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For prospective law students, bar exam pass rates should be pretty close to the top of the list of things to research — right along with employment statistics and average graduate indebtedness — when deciding which law schools to apply to and which law school to eventually enroll at after being accepted. For the past few years, bar exam pass rates across the country have plummeted, but there’s hope on the horizon with the news that the average national score on the July 2019 administration of Multistate Bar Exam climbed to a 141.1, fresh off a 34-year low set in 2018. For what it’s worth, 74.82 percent of 2018 law school graduates who took the bar passed on their first try.
While we eagerly wait for the results of the July 2019 bar exam to be released and for the 2019 calendar year results to be compiled across all law schools, it’s worth taking a look at the law schools whose recent graduates did the best on the 2018 exam. After all, with the right bar prep company, you, too, could excel and count your name among the law school graduates who passed the test.
Which law schools are putting their graduates in the best position to pass the bar exam on the first try?
In partnership with Themis Bar Review, here are the Top 50 law schools by first-time bar pass rate for the 2018 calendar year:[1]
| 1. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY | 97.35% |
| 2. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY | 97.28% |
| 3. YALE UNIVERSITY | 96.76% |
| 4. HARVARD UNIVERSITY | 96.50% |
| 5. LIBERTY UNIVERSITY | 95.65% |
| 6. UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA | 95.35% |
| 7. DUKE UNIVERSITY | 94.87% |
| 8. STANFORD UNIVERSITY | 94.68% |
| 9. VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY | 93.89% |
| 10. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN | 93.79% |
| 11. CORNELL UNIVERSITY | 93.65% |
| 12. BELMONT UNIVERSITY | 93.59% |
| 13. WILLIAM AND MARY LAW SCHOOL | 92.78% |
| 14. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA | 92.09% |
| 15. BAYLOR UNIVERSITY | 92.03% |
| 16. NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY | 91.97% |
| 17. CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY | 91.57% |
| 18. BOSTON UNIVERSITY | 91.52% |
| 19. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON | 91.02% |
| 20. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN | 90.88% |
| 21. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA | 90.78% |
| 22. UC-BERKELEY | 90.70% |
| 23. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO | 90.29% |
| 24. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY | 90.22% |
| 25. LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY | 89.10% |
| 26. FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY | 89.08% |
| 27. UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA | 87.79% |
| 28. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY | 87.75% |
| 29. FORDHAM UNIVERSITY | 87.74% |
| 30. UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME | 87.62% |
| 31. BOSTON COLLEGE | 87.56% |
| 32. UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS | 87.50% |
| 32. SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY | 87.50% |
| 33. BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY | 87.40% |
| 33. PENNSYLVANIA STATE – PENN STATE LAW | 87.40% |
| 34. TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY | 87.07% |
| 35. OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY | 86.84% |
| 36. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY | 86.77% |
| 37. UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI | 86.52% |
| 38. WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY | 86.44% |
| 39. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH | 86.36% |
| 40. UNIVERSITY OF IOWA | 86.33% |
| 41. UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA | 86.02% |
| 42. NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY | 85.71% |
| 43. UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO | 85.57% |
| 44. UNIVERSITY OF TULSA | 85.53% |
| 45. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA | 85.33% |
| 46. UC-LOS ANGELES | 85.00% |
| 47. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | 84.83% |
| 48. SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY | 84.81% |
| 49. ST. JOHN’S UNIVERSITY | 84.78% |
| 50. UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA | 84.75% |
[1] It should also be noted that Wisconsin had a 100 percent “pass rate” and Marquette had a 98.80 percent “pass rate” thanks to diploma privilege, a court rule that allows graduates of ABA-accredited law schools within the state to skip the bar exam entirely.
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.