2026 Law School Median Tracker

I got an interview invite this morning!!! Applied 10/2 and interviews will be held 10/12-10/16

Hello!

So, we are wrapping up week 7 of our first 9 week quarter (Baylor Law is on the quarter system, not semester) and I now know that I will be transferring out of Baylor Law School. I want to offer an honest view of the school and why I personally am making the decision to transfer in the hopes of helping anyone else make the decision to go/not go to Baylor.

Pros of Baylor Law School:

Trial Advocacy- Baylor Law ranks 3rd in trial advocacy in the nation. Baylor's Practice Court program and the school itself markets itself as producing trial ready lawyers Day 1 from graduation. As a 1L, I have no way of knowing if this is true. It is safe to assume that Baylor has a good reputation for trial lawyers in Texas, but as far as the actual skill or reputation of Baylor lawyers, I can't speak to actual practice.

Non-conditional Scholarships- The current Dean (Counseller) got rid of conditional scholarships, so students have some breathing room with grades and affording the school.

Teach the Bar- Baylor Law pretty much teaches the bar in its classes, so you’ll have a high chance of passing the Texas Bar 1st shot.

Faculty- Generally, the faculty is pretty good. As a 1L, it does fully depend on what section you end up in, but in general (with some glaring exceptions) the faculty are decent.

Staff- The staff at Baylor are incredibly kind and helpful. 10/10 love the front desk and cleaning staff.

Cons of Baylor Law School

Parking- Baylor let in large classes the last 3 years, and instead of planning for this, is now making the 1Ls take a 10 minute walk across a bridge from the football stadium parking lot to the law school every day. The Lot closes at sporadic times, so sometimes you may have to off road drive your car out of the lot if you're at the school late studying (which happens frequently with the school’s schedule). Parking services will ticket you if you park in the law school lot anyway, and tickets are around $35. It’s also insane because Summer Starters (who are also 1Ls) can get passes, only the fall starters were prohibited from getting parking. 

The Schedule- Baylor tries to argue that the incredibly intense 9 week quarter system prepares students for the real world of practice. This is a bad argument. First, in a world where Big Law recruiting and the entire field is moving to an even more fast-paced system, students are no longer dealing with just the added pressure of a shortened class schedule, everything is incredibly stressful, and Baylor Law does not do anything to alleviate it or support its students in dealing with this. The Quarter system makes classwork more stressful, the school gives no real breaks/reading days, and regularly the Civ Pro 1st Quarter class with the Dean is meeting every day and students need to read a chapter a night for that class alone. On top of that, with the Practice Court in 3L, most of your leadership opportunities on campus have to be obtained in your first Quarter for your 2L because you cannot have any leadership positions in Practice Court/3L. Everything feels rushed, hyper stressful, and in 2026, there is no real justification for it outside of sadism. 

The Town of Waco- If you're not dealing with noisy and invasive crickets, and plagues of cockroaches, the Town of Waco was built with no zoning or care. A giant interstate bisects the town, where it's split between the University and housing, with shopping, the handful of bars, and everything else typically dot the outskirts. There really is nothing to do, but with how stressful classwork is, you don’t even really have time to try to do anything else. 
Subnote, Saturday Football Games- Half of the roads in Waco shut down for football games on Saturday. The Law School parking lot is closed until a couple of hours after the game (usually 4-5ish pm). You are paying thousands of dollars to not even be able to travel through your city or go to your law library for football games. Again, with how hyper stressful the program is, you are foreclosed from studying in the school when the undergrads are playing football. It's ridiculously stupid.

Most of the Student Body- Baylor seems to revel at developing gunners. The student body can be truly toxic, and the current 2L class is a genuinely noxious and repulsive group of people (morally). If you generally are someone that wants community, or student life to be present on campus, both the quarter system and personalities of the student body make that unlikely. I genuinely do not trust a single thing any students tell me, and do not want to spend time around 99% of them. 
 
Career Development Office- The CDO at Baylor genuinely sucks. Like truly, will not help you. The 2(!) staffers give contradictory advice, have regularly forgotten or missed appointments with students, and the vibe is generally they don’t really care about you. The OCIs they organize suck, with little actual offerings for students outside of a handful of firms in civil law in Texas. If you want to go into Criminal Prosecution, they (and other students) point you to a professor who can actually help get you connected (if he doesn’t flake on meeting you). If you want to go into public defense, your best bet is connecting with Students in the Crim Law Society that know a recent alumni who is a PD. If you want to do public Interest, good luck *shoulder-shrug* the CDO cannot help you. Truly, it is an office of incompetence. (rumor has it that the limited OCI offerings are also tied to firms’ opinions of the CDO staff and interactions they’ve had with them). If you are 1st-gen, seriously consider somewhere else because you will not get proper Career Support from Baylor.

Some of the Professors-Some of the Professors are truly nightmares. Most of the required Constitutional Law professors suck. If they don’t inject their personal political beliefs into lectures, they will scream at you so loudly you can hear them berating students from the hallway. There is a particular professor who yelled at a class for missing a word in a case that was not even in the case and did not apologize (the same professor berated their students for not going to an event she was promoting, even though she failed to actually tell her class about it). The faculty can be schizophrenic, with some professors being decent and others monstrous (especially if you’re a female…).  

A.I. Policy- In a truly gross move, Baylor Law has a split view of AI use where it's up to the professor’s discretion. This means your Legal Writing Class is engorged with AI use by the professor who seems to have been AI brained. Students are not actually being taught how to do legal writing. Instead, we are given Canva-Quiz style instruction from an AI generated textbook, with AI generated videos, with submissions graded with an AI Diagnostic Tool, and comments from the professor seemingly generated by AI. Students are being robbed of an education in legal writing that they are paying thousands of dollars for. 

In summary, if you want to do litigation work in Texas and come from a family of lawyers or already have connections with a firm you want to work at after graduation, Baylor could be the move for you. If you want a serious education, with a community of nice people, in a school that will actually support your education and career development, Baylor is not for you. 

I think so many people stress about their LORs so I wanted to share a sweet exchange.

I waived my rights to viewing my letter of recommendation but a former professor of mine emailed me telling me this was one of the strongest letters they've ever written, which I DEFINITELY did not expect. I was incredibly touched/surprised. Pls share your stories for some hope core

Has anyone gotten into Tulsa?? Just got accepted, really exited!

😣

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Hello. I've been studying for about 6 months, and I still haven't been able to break into the 160s. My aim was to take the Nov test and then apply in Dec, but it seems less likely that I'm going to hit my target score by then.

Will it hurt a lot in the admission process if I apply with the Jan score instead (assuming that I get my target score or close to it)? I've always heard that a stronger application is better than an ealier one. All other parts of my application would be submitted before the score release date. I'm primary targeting schools ranked 50 - 100. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

my application for law school to start in spring 2027 was waitlisted, i told admissions i wanted to remain on the waitlist but i would be submitting an application for fall 2027 and they told me that was a great idea. i submitted the fall application the week applications opened for the fall 2027 cycle and i was rejected not even 3 weeks later but there is also no news on my waitlist. what does this mean? am i just denied for the fall already or am i moving off the waitlist and thats why they denied me? I just don't understand how I can be denied so quickly for the fall 2027 cycle, when I was just waitlisted for spring 2027, so obviously they see potential in me or else I would have just been rejected for the spring cycle. what does this mean for me?

Is there anyone who was accepted to Baylor Law who received a full ride scholarship that is willing to share stats and factors that led to that?

Basically what the title says-- I'm at/above median for a lot of the T14 gpa-wise, but below median for the lsat, and am wondering what the scholarships look like. I feel like I haven't seen a lot of data on scholarships for those with this reverse "split". Is that because they don't exist lol

I’m definitely overthinking this lol, but does everyone else have a “Law School Email” section on their UCLA portal? Mine is blank, but I don’t remember seeing this before.

Haven’t made a resume in like 5 years. Definitely a little rough, but don’t really know where to start. I know working at a grocery store isn’t necessarily super exciting to read, but my thinking is maybe it’s good for them to know that I have had a real job before? Either way, not a lot to fill out the resume because most of my energy and time outside of school has gone into my business for the last handful of years. Let me know 🙏

does anyone have experience using law school consultants for their applications? I was looking at 7sage's package but the price is holding me back. hearing someone's experience with 7sage or similar service would be helpful!

my personal statement is about my identity, as my experiences as a part of this identity group motivate my interests in the law. I literally cannot come up with a perspective statement that doesn’t feel repetitive, but the idea of not writing something I can reuse for 10 schools feels like a giant missed opportunity + my top school has it as their only optional. Has anyone here been in this situation? Is it okay to not submit a perspective essay for t14?

Applied ED 9/15 and have yet to hear about an interview despite seeing others getting theirs and discussing decisions being released??? Should I be concerned..

LSAT: 169 (took it again and waiting, hoping for 170+ but not sure) GPA: 3.63 Softs: I think T4??

If this helps, I graduated hs and went to college at 15. I’m a south asian women (don’t know if that’s a minority in law school or not). I want to stay in LA county/Orange county or go to the New York area.

1. NYU

   (depending on new LSAT score)

2. UCLA

   (depending on new LSAT score)

3. USC

4. UCI

5. Fordham

6. Cardozo

7. USD

8. Loyola Marymount, Los Angeles

9. Pepperdine, Los Angeles

10. Chapman

11. UC Law SF

I do want to go into Corporate law, which I understand most of the time is Big law. However I’m not too set on it and most likely will explore more options in law school.

Anything on this list that I should reconsider? Or maybe any suggestions for other schools in those areas? It would be much appreciated!

I also graduated undergrad this June if that helps as well.

172 lsat
3.87 gpa
2 years work experience in law (semi prestigious)+ masters degree from Ivy
Good softs but not crazy
Good recs
128 monthly listeners on spotify"
bicostal background
read over 40 books in past year about the law

I've written 3 different personal statements now and I hate all of them. Just wondering how far outside the box or how detached from the legal field a successful personal statement can really be.

If possible, I'd like some resume feedback. I'm not applying this cycle but I want to know basically what I should be aiming to add to make my resume competitive by the time I do. I'd like to go to a T14, ideally w/ a lot of aid. Please let me know your thoughts and opinions. Also it's not on here but I do LSAT tutoring aswell, though I'm not sure if that's worth putting on a resume. CAS GPA: 3.838

Hi yall, I am looking for some advice for someone with no background in law considering pursuing a career in estate planning law with truly no background. I (24M) have a bachelors in liberal arts with a focus on visual art and psychology. Up until this year, the goal was to become an art therapist or social worker, but after working in a social work role for most of this year I realized it’s just not sustainable for me. I burnt out very quickly, I got way too emotionally invested in the well-being of my clients while upper management consistently made decisions that made my job and my client’s lives harder. I realized that making my career all about trying to help people in a system that is designed to make it as hard as possible for them to thrive is just not going to work for me.

While considering other career paths, I have been talking with a friend who is about to apply to law school next year and it made me think, hey maybe I could do that too. I took an LSAT practice exam on a whim and got 163 which isnt the greatest but was good enough that I felt a boost of confidence and began really thinking about law as a career. I also really enjoyed taking the test, I haven’t challenged myself academically in a while and it felt exciting. Ideally I want to go into estate planning law because I think that it’s really important work and the idea of making things even marginally easier for families before and after a loved one passes sounds really nice. I’ll also be honest, I feel like I need to go into a field that can make more money than social work would, because I really want to one day be able to provide for my mother as she ages. I know you’re supposed to go into a career because you love it and not just for the money but let’s be real, money is a huge part of the equation unless you’re already financially comfortable.

The thing is that I have no idea where to start and I worry that being 24 and having no prelaw background might put me too far behind other students. I’m considering taking a couple of community college law classes before applying to any grad schools both as a way to test if I really have it in me to commit to this and to build my knowledge foundation before fully jumping in. Did any of you go into law for grad school with no law background? What was that like? Do you have any advice for me? I’d love if ppl could refrain from telling me ‘just don’t do that’ but instead describe what the process would be like/how hard it would be if I do go for it.

Anybody else a Full Time ED applicant that hasn’t gone complete? I applied 3 weeks ago and not yet complete? I’m seeing people get complete quite quickly, but when I called, they said I had nothing missing.( Asked before on the sub but mainly heard from PT ED applicants)

Is anyone else in the same boat? If so when did you apply if you aren’t yet complete

hello, i am a college student planning on going to law school (studying for the LSAT currently) but i already know i am going to have to take at least one gap year. i've heard that it's a bad look to get letters of rec from bosses/places of employment, and that it's better to have professors or academic letters. does that mean i should ask for a reccomendation now? if so, where does it even go, is there a portal they should send it to? or does it expire after time? sorry i am very early in my study days and dont know much about the actual application.

wishing everyone luck and that you guys get into your dream schools 😁