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

The honest answer to how to get into University of Maryland Law School is two numbers. According to Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, the fall 2025 class posted a 164 LSAT median, ranging 156 to 166, and a 3.72 GPA median, ranging 3.37 to 3.88. That unusually wide LSAT range is the story here.

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 Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report for the fall 2025 entering class, the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, and the University of Maryland Carey School of Law's own admissions pages.

The most distinctive fact about Maryland Carey Law is the shape of its LSAT band. According to Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, the LSAT runs 156 at the 25th percentile, 164 at the median, and 166 at the 75th, an eight-point gap between the 25th percentile and the median that is the widest in this set of profiles. Maryland Carey Law is reverse-splitter friendly, meaning it forgives a lower LSAT when the GPA is high, and that eight-point spread is the numeric fingerprint of it. In plain terms, a strong-GPA applicant with an LSAT in the mid-to-high 150s has a genuine path at Maryland Carey Law that the same score would not open at schools with a tighter band. This page argues that a high-GPA, lower-LSAT applicant should treat Maryland Carey Law as a distinctively realistic target, and that the school pairs that access with unusually deep scholarship funding.

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

Maryland Carey Law is a selective public school in Baltimore with a wide LSAT band and deep aid. According to Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, the fall 2025 class had a 164 LSAT median, a 3.72 GPA median, and a 26.08% acceptance rate. Resident tuition and fees run $40,009. The table below collects the core Maryland Carey Law figures for quick reference.

MetricMaryland Carey Law (fall 2025 entering class)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)156 / 164 / 166GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.37 / 3.72 / 3.88Acceptance rate26.08%Applications2,876Offers of admission750Matriculants from the pool229First-year class229 (208 full-time + 21 part-time)Full-time tuition and feesResident $40,009 / nonresident $58,023Living expenses$32,842Share receiving grants79%Median grant$28,000Conditional scholarshipsNoFirst-time bar passage82.1%Employed at ten months94.7% (231 of 244)

Source: Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report for the fall 2025 entering class, Maryland Carey Law's ABA bar-passage report, and the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024. Tuition is printed for residents and nonresidents separately, and living expenses appear on their own line, so the 509 does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance total and this page does not report one.

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

You really need a 164 LSAT and a 3.72 GPA to sit at the center of Maryland Carey Law's class. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure puts the LSAT middle at 156 to 166 and the GPA middle at 3.37 to 3.88. Below either 25th percentile, the other number has to compensate clearly at Maryland Carey Law.

Maryland Carey Law reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 156, 164, and 166, and a GPA spread of 3.37, 3.72, and 3.88, in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. A 164 LSAT and a 3.72 GPA place an applicant exactly at both of Maryland Carey Law's medians, which is the center of the admitted class. At a 26.08% acceptance rate, sitting at both medians makes an applicant genuinely competitive at Maryland Carey Law, though the file still needs to hold together, since roughly one in four applicants receives an offer.

The LSAT band is where Maryland Carey Law is unusual, and it is the most important thing to understand about admissions here. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure puts the 25th percentile LSAT at 156, the median at 164, and the 75th at 166. The gap from the 25th percentile to the median is eight points, while the gap from the median to the 75th percentile is only two. That lopsided shape means Maryland Carey Law admits a meaningful number of students whose LSAT sits well below the median, typically applicants whose GPA is strong enough to carry the file. A 156 is at the bottom quarter of Maryland Carey Law's class, but it is inside the reported range, which is not true at most schools with a 164 median.

The GPA band is also fairly wide. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure puts the 25th percentile GPA at 3.37 and the median at 3.72, a 0.35 spread that is the widest GPA range in this set. A transcript in the high 3.3s is inside Maryland Carey Law's reported range. The combination of a wide LSAT band and a wide GPA band tells you that Maryland Carey Law weighs the whole file and is willing to trade strength on one number for strength on the other.

On the splitter question, Maryland Carey Law is reverse-splitter friendly. In its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, the GPA spread from the 25th percentile to the median is 0.35 and the LSAT spread is eight points. Reverse-splitter friendly means Maryland Carey Law will accept a lower LSAT when the GPA is high; a plain splitter-friendly school does the opposite, forgiving a lower GPA for a high LSAT. The practical read is that the ideal Maryland Carey Law reverse splitter has a GPA near or above the 3.72 median paired with an LSAT in the high 150s to low 160s, and that such an applicant should not be scared off by a 164 median that, on its own, looks out of reach.

Is Maryland Carey Law harder to get into than its reputation?

No, not really. On raw selectivity within its LSAT band, Maryland Carey Law is a touch more accessible than its 164 median might imply. Among the 36 ABA law schools whose median LSAT is within two points of Maryland Carey Law's 164, that is, a median of 162 to 166, ranked by acceptance rate, Maryland Carey Law is the 22nd most selective, per Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosures.

To size up Maryland Carey Law's selectivity fairly, the comparison has to hold the academic profile roughly constant, which is what the band-peer read does. Being 22nd of 36 places Maryland Carey Law in the more accessible half of the group of schools that admit students at a similar LSAT level, per Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. In plain terms, 21 schools in Maryland Carey Law's academic band admit a smaller share of applicants. The 26.08% acceptance rate is real selectivity in absolute terms, but relative to other schools posting a 164-area median, Maryland Carey Law is on the more forgiving side.

The reason connects back to the wide LSAT band. Maryland Carey Law reaches its 164 median partly by admitting a strong top half alongside a tail of high-GPA applicants whose LSATs run into the mid-to-high 150s, which keeps the admit rate from being as tight as some pure-numbers 164 schools. So the honest read is that Maryland Carey Law is not harder to get into than its reputation, and for the right applicant, a high-GPA reverse splitter, it is meaningfully more reachable than its median LSAT alone would suggest. That accessibility, paired with the school's deep scholarship funding, is the practical takeaway.

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

Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $40,009 for residents and $58,023 for nonresidents, with living expenses of $32,842 and no single cost-of-attendance total printed. Maryland Carey Law awards grants to 79% of students, the median grant is $28,000, and the school funds an unusually large number of full-tuition awards.

Start with the sticker. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $40,009 for Maryland residents and $58,023 for nonresidents, and separately lists living expenses at $32,842. That 509 does not print a single combined cost-of-attendance total, so this page will not invent one. The residency gap is meaningful, roughly $18,000 a year, so an applicant's domicile matters to the Maryland Carey Law math, though the gap is smaller than at some public peers.

Now the aid, which is a genuine strength at Maryland Carey Law. According to Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, 79% of students receive grant aid, with amounts at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of $10,161, $28,000, and $40,000. The standout figure is the number of top awards: Maryland Carey Law reports 74 full-tuition awards and 26 awards above full tuition, so 100 students hold awards at or above the full tuition line. For a first-year class of 229, that is a large share of the class attending on a full ride or better, which is rare and worth weighing heavily. The honest counterweight is that 79% grant reach means roughly one in five Maryland Carey Law students receives no grant at all, so the aid is deep but not universal.

Here is the math. Against the $58,023 nonresident sticker for tuition and fees, a student receiving Maryland Carey Law's median grant of $28,000 nets about $30,023 in tuition and fees before living costs, using figures from Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure. For a resident, the same $28,000 median grant subtracted from the $40,009 resident tuition leaves $12,009 in tuition and fees before living costs, one of the lowest net figures in this set. And a student who lands one of the 74 full-tuition awards at Maryland Carey Law pays nothing toward tuition. Maryland Carey Law also reports that its scholarships are not conditional, per the same disclosure, so a first-year award cannot be cut for grades, and the grant a Maryland Carey Law student is quoted at admission holds for all three years.

What are your real chances off the Maryland Carey Law waitlist?

Moderate. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure shows 750 offers and 229 matriculants from the pool, an implied yield of 30.5%. No ABA disclosure publishes waitlist admits, so implied yield is the honest proxy: a yield near a third means Maryland Carey Law fills much of its class from first-round offers while still leaving room for some waitlist movement.

Here is the reasoning in full. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure reports 750 offers of admission and 229 matriculants drawn from that applicant pool, which is an implied yield of 30.5%. No ABA disclosure, Maryland Carey Law's included, publishes how many applicants are admitted off the waitlist or how many accept, so implied yield is the honest proxy for waitlist movement. When a school converts about 30 of every 100 offers into enrollments, as Maryland Carey Law does, it is filling a solid share of its class from first-round offers while extending far more offers than it has seats, leaving genuine but limited room to draw from a waitlist.

One clean detail at Maryland Carey Law is that its class figures line up exactly. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure lists 229 matriculants from the pool and a first-year class of 229, which includes 208 full-time and 21 part-time students, so the entering class is drawn entirely from this cycle's pool with no gap to explain. The 30.5% implied yield is computed from the 229 matriculants against the 750 offers. A waitlisted applicant to Maryland Carey Law should keep other options alive while staying in contact with the admissions office, treating a Maryland Carey Law waitlist spot as a real but uncertain lifeline that moves in some years more than others.

Where do Maryland Carey Law graduates actually work?

In Maryland and the Washington region. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Maryland took 58.6% of Maryland Carey Law graduates and the top three markets took 77.5%. Large firms of 101 or more lawyers hired 13.5%, federal clerkships took 3.3%, the highest clerkship share in this set, and 94.7% of the class was employed at ten months.

Start with geography. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Maryland Carey Law placed 143 graduates in Maryland, 34 in the District of Columbia, and 12 in Virginia, its three largest markets. Maryland alone absorbed 58.6% of the class, and the top three markets together took 77.5%, per the same summary. A Maryland Carey Law degree is a Maryland and Washington-region credential, and the District of Columbia presence, 34 graduates, reflects the school's position just up the road from the federal capital. The concentration is a bit less tight than at the single-state regional schools in this set, which gives Maryland Carey Law graduates a two-market reach across Maryland and the District.

The employer mix leans toward government and midsize practice, with a notable clerkship channel. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 13.5% of Maryland Carey Law graduates at large firms of 101 or more lawyers, alongside heavy hiring by federal and state government offices, which is unsurprising given the Washington-region location. The clerkship figure stands out: the same summary reports 3.3% of the Maryland Carey Law class taking federal clerkships, the highest federal-clerkship share among the schools profiled in this set, reflecting the concentration of federal courts in the Maryland and District of Columbia area.

Overall placement and bar results are solid. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 231 of 244 Maryland Carey Law graduates employed at the ten-month mark, a 94.7% employment rate. Maryland Carey Law's ABA bar-passage report shows a first-time pass rate of 82.1% for the 2024 exam year, with Maryland as the largest jurisdiction, and an ultimate pass rate of 89.47% for the 2022 cohort. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure reports first-year academic attrition of 0.0%, meaning essentially no one washes out academically in the first year.

When are Maryland Carey Law's application deadlines?

Maryland Carey Law runs a rolling admissions cycle that opens in the fall and reads files as they arrive. The school's specific Early Decision terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle, so an applicant weighing an early or binding option should confirm the current deadlines and Early Decision rules directly on Maryland Carey Law's admissions site. The structure described below reflects the general cycle as verified in August 2026.

Because Maryland Carey Law reads on a rolling basis, the practical advice is to apply early in the cycle rather than to target a single hard deadline. In a rolling pool, admission offers and scholarship dollars are more plentiful early and shrink as the class fills, and given how much money Maryland Carey Law puts toward full-tuition awards, applying early is especially valuable for scholarship positioning here. A complete Maryland Carey Law application submitted in the fall generally competes for a larger share of both admission and aid than the same file submitted in the spring. An applicant who wants the best odds at Maryland Carey Law should have the LSAT score, transcripts, letters, and personal statement ready to submit as soon as the cycle opens. This page is a planning aid rather than the registrar of record, so confirm the current Maryland Carey Law deadlines and any Early Decision terms on the school's own admissions pages before relying on them, since cycle dates shift from year to year.

Frequently asked questions about getting into Maryland Carey Law

Is a 164 LSAT good enough for Maryland Carey Law?

Yes. A 164 is exactly Maryland Carey Law's LSAT median, per Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, which puts the middle range at 156 to 166. At a 26.08% acceptance rate, a median LSAT paired with a GPA at or above the 3.37 floor makes an applicant genuinely competitive at Maryland Carey Law. A 164 sits right in the center of the admitted class.

What GPA do you need to get into Maryland Carey Law?

Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure reports a GPA median of 3.72, with a 25th percentile of 3.37 and a 75th percentile of 3.88. The middle half of Maryland Carey Law's class sits between 3.37 and 3.88. Because Maryland Carey Law is reverse-splitter friendly, a strong GPA near or above 3.72 is especially valuable, since it can offset an LSAT in the high 150s.

Can you get into Maryland Carey Law with an LSAT below the median?

Yes, more readily than at most schools with a 164 median. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure puts the 25th percentile LSAT at 156, eight points below the median, so a meaningful share of the class scored well under 164. A high-GPA applicant with an LSAT in the mid-to-high 150s has a genuine path at Maryland Carey Law, which is reverse-splitter friendly.

What is Maryland Carey Law's acceptance rate?

Maryland Carey Law's acceptance rate is 26.08%, computed as 750 offers against 2,876 applications in Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. That is genuinely selective in absolute terms, though relative to schools at the same LSAT level Maryland Carey Law is on the more accessible side. About one in four applicants receives an offer from Maryland Carey Law.

How many people apply to Maryland Carey Law each year?

Maryland Carey Law received 2,876 applications for its fall 2025 entering class, according to Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. From that pool, Maryland Carey Law extended 750 offers and enrolled 229 matriculants, building a first-year class of 229 that includes a part-time division of 21 students alongside 208 full-time students.

How much does Maryland Carey Law cost per year?

Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $40,009 for residents and $58,023 for nonresidents, with living expenses of $32,842. Maryland Carey Law does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance total, so this page will not quote one. A resident receiving the $28,000 median grant would net $12,009 in tuition and fees before living costs.

Is Maryland Carey Law cheaper for Maryland residents?

Yes. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists resident tuition and fees at $40,009 against $58,023 for nonresidents, a difference of $18,014 per year before any grant. For a Maryland resident, that resident rate, further reduced by Maryland Carey Law's median grant or one of its full-tuition awards, is the core of the school's strong value case.

Does Maryland Carey Law give scholarships?

Yes, deeply. Maryland Carey Law awards grants to 79% of students, per Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, with amounts of $10,161, $28,000, and $40,000 at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles. Maryland Carey Law also reports 74 full-tuition awards and 26 above-full-tuition awards, an unusually large number of top scholarships for a class of 229.

Does Maryland Carey Law give full-tuition scholarships?

Yes, and to many students. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure reports 74 full-tuition awards and 26 awards above full tuition, so 100 students hold awards at or above the full tuition line. For a first-year class of 229, that is a large share attending on a full ride or better, making Maryland Carey Law one of the more generous schools in this set at the top end.

Are Maryland Carey Law scholarships conditional on grades?

No. Maryland Carey Law reports that its scholarships are not conditional, per Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, meaning a first-year award cannot be cut or revoked for missing a class-rank or GPA threshold. The grant a Maryland Carey Law student is quoted at admission is the grant they keep across all three years, with no first-year performance trap attached.

What is Maryland Carey Law's bar passage rate?

Maryland Carey Law's ABA bar-passage report shows a first-time pass rate of 82.1% for the 2024 exam year, with Maryland as the largest jurisdiction. The ultimate pass rate, measured two years out for the 2022 cohort, is 89.47%, per the same report. Those are solid figures for the Maryland market, where Maryland Carey Law places most of its graduates.

Where do most Maryland Carey Law graduates work?

Most Maryland Carey Law graduates work in Maryland and the Washington region. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows Maryland taking 143 graduates, or 58.6%, the District of Columbia taking 34, and Virginia taking 12, so the top three markets account for 77.5% of the class. A Maryland Carey Law degree carries real reach across both Maryland and the District of Columbia.

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

Maryland Carey Law is on the more accessible side of its band. Among the 36 ABA law schools with a median LSAT within two points of Maryland Carey Law's 164, ranked by acceptance rate, its 26.08% ranks 22nd most selective, per Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosures. That places Maryland Carey Law in the more forgiving half of its academic peer group, partly because its wide LSAT band admits high-GPA reverse splitters.

What are your chances off the Maryland Carey Law waitlist?

Uncertain but real. Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure shows 750 offers and 229 matriculants, an implied yield of 30.5%, so Maryland Carey Law fills much of its class from first-round offers while still sending far more offers than it has seats. A waitlisted applicant to Maryland Carey Law should keep other options alive, since the waitlist moves in some years more than others.

Is Maryland Carey Law worth the cost?

For many students, yes. Against the $40,009 resident tuition in Maryland Carey Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, 79% of students receive grants and 100 students hold awards at or above full tuition, while the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 94.7% of Maryland Carey Law graduates employed at ten months. Deep aid plus strong Maryland-region placement makes the cost of Maryland Carey Law defensible.

Sources

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

Maryland Carey Law 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report for the fall 2025 entering class: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=68&year=2025

Maryland Carey Law ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=68&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=68&year=2024

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