Southern Methodist University

About this Report

This report was released in spring 2019.

GPA & LSAT

References to the lowest, median, and highest GPA and LSAT scores reflect those of the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile, respectively, among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students in fall 2018.

Acceptance Rates

The acceptance rate is that of applicants granted admission as full-time students for classes commencing in fall 2018. The acceptance rate of the applicants does not reflect actual enrollment rates, a subset figure.

Student-to-Faculty Ratios

The student-to-faculty ratio shows the number of students for that class per faculty member. This ratio reflects the applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students in fall 2018.

Bar Passage Rates

The bar passage rates reflect those among first-time test takers for the winter and summer 2017 administrations of the bar examinations. The state noted is that in which the greatest number of the law school's graduates took the bar exam for the reported period.

Employment Rates

The employment rates shown are those of the 2017 full-time graduates at the time of graduation and ten months after graduation.

Law Library Volumes

The data indicate the number of print and microform volumes, as well as volume equivalents.

Gender, Race & Ethnicity

The data shown indicate the percentage of the faculty that are male and female, respectively, and the percentage of the faculty and students that are racial or ethnic minority (Hispanics of any race, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, multiracial, non-resident alien, or unknown race).

Salaries

The salary statistics are those of full-time, long-term employed law graduates for the class of 2017 at the time of graduation and within ten months after graduation (approximately spring 2018 ), as self-reported by the graduates.

The salaries indicated for “Median Salary Private” reflect those salaries of the 50th percentile, among those graduates working in private practice as law firm associates. The salaries indicated for “Median Salary Public” reflect those salaries of the 50th percentile, among those graduates working in government jobs or judicial clerkships at the federal or state level.

In determining median salaries, jobs classified as “JD advantage” have been excluded (i.e., positions in which the employer requires a JD or considers it an advantage to hold such a degree, but in which admission to the bar is not required).

Report Title

The rationale behind entitling this report as the “2020” report is that our  2020 Law School Rankings report and  2020 Law School Profiles are of considerable interest to prospective law school applicants who seek to enroll in classes commencing in fall 2020. At the time of our publication of this report in spring 2019, these employment statistics reflected the most current data available.

Source: The data have been compiled from a variety of public sources, including data released by the law schools and from the bar examiner offices in each jurisdiction.

Next Release: Our 2021 report is slated for publication in spring 2020.