Reading a School Profile

Data Explorer

A scatter plot paired with a searchable grid of every self-reported application for the selected cycle — one dot per applicant. The chart overlays the ABA 509 medians (25th, 50th, 75th percentile lines) so you can see where your numbers sit against the enrolled class.

Dots are color-coded by outcome:

• Green — accepted
• Yellow — waitlisted
• Red — rejected
• Grey — decision not yet reported

Axes default to LSAT vs. GPA but can be swapped to show scholarship amount, timeline fields (sent, complete, under review, decided), or computed fields like days-to-decision. Filter pills narrow the pool (international, URM, military, early decision, verified reports), and clicking a row in the grid highlights that applicant's dot.

This Cycle

Updates in real time as users report decisions. Shows how many LSD applicants are tracking the school and breaks them down by status: attending, accepted and still deciding, accepted but withdrew, rejected, withdrew before decision, or no decision yet. A separate waitlist flow chart shows placements and movement off the list.

Use it to gauge mid-cycle behavior — pace of decisions, waitlist releases, shape of the yield. For cross-school pacing, see the cycle tracker guide.

Medians and percentile ranges

Every school publishes three LSAT and three GPA numbers each year: the 25th, 50th (median), and 75th percentile of the enrolled class. These describe matriculants — the students who showed up in the fall, not applicants or admits. A 75th percentile LSAT of 169 means a quarter of enrolled students scored above 169.

Reading your numbers against a school:

• At or above the 75th in both: top quarter of the profile, strong scholarship position.
• Between the 25th and 75th: a typical admit on paper.
• Below the 25th: splitter or reach. Possible, but softs and essays have to carry weight.

LSD.Law also computes 25/50/75 numbers from self-reported admits, shown alongside the official ones. When the two diverge, the school may be admitting differently than its 509 suggests.

Acceptance rate and yield

Acceptance rate is the share of applicants admitted. A 15% rate means roughly one in seven applicants gets an offer. A low rate can reflect selectivity or just a lot of speculative applications.

Yield is the share of admits who enroll. If a school admits 100 and 60 attend, yield is 60%. High yield with a low acceptance rate signals a school admitted applicants want to attend. Low acceptance rate with weak yield often means a school is managing its admit number by rejecting applicants it expects wouldn't come.

Both numbers come from the prior cycle's ABA 509, since the current cycle isn't finalized until the fall after enrollment.

Employment outcomes

Schools report employment status for each graduating class ten months after graduation — long enough for the bar exam and first jobs. The ABA publishes a grid cutting the class two ways: by job type and by job timing.

Type of job

Five columns in the job-type matrix:

Bar Required (JD-Required)

Jobs where bar passage is a requirement — firm associate, assistant DA, public defender, judicial clerk. Weight this column most heavily when comparing schools.

JD Advantage

Jobs where a law degree helps but isn't required — compliance, management consulting, legal ops. Some are strong outcomes. Historically the category has also been used to pad headline employment with roles graduates took because a legal job didn't materialize.

Professional Position

Professional work that doesn't benefit from the JD — a corporate role the graduate could have had without law school. A meaningfully populated column here suggests graduates took what they could get.

Non-Professional

Jobs that don't require a degree or pay like a professional role. Small numbers are normal; large numbers are a warning.

School-Funded

Positions paid by the law school itself — short-term fellowships or research assistantships. Some bridge to permanent work; all of them inflate the headline employment rate, so check how many Bar Required positions are school-funded rather than employer-funded.

Timing of the job

Each column is split by full-time vs. part-time and long-term (a year or more) vs. short-term:

• FTLT — full-time, long-term. The benchmark.
• FTST — full-time, short-term.
• PTLT — part-time, long-term.
• PTST — part-time, short-term. A small number is normal; a big one is a flag.

The single number to anchor on is Bar Required, FTLT — graduates in a full-time, long-term job that requires the bar. The profile also breaks out BigLaw placement (firms with 501+ attorneys) and federal clerkships, which signal prestige-sensitive hiring.

Bar passage is reported alongside employment. First-time passage rate is the headline; ultimate passage (within two years) is usually higher but less informative.

Finance

Annual tuition is reported first — split into in-state and out-of-state for public schools — followed by required fees, estimated living expenses, and three-year total cost of attendance. These are sticker prices; most students pay less because of scholarships.

Scholarships are grouped into tiers by size relative to tuition: less than half, half to full, full, and greater than full (covers living expenses too). The profile shows how many students fell into each tier in the most recent entering class. For community scholarship reports and the calculator, see the scholarship calculator guide.

Debt figures include average debt at graduation, the share of students who borrowed, and a debt-to-salary ratio against the school's median private-sector starting salary. Under 1.0 is healthy; above 2.0, the math gets grim.

About

Location, founding year, religious affiliation, a short editorial description, and links to the school's admissions page. Orientation only — the numbers above do the comparison work.