Law school
Harvard Law School
Cambridge, MA
#6 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
- 174
- Median GPA
- 3.96
- Admit rate
- 9.2%
- Entering class
- 579
- Applications
- 8,917
- Admitted
- 816
Source: HLS Profile and Facts — Class of 2028 · Fall 2025 entering class
How competitive is Harvard?
Reported for the Fall 2025 entering class.
For the Fall 2025 entering class, Harvard reported a median LSAT of 174 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.96.
Its published LSAT band runs 171 / 174 / 176: the 25th percentile sits three points below the median and the 75th sits two points above it.
Harvard admitted 816 applicants from 8,917 applications, an admit rate of 9.2%.
579 students enrolled.
What LSAT and GPA do you need for Harvard?
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 171 · median 174 · 75th 176.
Published GPA: 25th 3.89 · median 3.96 · 75th 4.00.
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.
- Regular decision deadlineFebruary 5
Source: Harvard Law School — J.D. Application Components · verified August 27, 2026
Essay prompts
2026–27 cycle, quoted from the school. Never summarised, never behind a control.
Statement of Purpose
Required · 2 pages
What motivates you to pursue law? How does attending law school align with your goals and vision for your future?
Source: Harvard Law School — J.D. Application Components
Statement of Perspective
Required · 2 pages
How have your past experiences shaped the person you are today? How will those experiences inform your engagement in your law school community?
Source: Harvard Law School — J.D. Application Components
Addenda (Optional)
If you need additional space beyond the application questions and required materials to provide relevant information that may be helpful to us in making an informed decision on your candidacy, you may include a brief addendum.
Source: Harvard Law School — J.D. Application Components
Class of 2025 employment outcomes
Reported by the school to the American Bar Association, about ten months after graduation.
- Employed in a professional position98.7%594 of 602 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 required93.9%565 of 602 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+ attorneys53.5%322 of 602 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 clerkship16.6%100 of 602 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
- HLS Profile and Facts — Class of 2028 — Harvard Law School
- Harvard Law School — J.D. Application Components — Harvard Law School
- Best Law Schools (2026-27) — U.S. News & World Report
Other schools on Litigator
Schools in MA, and others at a nearby published rank.