How to Get Into Vanderbilt Law School: LSAT, GPA & Admissions (2026)

If you are working out how to get into Vanderbilt University Law School, the two numbers that decide most files are a 170 LSAT median and a 3.91 GPA median. According to Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, hitting both puts you squarely in range for the fall 2025 class; miss one badly and the other must carry it.

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 Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class), the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, and Vanderbilt Law's own admissions pages.

Here is the angle that sets Vanderbilt Law apart from its Southern neighbors: it barely behaves like a regional school. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Tennessee held just 22.9% of the graduating class, while New York and Texas each took large blocks of their own, so the top three markets combined reached only 58.4%. That spread is unusual. Most law schools rooted in a single state feed that state's bar and little else, but a Vanderbilt Law degree travels north to New York and west to Texas rather than tying a graduate to Nashville. Read this page with that thesis in mind: Vanderbilt Law sells national portability, backed by a guaranteed merit scholarship for anyone admitted through its binding Early Decision round.

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

Vanderbilt Law is a top-tier national school with a 170 LSAT median, a 3.91 GPA median, and a 13.26% acceptance rate for the fall 2025 class, according to Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Full-time tuition and fees run $78,799, but 90% of students receive grant aid. The table below collects the core numbers.

MetricVanderbilt Law School (fall 2025 entering class)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)167 / 170 / 171GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.77 / 3.91 / 3.97Acceptance rate13.26%Applications6,124Offers of admission812Matriculants from the pool170First-year class172Full-time tuition and fees$78,799 (tuition $76,440 plus fees $2,359)Living expenses$34,934Share receiving grants90%Median grant$32,792Conditional scholarshipsNoFirst-time bar passage94.51%Employed at ten months98.2% (163 of 166)

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

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

To be competitive at Vanderbilt Law you want an LSAT at or above the 170 median and a GPA near the 3.91 median. Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure puts the 25th percentile at 167 LSAT and 3.77 GPA, so those are the practical floors. Below either, the other number must be strong enough to offset it.

Vanderbilt Law reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 167, 170, and 171, and a GPA spread of 3.77, 3.91, and 3.97, in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. The Vanderbilt University law LSAT median of 170 is the number to internalize first: half of the fall 2025 class scored at or above it and half below, inside a tight 167 to 171 middle band. That LSAT range is compressed. Only four points separate the bottom quarter of the class from the top quarter, which tells you that Vanderbilt Law admits from a narrow slice of the LSAT scale and that a score below 167 stands out in the wrong direction.

The Vanderbilt University law GPA picture is similarly tight. Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure puts the GPA 25th percentile at 3.77, the median at 3.91, and the 75th at 3.97, a middle band just two tenths of a point wide. In plain terms, the center of a Vanderbilt Law class carries close to an A-minus average or better, and there is not much room to be a low-GPA admit without something exceptional elsewhere in the file. A 3.6 undergraduate record is already below the 25th percentile here and needs real compensation.

So what does a realistic profile look like? A 170 LSAT paired with a 3.91 GPA places an applicant exactly at both of Vanderbilt Law's medians, per its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, which is the center of the class and a genuine competitive position at a school that admits about 13 in every hundred applicants. Below the 167 LSAT or the 3.77 GPA, an applicant needs a clear compensating strength on the other number. A 3.6 GPA applicant realistically wants an LSAT at or above the 171 upper quartile to be taken seriously, and a 165 LSAT applicant needs a near-perfect GPA plus a distinctive record to overcome a score below the band.

On the splitter question, Vanderbilt Law is best described as balanced rather than splitter friendly or reverse-splitter friendly. Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure shows a GPA spread from the 25th percentile to the median of 0.14 and an LSAT spread of just 3 points, so neither number carries dramatically more forgiveness than the other. 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. Vanderbilt Law does neither cleanly. It wants both numbers strong and uses the personal statement, letters, and record to separate a deep pool of numerically qualified candidates. A pure splitter with a 174 LSAT and a 3.5 GPA can still land, but should treat Vanderbilt Law as a reach rather than a match, because the GPA band gives less cover here than at a wide-spread school.

Is Vanderbilt Law harder to get into than its reputation?

Yes, modestly. Vanderbilt Law's 13.26% acceptance rate makes it the 11th most selective of the 25 leading schools whose LSAT median sits within two points of its 170, per Lovare's band analysis of the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. It is tougher than its approachable reputation suggests, though not the very hardest admit inside its own LSAT band.

To size up the Vanderbilt University law acceptance rate fairly, compare it only against schools with a similar academic profile. Among the leading national law schools whose median LSAT falls within two points of Vanderbilt Law's 170, that is a median of 168 to 172, ranked by acceptance rate, Vanderbilt Law lands 11th of 25. Its 13.26% rate, from Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, is neither at the top of the band nor near the bottom; it sits in the more selective third of a large peer group.

The near neighbors tell the story. More selective than Vanderbilt Law in this band are schools like the University of Michigan at 8.6%, the University of North Carolina at 11.2%, USC Gould at roughly 11%, UCLA and Boston University and Texas A&M clustered at 12.1%, the University of Georgia at 12.7%, and Duke University at 12.9%. Just less selective are New York University at 13.4%, the University of Texas at Austin at 14.0%, UC Berkeley at 14.8%, Georgetown University at 15.8%, the University of Notre Dame at 16.1%, and Fordham University at 16.2%. Vanderbilt Law's 13.26% slots it right between Duke at 12.9% and NYU at 13.4%, which is a fair summary of where it truly sits: shoulder to shoulder with Duke and NYU, and clearly harder to crack than the reputationally similar schools farther down the list.

One entry needs an asterisk. Boston College reports an 8.5% acceptance rate that would slot it near the top of this band, but Boston College reports its offers on a narrower basis than the other schools, so it is not a true selectivity peer and should not be read as more selective than Vanderbilt Law on an apples-to-apples basis. Setting that aside, the honest verdict is that Vanderbilt Law is a touch harder to get into than applicants assume. People file it as a comfortable safety below the Ivies and are surprised when a strong-but-not-spectacular profile is waitlisted or denied.

Does Vanderbilt Law have Early Decision, and is it binding?

Yes. Vanderbilt Law runs a single binding Early Decision round with a November 1 deadline, and every binding-ED admit receives an annual merit scholarship, according to Vanderbilt Law's own early-decision page. Binding means you commit: a nonrefundable $1,000 deposit, all other offers declined, and all prior applications withdrawn.

The mechanics are strict, and Vanderbilt Law spells them out. According to Vanderbilt Law's own early-decision page, the binding Early Decision application is due November 1 in a single round, with a required video essay submitted by November 10. An admitted Early Decision candidate must pay a nonrefundable $1,000 deposit within five days of acceptance, decline all other law school offers, and withdraw every other pending application. This is a true handcuff. By applying binding Early Decision to Vanderbilt Law, an applicant is promising to enroll if admitted, and the school treats that promise as enforceable.

What Vanderbilt Law offers in return is unusual and worth weighing. Vanderbilt Law states that all binding Early Decision admits receive an annual merit scholarship, so committing early is tied to guaranteed merit money rather than costing an applicant the chance at aid. The packet behind this page does not publish the dollar amount or percentage of that guaranteed Early Decision scholarship, so this page will not invent a figure; confirm the current award directly with Vanderbilt Law. The strategic read is clear enough regardless. Binding Early Decision at Vanderbilt Law suits an applicant who is certain Vanderbilt Law is their first choice and who values a guaranteed scholarship over the freedom to compare offers, and it is a poor fit for anyone who needs to weigh competing aid packages in the spring.

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

Vanderbilt Law lists full-time tuition and fees of $78,799 plus $34,934 in living expenses in its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, which prints those separately and does not total them into a single cost-of-attendance figure. But 90% of students receive grants, with a $32,792 median, so most Vanderbilt Law students pay well below sticker.

Start with the sticker. Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $78,799, built from $76,440 in tuition and $2,359 in fees, and separately lists living expenses at $34,934. That 509 does not print a single combined cost-of-attendance total, so any all-in annual number quoted elsewhere is someone's arithmetic and not a figure Vanderbilt Law reports. This page will not manufacture one.

Now the aid, which is where Vanderbilt Law gets more affordable in a hurry. According to Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, 90% of students receive grant aid, with grant amounts at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of $17,500, $32,792, and $44,927. Those grants include both merit and need-based awards. At the top of the scale, Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure reports 8 full-tuition awards and 15 awards above full tuition, so a meaningful handful of students attend with tuition entirely covered or more.

For a typical grant recipient, the math works out like this. Against the $78,799 sticker for tuition and fees, a student holding Vanderbilt Law's median grant of $32,792 nets about $46,007 in tuition and fees before living costs, using figures from Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure. That is real money still owed, and living expenses of $34,934 sit on top of it, so a median-grant student at Vanderbilt Law is not attending for free. But nine in ten students getting a grant, and quartiles that reach into full-tuition territory, make the effective price meaningfully lower than the headline for most of the class.

One protection deserves emphasis. Vanderbilt Law reports that its scholarships are not conditional, per its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, meaning a grant cannot be reduced or revoked for missing a class-rank or GPA threshold after the first year. That matters more than applicants realize. At schools that use conditional scholarships, a first-year award can shrink if a student lands in the bottom half of the curve, and half the class does by definition. At Vanderbilt Law the grant an admitted student is quoted is the grant they keep, which removes a nasty second-year surprise from the calculation.

What are your real chances off the Vanderbilt Law waitlist?

No school, Vanderbilt Law included, discloses waitlist admits, so the honest proxy is implied yield: matriculants divided by offers. Vanderbilt Law's fall 2025 numbers give a 20.9% implied yield, on the lower side within its peer set, which suggests Vanderbilt Law leans somewhat more on its waitlist than higher-yield schools do.

Here is the reasoning in full. Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure reports 812 offers of admission and 170 matriculants drawn from that applicant pool, an implied yield of 20.9%. No ABA disclosure, Vanderbilt Law's included, publishes how many applicants are admitted off the waitlist or how many accept, so implied yield is the honest way to reason about waitlist movement. The logic runs like this: when a school converts only about a fifth of its offers into enrollments, it must extend many more offers than it has seats and often reaches into its waitlist as the class settles.

A 20.9% yield is on the lower end, and within this three-school comparison it is the lowest, sitting under Washington University in St. Louis at 24.2% and USC Gould at 28.2%. For a waitlisted Vanderbilt Law applicant, that is relatively good news. A school that keeps a larger share of its admitted students has little unfilled space to backfill, while Vanderbilt Law's lower yield implies more churn between the first round of offers and the final class, and therefore more room for waitlist admits in a typical cycle. This is not a promise. Waitlist activity swings year to year with how the yield lands, but the structural signal at Vanderbilt Law points to a waitlist that actually moves rather than one that sits frozen.

Where do Vanderbilt Law graduates actually work?

Vanderbilt Law graduates scatter across the country more than most Southern schools' do. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Tennessee took 22.9% of the class, New York and Texas followed close behind, and the top three markets held just 58.4%. Nearly six in ten graduates landed at large firms of 101 or more lawyers.

The most useful fact about Vanderbilt Law's outcomes is not the raw placement rate; it is how widely the class disperses. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Vanderbilt Law placed 38 graduates in Tennessee, 35 in New York, and 24 in Texas, its three largest markets. Tennessee, the home state, absorbed only 22.9% of the class, and New York trailed it by just three graduates. That is the crux of the national-portability thesis: a Vanderbilt Law degree does not lock a graduate into the Nashville or broader Tennessee market the way a typical regional school's degree does. The top three markets together account for 58.4% of the class, which means more than 40% of graduates went somewhere outside even that spread.

By employer type, Vanderbilt Law feeds a strong large-firm pipeline. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 98 Vanderbilt Law graduates, or 59.0% of the class, taking jobs at firms of 101 or more lawyers, and 79 of those, 47.6% of the class, at the very largest firms of 501 or more lawyers. So large-firm practice, what applicants usually mean by BigLaw, is the single most common destination for a Vanderbilt Law graduate, and it skews toward the biggest firms in the market. That is the outcome that services the debt: BigLaw associate salaries are what make a near-$46,000 net tuition defensible.

Vanderbilt Law also posts a respectable clerkship number. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 15 Vanderbilt Law graduates, or 9.0% of the class, took federal clerkships, a solid share that signals the school places graduates into competitive federal chambers even if clerking is not its signature outcome. Overall placement is strong: the same summary shows 163 of 166 Vanderbilt Law graduates employed at the ten-month mark, a 98.2% employment rate, and Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure reports first-year academic attrition of 0.0%, meaning essentially no one who starts washes out academically. At this level, near-total employment is the norm, so the reason to weigh Vanderbilt Law on market spread rather than on the headline rate is that fit is decided by where a degree leads. Vanderbilt Law's answer is unusually flexible: Nashville if you want it, but New York, Texas, and points beyond are all live.

When are Vanderbilt Law's application deadlines?

Vanderbilt Law's clearest published date is its binding Early Decision deadline of November 1, with a video essay due by November 10, according to Vanderbilt Law's own early-decision page. The disclosures behind this page do not list a separate regular-decision deadline, so confirm the current cycle on Vanderbilt Law's site. These dates reflect what was verified in August 2026.

Vanderbilt Law's one firmly published deadline is the binding Early Decision date. According to Vanderbilt Law's own early-decision page, the Early Decision application is due November 1, with the required video essay following by November 10, in a single binding round. Beyond that Early Decision milestone, the primary-source materials behind this page do not give a separate dated regular-decision deadline for Vanderbilt Law to cite, so this page states that absence honestly rather than guessing at a January or February date. Regular-decision applicants should confirm the current deadline directly with Vanderbilt Law.

One caveat applies to every date here. Application cycle dates shift from year to year, and a deadline that is correct for one cycle can move in the next. The November 1 Early Decision deadline and November 10 video-essay date stated here reflect Vanderbilt Law's own early-decision page as verified in August 2026. Before relying on either, confirm the current cycle on Vanderbilt Law's site, because a page like this one is a planning aid, not the registrar of record.

Frequently asked questions about getting into Vanderbilt Law

Is a 170 LSAT good enough for Vanderbilt Law?

A 170 is exactly Vanderbilt Law's LSAT median, per Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, so it is good enough to be competitive but not a guarantee. Half of the fall 2025 class scored at or above 170 and half below, inside a 167 to 171 middle band. Paired with a GPA near the 3.91 median, a 170 is a genuine match at Vanderbilt Law; paired with a sub-3.77 GPA, it becomes a reach.

What GPA do you need to get into Vanderbilt Law?

Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure reports a GPA median of 3.91, with a 25th percentile of 3.77 and a 75th percentile of 3.97. That middle band is only two tenths of a point wide, so the realistic target is a GPA of at least 3.77, and ideally near 3.91. Below 3.77, an applicant to Vanderbilt Law needs an LSAT at or above the 171 upper quartile to compensate.

What is Vanderbilt Law's acceptance rate?

Vanderbilt Law's acceptance rate is 13.26%, computed as 812 offers against 6,124 applications in Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. That places Vanderbilt Law 11th most selective among the 25 leading schools whose LSAT median falls within two points of its 170. About 13 applicants in every hundred receive an offer from Vanderbilt Law in a given cycle, which is more selective than its approachable reputation implies.

How many people apply to Vanderbilt Law each year?

Vanderbilt Law received 6,124 applications for its fall 2025 entering class, according to Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. From that pool, Vanderbilt Law extended 812 offers of admission and enrolled 170 matriculants, building a first-year class of 172. The distance between 6,124 applications and 812 offers is what produces the 13.26% acceptance rate at Vanderbilt Law.

Does Vanderbilt Law have binding Early Decision?

Yes. Vanderbilt Law offers a single binding Early Decision round with a November 1 deadline and a video essay due November 10, according to Vanderbilt Law's own early-decision page. Admitted Early Decision candidates pay a nonrefundable $1,000 deposit within five days, decline all other offers, and withdraw all other applications. In exchange, every binding Early Decision admit to Vanderbilt Law receives an annual merit scholarship.

How much does Vanderbilt Law cost per year?

Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $78,799 and living expenses at $34,934 for the year. Vanderbilt Law does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance total in that 509, so this page will not quote one. A student receiving Vanderbilt Law's median grant of $32,792 nets about $46,007 in tuition and fees before living costs are added.

Does Vanderbilt Law give merit scholarships?

Yes. According to Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, 90% of students receive grants, which include merit and need-based aid, with a median grant of $32,792 and quartiles of $17,500 and $44,927. Vanderbilt Law also reports 8 full-tuition awards and 15 awards above full tuition. Every binding Early Decision admit to Vanderbilt Law additionally receives a guaranteed annual merit scholarship.

What is Vanderbilt Law's bar passage rate?

Vanderbilt Law's ABA bar-passage report shows a first-time pass rate of 94.51% for the 2024 exam year, with a 97.37% rate in its largest jurisdiction, Tennessee. The ultimate pass rate, measured two years out for the 2022 cohort, is 95.48%, per the same report. In short, the large majority of Vanderbilt Law graduates who sit for a bar exam pass it on the first attempt.

Do Vanderbilt Law graduates get large-firm (BigLaw) jobs?

Yes, and it is the single most common outcome. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 98 Vanderbilt Law graduates (59.0%) took jobs at firms of 101 or more lawyers, and 79 of those (47.6% of the class) landed at firms of 501 or more lawyers. Large-firm practice is the largest single destination for Vanderbilt Law graduates and the outcome that services law school debt.

Where do most Vanderbilt Law graduates work?

Vanderbilt Law graduates spread nationally. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows Tennessee taking 38 graduates (22.9%), New York 35, and Texas 24, so the top three markets account for just 58.4% of the class. Unlike most Southern law schools, Vanderbilt Law does not funnel graduates into a single home-state bar; New York nearly matches Tennessee by head count.

Can a splitter get into Vanderbilt Law?

It is possible but not the easy path, because Vanderbilt Law is balanced rather than splitter friendly. Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure shows a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.14 and an LSAT spread of 3 points, so neither number forgives a weak counterpart very much. A high-LSAT, lower-GPA splitter can still land at Vanderbilt Law, but the GPA should stay near the 3.77 floor rather than well below it.

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

Vanderbilt Law sits in the more selective third of its LSAT band. Among the 25 leading schools with a median LSAT within two points of its 170, ranked by acceptance rate, Vanderbilt Law is 11th most selective at 13.26%, per Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. It falls just behind Duke University at 12.9% and just ahead of New York University at 13.4%, and is clearly harder than Georgetown University at 15.8%.

Is Vanderbilt Law worth the cost?

For most admitted students, yes. Against a $78,799 tuition and fees sticker in Vanderbilt Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, 90% of students receive grants with a $32,792 median, and the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 98.2% of Vanderbilt Law graduates employed at ten months, with 59.0% in large firms. Those outcomes, plus national portability, make Vanderbilt Law's cost defensible for anyone landing at or above the median grant.

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

Numbers above both medians help most. Because Vanderbilt Law's grants include merit aid, an LSAT above the 171 upper quartile and a GPA above the 3.97 upper quartile position an applicant best for the larger awards, up to the 8 full-tuition and 15 above-full-tuition grants Vanderbilt Law reports in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Applying through binding Early Decision also guarantees an annual merit scholarship at Vanderbilt Law.

Sources

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

Vanderbilt Law 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (fall 2025 entering class): https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=141&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=141&year=2024

Vanderbilt Law ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=141&year=2025

Vanderbilt Law binding Early Decision page: https://law.vanderbilt.edu/jd-program/admissions/binding-early-decision/

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