University of Pennsylvania

3501 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6204
(215) 898-7400

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National Comparison: Overview of Facts

#1 in Private Sector Salary

Penn Law is tied for #1 in terms of the median starting salary among graduates working in private practice as law firm associates ($180,000).

#1 in Employment Rate at 10 Months

#1 in Employment Rate at Graduation
Penn Law ranks #1 in terms of graduates employed ten months after graduation (96.9%) and #1 in terms of graduates employed at the time of graduation (94.9%) .

#3 in Bar Passage Rate

Penn Law ranks #3 in terms of bar passage rate among first-time test takers (98.5%), and it outperforms by +18.9% the state of New York’s overall bar passage rate of 79.6%. (A national comparison on this metric should be taken in a qualified sense and with caution, because every state has a different bar passage rate.)

#3 in Highest Tuition

Penn Law ranks #3 in terms of highest tuition among full-time law students ($65,804). We rank from a total of 283 tuition rates from 194 law schools, ranking twice those law schools that have different in-state and out-of-state tuition rates.

#4 in Acceptance Rate

Penn Law ranks #4 in terms of student selectivity with an acceptance rate of 14.6% among those who applied for admission.

#4 in Median Undergraduate GPA

Penn Law ranks #4 in terms of highest median undergraduate GPA (3.89) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students.

#6 in Median LSAT

Penn Law is tied for #6 in terms of the median LSAT score (170) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students. The LSAT measures reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning.

#7 in Library Size

Penn Law ranks #7 in terms of library size with 1,224,184 volumes or equivalents.

#15 in Student to Faculty Ratio

Penn Law is tied for #15 in terms of lowest student to faculty ratio (4.9:1).

#22 in Public Sector Salary

Penn Law is tied for #22 in terms of median starting salary among graduates working in government jobs or judicial clerkships at the federal or state level ($61,218).

#27 in Presence of Minority Faculty

Penn Law ranks #27 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are racial or ethnic minority (20.0%).

#45 in Presence of Minority Students

Penn Law ranks #45 in terms of the highest percentage of students who are racial or ethnic minority (42.9%).

#135 in Presence of Female Faculty

Penn Law is tied for #135 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are female (35.3%).

Fall 2020 Application Information

Application Deadline: March 1
Application Fee: $80

Admissions Statistics

2020 2017
Acceptance Rate 14.6% 18.8%
LSAT Score (Median) 170 167
LSAT Score (25th-75th percentile) 164-171 163-170
GPA (Median) 3.89 3.74
GPA Range (25th-75th percentile) 3.49-3.95 3.52-3.95

Bar Exam Statistics

2020 2017
State in which most graduates took bar exam: NY NY
School's bar passage rate: 98.5% 99.3%
State overall bar passage rate: 79.6% 72.7%
School bar pass rate vs. state bar pass rate: +18.9% +26.6%

Employment Statistics

2020 2017
Graduates employed at graduation: 94.9% 98.2%
Graduates employed 10 months after graduation: 96.9% 97.8%

Tuition and Expenses

2020 2017
Tuition: $65,804 $58,918
Room and Board: $16,830 $14,690
Proportion of full-time students receiving grants: 53.0% 48.1%
Median grant amount among full-time students: $21,121 $18,750
Average indebtedness of those who incurred debt: $159,059 $144,153
Proportion of graduates who incurred debt: 62.6% 73.7%
View National Comparison

Students & Faculty

2020 2017
Total Students: 755 753
Men: 48.9% 55.0%
Women: 51.1% 45.0%
Student Racial Demographics:

White: 57.1% N/A
Black: 7.0% N/A
Hispanic: 6.8% N/A
Asian: 10.7% N/A
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 4.9 : 1 N/A
Total Faculty: 255 N/A
Male: 64.7% N/A
Female: 35.3% N/A
Minority: 20.0% N/A

Full-Time Starting Salaries

2020 2017
Private Sector (Median): $180,000 $160,000
Public Sector (Median): $61,218 $58,000
View National Comparison

Library Resources

2020 2017
Volumes and equivalents: 1,224,184 1,179,931