Law school / T14 + splitter matrix

Good GPA for Law School

Updated 26 September 2026

T14 law school median GPAs ran 3.88 to 3.99 for the fall 2025 entering class, per the ABA Standard 509 reports published in December 2025. LSAT typically carries more weight than GPA in admissions decisions, which creates the "splitter" dynamic: a high LSAT compensates for a moderate GPA, and vice versa. This page reproduces the T14 median table from ABA data and provides a splitter matrix for self-assessment.

T14 median GPAs from ABA 509

The American Bar Association requires every ABA-accredited law school to publish annual disclosures of admissions statistics under the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar's Required Disclosures (509 Reports). Median GPA and median LSAT for the entering class are published each year. The table below reports the fall 2025 entering class, the most recent cycle published:

Law school	Median GPA	GPA 25th-75th	Median LSAT
Yale Law School	3.96	3.90-4.00	174
Stanford Law School	3.96	3.87-4.00	173
Harvard Law School	3.96	3.89-4.00	174
University of Chicago	3.97	3.87-4.00	174
Columbia Law School	3.92	3.85-3.98	173
NYU School of Law	3.92	3.81-3.97	172
University of Pennsylvania (Carey)	3.95	3.77-4.00	173
University of Virginia	3.99	3.83-4.04	173
University of Michigan	3.88	3.74-3.95	171
Duke University School of Law	3.91	3.83-3.96	171
Northwestern (Pritzker)	3.96	3.76-4.00	173
UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall)	3.92	3.84-3.99	170
Cornell Law School	3.92	3.75-3.97	173
Georgetown University Law Center	3.93	3.75-3.98	171

Fall 2025 entering class ("2025 First Year Class"), all-students percentiles. Medians vary year over year and the fall 2026 reports are not published until December 2026, so verify the current cycle's 509 disclosure directly at the linked ABA portal. T14 here follows the conventional US News ranking convention; the exact T14 composition has shifted modestly over time. Note that a high median is not exclusive to the T14: across all 196 ABA-accredited schools reporting for fall 2025, Texas A&M posted the single highest median UGPA at 4.00 and Washington University in St. Louis the highest median LSAT at 175, both above every school in the table.

Where the T14 sits against every other law school

The T14 table above is the top of a long distribution. Reading the same ABA fall 2025 dataset across all 196 ABA-accredited schools that reported a median UGPA, the spread is much wider than the T14 range suggests:

All 196 ABA-accredited schools, fall 2025	Median UGPA
Highest school median (Texas A&M)	4.00
90th percentile of school medians	3.91
75th percentile of school medians	3.81
Median school (98th of 196)	3.67
25th percentile of school medians	3.50
Lowest school median (Cooley)	3.09

Computed from the ABA's own all-schools compilation of the 2025 First Year Class section. These are percentiles of the 196 school-level medians, not percentiles of individual applicants. The practical read: half of all ABA-accredited law schools had a median UGPA at or below 3.67, so the T14 picture badly overstates what a "typical" law-school GPA looks like.

Why LSAT outweighs GPA

Most admissions guidance treats the LSAT as carrying more weight than undergraduate GPA at ABA-accredited schools, though the exact balance varies by school and few schools publish a formula. Where the relative weighting is visible, it favours the LSAT: the current US News ranking methodology counts median LSAT/GRE at 5% and median UGPA at 4% of the overall score, giving the LSAT roughly a quarter more weight than GPA in the selectivity component and reinforcing the institutional pressure to prioritise LSAT. LSAC's own research frames the LSAT as the single most accurate predictor of first-year law-school performance, which is the underlying reason schools lean on it.

The reason for LSAT dominance is that the LSAT is a standardised measure across all applicants while undergraduate GPA reflects different institutions, majors, grading practices, and grade-inflation rates. A 3.7 from MIT in chemistry signals very differently from a 3.7 from a non-selective school in education, but both report as "3.7" on the application. LSAT removes this variance: a 170 means the same thing regardless of the applicant's undergraduate institution.

The splitter matrix

Because LSAT and GPA are weighted differently and because admissions models allow trade-off between the two, applicants whose LSAT and GPA are mismatched ("splitters") can be admitted to schools where one number alone would not qualify them. The standard splitter has a high LSAT and a moderate GPA; the reverse splitter has a high GPA and a moderate LSAT. The matrix below summarises typical outcomes:

GPA	LSAT 180	LSAT 175	LSAT 170	LSAT 165	LSAT 160
3.90+	Strong across T14	Strong across T14	Competitive T14	T20-T30	T50 (reverse splitter)
3.80-3.89	Strong across T14	Competitive T14	Lower T14	T20-T30	T50 (reverse splitter)
3.70-3.79	Competitive T14	Lower T14	T15-T30	T30-T50	T75
3.60-3.69	Lower T14 splitter	T20-T30 splitter	T30-T50	T50-T75	T100
3.50-3.59	Splitter to T14	Splitter to T20	T30-T50	T75	T100
3.40-3.49	Standard splitter pool	T30-T50 stretch	T50-T75	T100	T100-T150
3.20-3.39	Standard splitter pool	T50 stretch	T75-T100	T100-T150	T150+
3.00-3.19	Standard splitter pool	T75-T100 stretch	T100-T150	T150+	T150+

This matrix is our own indicative model built on the published medians and percentiles above, not a published admissions table and not a guarantee. No ABA-accredited law school operates an auto-admit GPA or LSAT threshold; every application receives individual review. Soft factors (essays, work experience, application timing) shift outcomes around the matrix, and yield-protection by individual schools also affects where a splitter lands.

The LSAC GPA recalculation

LSAC recomputes undergraduate GPA on its own 4.0 scale and applies the LSAC-computed value to admissions, not the transcript value. The recalculation has several important properties. First, LSAC includes all undergraduate coursework attempted, even courses retaken or replaced under undergraduate institution policy. A student whose home institution removed certain old grades from the GPA computation under academic renewal will see those grades back in the LSAC computation.

Second, LSAC uses a uniform conversion table for non-standard grading systems (plus-minus, percentage-based, narrative evaluations). The resulting LSAC GPA can be materially different from the transcript GPA in either direction. Third, LSAC counts repeated courses additively rather than as substitutions, so a student who retook a course and received a higher grade has both attempts in the LSAC GPA.

The practical implication: always assess law school competitiveness based on the LSAC GPA, not the transcript GPA. Calculate the LSAC GPA before applying, either through the LSAC service directly or by using LSAC's published recalculation rules. The LSAC GPA is what shows up in admissions decisions and in ABA 509 statistics.

Strategic implications by GPA range

3.92+ LSAC GPA: At or above the median at most of the T14 for fall 2025. With a 170+ LSAT the strategic question shifts to which school to target on geography, post-graduation career goals, and merit-aid offers rather than whether the numbers clear.

3.75-3.92 LSAC GPA: Inside the published 25th-to-75th band at most T14 schools but below their medians, so a T14 application leans on the LSAT. This range sits at or above the 75th percentile of all ABA-accredited school medians (3.81 marks that 75th percentile), meaning it is a strong number nearly everywhere outside the very top. The reverse-splitter case (strong GPA, moderate LSAT) is harder than the standard-splitter case, because the LSAT compensates for a low GPA more readily than a GPA compensates for a low LSAT.

3.50-3.75 LSAC GPA: Below the 25th percentile at every T14 school, so T14 admission requires a genuine splitter profile with a 175+ LSAT. Note the contrast with the wider field: 3.67 was the median of all 196 school-level medians for fall 2025, so this range is around or above the midpoint of ABA-accredited law schools generally.

Below 3.50 LSAC GPA: At or below the 25th percentile of school medians (3.50). A significant splitter strategy is required for the most selective schools, and a high LSAT becomes the dominant lever. Roughly a quarter of ABA-accredited schools reported medians at or below this level, with the lowest at 3.09, so accredited admission remains realistic; the alternatives where it is not are additional advanced degrees, work experience, or part-time programmes.

Educational reference. Not legal or admissions advice. Verify current ABA 509 disclosures and LSAC rules directly.

Common Questions

What GPA do you need for law school?

It depends enormously on the school. For the fall 2025 entering class, T14 median undergraduate GPAs ran 3.88 (Michigan) to 3.99 (Virginia) per ABA Standard 509 reports, with ten of the fourteen at 3.92 or above. But across all 196 ABA-accredited law schools reporting that cycle, the median school's median UGPA was 3.67, a quarter of schools were at or below 3.50, and the lowest was 3.09. So a GPA that is far below T14 range can still be at or above the median at most ABA-accredited schools. Below a 3.0 cumulative undergraduate GPA the field narrows sharply, and admission generally depends on a strong compensating LSAT score.

Is a 3.7 GPA good for law school?

A 3.7 is a strong GPA in absolute terms and sits above the median at roughly three-quarters of ABA-accredited law schools, where the median school's median UGPA was 3.67 for fall 2025. For the T14 specifically it is well short: a 3.7 was below the 25th percentile at all fourteen T14 schools that cycle, the lowest 25th percentile being Michigan's 3.74. A 3.7 applicant targeting the T14 is therefore a splitter and needs a high LSAT, typically 174 or above, to be competitive. For schools outside the top tier a 3.7 is comfortably above most medians.

What is a splitter in law school admissions?

A 'splitter' is an applicant with a notable gap between LSAT and GPA. A 'standard splitter' has a high LSAT and a low GPA (e.g., 175 LSAT, 3.4 GPA). A 'reverse splitter' has a high GPA and a lower LSAT (e.g., 3.9 GPA, 162 LSAT). Splitters are admitted at law schools because admissions models weight both factors and a high score on one dimension can compensate for a lower score on the other within published margins. Yield-protection and median-management considerations affect where splitters land.

Does LSAT matter more than GPA for law school?

Generally yes. Most admissions guidance, and the visible ranking formulas, treat the LSAT as carrying more weight than GPA in ABA-accredited admissions, though the exact balance varies by school and most schools publish no formula. In the current US News ranking methodology, median LSAT/GRE counts for 5% of the overall score versus 4% for median UGPA, roughly a quarter more weight. The reason is that the LSAT is a standardised measure across all applicants while GPAs reflect different undergraduate institutions, majors, and grading practices; LSAC's published research describes the LSAT as the single most accurate predictor of first-year law-school performance.

Can I get into a T14 with a 3.5 GPA?

Possible with a 175+ LSAT as a splitter. A 3.5 sits below the published 25th percentile at every T14 school for fall 2025, so it is firmly splitter territory: the further below the T14 median of roughly 3.94, the higher the LSAT must be to compensate. The schools with the most room are the ones whose 25th percentile runs lowest, which for fall 2025 were Michigan (3.74), Cornell and Georgetown (both 3.75) and Northwestern (3.76), rather than the top of the T14 where Yale's 25th percentile was 3.90 and Harvard's 3.89.

How do law schools recalculate GPA?

LSAC recomputes undergraduate GPA on a 4.0 scale, applying defined adjustments. LSAC includes all undergraduate coursework attempted, even courses retaken or replaced under undergraduate institution policy. This means a student whose institution applied grade replacement or academic renewal will have an LSAC GPA that differs from the transcript GPA. The LSAC GPA is the figure reported to admissions committees and used in ABA 509 statistics. Always check the LSAC GPA calculation, not the transcript GPA, when assessing competitiveness.