How Important Is Your LSAT Score?

By Jeremy LaRusso · Updated September 2026

Ask pre-law students what will get them into law school and you will hear about GPAs, political science classes, pre-law clubs and summer internships. Those can help. But a high GPA does not necessarily make up for a low LSAT score, while a strong LSAT score can substantially offset a lower GPA.

At the four schools below, applicants with substantially lower GPAs but stronger LSAT scores were admitted at higher rates than applicants with higher GPAs and weaker scores. If your score is below the range at the schools you want, improving it should usually come before adding another club or résumé credential.

What the admissions data shows

LSAC, which administers the LSAT, publishes each law school’s admission rate for every combination of LSAT range and GPA range. The table compares two groups at four schools in the 2024–25 admissions cycle: applicants with GPAs of 3.25–3.49 whose LSAT scores fell in the five-point range containing the school’s median, and applicants with GPAs above 3.74 and LSAT scores of 150–154.

The first group had GPAs about 0.2–0.7 points below each school’s median. The second had GPAs near or above the median and LSAT scores 11 to 22 points below it. At every school, the first group was admitted at a higher rate, usually several times higher.

For applicants with lower GPAs, these results are encouraging. A strong LSAT score can make you competitive at schools where your undergraduate grades would otherwise put you at a substantial disadvantage; applicants with that combination are often called splitters. At Minnesota, where the median GPA was 3.88, 56.3% of applicants with GPAs of 3.25–3.49 and LSAT scores of 170–174 were admitted, compared with 3.5% of applicants in the same GPA band with scores of 165–169. If your college grades are lower than you would like, that is a concrete reason to take LSAT preparation seriously.

A competitive score depends on the school. The 165–169 range contains the median at Alabama and UC Davis, but at Texas none of the 143 applicants in the 3.25–3.49 GPA band with scores of 165–169 were admitted.

These are admission rates for groups in a single cycle, not predictions for any one applicant, and they do not show what else was in each application. But the pattern holds at four very different schools.

Why a high GPA may not be enough

Your GPA counts, and the same data shows it. What applicants misjudge is how much a high GPA or strong résumé can compensate for a low LSAT score. A student can be right that a 3.9 is impressive and still badly overestimate how much it will offset a 152.

The LSAT gives schools a common measure for comparing applicants. LSAC says the test lets schools identify “highly qualified candidates who might otherwise be overlooked on the basis of undergraduate institution, GPA, lack of access to extracurricular activities, or other factors” (LSAC), and its research finds the LSAT a better predictor of first-year law school grades than GPA (LSAC). LSAT scores and GPAs also influence merit scholarship offers: in 2025–26, only 20.1% of law students paid full price, and LSAT scores and GPAs are the most common factors in awarding merit scholarships (LawHub).

What the rest of your application does

The rest of your application matters. In my experience, though, none of it reliably makes up for an LSAT score well below a school’s range. Here is what each part does contribute:

• Your major and your classes. You do not need to major in pre-law to attend law school. The American Bar Association “does not recommend any undergraduate majors or group of courses to prepare for a legal education,” and students are admitted “from almost every academic discipline” (ABA). Choose political science because it interests you, not because you assume the subject will give you an admissions advantage.
• Clubs. A pre-law club can teach you about the profession.
• Internships. A summer at a law firm can show you whether you want to be a lawyer and can lead to a strong letter of recommendation.
• Work experience. Work experience can strengthen an application, especially at schools that value it.
• Personal statement and letters. They let schools see who you are and can set you apart from applicants with similar numbers.

How to prioritize your preparation

If your LSAT score is below the range at your target schools, preparation is usually a better use of your time than adding another extracurricular activity just to strengthen your application.

Even a few additional points can change how your score compares with those at your target schools. On recent tests, a 160 was higher than about 71% of scores, a 165 higher than about 85% and a 170 higher than about 94% (LSAC). Those are score percentiles, not admission odds. Scholarships and career options are the subject of What Is a Higher LSAT Score Worth?

Two exceptions:

• If you are still in college, protect your grades. Every semester still counts toward your GPA. Do not let LSAT preparation lower your course grades.
• If you are not sure you want to be a lawyer, find out first. An internship that answers that question is worth more than a few points on a test for a career you might not want.

Notes on the table

Admission rates come from LSAC’s admission grids for applicants to the 2025 first-year class, the class matriculating between October 6, 2024 and October 5, 2025 (Alabama, UC Davis, Minnesota, Texas). The grids use each applicant’s highest LSAT score and LSAC-calculated GPA, include deferrals and cover the full applicant pool. LSAC notes that schools “consider many other factors beyond the LSAT score and GPA.”

Counts. LSAC’s printed grids show rates only. The applicant and admit counts are from Hey Future Lawyer’s reproduction of LSAC’s data (Alabama, UC Davis, Minnesota, Texas). For nonblank cells, the admission rates calculated from these counts match LSAC’s printed percentages. The two zero-admission counts (Minnesota, GPA above 3.74 with 150–154; Texas, GPA 3.25–3.49 with 165–169) come from Hey Future Lawyer’s reproduction; those cells are blank in LSAC’s printed grids.

Medians are for the class that entered in fall 2025, from the schools’ class profiles and, for Texas, its ABA-reported data (Alabama, UC Davis, Minnesota, Texas (ABA data)).