Northern Illinois University

Swen Parson Hall, Room 276
De Kalb, IL 60115
(815) 753-8595

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National Comparison: Overview of Facts

#18 in Presence of Female Faculty

NIU Law is tied for #18 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are female (48.9%).

#42 in Presence of Minority Faculty

NIU Law ranks #42 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are racial or ethnic minority (17.8%).

#100 in Presence of Minority Students

NIU Law ranks #100 in terms of the highest percentage of students who are racial or ethnic minority (31.5%).

#103 in Bar Passage Rate

NIU Law ranks #103 in terms of bar passage rate among first-time test takers (78.3%), and it underperforms by -0.7% the state of Illinois’s overall bar passage rate of 79.0%. (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.)

#110 in Student to Faculty Ratio

NIU Law is tied for #110 in terms of lowest student to faculty ratio (7.3:1).

#128 in Acceptance Rate

NIU Law ranks #128 in terms of student selectivity with an acceptance rate of 53.4% among those who applied for admission.

#131 in Public Sector Salary

NIU Law is tied for #131 in terms of median starting salary among graduates working in government jobs or judicial clerkships at the federal or state level ($50,000).

#156 in Library Size

NIU Law ranks #156 in terms of library size with 266,103 volumes or equivalents.

#166 in Median LSAT

NIU Law is tied for #166 in terms of the median LSAT score (149) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students. The LSAT measures reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning.

#177 in Private Sector Salary

NIU Law is tied for #177 in terms of the median starting salary among graduates working in private practice as law firm associates ($50,000).

#179 in Median Undergraduate GPA

NIU Law ranks #179 in terms of highest median undergraduate GPA (3.09) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students.

#247 in Highest Tuition

NIU Law ranks #247 in terms of highest tuition among full-time law students ($22,179). 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.

Fall 2020 Application Information

Application Deadline: April 1
Application Fee: $0

Admissions Statistics

2020 2017
Acceptance Rate 53.4% 64.6%
LSAT Score (Median) 149 148
LSAT Score (25th-75th percentile) 148-152 145-150
GPA (Median) 3.09 3.06
GPA Range (25th-75th percentile) 2.75-3.44 2.77-3.34

Bar Exam Statistics

2020 2017
State in which most graduates took bar exam: IL IL
School's bar passage rate: 78.3% 84.9%
State overall bar passage rate: 79.0% 85.0%
School bar pass rate vs. state bar pass rate: -0.7% -0.1%

Employment Statistics

2020 2017
Graduates employed at graduation: N/A N/A
Graduates employed 10 months after graduation: 75.7% 73.7%

Tuition and Expenses

2020 2017
Tuition: $22,179 $22,118
Room and Board: $13,766 $13,050
Proportion of full-time students receiving grants: 58.4% 51.0%
Median grant amount among full-time students: $16,255 $5,000
Average indebtedness of those who incurred debt: $95,247 $77,975
Proportion of graduates who incurred debt: 88.6% 85.1%
View National Comparison

Students & Faculty

2020 2017
Total Students: 260 241
Men: 54.2% 51.9%
Women: 45.8% 48.1%
Student Racial Demographics:

White: 68.5% N/A
Black: 9.6% N/A
Hispanic: 8.8% N/A
Asian: 2.7% N/A
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 7.3 : 1 N/A
Total Faculty: 45 N/A
Male: 51.1% N/A
Female: 48.9% N/A
Minority: 17.8% N/A

Full-Time Starting Salaries

2020 2017
Private Sector (Median): $50,000 $55,000
Public Sector (Median): $50,000 $50,000
View National Comparison

Library Resources

2020 2017
Volumes and equivalents: 266,103 243,415