Law school

University of Wisconsin Law School

Madison, WI

#26 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, the school's own essay prompts and the ABA employment outcomes it reports.

Admissions profile

Median LSAT
167
Median GPA
3.81
Admit rate
19.1%
Entering class
224
Applications
2,479
Admitted
474

Source: UW Law — By the Numbers · Fall 2025 entering class

How competitive is UW Law?

Reported for the Fall 2025 entering class.

For the Fall 2025 entering class, UW Law reported a median LSAT of 167 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.81.

Its published LSAT band runs 161 / 167 / 169: the 25th percentile sits six points below the median and the 75th sits two points above it.

UW Law admitted 474 applicants from 2,479 applications, an admit rate of 19.1%.

224 students enrolled.

What LSAT and GPA do you need for UW Law?

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 161 · median 167 · 75th 169.

GPA

Published GPA: 25th 3.61 · median 3.81 · 75th 3.93.

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

Add your own numbers — nothing is saved, and no account is needed.

See the full analysis

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

Essay prompts

2026–27 cycle, quoted from the school. Never summarised, never behind a control.

Personal statement

Required

We invite applicants to explain in their personal statement how they would enrich the law school learning environment or legal profession. We look forward to hearing about you, your unique story, and what you hope to accomplish as a future lawyer.

Source: University of Wisconsin Law School — JD application requirements

Optional Addenda

Optional Addenda. Feel free to submit addenda that touch on your background, experiences or qualifications not yet captured elsewhere in your application. Please use your best judgment as to whether optional addenda are relevant to your personal situation. Applicants will not be penalized for not submitting optional addenda. The Admissions Committee carefully considers whatever information we receive in your application when evaluating you for admission. If there is something that you would like to explain or elaborate on that is not showcased elsewhere in your application, feel free to add a separate addendum. Can I submit additional materials and addenda? Yes! You are welcome to submit addenda that touch on why Wisconsin is the right fit for you, your background, experiences, or qualifications not yet captured elsewhere in your application. We encourage you to use your best judgement as to whether optional addenda are relevant to your personal situation.

Source: UW Law — JD Application Process

Class of 2025 employment outcomes

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

  • Employed in a professional position96.9%247 of 255 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 required91.4%233 of 255 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+ attorneys12.9%33 of 255 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 clerkship3.5%9 of 255 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

Application deadlines

We haven't re-verified this school's current-cycle deadlines yet, so none are published here. Check the school's own admissions page for dates.

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

  1. UW Law — By the Numbers — University of Wisconsin Law School
  2. University of Wisconsin Law School — JD application requirements — University of Wisconsin Law School
  3. UW Law — JD Application Process — University of Wisconsin Law School
  4. Best Law Schools (2026-27) — U.S. News & World Report

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