Lawyers are one of the most highly paid individuals in the world. Although it does depend on which specific area lawyer practices in, generally speaking, a lawyer can make anywhere from $60,000 to $200,000 per year.

Yale Law School, the highest-ranked law school globally, reported the average salaries of their graduates to be as high as $200,000.

However, it is not all rainbows and roses. Your annual pay as a lawyer has a direct correlation to the university you graduated from. Graduates from Law Schools like Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Chicago go onto making illustrious careers in the legal world.

Hence, you might be wondering what it takes to get into the top Law Schools in the US. This article will go over the available data of the average GRE & LSAT scores of the top 20 US Law Schools. I will also discuss the importance of other factors that may give you a chance to enter the top US Law Schools, even if you have a somewhat low GRE/LSAT score.

Average GRE & LSAT scores for Top 20 US Law Schools

What is a good LSAT & GRE Score?

Schools such as Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, University of Chicago, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Virginia are within a few points of one another. These are the most sought-after Law Schools, and their average LSAT & GRE reflects that.

Therefore, we can conclude from this data that an LSAT score above 170 or GRE score above 328 is considered competitive for the most prestigious law schools in the US.

As you move to the bottom of the list, you can get in with an LSAT score in the 160’s and a GRE score in the 310’s.

What if I have a less than average LSAT or GRE Score?

While standardized test score is an essential tool to evaluate if you are right for a particular law school, most university admissions boards take a holistic approach to your application.

The admissions board view your scores as an accurate predictor of your performance in studying law and subsequently passing the BAR exam. There are decades of research behind these tests and an abundance of data, which makes them a reliable tool in predicting if you will complete your degree and move on to establish yourself in the world of law.

That being said, in some instances, you can make up for a low LSAT or GRE Score by doing well elsewhere, such as your GPA. Let’s take a look at a few ways you can boost your chances of getting into the right law school with a low score.

Higher GPA

One of the best things you can do to compensate for a low LSAT or GRE score is to present a high GPA. Admissions office places a great emphasis on your GPA – in fact in most cases GPA is equally important as LSAT/GRE. This may seem counterintuitive, but in reality, your standardized test score is a much more reliable predictor of your performance than your GPA.

In any case, your GPA is what an admissions panel will look at if they see that you have a low score.

For example, say you want to get into the University of California at Berkeley, and you have a below-average LSAT. You can still stand a chance if you have a CGPA in the range of 3.8-4.0.

Submit a stellar personal statement

Your statement is your introduction to the admissions office. It is a medium whereby you can sincerely present yourself, your values, your goals, and your ambitions.

Write about yourself, your dreams, your vision, and what sets you apart. You can talk about your personal experience and why you think you will be a good fit. The fact that you have a low score may appear insignificant if you have, say, spent years working abroad on a good cause or if you have overcome some personal obstacles in your life.

Law Schools look for students who they believe show promise, rigor, and conviction. Therefore, if your experiences reflect that you will be a suitable candidate despite your low score, then your chances of admissions go up.

Do keep in mind that you cannot afford to have any spelling, punctuation, or grammar mistakes in your statement, mainly if you rely on it to boost your chances of admittance. Personal information shouldn’t be rushed. Most students take weeks or longer to perfect this statement.

You can get a friend or a professor to evaluate your statement and consider revisions, but it should come from you. It would help if you wrote everything in your statement.

Submit an LSAT/GRE addendum

An LSAT/GRE addendum allows law school applicants to explain why they achieved a low score that they did. What factors contributed to it.

If you feel that your low LSAT & GRE is not a representation of your intellect, then write an honest and thoughtful addendum. Be direct and systemically lay down the reasons why you feel this way. You can use your previous experiences to show that you are familiar with the field and carry a passion for it. You can also specify individual professors with whom you’d want to work and why.

If some personal emergency causes a low score, then you can explain that in an appendix. Be clear and concise; explain the specifics of whatever the incident was and how it affected your score. Perhaps you got sick one semester, or someone close to you fell into hardship.

Write a diversity statement

Generally speaking, Law schools tend to enroll students from diverse backgrounds. They want their students to be surrounded by people who have had different experiences in their lives. Such an environment makes for a culturally rich student body. Schools try to accommodate students who belong to ethnic minorities.

Therefore, if you are an ethnic minority and have had to deal with personal challenges caused by your ethnic or low-income background, you can write about it in a diversity statement. Include all the details and instances where events related to your background made it difficult for you to achieve your goals.

Strong recommendations

While recommendations won’t necessarily make or break a law school application, they will help you in borderline admissions cases where the competition is too close. In such instances, the applicant with better recommendations will probably secure the seat.

Most Law schools would ask for at least one recommendation letter, but ideally, you should have 2 or 3. Ask someone authoritative to write you a stellar LOR. This can either be a professor at your previous school who holds in you high regard, your employer who is very happy with your work ethic and can comment on your experience (ideally in the field you are applying to).

Apply early for admissions

If you have a low score, you should apply for admissions, preferably at the beginning of a cycle. Applying early raises your chances of admittance quite a bit. Check up on the academic calendar of the schools you are interested in and make a note of the starting dates of admissions. The first few months are ideal for applying instead of waiting till February or later. There are fewer seats available towards the end of the cycle, hence raising the competition.

Ask for interviews

In most cases, your statement is your only chance at introducing yourself to an admissions board. However, some schools do call upon applicants to appear for an in-person interview. You will have to look up a school’s website or contact them to ask if they conduct interviews. Most law schools don’t interview, so be sure to check beforehand.

If a school does indeed conduct interviews, then that is your chance to present yourself favorably besides just your LSAT or GRE score.

Should I retake the LSAT or GRE? 

Yes, if all else fails and you think you can improve your score, say 5 to 7 points, then that is the best course of action for you. Ask yourself if you have the time and resources to retake the test. If yes, then go for it but approach it a different way. Don’t repeat the same mistakes. Change your study routine, the prep material -perhaps consider joining an online course.

The June LSAT exam is the last administration of the admissions cycle for most schools. Moreover, if a school’s application deadline has passed by the time the June LSAT exam is administered, you may be able to take the GRE. This is because the GRE is administered throughout the year.

The following points may help you improve your score on your second attempt.

Set a Goal

One of the most important things you can do to improve your score and study effectively is to have a clear goal. Ask yourself, what is it that you want to achieve? Do you want to get into a top-tier law school, or are you not concerned with the ranking? Asking this question is important because getting into a top 20 law school is more complicated than the bottom 30. You need to know where you want to go, or you will end up in the same situation you were in, to begin with.

Spot Your Weaknesses

Consult your report card and identify the section you scored the least in. For example, if you scored 165+ on quant but below 150 on verbal in your GRE, then it is clear that your verbal preparation needs more work and vice versa.

The same principle also applies to the LSAT. Is logical reasoning, your weakness, or is it Analytical writing or Reading Comprehension? Once you have identified the problem area, then you can sit down and do something about it.

Use authentic practice tests

No matter if it’s GRE or LSAT, or any other standardized test, you have to make sure that the practice tests you are using aren’t misleading. ETS and LSAC provide official full-length practice tests for GRE and LSAT, respectively.

These are decommissioned tests that were once part of the actual test but were taken out and made available to the public. Since they are official tests, no other third-party company will ever be able to replicate them a hundred percent, and using these will give you the best idea of what to expect on the actual test.

On the contrary, if you keep practicing on inaccurate, low-quality tests, then be prepared to panic on test day because the real questions will be nothing like what you practiced on. Hence, to improve your score, use official full-length practice tests, no matter if it’s the GRE or LSAT that you are retaking.

Make a study plan

Discipline, consistency, and a well-rounded routine are essential if you want to succeed in anything. GRE and LSAT are no different; you need to have a study regimen to keep up with and follow to the end.

Sit down and divide your week into a certain number of hours that you can study. Better yet, divide your day into hours. Set a fixed amount of time aside each day in which you will only be focused on studying.

Moreover, if you study for 4 hours one day and go for three days without studying, chances are you will forget most of the stuff that you learned earlier. A day-by-day study schedule consolidates the study material in your mind. In my opinion, an hour of consistent study per day is better than 7 hours per day once a week.

Keep track of your mistakes

When you answer a practice question incorrectly, don’t simply gloss over it. Instead, please write it down and then go back to the study material that deals with that particular question type and study it again. Analyzing your mistakes is a crucial aspect of a compelling study. Is it a geometry question, is it a statistics question? You may see a pattern developing as you keep track of your mistakes, and that will tell you which areas you need to put more effort in. 

What are the Law school with the lowest average LSAT or GRE Scores?

If all else fails and you still want to study law, then not all hope is lost. Just because a particular law school isn’t at the very top doesn’t mean you won’t be able to make a distinguished career for yourself. Your success in large part is dependent on your character anyway. Those who are determined always find a way, and so the following table shows those law schools with the lowest average LSAT and GRE scores.