State Guide · 5 ABA Schools · 509 data 2025
Michigan law school requirements
Michigan has 5 ABA-approved law schools, with LSAT medians from 147 to 171. Together they took 14,599 completed applications, made 2,799 offers and filled 1,106 first-year seats in 2025. Every number on this page comes from those schools' own ABA Standard 509 reports.
ABA schools
5
3 public, 2 private
LSAT median range
147 to 171
across the state
First-year seats
1,106
from 14,599 applications
Tuition range
$42,632 to $79,108
full time, non-resident
The 5 ABA-approved Michigan law schools
| School | Type | LSAT | GPA | Accept | 1L | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of MichiganAnn Arbor | Public | 171 | 3.88 | 8.6% | 343 | $79,108 |
| Wayne State UniversityDetroit | Public | 164 | 3.89 | 24.8% | 129 | $42,632 |
| Michigan State UniversityEast Lansing | Public | 162 | 3.73 | 26.0% | 150 | $48,222 |
| University of Detroit MercyDetroit | Private | 156 | 3.52 | 41.4% | 247 | $1,616/cr |
| Thomas M. CooleyLansing | Private | 147 | 3.09 | 52.9% | 237 | $1,580/cr |
What the state data shows
University of Michigan reports the highest LSAT median in the state at 171, with a 3.88 GPA median and a 8.6% acceptance rate on 8,982 applications. The spread of 24 LSAT points between the top and bottom of the state means a single score can be a stretch at one Michigan school and comfortably above median at another. The national median of school medians is 159, so Michigan's strongest reported median sits 12 points above it.
3 of the 5 schools charge residents less than non-residents, so residency status is worth checking before you apply. The lowest published resident tuition belongs to Wayne State University at $38,861 a year, where the median full-time grant is $34,636. Across the state, published non-resident tuition runs from $42,632 to $79,108, a gap of $36,476 a year before fees, living costs or scholarship.
3 of the 5 schools reporting bar outcomes beat the weighted average pass rate in the jurisdictions where their graduates sat. University of Michigan reports the state's highest first-time pass rate at 95.57% from 316 first-time takers, against a 80.44% jurisdiction average. Bar admission is granted state by state, so the jurisdiction you intend to practise in matters as much as the school.
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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.