‘What, like it’s hard?’: A look at Princeton’s law school placement from 2019 to 2025

Princeton, as one of only three Ivy League universities to not have a law school, nevertheless has a strong pre-law presence on campus. Over one in four students in the Class of 2029 reported an interest in law as a post-graduate field, and over six percent of the Class of 2026 reported that they were entering law immediately after graduation.

To see how Princetonians actually fared in law school admissions, The Daily Princetonian analyzed the Center for Career Development’s Law School data set, which includes admission rates and statistics from the 2019–2025 academic years. The data is cumulative and only reflects alumni statistics to law schools where more than five Princeton students applied. Matriculated, in this context, refers to students who enrolled in a specific university’s law school after graduating from Princeton. The Center for Career Development only published matriculation data for nine law schools and 236 students, though Princetonians have matriculated to 105 law schools in total. 

After looking at every law school where Princeton students applied, a few front-runners emerge immediately. Harvard Law School, Columbia University’s School of Law, and New York University’s School of Law all had over 350 Princeton applicants. Other notable universities include the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School and Yale Law School, both of which had over 300 applicants. But other schools, such as the University of San Diego, the University of Colorado, and William & Mary had fewer than 10 Princeton applicants over the accumulated admissions cycles.

Of the schools where Princetonians were offered admission, the Top 14 law schools — based on U.S. News and World Report law school rankings — typically had both the most applicants and admitted students. New York University, ranked seventh, admitted the highest number of Princeton students at more than 150. Another notable school is Seton Hall, which admitted 10 of the 11 all Princeton students that applied, though none matriculated.

A closer look at the statistics of general applicants versus admitted students also reveals an interesting trend amongst LSAT scores and mean GPAs. The graph above shows the mean GPA of admitted students versus the general applicant pool of Princetonians to a specific law school. Some schools, like Boston College and Arizona State University, actually admitted students with a lower mean GPA than the overall Princeton applicant pool In Arizona State University’s case, applicants had a mean GPA of 3.41 while admitted students had a 3.38.

Average LSAT scores, however, may reveal why this is the case. Take Arizona State University again — though admitted students may have lower mean GPAs, they also had an average highest LSAT score of 173.4, six points higher than all Princeton applicants to ASU at 167.4. Boston College tells a similar story, where LSAT scores for admitted students were higher than the college’s applicant pool as a whole. There are exceptions to this rule, however, like American University’s Washington College of Law and Brooklyn Law School. 

The graph above represents all law schools where Princeton students matriculated and data is available. These schools, ranked above by the percentage of students who entered into them after being admitted, include Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia’s law schools. Yale had the highest matriculation rate at 68 percent, with 26 of the 38 admitted Princeton students matriculating there. Fordham had the lowest matriculation rate, with only eight matriculated students of the 53 admitted Princetonians.

Comparing these schools to one another, Harvard Law School had the highest number of applicants and matriculated students. New York University, as mentioned before, had the highest number of admitted students and is tied for the second highest number of matriculated students. Fordham had both the lowest number of Princeton applicants and the lowest number of matriculated students of the published data set. 

Looking at GPAs for these same schools, where students both matriculated and data was available, admitted students had a higher mean GPA than general Princeton applicants to the university across the board. Simultaneously, at every university, matriculated students had lower mean GPAs than admitted students. For some schools, like Yale, the difference was only 0.01 points, but for Fordham University, it was 0.17 points.

When looking at average highest LSAT scores, every single school had higher LSAT scores amongst their admitted students than their total Princeton applicant pool. But at every school except Yale, matriculated students had lower LSAT scores than their respective admitted Princeton students. At Yale, the two pools had identical LSAT scores. Matriculated students, then, largely had lower statistics than admitted students in both mean GPA and LSAT scores.

The data above does not tell the whole story, though. The Standard for Admission to Harvard Law School, for example, states that “many factors such as work experience and demonstrated leadership, and also intangible qualities such as energy, ambition, … sound judgment,” and more play a role in a student’s admission decision. Yale Law School’s Application Components states that they “do not utilize a GPA or standardized test score cutoff of any kind in [their] review process.” Additionally, many law schools often use holistic criteria in their admissions processes, including letters of recommendation, written statements, and online interviews. 

But even if the graphs here tell an incomplete story, they still serve as a testament to the breadth of students admitted to law schools every year and the range of profiles they fill.

Veda Devireddy is an assistant Data editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Baton Rouge, La. and can be reached at veda[at]dailyprincetonian.com.