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

The honest answer to how to get into University of Kentucky Law School is to land near the medians in Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure: a 159 LSAT and a 3.72 GPA, with a middle 50 percent of 156 to 162 and 3.52 to 3.9. 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. Admissions figures on this page come from University of Kentucky 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 Kentucky Law's own published pages.

The most distinctive fact about University of Kentucky Law School is how widely it spreads aid and how reliably it places graduates in its home state. According to Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, 98 percent of students receive grant money, one of the highest grant-reach figures at any public law school, and resident tuition and fees run $27,301. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 97.8 percent of graduates were employed at ten months, and 83 of 139 stayed in Kentucky. The thesis of this page is that University of Kentucky Law School is an in-state value engine: broad aid, a modest resident sticker, and a dominant Kentucky hiring pipeline. The honest counterweight, covered below, is a first-time bar pass rate of 83.09 percent that trails the school's strong ultimate rate, and an admit profile more accessible than the flagship name suggests.

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

University of Kentucky Law School posts a 159 LSAT median, a 3.72 GPA median, and a 40.78 percent acceptance rate in Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Resident tuition and fees are $27,301 and nonresident $51,452, and 98 percent of students receive grants. The table below collects the headline numbers for the fall 2025 entering class.

MetricUniversity of Kentucky Law School (fall 2025 entering class)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)156 / 159 / 162GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.52 / 3.72 / 3.9Acceptance rate40.78%Applications1,236Offers of admission504Matriculants from the applicant pool143First-year class147Full-time tuition and feesResident $27,301 / nonresident $51,452Living expenses$28,425Share receiving grants98%Median grant$11,000Conditional scholarshipsNoFirst-time bar passage83.09% (exam year 2024, largest jurisdiction Kentucky)Employed at ten months97.8% (136 of 139)

Source: University of Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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.

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

University of Kentucky Law School reports an LSAT spread of 156 to 162 and a GPA spread of 3.52 to 3.9 in its 2025 ABA 509. A 159 and a 3.72 sit at both medians. Below the 156 LSAT or the 3.52 GPA, Kentucky Law wants a clear compensating strength on the other number.

University of Kentucky Law School reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 156, 159, and 162, and a GPA 25th, 50th, and 75th of 3.52, 3.72, and 3.9 for the fall 2025 entering class, per Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. The median is the fiftieth percentile: half of enrolled students scored above 159 on the LSAT and above 3.72 in GPA, and half below. Treat each median as the center of the admitted class rather than a hard cutoff, because University of Kentucky Law School admits students on both sides of both numbers.

The realistic read is straightforward. A 159 LSAT paired with a 3.72 GPA sits a University of Kentucky Law School applicant at both medians, a genuinely competitive position rather than a borderline one. Below the 156 LSAT or below the 3.52 GPA, that is beneath the school's 25th percentile on either axis, Kentucky Law will look for a clear compensating strength on the other number. A 156 with a 3.9 can work, and a 3.5 with a 162 can work, but a file low on both is the hard case at University of Kentucky Law School.

The shape of the two bands tells you how University of Kentucky Law School treats an imbalanced file. Lovare reads Kentucky Law as splitter friendly, because the GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.2 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 Kentucky Law School, the high-LSAT, lower-GPA applicant has the more reliable path, so if your transcript lags but you test well, Kentucky Law is a sensible target.

One practical note for University of Kentucky Law School applicants: because the LSAT band tops out at 162 in the 75th percentile, a score at or above 162 places you in the top quarter of the class and materially strengthens both your admission odds and your scholarship case, a link this page returns to below. Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA 509 shows a class built around solid-but-not-elite numbers, which is exactly why a score above the 159 median moves the needle here more than it would at a school with a higher band.

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

University of Kentucky Law School is more accessible than its flagship reputation suggests. Among the 48 ABA schools whose median LSAT is within two points of Kentucky Law's 159, ranked by acceptance rate, University of Kentucky Law School is 32nd most selective of 48 in the 2025 ABA 509, on the easier-to-enter end of its band.

Reputation places University of Kentucky Law School as the respected public flagship of the Commonwealth, and its 159 LSAT median fits comfortably in the solid regional-national tier. Its admissions numbers, though, describe a school easier to enter than that reputation implies. To locate it precisely, Lovare built a peer band of the 48 ABA law schools whose median LSAT falls within two points of Kentucky Law's 159, that is a median of 157 to 161, then ranked them by acceptance rate from the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures.

By that ranking, University of Kentucky Law School comes in 32nd most selective of the 48 schools in its band. In plain terms, 31 schools sitting at essentially the same LSAT level admit a smaller share of their applicants than Kentucky Law's 40.78 percent, which puts University of Kentucky Law School on the more accessible end of its own LSAT neighborhood. That is not a knock: it means a well-prepared applicant at or near the medians has a real, non-lottery chance here, which is not true at the top of the band.

The raw volume supports that read. University of Kentucky Law School drew 1,236 applications and made 504 offers for the fall 2025 class, per Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA 509, a ratio that leaves genuine room for applicants who present clean numbers and a coherent file. When roughly two in five applicants receive an offer, University of Kentucky Law School is selective enough to be worth preparing for and open enough to reward that preparation.

The takeaway for an applicant is to calibrate expectations to the numbers, not the name. A 159 and 3.72 file that might be a coin flip at the most selective schools in this band is a strong application at University of Kentucky Law School, and a file a touch above the medians moves from competitive to likely. Kentucky Law's reputation earns you a respected degree, and its acceptance rate means you do not need an elite profile to earn a seat. Read University of Kentucky Law School as respected and attainable rather than a reach.

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

University of Kentucky Law School charges $27,301 in resident tuition and fees and $51,452 nonresident in its 2025 ABA 509, plus $28,425 in living expenses. Ninety-eight percent of students receive grants, with a median award of $11,000, and the aid is not conditional on grades at Kentucky Law.

University of Kentucky Law School reports full-time tuition and fees of $27,301 for residents and $51,452 for nonresidents in Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, plus $28,425 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 University of Kentucky Law School reports, and this page will not invent one.

Aid at University of Kentucky Law School is unusually broad. According to the same 2025 ABA 509, 98 percent of students receive grant money, with grant amounts at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of $6,000, $11,000, and $18,000. Kentucky Law also reports 1 full-tuition award and 16 awards above full tuition. Near-universal grant reach is the single most striking money fact at University of Kentucky Law School: almost every enrolled student gets at least some discount off the sticker.

The median award does the clearest math. Against the $51,452 nonresident sticker, a student receiving University of Kentucky Law School's median grant of $11,000 nets about $40,452 in tuition and fees before living costs, using figures from Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA 509. For a resident, subtract the same $11,000 median grant from the $27,301 resident figure and the net falls to about $16,301 in tuition and fees before living costs. Those are median outcomes, so half of aided students at University of Kentucky Law School do better and half do worse.

One reassurance sets University of Kentucky Law School apart from several peers in this guide: its scholarships are not conditional. Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA 509 reports 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 in the first year. The grant University of Kentucky Law School quotes at admission is the grant you keep for all three years, which makes the aid easier to plan around than a conditional award that can vanish after a tough first semester.

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

University of Kentucky Law School does not disclose waitlist admits, and no ABA report does. The honest proxy is implied yield: 143 matriculants against 504 offers is a 28.4 percent yield at Kentucky Law, a moderate figure that leaves the door genuinely open for waitlist movement.

Here is the reasoning in full. University of Kentucky Law School enrolled 143 matriculants from 504 offers in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, an implied yield of 28.4 percent. No ABA disclosure, Kentucky 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 28 percent of admitted students enroll, University of Kentucky Law School must extend far more offers than it has seats, which typically means an active waitlist in cycles where deposits run light.

A 28.4 percent yield is moderate and points to real but limited waitlist hope at University of Kentucky Law School. It is lower than the yields at schools that fill almost entirely from first-round offers, which means Kentucky Law is more likely than those schools to return to its waitlist. It is not so low that the class is routinely rebuilt from the list. For a waitlisted applicant, that combination means some cycles will see movement and others little.

If you land on the University of Kentucky Law School waitlist, the play is the standard one: send a concise letter of continued interest naming Kentucky Law as a top choice, 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 Kentucky Law School waitlist offer, but do not write it off either, because a 28.4 percent yield leaves the door genuinely ajar.

One honest footnote on the class figures. Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA 509 lists 143 matriculants from the applicant pool but a first-year class of 147. The small gap reflects students who arrive through paths other than this single cycle's pool, such as admitted students who deferred from a prior year. The 28.4 percent implied yield is computed from the 143 pool matriculants against the 504 offers, which is the correct comparison for reasoning about this cycle's waitlist odds at University of Kentucky Law School.

Where do University of Kentucky Law School graduates actually work?

In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, University of Kentucky Law School kept 59.7 percent of graduates in Kentucky and 71.9 percent across its top three markets. Large firms of 101-plus lawyers hired 15.8 percent, and 5.8 percent won federal clerkships. Kentucky Law is a concentrated in-state hiring engine.

University of Kentucky Law School is first and foremost a Kentucky hiring engine, and the employment data makes that literal. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Kentucky Law placed 83 of its 139 graduates in Kentucky, 9 in Tennessee, and 8 in Illinois. That is a 59.7 percent top-market share and a 71.9 percent top-three share: nearly six in ten graduates begin their careers in Kentucky, and roughly seven in ten land in just three states. If you want to practice in Kentucky, University of Kentucky Law School sits at the center of that market, and if your target is a distant coastal city, the concentration is a signal that Kentucky Law's network runs deep at home and thinner far away.

Lead with concentration rather than the raw employment rate, because the rate barely separates strong regional schools. University of Kentucky Law School reported 136 of 139 graduates employed at ten months, or 97.8 percent, in the same ABA Employment Summary, which is excellent but similar across the top of the regional market. What distinguishes an outcome is where those jobs are, and at Kentucky Law they are overwhelmingly in the Commonwealth.

On firm size, University of Kentucky Law School places a solid minority in large firms. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 15.8 percent of Kentucky Law graduates taking jobs at large firms of 101 or more lawyers. That is a healthy share for a public regional flagship, though it is not a BigLaw-feeder rate, and it tells you that most University of Kentucky Law School graduates enter smaller firms, government, public interest, and business roles rather than the largest national firms.

Federal clerkships round out the picture at University of Kentucky Law School. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 5.8 percent of Kentucky Law graduates entering federal clerkships, a respectable share for a school of its size and band. Taken together, the outcomes describe University of Kentucky Law School as a school that reliably places its graduates, concentrates them in Kentucky, sends a steady minority to large firms, and produces a meaningful clerkship cohort each year.

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

University of Kentucky Law School's specific application deadlines and any Early Decision terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle, so confirm both directly on Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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 Kentucky Law, like nearly all ABA law schools, reviews on a rolling basis in practice, which rewards applying early in the cycle while the class and the scholarship budget are still open.

On Early Decision, University of Kentucky Law School's ED terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle. If Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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 and a smaller remaining scholarship pool. Treat this page as a planning aid verified in August 2026, and treat Kentucky 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 Kentucky Law School

Is a 159 LSAT good enough for Kentucky Law?

A 159 is exactly the LSAT median at University of Kentucky Law School, per Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, where the middle 50 percent scored 156 to 162. A 159 puts you at the fiftieth percentile, competitive rather than a lock. Pair it with a GPA at or above the 3.72 median and you are a strong candidate at University of Kentucky Law School.

What GPA do you need for Kentucky Law?

University of Kentucky Law School reports a GPA median of 3.72, with a 25th to 75th range of 3.52 to 3.9, in Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA 509. Aim for 3.72 or higher. Because University of Kentucky Law School is splitter friendly, a strong LSAT can help carry a GPA below 3.52, but a transcript at or above 3.72 keeps your file clean at Kentucky Law.

What is Kentucky Law's acceptance rate?

University of Kentucky Law School admitted 40.78 percent of applicants for the fall 2025 class, extending 504 offers against 1,236 applications, according to Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. That is a moderately open rate, and it places University of Kentucky Law School on the more accessible end of its LSAT band rather than among its most selective peers.

How many people apply to Kentucky Law?

University of Kentucky Law School received 1,236 applications for the fall 2025 entering class, made 504 offers, and enrolled 143 matriculants from the pool for a first-year class of 147, per Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA 509. That pool against 504 offers is what produces University of Kentucky Law School's 40.78 percent acceptance rate.

How much does Kentucky Law cost?

University of Kentucky Law School lists full-time tuition and fees of $27,301 for residents and $51,452 for nonresidents, plus $28,425 in living expenses, in Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA 509. University of Kentucky Law School 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.

Does Kentucky Law give scholarships?

Yes, and very widely. University of Kentucky Law School reports that 98 percent of students receive grant money, with awards of $6,000, $11,000, and $18,000 at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles, plus 1 full-tuition award and 16 awards above full tuition, per Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA 509. Near-universal grant reach is a defining feature of University of Kentucky Law School.

Are Kentucky Law scholarships conditional on grades?

No. University of Kentucky Law School reports in Kentucky 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 Kentucky Law School quotes at admission is the grant you keep for all three years.

What is Kentucky Law's bar passage rate?

University of Kentucky Law School posted an 83.09 percent first-time bar passage rate for exam year 2024, with Kentucky as the largest jurisdiction, according to Kentucky Law's ABA bar-passage report. Its ultimate pass rate for the 2022 cohort was 91.36 percent. The gap shows that a meaningful share of University of Kentucky Law School graduates who do not pass on the first attempt pass on a later one.

Where do Kentucky Law graduates work?

Most stay in Kentucky. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows University of Kentucky Law School placed 83 graduates in Kentucky, 9 in Tennessee, and 8 in Illinois, a 59.7 percent top-market share and 71.9 percent across the top three. University of Kentucky Law School is a concentrated in-state hiring pipeline centered on the Commonwealth.

Do Kentucky Law graduates get large-firm jobs?

Some do. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 15.8 percent of University of Kentucky Law School graduates took jobs at large firms of 101 or more lawyers. That is a healthy share for a regional public flagship but not a BigLaw-feeder rate, so most Kentucky Law graduates enter smaller firms, government, and public-interest roles rather than the largest national firms.

Can a splitter get into Kentucky Law?

A splitter has a real path. Lovare reads University of Kentucky Law School as splitter friendly in Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA 509, with a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.2 that is proportionally wider than the three-point LSAT spread. That means University of Kentucky 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 Kentucky Law compared with schools at the same LSAT?

Among the 48 ABA schools whose median LSAT is within two points of University of Kentucky Law School's 159, ranked by acceptance rate in the 2025 ABA 509, Kentucky Law is 32nd most selective of 48. In plain terms, most schools at the same LSAT level admit a smaller share, so University of Kentucky Law School sits on the more accessible end of its band.

Is Kentucky Law worth it?

For a Kentucky-centered career, the value case is strong. University of Kentucky Law School pairs a $27,301 resident sticker and 98 percent grant reach with a 97.8 percent employment rate and 59.7 percent staying in Kentucky, per Kentucky Law's 2025 ABA 509 and the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024. The honest caveat is an 83.09 percent first-time bar rate to weigh at University of Kentucky Law School.

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

Scores above the medians. Because grant reach at University of Kentucky Law School is already 98 percent, the lever is award size, and an LSAT above the 159 median toward the 162 upper quartile plus a GPA above 3.72 toward the 3.9 upper quartile position you for the larger awards, up to the full-tuition and above-full-tuition grants Kentucky Law reports in its 2025 ABA 509.

Sources

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

University of Kentucky Law School 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class): https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=60&year=2025

University of Kentucky Law School ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=60&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=60&year=2024

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