Western Michigan University (Cooley)

300 S. Capitol Avenue
Lansing, MI 48933
(517) 371-5140, ext. 2244 or 2245

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National Comparison: Overview of Facts

#26 in Library Size

Cooley Law ranks #26 in terms of library size with 753,000 volumes or equivalents.

#27 in Presence of Minority Students

Cooley Law ranks #27 in terms of the highest percentage of students who are racial or ethnic minority (52.5%).

#53 in Student to Faculty Ratio

Cooley Law is tied for #53 in terms of lowest student to faculty ratio (6.1:1).

#57 in Highest Tuition

Cooley Law ranks #57 in terms of highest tuition among full-time law students ($50,750). 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.

#76 in Presence of Minority Faculty

Cooley Law ranks #76 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are racial or ethnic minority (14.2%).

#145 in Presence of Female Faculty

Cooley Law is tied for #145 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are female (34.5%).

#187 in Bar Passage Rate

Cooley Law ranks #187 in terms of bar passage rate among first-time test takers (43.9%), and it underperforms by -31.8% the state of Michigan’s overall bar passage rate of 75.7%. (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.)

#188 in Median Undergraduate GPA

Cooley Law ranks #188 in terms of highest median undergraduate GPA (3.02) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students.

#194 in Acceptance Rate

Cooley Law ranks #194 in terms of student selectivity with an acceptance rate of 86.1% among those who applied for admission.

#194 in Median LSAT

Cooley Law is tied for #194 in terms of the median LSAT score (142) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students. The LSAT measures reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning.

Fall 2020 Application Information

Application Deadline: None
Application Fee: $0

Admissions Statistics

2020 2017
Acceptance Rate 86.1% 87.7%
LSAT Score (Median) 142 143
LSAT Score (25th-75th percentile) 139-147 138-147
GPA (Median) 3.02 2.85
GPA Range (25th-75th percentile) 2.64-3.33 2.51-3.19

Bar Exam Statistics

2020 2017
State in which most graduates took bar exam: MI MI
School's bar passage rate: 43.9% 61.5%
State overall bar passage rate: 75.7% 72.5%
School bar pass rate vs. state bar pass rate: -31.8% -11.0%

Employment Statistics

2020 2017
Graduates employed at graduation: N/A N/A
Graduates employed 10 months after graduation: 47.2% 44.1%

Tuition and Expenses

2020 2017
Tuition: $50,750 $47,890
Room and Board: $12,030 $9,000
Proportion of full-time students receiving grants: 43.0% N/A
Median grant amount among full-time students: $16,909 $15,488
Average indebtedness of those who incurred debt: N/A N/A
Proportion of graduates who incurred debt: N/A N/A
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Students & Faculty

2020 2017
Total Students: N/A 174
Men: N/A 53.4%
Women: N/A 46.6%
Student Racial Demographics:

White: 47.5% N/A
Black: 25.5% N/A
Hispanic: 4.8% N/A
Asian: 3.8% N/A
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 6.1 : 1 N/A
Total Faculty: 232 N/A
Male: 65.5% N/A
Female: 34.5% N/A
Minority: 14.2% N/A

Full-Time Starting Salaries

2020 2017
Private Sector (Median): N/A $45,000
Public Sector (Median): N/A $49,801
View National Comparison

Library Resources

2020 2017
Volumes and equivalents: 753,000 724,364