Law school
Duke University School of Law
Durham, NC
#7 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, the school's own essay prompts and the ABA employment outcomes it reports.
Admissions profile
- Median LSAT
- 171
- Median GPA
- 3.91
- Admit rate
- 12.9%
- Entering class
- 227
- Applications
- 6,240
- Admitted
- 804
Sources: Duke Law — 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report; Duke Law — JD Class Profile (Class of 2028, Fall 2025 entering class) · Fall 2025 entering class
How competitive is Duke?
Reported for the Fall 2025 entering class.
For the Fall 2025 entering class, Duke reported a median LSAT of 171 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.91.
Its published LSAT band runs 169 / 171 / 172: the 25th percentile sits two points below the median and the 75th sits one point above it.
Duke admitted 804 applicants from 6,240 applications, an admit rate of 12.9%.
227 students enrolled.
What LSAT and GPA do you need for Duke?
The ABA reports where the entering class landed — three percentiles, not a cut-off. No score is required, and none guarantees anything.
Published LSAT: 25th 169 · median 171 · 75th 172.
Published GPA: 25th 3.83 · median 3.91 · 75th 3.96.
Percentiles: American Bar Association Standard 509 Information Report · Fall 2025 entering class
Add your own numbers — nothing is saved, and no account is needed.
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.
- Early decision I deadlineNovember 6
- Early decision II deadlineJanuary 8
- Regular decision deadlineFebruary 15
Source: Duke Law — J.D. Application Deadlines (2026-2027) · verified August 29, 2026
Essay prompts
2026–27 cycle, quoted from the school. Never summarised, never behind a control.
Addenda
Optional
If there is anything you want us to consider that will not be obvious from the rest of your application (an explanation of time off from school, your grade trends, etc.) you may also submit an addendum to include this information.
Source: Duke University School of Law — JD application instructions
Personal Statement (required)
3 pages
The personal statement is your opportunity to introduce yourself to the admissions committee and should include what you think have been your most significant personal experiences beyond what may be reflected in your academic transcripts and on your resume. You might choose to address your interest in legal studies and a career as a lawyer here, or you might do so in the optional Duke Essay #1. Please use 2-3 pages, double-spaced, for your personal statement.
Source: Duke Law — Juris Doctor Application Information
Short Answer Essay (Required)
about 250 to 500 words
Applicants are required to submit one essay and may submit up to two essays from the list below. Please clearly label the prompt(s) you are responding to and combine all responses into a single attachment. Each essay should be approximately 250–500 words
Answer 1 to 2 of these 6.
What does the rule of law mean to you, and what special background or experience do you have that may help you contribute to its advancement or that underscores its importance to you personally?
500 wordsThe promise of equal justice is fundamental to our legal system. Why is equal justice important to you personally, and what personal experiences or knowledge do you have that may help you become an effective advocate for equal justice under law?
500 wordsExposure to a diversity of perspectives and experiences can enhance one's ability to deliver effective professional services. Please describe any opportunities you have had to serve clients or your community, either through work or on a volunteer basis, and how your own exposure to different perspectives and experiences helped you.
500 wordsLawyers are members of a learned profession, and are often called to serve the public in a variety of ways. Please describe your interest in public service and any experience that you have had to prepare you for a life of service in the public interest.
500 wordsPlease describe your interest in learning the law in an open, rigorous, and collaborative environment. Why is a commitment to the free expression of ideas so important in the learning process?
500 wordsWhat does ethical leadership mean to you? Please provide examples of how you have prepared yourself to become an ethical leader.
500 words
Source: Duke Law — Juris Doctor Application Information
Duke Essay #1 (optional)
2 pages
You may submit an essay providing additional information about why you have chosen to apply to law school in general and Duke in particular. We are interested in the factors that have prompted your interest in a legal career and the ways in which you think Duke can further that interest. If you have already addressed the reasons for your general interest in legal studies in your personal statement, it is not necessary to repeat that here; you may concentrate on the specific opportunities at Duke related to that interest. Please use 1-2 pages, double-spaced, for this optional essay.
Source: Duke Law — Juris Doctor Application Information
Duke Essay #2 (optional)
1 page
Our application process is designed to learn about you from multiple perspectives to better understand the unique and distinctive qualities you would bring to our community. Ideally, we would conduct personal interviews with each candidate to probe these questions. Since we are unable to offer interviews due to the large application volume, you are invited to write a short essay that tells us what you would hope to share if you were meeting with us on campus that we have not already learned elsewhere in your application. Please use one page, double-spaced, for this optional essay.
Source: Duke Law — Juris Doctor Application Information
Class of 2025 employment outcomes
Reported by the school to the American Bar Association, about ten months after graduation.
- Employed in a professional position99.6%229 of 230 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.
- Bar admission required99.6%229 of 230 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.
- Firms of 501+ attorneys70.9%163 of 230 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.
- Federal clerkship11.7%27 of 230 graduates
Federal clerkships / total graduates. Excludes state, local, territorial, tribal and international clerkships.
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.
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.
Cited on this page
- Duke Law — 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report — Duke University School of Law
- Duke Law — JD Class Profile (Class of 2028, Fall 2025 entering class) — Duke University School of Law
- Duke Law — J.D. Application Deadlines (2026-2027) — Duke University School of Law
- Duke University School of Law — JD application instructions — Duke University School of Law
- Duke Law — Juris Doctor Application Information — Duke University School of Law
- Best Law Schools (2026-27) — U.S. News & World Report
Other schools on Litigator
Schools in NC, and others at a nearby published rank.