Apply to Harvard Law School - Harvard Law School (2024)

FAQs

What LSAT score do you need for Harvard Law School? ›

LSAT and GRE Scores

Your odds of getting into any of the T14 Law Schools, Harvard included, will be much higher if you score over 170 (out of 180) on the LSATs. Harvard's median LSAT score of entering students is 174, with the lower 25th percentile being 170 and upper 75th percentile being 176.

Harvard Law School Admissions Statistics

In the 2023-24 application cycle, the average GPA of accepted students was 3.93. The range of accepted GPAs went as low as 3.84 and as high as 3.99!

As a general guideline, most admitted applicants demonstrate potential for success in law school through an exceptional undergraduate academic record, standardized test scores in the top percentiles, and substantial accomplishments in work or extracurricular activities; however, no one of these aspects of an ...

To have a chance of admission to Harvard Law, students will have to have completed their undergraduate programs with excellent grades and top scores on the Law School Admissions Test or LSAT.

Average LSAT Score

The LSAT score range is 120–180, and the median score is approximately 152. You need to get about 60 questions right (out of 99–102 questions) to get that median score of 152, which means you need to bat about 60 percent.

Harvard Law School usually looks for a GPA above 3.75.

HLS does not award merit aid (or “full-ride” scholarships, which are not typically need-based,) because doing so would decrease the resources available for need-based aid, and significantly increase the debt burden of every student with financial need.

Annual tuition at Harvard Law is currently $73,600 and Opportunity Fund recipients will have their tuition covered for all three years, the school said. Data from the American Bar Association shows that in 2022, just six of Harvard's 1,758 students received full-tuition scholarships.

Tuition for the 2024-2025 academic year is $77,100; in addition, health insurance and health services fees, the LL. M. activities fee, dental insurance, the costs of housing, food, books and supplies, and personal and travel expenses for a single student come to at least $39,400, for a total of at least $116,500.

Why is it so hard to get into Harvard Law School? ›

Getting into Harvard Law School can be difficult because it is such a selective school and there is a lot of competition. On average, for every 100 applications that Harvard receives, only 7 applicants are admitted.

Harvard University 2024 Rankings

Harvard University is ranked No. 4 (tie) out of 196 in Best Law Schools. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.

It is ranked first in the world by the 2019 Academic Ranking of World Universities. HLS has graduated the largest number of U.S. Supreme Court justices and U.S. attorneys general. HLS is the best represented law school in the current U.S. Congress and among the law faculty at U.S. law schools.

The Juris Doctor (J.D.) is a three-year program that first gives students the intellectual foundations for legal study, and then gives them the opportunity to focus their studies on areas of particular interest through advanced classes, clinics, and writing projects. Master of Laws (LL. M.)

So let's take a look at what it actually takes to have a chance of being admitted to the most prestigious and preeminent law school in the world. As you can see from these numbers, an LSAT score of 170 or higher and a GPA above 3.75 will give you a chance of gaining admission to Harvard Law School.

As you probably expect, most students at the top three law schools have LSAT scores somewhere in the stratosphere. But roughly 25% of the entering classes at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford have LSAT scores at or below 170. Every year some students with scores in the 150s and many in the 160s will be admitted.

But for one of the top 14 law schools—like Stanford, Yale or Harvard—a score of 170 or higher is ideal. Elle Woods, a fictional character portrayed by Reese Witherspoon in the movie Legally Blonde, is known for her remarkable LSAT score—179 out of 180.

Both the GPA and the LSAT score you supplied are well below the 25th percentile for students who are admitted to HLS. Harvard generally expects numbers more in the 3.9 / 173 range. Your 3.4 / 166 combo makes you a viable candidate for admission to several Tier One law schools, though.