State Guide · 6 ABA Schools · 509 data 2025
District of Columbia law school requirements
District of Columbia has 6 ABA-approved law schools, with LSAT medians from 151 to 171. Together they took 34,638 completed applications, made 8,284 offers and filled 2,130 first-year seats in 2025. Every number on this page comes from those schools' own ABA Standard 509 reports.
ABA schools
6
1 public, 5 private
LSAT median range
151 to 171
across the state
First-year seats
2,130
from 34,638 applications
Tuition range
$24,874 to $83,576
full time, non-resident
The 6 ABA-approved District of Columbia law schools
| School | Type | LSAT | GPA | Accept | 1L | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgetown LawWashington | Private | 171 | 3.93 | 15.7% | 672 | $83,576 |
| George Washington UniversityWashington | Private | 168 | 3.86 | 27.2% | 612 | $75,420 |
| American University WashingtonWashington | Private | 162 | 3.63 | 33.3% | 405 | $66,990 |
| Columbus School of LawWashington | Private | 161 | 3.68 | 32.4% | 182 | $61,580 |
| Howard UniversityWashington | Private | 156 | 3.63 | 24.1% | 176 | $39,780 |
| University of the District of Columbia David A. ClarkeWashington | Public | 151 | 3.28 | 37.0% | 83 | $24,874 |
What the state data shows
Georgetown Law reports the highest LSAT median in the state at 171, with a 3.93 GPA median and a 15.7% acceptance rate on 13,924 applications. The spread of 20 LSAT points between the top and bottom of the state means a single score can be a stretch at one District of Columbia school and comfortably above median at another. The national median of school medians is 159, so District of Columbia's strongest reported median sits 12 points above it.
1 of the 6 schools charge residents less than non-residents, so residency status is worth checking before you apply. The lowest published resident tuition belongs to University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke at $12,438 a year, where the median full-time grant is $8,292. Across the state, published non-resident tuition runs from $24,874 to $83,576, a gap of $58,702 a year before fees, living costs or scholarship.
3 of the 6 schools reporting bar outcomes beat the weighted average pass rate in the jurisdictions where their graduates sat. Georgetown Law reports the state's highest first-time pass rate at 93.05% from 633 first-time takers, against a 83.29% jurisdiction average. Bar admission is granted state by state, so the jurisdiction you intend to practise in matters as much as the school.
Compare
Other state guides
Data: ABA Standard 509 Information Report (2025), published for consumer disclosure, retrieved from the ABA Required Disclosures portal on 2026-09-01, with bar passage figures from the same portal's Bar Passage Outcomes report for the class of 2024. Restated in our own structure; no ABA document or file is reproduced here.