Law school

Cornell Law School

Ithaca, NY

#13 in U.S. News & World Report Best Law Schools (2026-27)

Published admissions data for the Fall 2025 entering class, an estimate of where your own numbers land, this cycle's deadlines and the ABA employment outcomes it reports.

Admissions profile

Median LSAT
173
Median GPA
3.92
Admit rate
18.2%
Entering class
218
Applications
4,608
Admitted
838

Sources: Cornell Law School — Class of 2028 Profile; Cornell Law School — Standard 509 Information Report (2025 cycle, Fall 2025 entering class) · Fall 2025 entering class

How competitive is Cornell?

Reported for the Fall 2025 entering class.

For the Fall 2025 entering class, Cornell reported a median LSAT of 173 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.92.

Its published LSAT band runs 168 / 173 / 175: the 25th percentile sits five points below the median and the 75th sits two points above it.

Cornell admitted 838 applicants from 4,608 applications, an admit rate of 18.2%.

218 students enrolled.

What LSAT and GPA do you need for Cornell?

The ABA reports where the entering class landed — three percentiles, not a cut-off. No score is required, and none guarantees anything.

LSAT

Published LSAT: 25th 168 · median 173 · 75th 175.

GPA

Published GPA: 25th 3.75 · median 3.92 · 75th 3.97.

Percentiles: American Bar Association Standard 509 Information Report · Fall 2025 entering class

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See the full analysis

Two numbers only. The full analysis also weighs your softs, your residency, your application round and when you submit.

2026–27 application timeline

Dates the school publishes for this cycle, in the order they fall.

  1. Application opensSeptember 1

Source: Cornell Law School — J.D. Admissions FAQ · verified August 29, 2026

Class of 2025 employment outcomes

Reported by the school to the American Bar Association, about ten months after graduation.

  • Employed in a professional position99.5%196 of 197 graduates

    Bar-admission-required + J.D.-advantage + professional-position + law-school-funded jobs / total graduates, about ten months after graduation. Excludes the ABA's non-professional 'Other Position', 'Undeterminable', and 'Start Date After' rows, so it reads lower than a school's headline employment figure.

    ABA Employment Summary

  • Bar admission required99.5%196 of 197 graduates

    Jobs requiring bar admission / total graduates. The ABA's Bar Admission Required/Anticipated row only — J.D. Advantage is a different measure and is NOT added to it.

    ABA Employment Summary

  • Firms of 501+ attorneys56.9%112 of 197 graduates

    Jobs at law firms of 501+ attorneys / total graduates. Exactly the ABA's 501+ band — not 251+, not 100+, not a private-practice share.

    ABA Employment Summary

  • Federal clerkship5.6%11 of 197 graduates

    Federal clerkships / total graduates. Excludes state, local, territorial, tribal and international clerkships.

    ABA Employment Summary

Share of the whole graduating class, counting every position the ABA reports (full- or part-time, long- or short-term), measured about ten months after graduation.

Not published for this school

Essay prompts

We haven't confirmed this school's current-cycle essay prompts in the school's own words yet. Only prompts we can quote exactly are published here.

Sources and methodology

Last verified September 1, 2026.

Where each figure comes from

Admissions figures
Percentiles, admit rate and class size as reported to the American Bar Association under Standard 509, or published by the school in its own class profile. The source for each figure is linked beside it.
Deadlines and essay prompts
Taken from the school's own current-cycle application instructions and quoted exactly. A date or a prompt we have not re-verified for this cycle is withheld rather than carried over from last year.
Employment outcomes
Counts from the school's ABA Employment Summary for the class year shown, over one denominator: every graduate. The share is those two counts divided, and both are printed so it can be checked.
Chance estimate
Litigator One's own model, not school-published data and not a prediction of a decision. It reads your two numbers against this school's published percentiles and its overall admit rate.

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