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

The short answer to how to get into University of San Diego Law School is to clear the two medians in San Diego Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure: a 163 LSAT and a 3.83 GPA. The middle 50 percent scored 160 to 165 on the LSAT and 3.6 to 3.92 in GPA. Clear both and you are competitive.

By Ali Unar, Georgetown Law, Founder of Lovare Institut. Ali Unar is a Georgetown Law student and the founder of Lovare Institut, an admissions and LSAT-prep practice built on primary-source law school data. Verified August 2026. The admissions figures on this page come from San Diego 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-passage figures from the school's ABA bar-passage report, together with its own published pages. San Diego Law is the School of Law at the University of San Diego in San Diego, California.

University of San Diego Law School turns a class into jobs at a rate almost no school matches. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, San Diego Law reported 247 of 249 graduates employed at ten months, a 99.2 percent employment rate, and it sent 22.1 percent of graduates into large firms of 101 or more lawyers. The thesis of this page is that University of San Diego Law School is a California outcomes machine, a school whose graduates get hired and get hired well, with its main tradeoffs being a high cost of attendance and conditional scholarships that can be cut for grades. If your career is aimed at California, and especially at San Diego and its firms, USD belongs high on your list, with eyes open on price.

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

University of San Diego Law School posts a 163 LSAT median, a 3.83 GPA median, and a 23.51 percent acceptance rate in San Diego Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Full-time tuition and fees are $67,751. The table below gathers the headline admissions, cost, and outcome numbers for San Diego Law.

MetricSan Diego Law (fall 2025 entering class)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)160 / 163 / 165GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.6 / 3.83 / 3.92Acceptance rate23.51%Applications4,241Offers of admission997Matriculants from the applicant pool239First-year class240 (229 full-time, 11 part-time)Full-time tuition and fees$67,751Living expenses$39,197Share receiving grants91%Grant amount (25th / 50th / 75th)$27,375 / $32,000 / $50,000Full-tuition awards18 full-tuition, 6 above full tuitionConditional scholarshipsYes (can be cut for grades)First-year academic attrition5.0%First-time bar passage84.8% (exam year 2024, California)Employed at ten months99.2% (247 of 249)

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

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

University of San Diego Law School reports an LSAT spread of 160 to 165 and a GPA spread of 3.6 to 3.92 in San Diego Law's 2025 ABA 509. A 163 LSAT and a 3.83 GPA sit at both medians. Below the 160 LSAT or the 3.6 GPA, you need a clear compensating strength on the other number to keep a USD file competitive.

San Diego Law reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 160, 163, and 165, and a GPA 25th, 50th, and 75th of 3.6, 3.83, and 3.92 for the fall 2025 entering class, per its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. The median is the fiftieth percentile: half of enrolled students scored above 163 on the LSAT and above 3.83 in GPA, and half scored below. A median is a target rather than a hard cutoff, but at University of San Diego Law School the two medians set the center of the class and are the numbers to aim for. Note that the GPA band is high and tight, running from 3.6 to 3.92, so USD enrolls students with strong transcripts.

The realistic read at University of San Diego Law School is that a 163 LSAT and a 3.83 GPA make you a solid competitor, with the 25th percentiles marking the edge of the comfortable range. A 160 LSAT, the bottom quartile, is a live admit number at San Diego Law when paired with a GPA at or above the 3.83 median, and a 3.6 GPA, likewise the bottom quartile, wants an LSAT at or above 163. Because USD is meaningfully selective, a file below both 25th percentiles at once faces real resistance, so lift at least one number toward the median before you apply.

The shape of the two bands makes University of San Diego Law School modestly splitter friendly. Lovare's read of the 509 spreads shows a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.23 against an LSAT 25th-to-median spread of 3 points, so the GPA band runs comparatively wide. A splitter-friendly school forgives a lower GPA when the LSAT is high; a reverse-splitter-friendly school forgives a lower LSAT when the GPA is high. San Diego Law leans splitter, so a strong LSAT at or above 163 can carry a GPA that dips toward the 3.6 quartile. If your LSAT is your stronger number, University of San Diego Law School is a school where that profile plays well, though the high GPA floor means you should not let the transcript fall too far.

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

University of San Diego Law School sits in the upper middle of its LSAT band. Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures ranks San Diego Law 11th most selective of the 41 ABA law schools whose median LSAT falls within two points of its 163, above the midpoint. Its selectivity runs a touch ahead of its reputation as a strong regional school.

Reputation places University of San Diego Law School among the well-regarded private law schools on the West Coast, with a strong San Diego brand and national reach in certain fields. To test that reputation against selectivity, Lovare built a peer band of the 41 ABA law schools whose median LSAT lands within two points of San Diego Law's 163, that is, a median of 161 to 165, then ranked them by acceptance rate from the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. San Diego Law comes in 11th most selective of the 41, inside the upper third of the group.

The numbers behind that ranking are concrete. According to San Diego Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, the school drew 4,241 applications and made 997 offers to fill a first-year class of 240, an acceptance rate of 23.51 percent. Among schools that enroll students with the same low-160s LSAT median, most admit a larger share of applicants than USD does. For an applicant, that means University of San Diego Law School behaves as a genuine target rather than a safety, and a file at or above the 163 and 3.83 medians is the way to compete.

The honest verdict is that University of San Diego Law School is a little harder to get into than its reputation implies, sitting above the midpoint of its scoring band. It is a competitive California private school where the medians are the gate and the acceptance rate is tighter than most of its peers. Hit the medians and USD is a real target, with the strategic questions falling on cost, scholarship, and whether its exceptional employment record fits your plans.

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

University of San Diego Law School charges $67,751 in full-time tuition and fees, per San Diego Law's 2025 ABA 509, plus $39,197 in living expenses. Ninety-one percent of students receive grants, with a median award of $32,000. A median-grant recipient nets about $35,751 in tuition and fees before living costs. USD uses conditional scholarships, so read the terms closely.

University of San Diego Law School carries a high sticker, and San Diego living costs add to it. San Diego Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $67,751, plus $39,197 in living expenses. The 509 prints tuition and living 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 USD reports, and this page will not invent one.

The scholarship story is broad but moderate in size. According to the same 509, 91 percent of University of San Diego Law School students receive grant aid, one of the widest reaches you will see, with awards at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of $27,375, $32,000, and $50,000. San Diego Law reports 18 full-tuition awards and 6 awards above full tuition. The breadth matters: with better than nine in ten students receiving something, the practical question is not whether you get aid but how much. Against the $67,751 sticker, a $32,000 median grant brings tuition and fees to about $35,751 before living costs, using figures from San Diego Law's 2025 ABA 509. That is a real discount, though it leaves a substantial balance, so USD is not a cheap degree even for the median aided student.

Now the warning every University of San Diego Law School applicant needs to hear plainly. San Diego Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure reports that the school uses conditional scholarships, which means a first-year award can be reduced or cut if your grades fall below the threshold the school sets. A conditional scholarship is not a guaranteed three-year grant. In a graded first-year curve, some students who hold the same conditional award will finish below the line and lose part of it. Before you accept a USD offer, get the exact retention standard in writing, ask how many students held that scholarship last year, and ask how many kept it, so you can budget around the number you are actually likely to pay rather than the best-case net.

Put the pieces together and the cost calculus at University of San Diego Law School is a tradeoff between a high price and strong outcomes. Grants reach almost everyone, but the median award leaves a meaningful balance, the aid is conditional on grades, and the $39,197 living figure adds heavily to the total. The counterweight is the employment record, discussed below, which is among the best in the state. Weigh a USD grant against its conditions and against San Diego living costs, and treat the $35,751 net as a starting point rather than a certainty.

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

University of San Diego Law School does not disclose waitlist offers or admits, and no ABA report does. The honest proxy is implied yield: 239 matriculants against 997 offers is a 24.0 percent yield in San Diego Law's 2025 ABA 509. That is a lower yield, so USD makes a broad set of offers and can lean on its waitlist to fill late gaps.

Here is the reasoning in full. University of San Diego Law School enrolled 239 matriculants from 997 offers in San Diego Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, an implied yield of 24.0 percent. No ABA disclosure, USD'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. When under a quarter of admitted students enroll, a school extends a broad set of offers and keeps meaningful flexibility for the waitlist to fill the class late in the cycle.

A 24.0 percent yield is on the lower side, which suggests University of San Diego Law School competes for cross-admits and does not lock in most of the students it admits. For a waitlisted applicant to San Diego Law, that can be encouraging: a school that yields under a quarter of its offers is more likely to return to its waitlist in a year when deposits come in soft. That said, waitlist movement varies cycle to cycle, so treat it as a possibility rather than a plan.

If you land on the University of San Diego Law School waitlist, the play is the standard one: send a concise letter of continued interest naming San Diego Law as a top choice, add any new LSAT score or improved grades, and keep another acceptance in hand as your plan of record. Treat a USD waitlist spot as a live possibility given the lower yield, and secure a seat elsewhere while the odds play out.

Where do University of San Diego Law School graduates actually work?

In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, University of San Diego Law School placed 88.4 percent of graduates in California and 90.8 percent across its top three markets. Large firms of 101 or more lawyers took 22.1 percent, and 1.2 percent won federal clerkships. San Diego Law is a California-concentrated school and a genuine large-firm feeder.

University of San Diego Law School is a California school in the fullest sense, and the employment data is emphatic. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, San Diego Law placed 220 of its graduates in California, 3 in Colorado, and 3 in the District of Columbia. That is an 88.4 percent top-market share and a 90.8 percent top-three share, so nearly nine in ten graduates work in California and the out-of-state markets are small. This is a school whose outcomes are tied closely to the California legal market, especially San Diego, which makes it powerful for a California-bound applicant and limiting for anyone aiming elsewhere.

The concentration is matched by placement that is near total. University of San Diego Law School reported 247 of 249 graduates employed at ten months, or 99.2 percent, in the same ABA Employment Summary, one of the highest employment rates of any law school in the country. Only two graduates in the entire class were not employed at the ten-month mark. Combined with the California concentration, the message is unmistakable: San Diego Law does not just place its graduates, it places nearly all of them, and it places them in California.

On firm size, University of San Diego Law School is a genuine large-firm feeder. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 22.1 percent of San Diego Law graduates entering large firms of 101 or more lawyers, better than one in five and a strong share for its band, most of it in the San Diego and broader California market. Federal clerkships are a smaller channel at 1.2 percent in the same summary, so an applicant set on a clerkship should calibrate accordingly. The honest summary is that University of San Diego Law School is built for the California legal market and delivers both breadth, in its near-total employment, and quality, in its large-firm share.

When are University of San Diego Law School's application deadlines?

This page's sources do not publish University of San Diego Law School's application calendar, and San Diego Law's Early Decision terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle. Confirm the current regular deadlines and any Early Decision terms directly on the school's admissions site. The guidance here is dated: verified August 2026.

The primary sources behind this page, the 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, and San Diego Law's ABA bar-passage report, report admissions, cost, and outcome figures but not the cycle-by-cycle application calendar. For that reason this page does not state a specific regular-decision deadline for University of San Diego Law School, and it does not state specific Early Decision terms, because those terms are not confirmed here. The honest instruction is to verify the current deadlines on San Diego Law's own admissions page before you rely on them.

As general practice across law schools rather than a published USD rule, applying earlier in a cycle tends to help, because seats and scholarship money are more available before a class fills. That principle matters at University of San Diego Law School, where grants reach most students but the largest awards are limited and the earliest strong files compete best for them. Take your strongest LSAT before you apply, confirm the exact deadlines on San Diego Law's admissions page, and treat this guidance as verified August 2026.

Frequently asked questions about getting into University of San Diego Law School

Is a 163 LSAT good enough for San Diego Law?

A 163 is exactly the LSAT median at San Diego Law, per its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, where the middle 50 percent scored 160 to 165. A 163 puts you at the fiftieth percentile, competitive but not a lock. Pair it with a GPA at or above the 3.83 median and you are a strong candidate at University of San Diego Law School.

What GPA do you need for San Diego Law?

San Diego Law reports a GPA median of 3.83, with a 25th-to-75th range of 3.6 to 3.92, in its 2025 ABA 509. Aim for 3.83 or higher. Because University of San Diego Law School is modestly splitter friendly, a strong LSAT can help carry a GPA toward the 3.6 quartile, but the high GPA band means a transcript at or above the median keeps the file comfortably inside the class.

What is San Diego Law's acceptance rate?

San Diego Law admitted 23.51 percent of applicants for the fall 2025 class, extending 997 offers against 4,241 applications, according to its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Lovare's analysis ranks University of San Diego Law School 11th most selective of the 41 schools within two points of its 163 median, in the upper third of its band.

How many people apply to San Diego Law?

San Diego Law received 4,241 applications for the fall 2025 entering class, made 997 offers, and enrolled 239 matriculants from the pool for a first-year class of 240, which includes 229 full-time and 11 part-time students, per its 2025 ABA 509. That large pool supports University of San Diego Law School's selective 23.51 percent acceptance rate.

How much does San Diego Law cost?

San Diego Law lists full-time tuition and fees of $67,751, plus $39,197 in living expenses, in its 2025 ABA 509. University of San Diego Law School does not publish a single cost-of-attendance total in the 509, so tuition and living are best read separately. A median grant of $32,000 brings tuition and fees to about $35,751 before living costs.

Does San Diego Law give scholarships?

Yes, and to almost everyone. San Diego Law reports that 91 percent of students receive grants, with awards of $27,375, $32,000, and $50,000 at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles, plus 18 full-tuition awards, per its 2025 ABA 509. Those awards at University of San Diego Law School are conditional, so a first-year grant can be cut if your grades fall below the school's threshold.

What is San Diego Law's bar passage rate?

San Diego Law posted an 84.8 percent first-time bar passage rate for exam year 2024, with California as the largest jurisdiction, according to its ABA bar-passage report. Its ultimate pass rate, measured two years out for the 2022 cohort, was 91.63 percent. Both are strong figures on the demanding California exam, and they show University of San Diego Law School graduates pass the bar reliably.

Where do San Diego Law graduates work?

Overwhelmingly in California. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows San Diego Law placed 220 graduates in California, 3 in Colorado, and 3 in the District of Columbia, an 88.4 percent top-market share and 90.8 percent across the top three. University of San Diego Law School is a California-focused school built for the San Diego market, so plan around that geography.

Can a splitter get into San Diego Law?

A splitter has a real path. Lovare reads San Diego Law as modestly splitter friendly, with a wider GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.23 against an LSAT spread of 3 points in the 2025 ABA 509. That means University of San Diego Law School forgives a lower GPA when the LSAT is high, so a strong-LSAT applicant with a GPA toward the 3.6 quartile is a viable candidate.

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

San Diego Law is in the upper third of its band. Lovare's analysis of the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures ranks University of San Diego Law School 11th most selective of the 41 schools whose median LSAT sits within two points of its 163. In plain terms, more peer schools at the same scores admit a larger share of applicants than USD does, so it is a slightly tougher admit than its band average.

Is San Diego Law worth it?

For a California career, the outcomes make a strong case. San Diego Law pairs a $67,751 sticker with a 99.2 percent employment rate and a 22.1 percent large-firm share in the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024. For a California-bound applicant who wins solid aid, University of San Diego Law School can be worth it, though the high living cost and conditional scholarships belong in the math.

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

Scores above the medians. Because San Diego Law reserves its largest awards for the strongest files, an LSAT above the 163 median toward the 165 upper quartile, paired with a GPA above 3.83 toward the 3.92 quartile, positions you for the top of University of San Diego Law School's grant range, where the 75th-percentile award reaches $50,000 and the school reports 18 full-tuition awards. Higher scores also cushion you against the conditional retention threshold.

Can San Diego Law take away my scholarship?

It can. San Diego Law reports in its 2025 ABA 509 that it uses conditional scholarships, so a first-year award can be reduced or cut if your grades fall below a set threshold. Before accepting an offer from University of San Diego Law School, get the exact retention standard in writing and ask how many students kept the same award last year, since a graded first-year curve guarantees some will not.

What is San Diego Law's first-year attrition rate?

San Diego Law reported 5.0 percent first-year academic attrition in its 2025 ABA 509, meaning one in twenty first-year students left for academic reasons. That is a moderate figure. Because University of San Diego Law School also uses conditional scholarships, the same first-year grades that drive academic attrition can cost a student part of an award, so treat the retention threshold seriously.

Sources

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

San Diego Law 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class): https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=15&year=2025

San Diego Law ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=15&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=15&year=2024

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