Before we get into the question at hand—how hard is it to get into law school—let me explain a joke from Legally Blonde that probably doesn’t need an explanation.
The Setup
Elle Woods, a plucky and gregarious fashion student, is blindsided by her patrician and Harvard Law School-bound boyfriend, Warner Huntington III. Warner, you see, views Elle Woods’ interests and demeanor as too light and frivolous for a man who will soon walk the dignified halls of Harvard Law School. So, he breaks off what must have been a particularly serious and committed college relationship. Elle was expecting a proposal, rather than this blithe dismissal.
Elle — who, it must be stressed again, is plucky and gregarious — decides to prove Warner wrong. She enlists her sorority sisters to help her also get into Harvard Law School. After completing her (ludicrously compressed) application process, Elle eventually earns a seat among Warner and the other incoming Harvard Law 1Ls.
The Joke
Upon finally encountering Elle in Harvard Law School’s halls, Warner asks, incredulously, “You got into Harvard Law School?” To which Elle responds, “What, like, it’s hard?”
The Explanation
It is tremendously hard to get into Harvard Law School. So notoriously hard, in fact, that the 2.8 million people who watched the above clip can appreciate the difficulty involved. (But here’s how a Blueprint LSAT tutor did it!)
This explanation is a way of answering the question posed by this blog post’s title, “How hard is it to get into law school?”
The Answer
It’s so hard that a screenwriter can make their protagonist say that it’s not hard, expecting that $141,744,679-worth of ticket buyers will understand that joke because they all know how hard it truly is.
This might sound like a bit of a downer if you came to this blog post to get a realistic sense of how hard it is to get into law school. Don’t worry though. We have some good news, and we have some actionable advice. Let’s start with the good news.
Sign up to get expert tips and exclusive invites to free LSAT classes and law school admissions workshops!
The Good News
Fortunately, there are signs that your journey to law school might not be as difficult as Elle’s. Of course, Harvard’s 265-years-worth of academic prestige is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that joke. The joke is partially about how hard it is to get into Harvard Law School, even if Elle’s journey makes it plain that getting into any law school requires serious labor.
It’ll be easier to get into law school if you’re not laser-focused on one of the most selective law schools on the planet.
The More Applicants, The Harder It Is To Get Into Law School
Elle also chose a particularly competitive year to apply to law school. The Law School Admissions Council provides a helpful graph that allows us to track the number of law school applicants by year. Essentially, the more applicants there are, the more difficult it is to get into law school.
Assuming Elle applied to law school in 2001 (when the film was released), she was competing against 79,400 other applicants. If you applied to law school in the 2024 cycle, you would’ve only competed against 65,300 applicants. (To which you may reply, sarcastically, “What, like that’s hard?”)
That said, some factors portend an increasingly competitive law school admissions landscape in the coming years. In that same chart above, you may have noticed that the number of LSAT-takers has been on a dramatic upswing in the last few years. Nearly all law school applicants take the LSAT. However, some wait a few years after taking the LSAT to actually apply to law school. That’s probably happening a fair amount right now, given that the number of test-takers has gone up dramatically but the number of applicants has only ticked up slightly. This suggests that the number of law school applicants may spike over the next few years.
Also, the number of test-takers with really good LSAT scores seems to be increasing. In 2024,, the number of applicants increased by 20.6% overall, but the number of applicants with LSAT scores above 170 went up nearly 30%. More applicants with better scores will obviously make it harder to get into law school.
Oh, look at us, being downers again. That’s not very plucky or gregarious of us. Sorry about that. Sounds like it’s time for some actionable advice.
Actionable Advice for Law School Applicants
1. Do Your Research
Regardless of how plucky and gregarious you may be, you obviously don’t want to be in Elle Wood’s position, putting all your hopes into one law school. You want to apply to multiple law schools you’re interested in, giving yourself a better chance of getting accepted into one.
Still, many applicants decide their research doesn’t need to go any further than U.S. News & World Report’s rankings. Such applicants decide that they’ll just apply to the top 14 or top 20 law schools on that list. However, those schools vary quite a bit in location, specialties, pedagogy, and available resources and opportunities.
Try to do a bit more research than that. Focus on the factors that matter to you. Do you need to stay local? Figure out the local law schools with the best first-time bar passage rates and employment outcomes in your area. Is the astronomical cost of law school freaking you out? Consider researching the law school with the lowest debt-to-income ratios or that offer full-ride scholarships. Are you interested in pursuing a particular legal field, like environmental law? You can probably guess what you should do.
You can also diversify based on the likelihood that you’ll be admitted to that law school. Consider:
- Applying to a few schools where that acceptance letter is all-but-a-lock
- Applying to a few schools where you have a decent chance of getting in
- Applying to maybe one or two reaches to spice things up
As we’ve discussed before, Law School Transparency is an invaluable resource that can help you assess the qualities of your chosen law schools and the likelihood you’ll be admitted to them.
2. Take Your LSAT Studies Seriously
Once you have your list of law schools, you can determine what LSAT score you’ll need to give yourself a solid chance of being admitted. You can find each school’s LSAT median scores on the law school’s website or this aggregator. Aim for a score somewhere between each school’s 25th- and 75th-percentile median. If your GPA is on the lower end of those medians or you want to be considered for scholarships, aim for the 75th-percentile median or above.
Once you have your eyes set on a target LSAT score, it’s study time. And this is an area where you can follow in Elle’s footsteps. But, unlike Elle, your LSAT studies won’t be compressed to a two-minute montage. You’ll need to put in serious time and effort into what will become the centerpiece of your law school application.
After all, the LSAT is the one part of your application that isn’t fixed. By the time you apply, your GPA is largely decided and there won’t be much time to add any extracurriculars. Your LSAT score, however, can be improved considerably.
To make dramatic score improvements, you should budget three to six months of serious LSAT study time. By serious study time, we mean about 20 hours per week. The LSAT is learnable, but it’s learnable in the same way a new language is learnable. You’ll figure it out, but it’ll take considerable and consistent practice to speak like a native.
Coincidentally, the LSAT, although ostensibly administered in English, uses syntax and vocabulary so unfamiliar to many test-takers that it practically constitutes its own English dialect. In fact, the LSAT’s version of English can be said to model the law’s argot. So, in some ways, the point of the LSAT is to give law schools a chance to see if you can handle the language of the law before you’re entrusted to learn the substance of the law.
3. Do What Law Schools Ask You To Do
There used to be a bunch of optional parts of the law school admissions process. Each application once included an optional “Diversity Essay.”
However, as the law surrounding admissions changed, this essay was replaced with essays asking for your “Statement of Lived Experience” or “Statement of Perspective.” Even if you wouldn’t have written a “Diversity Essay,” you’re a living person, experiencing the world, presumably developing some perspective in the process. You’ll want to show that to the law schools you’re applying to. This means this once-optional part of the law school application is decidedly less optional.
Interviews were once largely optional and limited, too. Now, law schools increasingly rely on interviews to sort candidates with similarly impressive LSAT scores and gauge each candidate’s interest in that law school. Give yourself the best chance of getting admitted by participating in and preparing for each school’s interview process.
There will be plenty of other directions law schools ask you to follow, both when you’re applying for that school and when you’re waiting around for a decision. To show that you’re a responsible adult who takes the legal education seriously enough to read the fine print, make sure to review each application carefully and follow these directions religiously.
The Summary
So, long story short, it is hard to get into law school. But it’s not impossible. And with the right plan, commitment, and follow-through, you can increase your chances considerably. Choose the appropriate law schools for your situation, and interests. Study hard for a competitive LSAT score and assiduously follow directions during the application process. What, like, any of those are that hard? If you do, you might soon find yourself, like Elle, confidently striding the halls of your dream law school.
If you want more help creating an admissions-worthy law school application, let our experienced Law School Admissions Consultant transform your application. Schedule a free consultation to see if admissions consulting is right for you and your goals.
And don’t forget the most important step in the admissions process — the LSAT! Blueprint LSAT has helped thousands of students increase their LSAT scores by 15 points on average. Whether it’s in a Live course led by expert Blueprint LSAT instructors, in a Self-Paced Course that gives you total control over your schedule and studying, or one-on-one with a tutor, we have the LSAT prep that fits your learning style.
Get started today for free by creating a Blueprint LSAT account!
Further Reading
🪜 A Step-By-Step Guide to Applying to Law School: Applying to law school can feel like a labyrinthine process. Check out this step-by-step guide on how to apply to law school, along with additional resources on how to optimize your law school applications.
🖥️ What Is the LSAT? A Beginner’s Guide to the Law School Admission Test: Discover everything you need to know about the Law School Admission Test, what’s on it, how it’s scored, and how it affects your law school dreams.
