Inside scoop
Ethan Madore
UCLA broke into US News T14 for the first time in 2022 and has recently peaked as high as #12, edging out Berkeley, the usual queen of California’s UC system. In the fight to leave its fellow cuspers and actually join the T14, UCLA has three massive advantages: location, location, location. It’s a good law school with all the usual fixings that just happens to be in a city a lot of people love. What that means is UCLA can count on a yearly flood of applicants willing to move further and pay more in order to do law school in the city where movies are made.
Admissions stats
LSAT vs GPA
Based on 2025 data from ABA
Projected from 7Sage applicants
Based on 2025 data from ABA
Your chances
Trends
Based on data from ABA
Based on data from US News and World Report
Based on data from ABA
Based on data from ABA
Why UCLA
Ethan Madore
People apply to UCLA because they want to go to the best law school in southern California. Over the years, we’ve seen hundreds profess their love of sunny Los Angeles, hoping to win over the UCLA admissions committee. The fact that UCLA has consistently asked for an extra essay specifying what part of their academic program applicants would contribute to tells you what you need to know: UCLA wants to be taken seriously for the heft of its offerings.
About half of UCLA’s class goes into Big Law, on par with its peers in the lower T14. But although UCLA’s reputation is increasingly national, most of its graduates stay in California, with about 10% making their way to NYC. It’s yet to obtain clerkship rates on par with T14 mainstays and, unlike Berkeley, isn’t known for its public interest community.
Being in Los Angeles, it has a truly stand-out entertainment law program.
Employment
Based on 2024 data from ABA
Based on 2024 data from ABA
Tuition & costs
Demographics
Out of 994 students in 2024, 58% were women, and 52% were racial or ethnic minorities.
Based on 2024 data from ABA
Yes, admission to UCLA is highly competitive. For the 2025 application cycle, the UCLA acceptance rate was 12.05%.
To be a competitive applicant at UCLA, you should aim for an LSAT score around the median of 171 and a GPA of 3.95. The middle 50% of accepted students scored between 166 and 172 on the LSAT.
For the 2025 academic year, UCLA tuition is $59,084 for full-time students. When factoring in the cost of living and additional fees, the total estimated cost of attendance is $101,908 per year.
Yes, UCLA is a highly regarded institution. It is currently ranked #13 in the U.S. News & World Report Best Law Schools rankings for 2026.