Research Law Schools

How can I learn more about what law school is like?

In addition to talking to as many lawyers and law students as you can, take advantage of events sponsored and advertised by the Center for Pre-Law Advising.

Further, many law schools have traditionally been willing to set up a Prospective Student Tour that typically involves a tour of the school, attendance at a law school class, and a meeting with an admissions officer. Setting up this kind of visit is a great way to learn more about law school in general and also what it might be like to attend that specific law school.

Finally, several law schools offer summer programs to help undergraduates better understand what law school and the law school admissions process entail. These programs strongly encourage students from groups historically underrepresented in law school to apply. You can search for diversity pipeline programs here.

How can I learn more about specific law schools?

There are many ways to learn more about specific law schools both online and in person.

Online:

(1) Start your research by looking at the American Bar Association’s Standard 509 Information Reports. These reports include information about a school’s Admitted Student Statistical Profiles (including median and 25th/75th percentile GPA and LSAT statistics), Tuition and Fees, Financial Aid Statistical Profiles, Enrolled Student Demographics, and more. You can also find relevant information on individual law school websites, including more recent data at times. Another way to easily compare schools and sort through 509 Information is to use the Compare Schools tool at Law School Transparency’s LST Reports website.

(2) If you’re having a tough time figuring out which law schools are reach schools, target schools, and safety schools for you, or figuring out what would be a good goal LSAT score to shoot for to get into a particular school, one helpful resource is the Graphs tab for each school at the lawschoolnumbers website.  It shows a scatterplot of applicants who were admitted, waitlisted, and denied and what their LSAT and GPAs were. It also allows you to filter for international students only or underrepresented minority students only. This is self-reported data only, so it does not show you everyone who applied, but often you can see patterns in the data that give you a better idea of your chances than just looking at median GPA and LSAT scores.

In Person or Online:

(1) Attend a law school fair such as the UW-Madison Law School Expo. In years where this is held in person, law schools send representatives to campus to meet with students and provide information about their respective schools. The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) also hosts both online and in person (in select cities) fairs called the LSAC Forums.

2022-2023 Law School Forums: Meet with 100+ law schools. Attend online or in-person. Learn about the admission process, financial aid, and more. Get answers to your questions.

(2) Attend an Information Session for the schools in which you are interested. Law Schools host these events and they actually do track and care who attends. You can usually find online options, and in some years there may be in person options as well. If individual law schools set up a time to do an information session for UW-Madison students virtually, we will share that information in our newsletter (To receive the newsletter: send an email with “Join” in the subject line to centerforprelawadvising+subscribe@g-groups.wisc.edu)

(3) Law schools may offer prospective students the opportunity to schedule a formal Prospective Student Tour in person. These tours typically include the opportunity to tour the school with a guide, to sit in on a law school class, and to meet with an admissions representative. Contact the school’s Admissions Office to schedule a Prospective Student Tour. Law Schools may also offer a virtual tour or the option to sit in on a law class virtually. Check the school’s website for more information on these opportunities.

Ready to choose a law school? See our considerations when choosing a law school.