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

The honest answer to how to get into University of Hawaii Law School is to land near the medians in Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure: a 157 LSAT and a 3.6 GPA, with a middle 50 percent of 154 to 160 and 3.36 to 3.81. Clear both numbers 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. Admissions figures on this page come from University of Hawaii Law School's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class), employment from the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, and bar passage and program details from Hawaii Richardson Law's own published disclosures.

The most distinctive fact about University of Hawaii Law School is that it is far more selective than its 157 LSAT median suggests. Among the 47 ABA law schools whose median LSAT sits within two points of Hawaii Richardson Law's 157, ranked by acceptance rate, University of Hawaii Law School is the 4th most selective, per Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. The reason is supply and demand: Hawaii Richardson Law drew 1,654 applications for an entering class of just 140 and admitted only 26.24 percent. As the public law school of the islands, it channels the great majority of its graduates into the Hawaii bar, 80.2 percent by the latest employment summary. The thesis of this page follows: University of Hawaii Law School is a selective, deeply local school where a strong file and a genuine tie to Hawaii matter most. The honest counterweights, covered below, are thin scholarship aid and a 76.92 percent first-time bar rate.

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

University of Hawaii Law School posts a 157 LSAT median, a 3.6 GPA median, and a 26.24 percent acceptance rate in Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Resident tuition and fees are $24,076 and nonresident $47,500, and 69 percent of students receive grants. The table below collects the headline numbers for the fall 2025 entering class.

MetricUniversity of Hawaii Law School (fall 2025 entering class)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)154 / 157 / 160GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.36 / 3.6 / 3.81Acceptance rate26.24%Applications1,654Offers of admission434Matriculants from the applicant pool140First-year class140 (87 full-time, 53 part-time)Full-time tuition and feesResident $24,076 / nonresident $47,500Living expenses$27,322Share receiving grants69%Median grant$7,000 (25th $6,000, 75th $13,000)Conditional scholarshipsNoFirst-time bar passage76.92% (exam year 2024, largest jurisdiction Hawaii)Employed at ten months92.7% (89 of 96)

Source: University of Hawaii 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 first-time bar passage from Hawaii Richardson Law's ABA bar-passage report. The 509 prints tuition and living expenses separately and does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance total, so this page does not sum them into an all-in figure.

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

University of Hawaii Law School reports an LSAT spread of 154 to 160 and a GPA spread of 3.36 to 3.81 in its 2025 ABA 509. A 157 and a 3.6 sit at both medians. Below the 154 LSAT or the 3.36 GPA, Hawaii Richardson Law wants a clear compensating strength on the other number.

University of Hawaii Law School reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 154, 157, and 160, and a GPA 25th, 50th, and 75th of 3.36, 3.6, and 3.81 for the fall 2025 entering class, per Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. The median is the fiftieth percentile: half of enrolled students scored above 157 on the LSAT and above 3.6 in GPA, and half below. Treat each median as the center of the admitted class rather than a hard cutoff, because University of Hawaii Law School admits students on both sides of both numbers every cycle.

The realistic read is straightforward. A 157 LSAT paired with a 3.6 GPA sits a University of Hawaii Law School applicant squarely at both medians, a genuinely competitive position rather than a coin flip. Below the 154 LSAT or below the 3.36 GPA, which is beneath the school's 25th percentile on either axis, Hawaii Richardson Law will look for a clear compensating strength on the other number. Because the school is selective, a file that lands low on both numbers is the hard case at University of Hawaii Law School, and a genuine connection to Hawaii can matter alongside the numbers.

The shape of the two bands tells you how University of Hawaii Law School treats an imbalanced file. Lovare reads Hawaii Richardson Law as splitter friendly, because the GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.24 is proportionally wider than the three-point LSAT 25th-to-median spread. A splitter-friendly school forgives a lower GPA when the LSAT is strong, while a reverse-splitter-friendly school forgives a lower LSAT when the GPA is strong. At University of Hawaii Law School, the high-LSAT, lower-GPA applicant has the more reliable path, so if your transcript lags but you test well, Hawaii Richardson Law is a sensible target.

One practical note for University of Hawaii Law School applicants: because the LSAT band tops out at 160 in the 75th percentile, a score at or above 160 places you in the top quarter of the class and materially strengthens your admission odds at a school that admits only about one in four applicants. Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509 shows a class built around a 157 median, so a score above the median is a meaningful edge given the selectivity documented below.

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

University of Hawaii Law School is much harder to get into than its 157 median suggests. Among the 47 ABA schools whose median LSAT is within two points of Hawaii Richardson Law's 157, ranked by acceptance rate, University of Hawaii Law School is the 4th most selective of the 47 in the 2025 ABA 509, near the very top of its band.

Reputation places University of Hawaii Law School as a strong regional public school with a 157 LSAT median, a profile that in most of the country would come with a moderate acceptance rate. Its admissions numbers, though, describe a school that admits far fewer applicants than its academic level would predict. To locate it precisely, Lovare built a peer band of the 47 ABA law schools whose median LSAT falls within two points of Hawaii Richardson Law's 157, that is a median of 155 to 159, then ranked them by acceptance rate from the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures.

By that ranking, University of Hawaii Law School comes in 4th most selective of the 47 schools in its band. In plain terms, only three schools sitting at essentially the same LSAT level admit a smaller share of their applicants than Hawaii Richardson Law's 26.24 percent, which puts University of Hawaii Law School near the top of its own LSAT neighborhood for selectivity. The driver is geography and scale: many applicants want to study and practice in Hawaii, and the school enrolls a class of only 140, so demand far outstrips seats.

The raw volume makes the pressure vivid. University of Hawaii Law School drew 1,654 applications and made only 434 offers for the fall 2025 class, per Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509, so barely a quarter of applicants received an offer for one of 140 seats. When a school this size draws more than sixteen hundred applications, University of Hawaii Law School can be genuinely selective, and applicants should build a file that clears the medians and shows a real reason to be in Hawaii.

One honest nuance keeps this from being the whole story. University of Hawaii Law School made 434 offers to fill 140 seats, an implied yield of only 32.3 percent, which means many admitted students choose not to enroll, likely including mainland applicants who are admitted but pick a school closer to home. So while Hawaii Richardson Law's acceptance rate is low, its admitted pool is larger than the class size implies. The practical read for an applicant is that University of Hawaii Law School is selective at the offer stage, and a clear tie to the islands helps both your odds of admission and the school's confidence that you will actually enroll.

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

University of Hawaii Law School charges $24,076 in resident tuition and fees and $47,500 nonresident in its 2025 ABA 509, plus $27,322 in living expenses. Sixty-nine percent of students receive grants, but the median award is a modest $7,000, so plan to pay closer to sticker at Hawaii Richardson Law than at deeper-discounting peers.

University of Hawaii Law School reports full-time tuition and fees of $24,076 for residents and $47,500 for nonresidents in Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, plus $27,322 in living expenses. The resident sticker is genuinely low, one of the most affordable in this guide, which is the strongest part of the school's value case. The 509 prints tuition and living costs separately and does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance total, so any all-in number quoted elsewhere is someone's arithmetic rather than a figure University of Hawaii Law School reports, and this page will not invent one. Note too that living costs in Hawaii are high, so the $27,322 line is a real part of the budget.

Here is the plain, consumer-protective read on aid at University of Hawaii Law School: it is thinner than at most schools in this guide. According to the same 2025 ABA 509, 69 percent of students receive grant money, but the grant amounts at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles are just $6,000, $7,000, and $13,000. Hawaii Richardson Law reports 0 full-tuition awards and only 3 awards above full tuition. The honest takeaway is that University of Hawaii Law School does not compete on scholarship depth: most awards are modest, there are no full rides in the class, and an admitted student should not expect the kind of large discount common at peers that spread deep aid.

The median award does the clearest math. Against the $47,500 nonresident sticker, a student receiving University of Hawaii Law School's median grant of $7,000 nets about $40,500 in tuition and fees before living costs, using figures from Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509, so a nonresident without residency should budget for a substantial bill. For a resident, subtract the same $7,000 median grant from the $24,076 resident figure and the net falls to about $17,076 in tuition and fees before living costs, a much more manageable number that is the heart of the school's in-state value.

One point in the applicant's favor: aid at University of Hawaii Law School is not conditional. Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509 reports that it does not use conditional scholarships, so whatever grant you are offered is not tied to a class-rank or GPA threshold and cannot be cut if your grades slip in the first year. The award University of Hawaii Law School quotes at admission, modest as the median is, is the award you keep for all three years, which at least makes the aid predictable even if it is not deep.

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

University of Hawaii Law School does not disclose waitlist admits, and no ABA report does. The honest proxy is implied yield: 140 matriculants against 434 offers is a 32.3 percent yield at Hawaii Richardson Law, a moderate figure that points to real waitlist movement in some cycles.

Here is the reasoning in full. University of Hawaii Law School enrolled 140 matriculants from 434 offers in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, an implied yield of 32.3 percent. No ABA disclosure, Hawaii Richardson Law's included, publishes how many applicants are admitted off the waitlist or how many accept, so implied yield, the share of admitted students who enroll, is the honest proxy for how much a waitlist moves. When roughly a third of admitted students enroll, University of Hawaii Law School must extend about three times as many offers as it has seats, which typically means an active waitlist in cycles where deposits run light.

A 32.3 percent yield is moderate and points to real but limited waitlist hope at University of Hawaii Law School. It is lower than the yields at schools that fill almost entirely from first-round offers, which reflects that many admits, especially nonresidents, choose mainland schools instead. That over-offering is exactly what leaves room for waitlist movement at Hawaii Richardson Law when the class does not fill as projected.

If you land on the University of Hawaii Law School waitlist, the play is the standard one: send a concise letter of continued interest naming Hawaii Richardson Law as a top choice, explain any genuine connection to Hawaii, add any new LSAT score or improved grades, and keep another acceptance in hand as your anchor. Do not build your plan around a University of Hawaii Law School waitlist offer, but do not write it off either, because a 32.3 percent yield leaves the door genuinely ajar.

It is worth noting how the class figures line up at University of Hawaii Law School. Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509 lists 140 matriculants from the applicant pool and a first-year class of exactly 140, split into 87 full-time and 53 part-time students. That large part-time cohort, more than a third of the class, is a genuine feature of University of Hawaii Law School worth flagging for working applicants, and the 32.3 percent implied yield is computed from the 140 matriculants against the 434 offers, the correct comparison for reasoning about this cycle's waitlist odds.

Where do University of Hawaii Law School graduates actually work?

In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, University of Hawaii Law School kept 80.2 percent of graduates in Hawaii and 85.4 percent across its top three markets. No graduates took jobs at large firms of 101-plus lawyers, and 6.2 percent won federal clerkships. Hawaii Richardson Law is a deeply local, clerkship-strong hiring engine.

University of Hawaii Law School is first and foremost a Hawaii hiring engine, and the employment data makes that literal. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Hawaii Richardson Law placed 77 of its 96 graduates in Hawaii, 3 in Virginia, and 2 in Illinois. That is an 80.2 percent top-market share and an 85.4 percent top-three share: four in five graduates begin their careers in Hawaii. If you want to practice in the islands, University of Hawaii Law School is the center of that market, and if your target is a mainland city, the concentration is a signal that Hawaii Richardson Law's network is built almost entirely for Hawaii.

Lead with concentration rather than the raw employment rate, because the rate is solid across strong regional schools. University of Hawaii Law School reported 89 of 96 graduates employed at ten months, or 92.7 percent, in the same ABA Employment Summary, a good figure. What distinguishes an outcome is where those jobs are, and at Hawaii Richardson Law they are overwhelmingly in Hawaii, which is what most of its students want.

On firm size, University of Hawaii Law School shows an honest and unusual figure: the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 reports 0.0 percent of Hawaii Richardson Law graduates taking jobs at large firms of 101 or more lawyers. That is not a placement failure so much as a reflection of the Hawaii legal market, which has very few firms that large; graduates who enter private practice do so at the smaller and midsize firms that dominate the islands. An applicant whose goal is a job at a 101-plus-lawyer firm should understand plainly that University of Hawaii Law School's own market does not offer that path, and that reaching one would mean competing for mainland jobs where the school's network is thin.

Federal clerkships are a real strength at University of Hawaii Law School. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 6.2 percent of Hawaii Richardson Law graduates entering federal clerkships, an above-average share for a regional public school. Taken together, the outcomes describe University of Hawaii Law School as a school that concentrates its graduates in Hawaii more heavily than almost any peer, sends a healthy cohort into federal clerkships, and places essentially none into the largest national firms because those firms barely exist in its market.

When are University of Hawaii Law School's application deadlines?

University of Hawaii Law School's specific application deadlines and any Early Decision terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle, so confirm both directly on Hawaii Richardson Law's admissions site. The figures here are dated and verified August 2026, but cycle dates shift, and only the school's own page is authoritative on timing.

This page does not state a specific University of Hawaii Law School application deadline, because its sources are the school's ABA disclosures and published data pages rather than a live application calendar, and stating a date this page cannot verify would violate its own accuracy rule. What is verifiable is that Hawaii Richardson Law, like nearly all ABA law schools, reviews on a rolling basis in practice, which rewards applying early in the cycle while the small class and the scholarship budget are still open. That matters more here than at most schools, because University of Hawaii Law School enrolls only 140 students and turns away three of every four applicants.

On Early Decision, University of Hawaii Law School's ED terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle. If Hawaii Richardson Law offers a binding Early Decision option, its deadline, its financial terms, and whether it is truly binding should be confirmed on the school's own admissions page rather than assumed from this one. Early Decision is a binding commitment when a school offers it, so it is exactly the kind of term you verify at the source before you rely on it.

The practical guidance for University of Hawaii Law School applicants is simple and does not depend on a specific date. Apply as early in the cycle as your best possible LSAT and complete file allow, because rolling review means later applicants compete for fewer remaining seats in an already small and selective class. Treat this page as a planning aid verified in August 2026, and treat Hawaii Richardson Law's admissions site as the authority on the current cycle's deadlines and Early Decision terms.

Frequently asked questions about getting into University of Hawaii Law School

Is a 157 LSAT good enough for Hawaii Richardson Law?

A 157 is exactly the LSAT median at University of Hawaii Law School, per Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, where the middle 50 percent scored 154 to 160. A 157 puts you at the fiftieth percentile, competitive rather than a lock at a school that admits only about one in four applicants. Pair it with a GPA at or above the 3.6 median and you are a strong candidate at University of Hawaii Law School.

What GPA do you need for Hawaii Richardson Law?

University of Hawaii Law School reports a GPA median of 3.6, with a 25th to 75th range of 3.36 to 3.81, in Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509. Aim for 3.6 or higher. Because University of Hawaii Law School is splitter friendly, a strong LSAT can help carry a GPA below 3.36, but a transcript at or above 3.6 keeps your file clean at Hawaii Richardson Law.

What is Hawaii Richardson Law's acceptance rate?

University of Hawaii Law School admitted 26.24 percent of applicants for the fall 2025 class, extending 434 offers against 1,654 applications, according to Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. That is a genuinely selective rate, and it places University of Hawaii Law School near the top of its LSAT band for selectivity, 4th most selective of 47 peers.

How many people apply to Hawaii Richardson Law?

University of Hawaii Law School received 1,654 applications for the fall 2025 entering class, made 434 offers, and enrolled 140 matriculants for a first-year class of 140, per Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509. That large pool against a class of just 140 is what makes University of Hawaii Law School selective, with a 26.24 percent acceptance rate.

How much does Hawaii Richardson Law cost?

University of Hawaii Law School lists full-time tuition and fees of $24,076 for residents and $47,500 for nonresidents, plus $27,322 in living expenses, in Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509. The resident sticker is among the lowest in this guide. University of Hawaii Law School does not publish a single cost-of-attendance total, so tuition and living are best read separately.

Does Hawaii Richardson Law give scholarships?

Yes, but modestly. University of Hawaii Law School reports that 69 percent of students receive grant money, with awards of $6,000, $7,000, and $13,000 at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles, plus 0 full-tuition awards and 3 above full tuition, per Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509. Aid at University of Hawaii Law School is thinner than at many peers, so plan to pay closer to sticker.

Are Hawaii Richardson Law scholarships conditional on grades?

No. University of Hawaii Law School reports in Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509 that it does not use conditional scholarships, so a first-year award is not tied to a class-rank or GPA threshold and cannot be cut if your grades slip. The grant University of Hawaii Law School quotes at admission, modest as the median is, is the grant you keep for all three years.

What is Hawaii Richardson Law's bar passage rate?

University of Hawaii Law School posted a 76.92 percent first-time bar passage rate for exam year 2024, with Hawaii as the largest jurisdiction, according to Hawaii Richardson Law's ABA bar-passage report. Its ultimate pass rate for the 2022 cohort was 79.38 percent. The relatively narrow gap and modest ultimate rate are figures to weigh honestly when considering University of Hawaii Law School.

What is Hawaii Richardson Law's first-year attrition rate?

University of Hawaii Law School reports first-year academic attrition of 0.0 percent in Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509, meaning no first-year students were dismissed for academic reasons in the reported year. That is a reassuring figure: it signals that University of Hawaii Law School admits students it expects to carry through the first year rather than enrolling a class it then washes out.

Where do Hawaii Richardson Law graduates work?

Overwhelmingly in Hawaii. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows University of Hawaii Law School placed 77 graduates in Hawaii, 3 in Virginia, and 2 in Illinois, an 80.2 percent top-market share and 85.4 percent across the top three. University of Hawaii Law School is a deeply local hiring pipeline centered on the islands.

Do Hawaii Richardson Law graduates get large-firm jobs?

Essentially not, because the market lacks them. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 reports 0.0 percent of University of Hawaii Law School graduates at large firms of 101 or more lawyers, reflecting that Hawaii has very few firms that large. Hawaii Richardson Law graduates in private practice join the smaller and midsize firms that dominate the islands rather than large national firms.

Can a splitter get into Hawaii Richardson Law?

A splitter has a real path. Lovare reads University of Hawaii Law School as splitter friendly in Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509, with a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.24 that is proportionally wider than the three-point LSAT spread. That means University of Hawaii Law School forgives a lower GPA when the LSAT is strong, so a high-LSAT, lower-GPA file is more viable than the reverse.

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

Among the 47 ABA schools whose median LSAT is within two points of University of Hawaii Law School's 157, ranked by acceptance rate in the 2025 ABA 509, Hawaii Richardson Law is 4th most selective of 47. In plain terms, almost every school at the same LSAT level admits a larger share, so University of Hawaii Law School sits near the top of its band for selectivity.

Is Hawaii Richardson Law worth it?

For a Hawaii career, the in-state value case is strong. University of Hawaii Law School pairs a low $24,076 resident sticker with a 92.7 percent employment rate, 80.2 percent of graduates staying in Hawaii, and a 6.2 percent federal clerkship rate, per Hawaii Richardson Law's 2025 ABA 509 and the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024. Weigh two honest caveats at University of Hawaii Law School: thin scholarship aid and a 76.92 percent first-time bar rate.

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

Scores above the medians. An LSAT above the 157 median toward the 160 upper quartile and a GPA above 3.6 toward the 3.81 upper quartile position you for the larger awards University of Hawaii Law School offers, up to the $13,000 upper-quartile grant and the 3 above-full-tuition awards Hawaii Richardson Law reports in its 2025 ABA 509. Because aid at University of Hawaii Law School is modest overall, clearing both medians is what earns a meaningful grant.

Sources

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

University of Hawaii Law School 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class): https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=41&year=2025

University of Hawaii Law School ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=41&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=41&year=2024

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