matriculants from the applicant pool374First-year class380Full-time tuition and feesresident $54,329 / nonresident $63,015Living expenses$34,466Share receiving grants86%Median grant$20,000Conditional scholarshipsYesFirst-time bar passage83.84%Employed at ten months93.7% (343 of 366)

Source: UC Law San Francisco'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 Law San Francisco'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 Law San Francisco.

What LSAT and GPA do you really need to get into UC Law San Francisco?

UC Law San Francisco reports an LSAT spread of 158 to 163 and a GPA spread of 3.55 to 3.83 in its 2025 ABA 509. A 161 and a 3.71 sit at both medians. Below the 158 LSAT or the 3.55 GPA, you need a clear compensating strength on the other number to stay competitive.

UC Law San Francisco reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 158, 161, and 163, and a GPA 25th, 50th, and 75th of 3.55, 3.71, and 3.83 for the fall 2025 entering class, per its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. The median is the fiftieth percentile: half of enrolled students scored above 161 on the LSAT and above 3.71 in GPA, and half below. At UC Law San Francisco these medians are attainable for a solid applicant, and clearing both puts you at the center of the class.

Read the realistic range this way. A 161 LSAT paired with a 3.71 GPA sits at both medians of UC Law San Francisco, a competitive position. The bands are relatively tight: the LSAT runs from 158 at the 25th percentile to 163 at the 75th, and the GPA from 3.55 to 3.83. A 158 LSAT, the bottom quartile, is real admit territory at UC Law San Francisco, but a file at or below one quartile wants the other index at or above the median to carry it. Below the 158 LSAT or the 3.55 GPA, an applicant needs a clear compensating strength on the other number.

The shape of the two bands makes UC Law San Francisco splitter friendly. Lovare's read of the 509 spreads shows a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.16 and an LSAT 25th-to-median spread of three points. A splitter-friendly school forgives a lower GPA when the LSAT is high, while a reverse-splitter-friendly school forgives a lower LSAT when the GPA is high. UC Law San Francisco leans splitter: a high LSAT near the 163 upper quartile paired with a slightly lower GPA has a genuine path. Importantly for an access-minded applicant, a 161 LSAT is exactly competitive at UC Law San Francisco, so an applicant scoring in that range should treat the school as a genuine target rather than a reach.

One consumer-protective fact belongs in this section. UC Law San Francisco reports first-year academic attrition of 4.0 percent in its 2025 ABA 509, higher than the zero-attrition figures several peer schools post, though well short of the highest attrition levels in legal education. In plain terms, a small but real share of a recent first-year class left for academic reasons. The first year at UC Law San Francisco is genuine work, and, as the cost section explains, first-year grades also carry financial stakes because the school uses conditional scholarships.

Is UC Law San Francisco harder to get into than its reputation?

Somewhat more selective than a middle read would suggest. By raw acceptance rate, UC Law San Francisco ranks 21st most selective of the 59 schools within two points of its 161 LSAT median, per Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509. That upper-third placement means UC Law San Francisco is more selective than most schools at its LSAT level.

Reputation places UC Law San Francisco among the established California public law schools with a long history and a large alumni base in the state, and its 161 LSAT median fits that standing. Its acceptance rate is a step more selective than that reputation might imply. Lovare built a peer band of the 59 ABA law schools whose median LSAT falls within two points of UC Law San Francisco's 161, that is, a median of 159 to 163, then ranked them by acceptance rate from the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. By that ranking, UC Law San Francisco comes in 21st most selective of the 59, in the upper third of a large band.

In plain terms, UC Law San Francisco admits a smaller share of applicants than most schools posting a similar LSAT median. According to its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, UC Law San Francisco received 4,593 applications, made 1,262 offers, and enrolled a first-year class of 380, for a 27.48 percent acceptance rate. That is a large pool and a large class, and the school extends many offers to fill its sizable first-year cohort while still admitting fewer than three applicants in ten.

The honest verdict is that UC Law San Francisco is more competitive than its acceptance rate alone might suggest, sitting in the upper third of a broad band. For an applicant at or near the 161 median, it is a realistic target, and for an applicant with a 161 LSAT specifically, this is exactly the kind of school where that score is competitive rather than a long shot. Read UC Law San Francisco as an attainable but genuinely selective California option.

How much does UC Law San Francisco cost, and how much scholarship money will you get?

UC Law San Francisco charges $54,329 in resident tuition and fees and $63,015 for nonresidents, per its 2025 ABA 509, plus $34,466 in living expenses. Eighty-six percent of students receive grants, the median award is $20,000, and a nonresident on the median grant nets about $43,015 in tuition before living costs. Its scholarships are conditional.

Start with the sticker, which comes in two versions. UC Law San Francisco's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $54,329 for California residents and $63,015 for nonresidents, plus $34,466 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 Law San Francisco reports, and this page will not invent one. The resident tuition of $54,329 is the lowest sticker among the schools profiled here, which is a real point in UC Law San Francisco's favor for California residents.

On aid, UC Law San Francisco reaches most of its class. According to the same 509, 86 percent of UC Law San Francisco students receive grant aid, with awards at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of $10,000, $20,000, and $25,000. The school reports 0 full-tuition awards and 12 awards above full tuition. Against the $63,015 nonresident sticker, a student receiving UC Law San Francisco's median grant of $20,000 nets about $43,015 in tuition and fees before living costs, per Lovare's read of the 2025 ABA 509. A resident holding the same $20,000 median grant starts from the lower $54,329 base and pays materially less.

Now the warning that every applicant to UC Law San Francisco should read carefully. UC Law San Francisco reports that its scholarships are conditional, which means a first-year award can be reduced or lost if your grades fall below the threshold the school sets. This is different from the schools that guarantee an award for all three years. At UC Law San Francisco, the grant you are quoted at admission is not automatically the grant you keep: if you land below the required class rank or GPA cutoff after the first year, the award can be cut, which raises your net cost at exactly the moment you cannot easily transfer or replace the money. Before you compare UC Law San Francisco's offer against a guaranteed award elsewhere, ask the admissions office for the exact retention threshold and the share of students who keep their scholarships, and budget for the possibility that the award shrinks. Paired with the school's 4.0 percent first-year academic attrition, this conditional structure means first-year performance at UC Law San Francisco carries both academic and financial stakes.

What are your real chances off the UC Law San Francisco waitlist?

UC Law San Francisco does not disclose waitlist offers or admits, and no ABA report does. The honest proxy is implied yield: 374 matriculants against 1,262 offers is a 29.6 percent yield, per Lovare's read of the 2025 ABA 509. That moderate yield means UC Law San Francisco fills much of its large class from first-round offers.

Here is the reasoning in full. UC Law San Francisco enrolled 374 matriculants from the applicant pool against 1,262 offers in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, an implied yield of 29.6 percent. No ABA disclosure, UC Law San Francisco'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 three in ten admitted students enroll, a school extends offers well beyond the seats it needs but still fills a large share of its class from first-round offers.

A 29.6 percent yield is moderate, which for a waitlisted applicant to UC Law San Francisco means real but not generous odds. Because UC Law San Francisco runs a large class of 380 and extends more than 1,200 offers, small shifts in how many admits enroll can translate into meaningful waitlist activity in some cycles and little in others. The size of the class cuts both ways: more seats to fill, but also more offers already out.

If you land on the UC Law San Francisco waitlist, the play is standard: send a concise letter of continued interest naming UC Law San Francisco 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 Law San Francisco's 2025 ABA 509 lists 374 matriculants from the pool but a first-year class of 380, a gap of six that reflects students who arrive through paths other than this single cycle, such as prior-year deferrals. The 29.6 percent implied yield uses the 374 pool matriculants against the 1,262 offers, which is the right comparison for reasoning about UC Law San Francisco waitlist odds.

Where do UC Law San Francisco graduates actually work?

In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, UC Law San Francisco placed 86.3 percent of graduates in California and 89.1 percent across its top three markets. Large firms of 101 or more lawyers took 34.4 percent, and 1.4 percent won federal clerkships. UC Law San Francisco is the most California-concentrated school in this set.

Start with concentration, because it is what predicts fit, and here it is striking. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, UC Law San Francisco placed 316 of its graduates in California, 6 in New York, and 4 in the District of Columbia. That is an 86.3 percent top-market share and an 89.1 percent top-three share, the deepest home-state concentration among the schools profiled here. If you want to practice in San Francisco, the Bay Area, or anywhere in California, UC Law San Francisco is aimed directly at your market. If your target is New York, Washington, or anywhere outside California, that 86.3 percent single-state share is a clear signal that UC Law San Francisco's network is overwhelmingly Californian.

On firm outcomes, UC Law San Francisco is a solid large-firm performer. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 34.4 percent of UC Law San Francisco graduates taking jobs at large firms of 101 or more lawyers, a strong share for a public school that signals a real large-firm pipeline into the California market. With a class this size, that share represents a substantial number of graduates entering large-firm practice each year through UC Law San Francisco.

The rest of the picture rounds it out. UC Law San Francisco reported 343 of 366 graduates employed at ten months, or 93.7 percent, in the same ABA Employment Summary, a solid overall employment rate for a large class. Federal clerkships are a smaller slice: the summary shows 1.4 percent of UC Law San Francisco graduates entering federal clerkships. Taken together, the outcomes describe a school that channels the large majority of its class into California practice, with a healthy large-firm share and a modest clerkship footprint at UC Law San Francisco.

When are UC Law San Francisco's application deadlines?

UC Law San Francisco's specific application deadlines and any Early Decision terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle, so confirm them directly on UC Law San Francisco'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 Law San Francisco'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 Law San Francisco'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 Law San Francisco's 29.6 percent implied yield from its 2025 ABA 509, which shows a school that extends many offers to build its large class. Because UC Law San Francisco's scholarships are conditional and its aid dollars are finite, 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 Law San Francisco.

Frequently asked questions about getting into UC Law San Francisco

Is a 161 LSAT good enough for UC Law San Francisco?

A 161 is exactly the LSAT median at UC Law San Francisco, per its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, where the middle 50 percent scored 158 to 163. A 161 puts you at the fiftieth percentile, competitive rather than a lock. Pair it with a GPA at or above the 3.71 median and you are a strong candidate at UC Law San Francisco.

What GPA do you need to get into UC Law San Francisco?

UC Law San Francisco reports a GPA median of 3.71, with a 25th to 75th range of 3.55 to 3.83, in its 2025 ABA 509. Aim for 3.71 or higher. Because UC Law San Francisco is splitter friendly, a high LSAT can help offset a slightly lower GPA, so the LSAT is the more forgiving number at UC Law San Francisco.

What is UC Law San Francisco's acceptance rate?

UC Law San Francisco admitted 27.48 percent of applicants for the fall 2025 class, extending 1,262 offers against 4,593 applications, according to its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. That rate ranks 21st most selective of the 59 schools in its LSAT band, so UC Law San Francisco is more selective than most schools at its LSAT level.

How many people apply to UC Law San Francisco each year?

UC Law San Francisco received 4,593 applications for the fall 2025 entering class, made 1,262 offers, and enrolled a first-year class of 380, per its 2025 ABA 509. That is one of the larger pools and classes in this set, and the many offers reflect the size of the class UC Law San Francisco must fill.

How much does UC Law San Francisco cost per year?

UC Law San Francisco lists full-time tuition and fees of $54,329 for residents and $63,015 for nonresidents, plus $34,466 in living expenses, in its 2025 ABA 509. UC Law San Francisco 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 Law San Francisco.

Does UC Law San Francisco give scholarships, and can they be cut?

Yes to grants, and yes they can be cut. UC Law San Francisco reports that 86 percent of students receive grant aid, with a $20,000 median award, in its 2025 ABA 509, but its scholarships are conditional. That means a UC Law San Francisco award can be reduced if your first-year grades fall below the school's threshold, so confirm the exact retention rule before enrolling.

What is UC Law San Francisco's bar passage rate?

UC Law San Francisco posted an 83.84 percent first-time bar passage rate for exam year 2024, with California as its largest jurisdiction, according to its ABA bar-passage report. Its ultimate pass rate for the 2022 cohort was 89.67 percent. Both figures are solid for California, where the bar exam is among the nation's toughest, though they sit below the strongest schools in this set.

Where do most UC Law San Francisco graduates work?

Almost all stay in California. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows UC Law San Francisco placed 316 graduates in California, 6 in New York, and 4 in the District of Columbia, an 86.3 percent top-market share and 89.1 percent across the top three. UC Law San Francisco has the most California-concentrated placement profile in this set.

Do UC Law San Francisco graduates get large-firm jobs?

Many do. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, UC Law San Francisco sent 34.4 percent of graduates to large firms of 101 or more lawyers, a strong share for a public school. UC Law San Francisco also placed 1.4 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 Law San Francisco?

A splitter has a real path. Lovare reads UC Law San Francisco as splitter friendly, with a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.16 and an LSAT spread of three points in the 2025 ABA 509. That means UC Law San Francisco can forgive a slightly lower GPA when the LSAT is high, so a high-LSAT applicant with a GPA a little below the median remains viable at UC Law San Francisco.

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

More selective than most. Among the 59 schools whose median LSAT is within two points of UC Law San Francisco's 161, ranked by acceptance rate, UC Law San Francisco is 21st most selective of 59, per Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509. So UC Law San Francisco admits a smaller share of applicants than most schools at its LSAT level.

Does UC Law San Francisco push out first-year students?

A small share leave. UC Law San Francisco reports first-year academic attrition of 4.0 percent in its 2025 ABA 509, higher than the zero-attrition figures some peers post but well short of the highest levels in legal education. Because UC Law San Francisco also uses conditional scholarships, first-year grades carry both academic and financial stakes at UC Law San Francisco.

Is UC Law San Francisco worth it?

For a California career, the value case is reasonable. UC Law San Francisco pairs the lowest resident sticker in this set, $54,329, with 86 percent grant reach and, in the Class of 2024 summary, 93.7 percent employment and a 34.4 percent large-firm share. Weigh that against conditional scholarships and an 83.84 percent first-time bar rate when you judge UC Law San Francisco.

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

Numbers above the medians, and a plan to keep the award. Because UC Law San Francisco reports a $25,000 upper-quartile grant and conditional scholarships in its 2025 ABA 509, an LSAT above 161 and a GPA above 3.71, near the 163 and 3.83 upper quartiles, position you for a larger award, but confirm the first-year retention threshold so a UC Law San Francisco grant is not cut later.

Sources

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

UC Law San Francisco 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class): https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=16&year=2025

UC Law San Francisco ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=16&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=16&year=2024

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