Law Schools With the Most Competitive LSAT Scores

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Law school applicants submit a range of information as part of the admissions process, such as college transcripts and letters of recommendation. A prospective student's LSAT score, though, often weighs more than other admissions criteria.

A few schools have recently relaxed their LSAT rules, allowing some people to apply without taking the admissions test. But for the vast majority of law schools, these scores are still required and used to help determine who gets admitted.

At Harvard University and Yale University, admitted law students often have nearly perfect scores on the LSAT. The median score at these schools for full-time students entering in fall of 2014 was 173, the highest median scores among 187 ranked institutions that submitted the data to U.S. News. A 180 is the highest score someone can achieve on the LSAT.

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The New England schools also topped the list for fall 2013. Most of the schools included in that list also had top scores for fall 2014, such as the law schools at Columbia University and Stanford University. Each of those schools had a median LSAT of 172 for full-time students entering in fall of 2014.

The Law Center at Georgetown University is the only school that made the list for fall 2013 but was not included on the most recent list. Its median LSAT score fell from 168 to 167.

All of the schools included in the new list are ranked No. 12 or higher by U.S. News.

The schools where entering students had the lowest median LSAT scores are Ave Maria School of Law and Charlotte School of Law. The median score at each of these schools is 143.

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Below is a list of the law schools with the highest median LSAT for full-time students entering in fall 2014. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.

Don't see your school in the top 11? Access the U.S. News Law School Compass to find LSAT data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.

U.S. News surveyed 201 ABA-accredited law schools for our 2014 survey of law programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Law Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The LSAT data above are correct as of May 5, 2015.

Delece Smith-Barrow is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering graduate schools. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dsmithbarrow@usnews.com.