How to Get Into University of Colorado Law School: LSAT, GPA & Admissions (2026)

To learn how to get into University of Colorado Law School, start with two numbers. According to Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, the fall 2025 entering class posted an LSAT median of 164, on a band of 161 to 167, and a GPA median of 3.81, on a band of 3.62 to 3.91. Reach both medians and you are competitive at Colorado Law, not yet admitted.

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 Colorado Law'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 and outcome figures from Colorado Law's ABA bar-passage report and the school's own pages.

Colorado Law places a larger share of its class into big firms than any school in this set, and it does so in a single, desirable market. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 28.0% of Colorado Law graduates took first jobs at large firms of 101 or more lawyers, and 72.0% started in Colorado. According to Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, the fall 2025 class posted a 164 LSAT median, a 3.81 GPA median, and a 27.56% acceptance rate. The thesis of this page is that Colorado Law is a strong feeder into the Denver and Boulder legal markets, with an accessible acceptance rate but thinner scholarship funding than its peers, a tradeoff an applicant should price in honestly.

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

Colorado Law admissions are accessible on rate with a mid-160s median. According to Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, the fall 2025 LSAT median is 164, the GPA median is 3.81, and the acceptance rate is 27.56%, while 87% of students receive grants, though the median grant is modest. The table below gathers the core Colorado Law numbers for quick reference.

MetricColorado Law (fall 2025 entering class)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)161 / 164 / 167GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.62 / 3.81 / 3.91Acceptance rate27.56%Applications3,458Offers of admission953Matriculants from the pool193First-year class199Full-time tuition and feesResident $35,992 / nonresident $44,002Living expenses$27,626Share receiving grants87%Median grant$15,000Full-tuition and above-full-tuition awards11 full-tuition, 6 above-full-tuition (17 total)Conditional scholarshipsNoFirst-time bar passage92.91%Employed at ten months92.9% (156 of 168)

Source: Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report for the fall 2025 entering class, Colorado Law's ABA bar-passage report, and the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024. Tuition and living expenses are printed separately in the 509, which does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance total for Colorado Law, so this page does not quote one. Verified August 2026.

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

For Colorado Law, the realistic target is a 164 LSAT and a 3.81 GPA, the fall 2025 medians in Colorado Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure. The middle 50% runs 161 to 167 on the LSAT and 3.62 to 3.91 on GPA. Below either 25th percentile, the other number has to carry the Colorado Law file.

Colorado Law reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 161, 164, and 167, and a GPA spread of 3.62, 3.81, and 3.91, in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Read the two rows together and the class is balanced and moderately high: the LSAT band runs six points from the 25th to the 75th percentile, and the GPA band is fairly tight, opening from 3.62 to 3.91. The median admit to Colorado Law carries a 164 LSAT and a 3.81 GPA, and half the class sits above each line and half below.

A realistic profile at Colorado Law therefore starts at those two medians. A 164 LSAT and a 3.81 GPA place an applicant at the center of the fall 2025 class, per Colorado Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, which makes for a competitive file rather than a safe one. Push either number toward the 75th percentile, a 167 LSAT or a 3.91 GPA, and the odds improve for both admission and the school's limited scholarship money at Colorado Law. Fall below the 25th percentile on either measure, a 161 LSAT or a 3.62 GPA, and Colorado Law will look to the other number to carry the application.

On the splitter question, Colorado Law is splitter friendly, the more common of the two patterns. The GPA spread from the 25th percentile to the median is a narrow 0.19 and the LSAT spread is 3 points, per Colorado Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, so the school leans on a high LSAT to offset a softer GPA rather than the reverse. A splitter carries a high LSAT with a lower GPA; a reverse-splitter carries a high GPA with a lower LSAT. Because Colorado Law is splitter friendly, a 167 LSAT can pull a GPA toward the 3.62 quartile into contention, while a high GPA does less to rescue an LSAT below 161, since the GPA band itself is narrow. The practical takeaway for an applicant to Colorado Law is that LSAT points are the higher-leverage investment for admission.

Is Colorado Law harder to get into than its reputation?

No, it is a touch more accessible than its LSAT band implies. Among the 36 ABA law schools whose median LSAT is within two points of Colorado Law's 164, Colorado Law ranks 24th most selective by acceptance rate, per Lovare's analysis of 2025 ABA 509 data. Its 27.56% rate is more forgiving than most schools at the same LSAT level, so a mid-160s applicant has a realistic shot.

To size up Colorado Law fairly, compare it only against schools with a similar academic profile. Among the 36 ABA law schools whose median LSAT falls within two points of Colorado Law's 164, that is a median of 162 to 166, ranked by acceptance rate, Colorado Law is the 24th most selective of the group, per Lovare's analysis of 2025 ABA Standard 509 data. In plain terms, 23 schools in that LSAT band admit a smaller share of applicants than Colorado Law's 27.56% rate, computed from 953 offers against 3,458 applications in Colorado Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, while 12 admit a larger share.

The verdict is that Colorado Law is not harder to get into than its reputation implies, and it is a realistic target for an applicant whose numbers sit in the mid-160s. Colorado Law draws a large national applicant pool, 3,458 files for a first-year class of 199, and it extends a wide set of offers, 953 in all, to fill that class. For an applicant, the honest read is that Colorado Law behaves as a target rather than a reach for a candidate at or above its medians, with the caveat that the scholarship funding available to those admits is thinner than at peer schools, which the cost section below spells out.

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

Colorado Law lists resident tuition and fees of $35,992 and nonresident of $44,002 in its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, plus $27,626 in living expenses. Eighty-seven percent of students receive grants, but the median grant is a modest $15,000, so a nonresident admit on that grant nets about $29,002 in tuition and fees before living costs, the highest net figure in this set. Awards are not conditional.

Start with the sticker. Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $35,992 for Colorado residents and $44,002 for nonresidents, and it separately lists living expenses at $27,626. As is standard in the 509, Colorado Law does not print a single combined cost-of-attendance total, so any all-in annual number quoted elsewhere is someone's arithmetic rather than a figure Colorado Law reports, and this page will not invent one.

The aid picture is where Colorado Law asks for honesty. According to Colorado Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, 87% of students receive grant aid, a high participation rate, but the grant amounts are modest, with the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles at $10,300, $15,000, and $27,440. Just as telling, Colorado Law reports only 11 full-tuition awards and 6 above-full-tuition awards, 17 awards at or above full tuition in total, the fewest in this set. In other words, most Colorado Law grants are partial discounts rather than full rides, so while nearly everyone gets something, few students see tuition erased.

For a typical recipient the math is sobering compared with peers. Against the $44,002 nonresident sticker for tuition and fees, a student receiving Colorado Law's median grant of $15,000 nets about $29,002 in tuition and fees before living costs, using figures from Colorado Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure; that is the highest net figure in this set of profiles. A resident starts from the lower $35,992 sticker, which the median grant reduces but does not come close to erasing. One point still in the applicant's favor: Colorado Law's scholarships are not conditional, per its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, so whatever grant an admit is offered cannot be cut for landing in the bottom half of the first-year curve, and first-year academic attrition is 0.0% in the same disclosure. The honest bottom line is that Colorado Law is priced on outcomes, not on discounts: the value case rests on its employment results rather than on deep scholarship funding.

What are your real chances off the Colorado Law waitlist?

Colorado Law does not publish waitlist offers or admits, so the honest proxy is implied yield, matriculants divided by offers, which is 20.3% for fall 2025 per Colorado Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure. A 20.3% yield is low, so Colorado Law extends a wide set of offers to fill its class and its waitlist can move in a year when deposits run light.

Here is the reasoning in full. Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure reports 953 offers of admission and 193 matriculants drawn from the applicant pool, which is an implied yield of 20.3%. No ABA disclosure, Colorado Law'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. The logic runs as follows: a lower yield means a school must extend more offers relative to its seats, and a class that fills less predictably from first-round offers can leave room the school backfills from a waitlist.

A 20.3% yield puts Colorado Law on the low side, which is the profile of a school that depends on a wide offer pool and can find itself short when admitted students choose other options, including schools that offered more scholarship money. That dynamic is exactly what moves a waitlist. For a waitlisted applicant to Colorado Law, the practical read is that a spot is a live possibility worth a concise letter of continued interest and prompt responsiveness, while keeping other offers in hand rather than banking on Colorado Law reaching a particular applicant.

Where do Colorado Law graduates actually work?

Colorado Law is a Colorado-concentrated school with the strongest large-firm placement in this set. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 72.0% of Colorado Law graduates took first jobs in Colorado and 79.8% stayed within the top three markets. Large firms of 101 or more lawyers hired 28.0%, the highest share here, while federal clerkships took 1.8%.

The single most useful fact about Colorado Law's employment outcomes is that a strong large-firm share sits inside a concentrated Colorado market. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Colorado Law placed 121 graduates in Colorado, 7 in the District of Columbia, and 6 in California, its three largest markets. Colorado alone absorbed 72.0% of the class, and the top three markets together took 79.8%, per the same ABA Employment Summary. A Colorado Law degree, in practice, is a Colorado credential first, with modest reach into Washington and California.

By employer type, Colorado Law is the best large-firm feeder in this set of profiles. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 28.0% of Colorado Law graduates taking jobs at large firms of 101 or more lawyers, the highest large-firm share among these five schools, while federal clerkships took 1.8% of the class, per the same summary. That 28.0% large-firm share means better than one Colorado Law graduate in four starts in the kind of firm that pays the top salaries in the Denver market, which is the core of the value case that offsets the school's thinner scholarship funding.

Overall placement is strong. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 156 of 168 Colorado Law graduates employed at the ten-month mark, a 92.9% employment rate, and Colorado Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure reports first-year academic attrition of 0.0%. Colorado Law's ABA bar-passage report shows a first-time pass rate of 92.91% for the 2024 exam year in Colorado, with a 92.9% ultimate rate for the 2022 cohort. The reason to weigh Colorado Law on outcomes is that a 28.0% large-firm share paired with a 72.0% Colorado concentration makes it an excellent bet for a student who wants Denver or Boulder practice, and the honest counterweight is that a student set on an out-of-state market with no Colorado tie will find the degree less portable.

When are Colorado Law's application deadlines?

Colorado Law's specific application deadlines and any Early Decision terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle, so both should be confirmed directly on Colorado Law's admissions site. What is dated here is the admissions data itself, drawn from Colorado Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure and verified in August 2026. Applying early in a rolling cycle is the safer play.

A word on timing strategy for Colorado Law. Because the numbers on this page show Colorado Law extending 953 offers to fill a 199-seat class at a 20.3% yield, the practical advice at a school with a wide offer pool and limited scholarship funds is to submit a complete application early, when both seats and the modest grant dollars that exist are more plentiful. This profile does not state a specific Colorado Law deadline or Early Decision policy, because those terms are not confirmed here, and this page does not guess at dates; the safe step is to read the current calendar on Colorado Law's own admissions pages.

One caveat applies to every date decision. Application cycle dates and Early Decision rules shift from year to year, and a policy that held in one cycle can move in the next. The admissions figures cited throughout this Colorado Law profile reflect the 2025 ABA 509 disclosure as verified in August 2026, but the current deadlines are a live detail to confirm on Colorado Law's site before you rely on them, because a profile like this one is a planning aid, not the school's official calendar of record.

Frequently asked questions about getting into Colorado Law

Is a 164 LSAT good enough for Colorado Law?

A 164 is exactly Colorado Law's LSAT median, per Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, so it is good enough to be competitive and, given the accessible acceptance rate, a solid position. Half of the fall 2025 class scored at or above 164, inside a 161 to 167 band. Paired with a GPA near the 3.81 median, a 164 makes an applicant a strong candidate at Colorado Law.

What GPA do you need to get into Colorado Law?

Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure reports a GPA median of 3.81, with a 25th percentile of 3.62 and a 75th percentile of 3.91. The middle half of the fall 2025 class sits in a tight 3.62 to 3.91 band. Aim for at least 3.62, and if your GPA is lower, a 167 LSAT at the upper quartile is the strongest way to offset it at Colorado Law, which is splitter friendly.

What is Colorado Law's acceptance rate?

Colorado Law's acceptance rate is 27.56%, computed as 953 offers against 3,458 applications in Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Among the 36 schools within two LSAT points of its 164 median, that rate ranks 24th most selective, per Lovare's analysis, so Colorado Law is more accessible than most of its LSAT peers. Roughly two applicants in seven receive an offer.

How many people apply to Colorado Law each year?

Colorado Law received 3,458 applications for its fall 2025 entering class, according to Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. From that pool, Colorado Law extended 953 offers of admission and enrolled 193 matriculants, building a first-year class of 199. The distance between 3,458 applications and 953 offers is what produces the 27.56% acceptance rate.

How much does Colorado Law cost?

Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $35,992 for residents and $44,002 for nonresidents, plus living expenses of $27,626. Colorado Law does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance total, so this page will not quote one. A student on the $15,000 median grant nets about $29,002 in nonresident tuition and fees before living costs, the highest net in this set.

Does Colorado Law give scholarships?

Yes, but they are modest. Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure reports that 87% of students receive grant aid, with grant amounts of $10,300, $15,000, and $27,440 at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles. Colorado Law funds only 11 full-tuition and 6 above-full-tuition awards, the fewest in this set, so most Colorado Law grants are partial discounts rather than full rides, though none are conditional.

What is Colorado Law's bar passage rate?

Colorado Law's ABA bar-passage report shows a first-time pass rate of 92.91% for the 2024 exam year in its largest jurisdiction, Colorado. The ultimate pass rate, measured two years out for the 2022 cohort, is 92.9%, per the same report. The large majority of Colorado Law graduates who sit for a bar exam pass on the first attempt, and the ultimate rate holds close to the first-time rate.

Where do Colorado Law graduates work?

Most Colorado Law graduates stay in Colorado. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows Colorado taking 121 graduates (72.0%), the District of Columbia 7, and California 6, so the top three markets account for 79.8% of the class. A Colorado Law degree points strongly toward the Denver and Boulder legal markets, with modest reach into Washington and California.

Can a splitter get into Colorado Law?

Yes, Colorado Law is splitter friendly. Its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure shows a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.19 against an LSAT spread of 3 points, so Colorado Law leans on a high LSAT to offset a lower GPA more than the reverse. A 167 LSAT paired with a GPA toward the 3.62 quartile still has a real path at Colorado Law, though the narrow GPA band means a very low GPA is hard to rescue.

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

Colorado Law is more accessible than most schools at its LSAT level. Among the 36 schools with a median LSAT within two points of its 164, ranked by acceptance rate, Colorado Law's 27.56% ranks 24th most selective, per Lovare's analysis of 2025 ABA 509 data. A wide offer pool and a low 20.3% yield mean Colorado Law admits a healthy share of applicants at its LSAT level.

Is Colorado Law worth it?

For a Denver-bound student, the value case rests on outcomes. Colorado Law's median grant is a modest $15,000 against a $44,002 nonresident sticker in its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, so the net cost is the highest in this set, but the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows a 28.0% large-firm share and 92.9% employed at ten months. For a student targeting Colorado BigLaw, Colorado Law is worth it on results.

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

Numbers at or above Colorado Law's 75th percentiles give the best shot: a 167 LSAT and a 3.91 GPA, per Colorado Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Because Colorado Law funds only 17 awards at or above full tuition and its upper-quartile grant reaches $27,440, a top-quartile profile is the realistic path to the school's limited larger awards, and even then most grants at Colorado Law are partial.

What is Colorado Law's employment rate?

The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 156 of 168 Colorado Law graduates employed at the ten-month mark, a 92.9% employment rate. Of those, a set-leading 28.0% took jobs at large firms of 101 or more lawyers and 1.8% took federal clerkships, per the same summary. Colorado Law's first-year academic attrition is 0.0% in its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure.

What is Colorado Law's first-year attrition rate?

Colorado Law reports first-year academic attrition of 0.0% in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, meaning no one who started the fall 2025 class was dismissed for grades. Combined with a first-time bar pass rate of 92.91% and a 92.9% ultimate rate for the 2022 cohort, per Colorado Law's ABA bar-passage report, the data shows students admitted to Colorado Law overwhelmingly finish and pass the bar.

Sources

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

Colorado Law 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class): https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=22&year=2025

Colorado Law ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=22&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=22&year=2024

Get your free Colorado Law admissions profile evaluation