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

The short answer to how to get into Villanova Law School is to reach the medians in Villanova Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure: a 164 LSAT and a 3.8 GPA. The middle 50 percent of the fall 2025 class scored 159 to 166 on the LSAT and held a 3.64 to 3.9 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 Villanova Law School'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 Villanova Law's ABA bar-passage report, alongside the school's own published admissions pages.

The single most distinctive fact about Villanova Law School is its large-firm placement. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, 32.2% of Villanova Law graduates went to large firms of 101 or more lawyers, the strongest big-firm share among the regional schools it competes with. That result comes from a Philadelphia base: Villanova Law placed 51.9% of the class in Pennsylvania and 71.0% across its top three markets. If your goal is large-firm practice in the Philadelphia region, Villanova Law School sends a higher share of its class there than most schools at its level, and that is the reason to read on.

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

Villanova Law School posts a 164 LSAT median, a 3.8 GPA median, and a 25.93% acceptance rate in Villanova Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Full-time tuition and fees run $60,750, with living expenses of $25,492 listed separately. The table below collects the headline admissions, cost, and outcome numbers in one place.

MetricVillanova Law School (fall 2025 entering class unless noted)LSAT (25th / 50th / 75th)159 / 164 / 166GPA (25th / 50th / 75th)3.64 / 3.8 / 3.9Acceptance rate25.93%Applications2,889Offers of admission749Matriculants from the applicant pool231First-year class232Full-time tuition and fees$60,750Living expenses$25,492Share receiving grants87%Grant amount (25th / 50th / 75th)$25,000 / $40,000 / $50,000Full-tuition awards0 full-tuition, 0 above full tuitionConditional scholarshipsNoFirst-time bar passage (2024, Pennsylvania)91.26%Ultimate bar passage (2022 cohort)91.26%First-year academic attrition0.0%Employed at ten months (Class of 2024)93.0% (199 of 214)Top market (Class of 2024)Pennsylvania, 51.9% of graduatesLarge firms, 101 or more lawyers (Class of 2024)32.2% of graduatesFederal clerkships (Class of 2024)1.9% of graduates

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

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

Villanova Law School reports an LSAT spread of 159 to 166 and a GPA spread of 3.64 to 3.9 in its 2025 ABA 509. A 164 LSAT and a 3.8 GPA sit at both medians and make you competitive. Below the 159 LSAT or the 3.64 GPA, you need a clear compensating strength on the other number.

Villanova Law School reports an LSAT 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of 159, 164, and 166, and a GPA 25th, 50th, and 75th of 3.64, 3.8, and 3.9 for the fall 2025 entering class, per Villanova Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. The median is the fiftieth percentile: half of the enrolled class scored above 164 on the LSAT and above 3.8 in GPA, and half below. A median is a target rather than a cutoff, but at Villanova Law School both medians set the center of the class and are the numbers to reach.

The LSAT band at Villanova Law School is wide on the low side. From the 25th percentile of 159 to the median of 164 is a five-point drop, while from the median to the 75th of 166 is just two points. That asymmetry means Villanova Law admits a meaningful number of students well below its median but comparatively few above it. A 159, the bottom quartile, is a real admit range at Villanova Law School, but a score there needs a strong GPA to carry the file, because the school is giving ground on the LSAT rather than on the transcript.

The GPA band, by contrast, is tight: from 3.64 at the 25th percentile to 3.9 at the 75th is a spread of 0.26, and the 25th-to-median gap is only 0.16. A 3.64 is a strong college record, and at Villanova Law School it sits at the bottom quarter rather than far outside the class. Read the two bands together and they describe a class that holds the line on GPA while flexing on the LSAT, which is exactly the shape that tells you how Villanova Law treats an imbalanced file.

That shape makes Villanova Law School reverse-splitter friendly. Lovare's read of the 509 spreads shows a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.16 against a much wider LSAT 25th-to-median spread of five points. A reverse-splitter-friendly school forgives a lower LSAT when the GPA is high; a splitter-friendly school forgives a lower GPA when the LSAT is high. Villanova Law School leans reverse-splitter, so a high GPA paired with an LSAT in the high 150s to low 160s has a genuine path, while a high LSAT with a sub-3.64 GPA is the tougher sell. If your transcript is your stronger number, Villanova Law School is a school worth targeting.

Is Villanova Law School harder to get into than its reputation?

Villanova Law School sits close to where its reputation places it, tilting slightly toward the accessible side. Villanova Law is a respected regional Catholic school, and among the 36 schools clustered near its 164 LSAT median, it ranks 20th most selective, just past the midpoint. Its 25.93% acceptance rate is typical for its band.

Reputation places Villanova Law School among the solid regional private schools of the Philadelphia Main Line, with a strong alumni presence in the region's firms and courts. Its 164 LSAT median fits that standing. The admit rate largely confirms it. Lovare built a peer band of the 36 ABA law schools whose median LSAT falls within two points of Villanova Law's 164, that is, a median of 162 to 166, then ranked them by acceptance rate from the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. By that ranking, Villanova Law School is 20th most selective of the 36, a shade past the middle of the group.

Here is what a 20th-of-36 placement means for an applicant. Villanova Law School admits a share of applicants slightly larger than the median school at its LSAT level, so its 25.93% acceptance rate reflects a school that is a touch more accessible than the exact center of its band, not one hiding unusual selectivity. A file that matches the Villanova Law School medians has a fair statistical shot, marginally better than at the median band peer, which is useful information when you are deciding where a given application is a target rather than a reach.

The honest verdict is that Villanova Law School is about as selective as it looks, leaning slightly accessible. An applicant at or near the 159/164/166 LSAT and 3.64/3.8/3.9 GPA figures should treat Villanova Law School as a target, and should choose it primarily on the strength of its large-firm placement and Philadelphia network rather than on any large gap between reputation and admit rate, because for Villanova Law that gap is small.

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

Villanova Law School charges $60,750 in full-time tuition and fees, per Villanova Law's 2025 ABA 509, plus $25,492 in living expenses. Eighty-seven percent of students receive grants, with a $40,000 median award. A median-grant recipient nets about $20,750 in tuition and fees before living costs, though Villanova Law reports no full-tuition awards.

Villanova Law School is a private school, and the sticker reflects that. Villanova Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure lists full-time tuition and fees at $60,750 and living expenses at $25,492. The 509 prints those two figures separately and does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance total, so this page will not sum them into an invented all-in number. At $60,750, Villanova Law School's tuition sits below the highest-priced national privates but still calls for serious aid to be affordable.

Aid reaches most students, but the ceiling is worth understanding. According to the same 509, 87% of Villanova Law School students receive grant aid, with awards at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of $25,000, $40,000, and $50,000. Here is the honest caveat: Villanova Law School reports 0 full-tuition awards and 0 awards above full tuition. So while a $40,000 median grant is generous against a $60,750 sticker, even the most heavily aided students at Villanova Law School still pay a meaningful share of tuition, because the school does not offer a true full ride.

For a typical recipient, the math is concrete. Against the $60,750 sticker, a student receiving Villanova Law School's median grant of $40,000 nets about $20,750 in tuition and fees before living costs, using figures from Villanova Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure. A top-quartile award of $50,000 would leave a smaller balance, but the absence of full-tuition awards means no admitted student attends Villanova Law School tuition-free on merit. Just as important, the aid is stable: Villanova Law School does not use conditional scholarships, so an award is not tied to a first-year GPA or class-rank threshold and cannot be cut if your grades slip. The grant Villanova Law School quotes at admission is the grant you keep.

What are your real chances off the Villanova Law School waitlist?

Villanova Law School does not disclose waitlist offers or admits, and no ABA report does. The honest proxy is implied yield: 231 matriculants against 749 offers is a 30.8% yield. That is a moderate yield, so Villanova Law fills most of its class from first-round offers while leaving some room for waitlist movement in a given cycle.

Here is the reasoning in full. Villanova Law School enrolled 231 matriculants from 749 offers in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, an implied yield of 30.8%. No ABA disclosure, Villanova Law's included, publishes how many applicants are admitted from the waitlist or how many accept, so implied yield is the honest proxy for how much a waitlist moves. When a little under a third of admitted students enroll, a school fills the bulk of its class from first-round offers but keeps room that a waitlist can fill as admits decline.

A 30.8% yield is moderate, which puts Villanova Law School in the middle of the range. It is higher than a school that yields only a quarter of its offers and leans hard on its waitlist, and lower than a school that yields close to half and barely moves its list. For a waitlisted applicant to Villanova Law School, that means real but limited hope: some cycles will see the list move, others less so, depending on how Villanova Law's yield lands that year.

If you land on the Villanova Law School waitlist, the play is standard: send a concise letter of continued interest naming Villanova Law School as a top choice, add any new LSAT score or improved grades, and keep another acceptance in hand as your floor. Do not build your plan around a Villanova Law School waitlist spot, but do not write it off either, because a moderate yield leaves the door genuinely open.

One honest note on the class figures. Villanova Law's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure lists 231 matriculants from the applicant pool and a first-year class of 232, a gap of just one student, which reflects a path into the class other than this single cycle's pool. The 30.8% implied yield is computed from the 231 pool matriculants against the 749 offers, which is the correct comparison for reasoning about this cycle's waitlist odds at Villanova Law School.

Where do Villanova Law School graduates actually work?

In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Villanova Law School placed 51.9% of graduates in Pennsylvania and 71.0% across its top three markets. Large firms of 101 or more lawyers took 32.2%, the strongest big-firm share among its peers, while 1.9% won federal clerkships. Villanova Law is a Philadelphia-region large-firm feeder.

Villanova Law School is anchored in the Philadelphia region. In the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024, Villanova Law placed 111 of its 214 graduates in Pennsylvania, 21 in New York, and 20 in New Jersey. That is a 51.9% top-market share and a 71.0% top-three share. About half of Villanova Law School graduates begin their careers in Pennsylvania, and the trio of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey absorbs a little over seven in ten, giving the class solid reach across the mid-Atlantic corridor while keeping its center firmly in the Philadelphia market.

The standout number is the large-firm share. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 32.2% of Villanova Law School graduates taking jobs at large firms of 101 or more lawyers, better than three in ten and the strongest big-firm result among the regional schools Villanova Law competes with. For an applicant whose goal is large-firm practice without attending a national top-tier school, that share is the single most compelling item in Villanova Law's outcome profile, because it shows the pipeline into big firms is real and broad.

The employment rate deserves an honest note. Villanova Law School reported 199 of 214 graduates employed at ten months, or 93.0%, in the same ABA Employment Summary. That is a good figure, though a few points below the strongest schools in its band, so read the outcome profile as a school that channels a high share of its employed graduates into large firms rather than one that employs literally everyone. Federal clerkships are a small piece: the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows 1.9% of Villanova Law School graduates entering federal clerkships, consistent with a school whose center of gravity is private practice in the Philadelphia region rather than the national clerkship pipeline.

When are Villanova Law School's application deadlines?

Villanova Law School's specific application deadlines and Early Decision terms were not part of the primary disclosures behind this page, and the ABA 509 does not publish them. Rather than state a date this page cannot verify, the honest guidance is to confirm the current deadlines and any Early Decision terms directly on Villanova Law School's admissions site.

The ABA Standard 509 Information Report that anchors the admissions figures on this page reports class-level data such as LSAT and GPA percentiles, offers, and matriculants, but it does not publish an application deadline calendar. Villanova Law School's Early Decision terms are not confirmed here for the current cycle, so this page will not state whether an Early Decision round is binding, when it closes, or what deposit it carries. Those details belong to the school's own admissions page, which is the source of record.

The practical advice for Villanova Law School applicants is the advice that holds at almost every school with a rolling-style cycle: apply early, because reading files as they arrive tends to reward applicants who complete early over equally qualified applicants who finish late. The specific dates that govern that timing shift from year to year, so confirm the current Villanova Law School deadlines and Early Decision terms on the school's admissions page. The statements on this page are dated and were verified in August 2026.

Frequently asked questions about getting into Villanova Law School

Is a 164 LSAT good enough for Villanova Law?

A 164 is exactly the LSAT median at Villanova Law School, per Villanova Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, where the middle 50 percent scored 159 to 166. A 164 puts you at the fiftieth percentile, competitive but not a lock. Pair it with a GPA at or above the 3.8 median and you are a strong candidate at Villanova Law School.

What GPA do you need for Villanova Law?

Villanova Law School reports a GPA median of 3.8, with a 25th-to-75th range of 3.64 to 3.9, in its 2025 ABA 509. Aim for 3.8 or higher to sit at the center of the class. Because Villanova Law School is reverse-splitter friendly, a strong GPA is especially valuable, since it can carry an LSAT in the high 150s to low 160s at Villanova Law School.

What is Villanova Law's acceptance rate?

Villanova Law School admitted 25.93% of applicants for the fall 2025 class, extending 749 offers against 2,889 applications, according to Villanova Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. Among the 36 schools near its 164 LSAT median, that rate ranks Villanova Law School 20th most selective, placing it just past the midpoint of its band and leaning slightly accessible.

How many people apply to Villanova Law?

Villanova Law School received 2,889 applications for the fall 2025 entering class, made 749 offers, and enrolled 231 matriculants from the pool for a first-year class of 232, per Villanova Law's 2025 ABA 509. That pool-to-offer ratio is what produces Villanova Law School's 25.93% acceptance rate and the 30.8% implied yield that shape an applicant's odds.

How much does Villanova Law cost?

Villanova Law School lists full-time tuition and fees of $60,750, plus $25,492 in living expenses, in its 2025 ABA 509. Villanova Law School does not publish a single cost-of-attendance total, so tuition and living are best read as two separate costs rather than summed into an invented all-in figure. Most students pay below sticker because of broad grant aid.

Does Villanova Law give scholarships?

Yes, broadly, but with a ceiling. Villanova Law School reports that 87% of students receive grant aid, with awards of $25,000, $40,000, and $50,000 at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles, per Villanova Law's 2025 ABA 509. Note that Villanova Law School reports 0 full-tuition awards, so no admitted student attends tuition-free on merit, even at the top of the aid range.

What is Villanova Law's bar passage rate?

Villanova Law School posted a 91.26% first-time bar passage rate for exam year 2024 in its largest jurisdiction, Pennsylvania, according to Villanova Law's ABA bar-passage report. Its ultimate pass rate for the 2022 cohort was also 91.26%. Both figures are strong, and they mean the large majority of Villanova Law School graduates who sit for the bar pass it.

Where do Villanova Law graduates work?

Most work in Pennsylvania. The ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 shows Villanova Law School placed 111 graduates in Pennsylvania, 21 in New York, and 20 in New Jersey, a 51.9% top-market share and 71.0% across the top three. Villanova Law School is anchored in the Philadelphia market with meaningful reach into New York and New Jersey.

Can a splitter get into Villanova Law?

A reverse-splitter has a real path. Lovare reads Villanova Law School as reverse-splitter friendly, with a narrow GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.16 against a wide LSAT spread of five points in the 2025 ABA 509. That means Villanova Law School forgives a lower LSAT when the GPA is high, so a strong-GPA applicant with an LSAT in the high 150s to low 160s is more viable at Villanova Law School than the reverse.

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

Villanova Law School is a little past the middle. Among the 36 ABA schools whose median LSAT is within two points of its 164, ranked by acceptance rate in the 2025 ABA 509, Villanova Law ranks 20th most selective of 36. In plain terms, Villanova Law School admits a slightly larger share of applicants than the median school at its LSAT level, so it leans marginally accessible.

Is Villanova Law worth it?

For large-firm work in the Philadelphia region, the case is strong. Villanova Law School pairs a $60,750 sticker with 87% grant reach, and in the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2024 it placed 93.0% of graduates in jobs and 32.2% at large firms, the best big-firm share among its peers. Add a 91.26% first-time bar pass rate, and Villanova Law School delivers for applicants aimed at big-firm practice.

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

Scores above the medians. Villanova Law School reports a median grant of $40,000 and a 75th-percentile award of $50,000 in its 2025 ABA 509, though no full-tuition awards. An LSAT above 164 and a GPA above 3.8, toward the 166 and 3.9 upper quartiles, position you for the largest grants at Villanova Law School, which top out at the $50,000 level rather than a full ride.

Does Villanova Law use conditional scholarships?

No. Villanova Law School reports in its 2025 ABA 509 that it does not award conditional scholarships, which are awards tied to a first-year GPA or class-rank threshold. That means a grant at Villanova Law School is not at risk if your first-year grades fall below a cutoff, so the award you are offered at admission is the award you keep across all three years.

What is Villanova Law's first-year attrition rate?

Villanova Law School reports first-year academic attrition of 0.0% in its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, meaning no students in the tracked first-year cohort were dismissed for academic reasons. A 0.0% academic attrition figure signals that once you are admitted and enrolled at Villanova Law School, the school expects you to complete the year, which is a reassuring sign of stability for an incoming student weighing offers.

Sources

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

Villanova Law School 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report, fall 2025 entering class: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=133&year=2025

Villanova Law School ABA bar-passage report: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/BarPassageOutcomes/GenerateIndividualBarPassageReport?schoolId=133&year=2025

ABA Employment Summary, Class of 2024: https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/EmploymentOutcomes/GenerateIndividualEQSummaryReport?schoolId=133&year=2024

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