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The Top 50 Law Schools By First-Time Bar Exam Pass Rates (2018)

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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 ZaretskyStaci 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.