Law school admissions data definitions

Law School Admissions Data Definitions

Definitions reviewed August 30, 2026. Individual profiles identify the entering class and source beside each figure.

Law-school admissions numbers are useful only when the cohort, denominator, and meaning of each percentile are clear. They describe a completed admissions cycle and entering class; they do not promise admission, denial, or scholarship aid for a future applicant.

Core Admissions Terms

Term	Meaning in TLS profiles	How to interpret it
Completed applications	Applications the school reports as complete for the relevant admission period	The denominator for TLS's acceptance-rate calculation
Offers of admission	Applicants offered admission from that pool	The numerator for acceptance rate and denominator for yield
Acceptance rate	Offers of admission ÷ completed applications	A class-level cycle result, not an individual's probability
Matriculants from the applicant pool	Students from that cycle who accepted an offer and enrolled	The correct numerator for yield when separately reported
Yield	Matriculants from the same applicant pool ÷ offers of admission	Do not add prior-cycle deferrals to the numerator
Total first-year class	New, deferred, and other qualifying first-year entrants reported for the census date	May exceed matriculants from the current applicant pool
Median or 50th percentile	The midpoint of the reported entering-class values	Not a cutoff, minimum, target, or guarantee
25th and 75th percentiles	Points below which approximately one-quarter or three-quarters of reported values fall	Describe distribution; they do not create admissions bands

The ABA's Annual Questionnaire gathers the first-year census, test-score, and undergraduate-GPA information used in Standard 509 reports.

Acceptance Rate

TLS calculates:

Acceptance rate = offers of admission ÷ completed applications

Example: if a school reports 2,000 completed applications and 500 offers, the acceptance rate is 25.0%. This does not mean an applicant with a particular LSAT and GPA had a 25% chance. Admissions decisions can reflect residency, work history, essays, recommendations, timing, institutional priorities, and other information not captured in the aggregate rate.

TLS does not use applications merely started, incomplete files, or an unverified third-party application count as the denominator.

Yield

TLS calculates:

Yield = current-pool matriculants ÷ offers of admission

If the source reports current-cycle enrollees and prior-year deferrals separately, only current-cycle enrollees belong in the yield numerator. Using total first-year enrollment can overstate yield by mixing applicant pools.

Yield may reflect scholarship strategy, geography, binding-decision programs, wait-list activity, and competing offers. It is not a direct measure of educational quality.

LSAT, GRE, JD-Next, and Undergraduate GPA

Profiles reproduce the testing and GPA percentiles that an authoritative disclosure reports. The measures are not interchangeable:

• LSAT percentiles describe LSAT-scored members of the entering class.
• GRE percentiles may be shown by section and may cover a smaller group.
• JD-Next data, where disclosed, uses its own scale and reporting rules.
• Undergraduate GPA percentiles use the reported undergraduate-GPA population.

Small groups or missing scores can affect whether percentiles appear. A profile should show the number excluded from a calculation when that limitation is material and available. TLS does not convert one test into another or create an unofficial combined median.

Full-Time, Part-Time, and Combined Data

A school may report full-time and part-time divisions separately. TLS preserves that distinction when the source provides it. “All first-year students” is not automatically equivalent to the full-time division, and a profile should not compare one school's full-time median with another school's combined median without saying so.

Binding Programs and Application Timing

Early-decision, priority, regular, and scholarship deadlines are different concepts. A binding program requires review of the school's current terms; “early” does not automatically mean binding, and a priority date is not necessarily a final deadline.

TLS dates every deadline and links to the current official application page. If the next cycle has not been posted, the profile identifies the prior-cycle date as historical instead of relabeling it.

Transfers and Attrition Are Separate

Transfer students are not part of the original first-year admissions funnel. Transfer-in, transfer-out, academic attrition, and other attrition are reported separately and should not be used to recalculate first-year acceptance rate or yield.

Comparing Admissions Profiles

Use the same entering year and comparable division wherever possible. A responsible comparison includes:

1. completed applications, offers, and current-pool matriculants;
2. 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile credentials;
3. class size and full-time/part-time mix;
4. residency or program distinctions; and
5. each school's current application and scholarship process.

An applicant near or above a median may be more competitive on that measure, but no score or GPA guarantees admission or aid. TLS does not publish a personalized admissions probability unless it is generated by a separately documented model with its own limitations.

Source and Calculation Checklist

Before publication, confirm that:

• the entering year appears in the heading or beside each figure;
• the figures come from the same admissions cycle;
• the acceptance-rate and yield numerators and denominators are preserved;
• deferrals are not included in current-pool yield;
• percentiles are labeled as percentiles, not cutoffs;
• full-time and part-time populations are not silently combined; and
• the source is the ABA disclosure or another authoritative current source.

Related Guides

• TLS law school profile data methodology
• Law school scholarships and conditional scholarships
• How to compare law school offers